ms. coleen: blog welcome to the panic room
priest: no communion for obama voters
Published Nov 14, 2008Views: 516
Priest says it's because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion
The Associated Pressupdated 6:45 p.m. ET, Thurs., Nov. 13, 2008
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."
The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.
"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.
"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."
Risking their immortal soul
During the 2008 presidential campaign, many bishops spoke out on abortion more boldly than four years earlier, telling Catholic politicians and voters that the issue should be the most important consideration in setting policy and deciding which candidate to back. A few church leaders said parishioners risked their immortal soul by voting for candidates who support abortion rights.
But bishops differ on whether Catholic lawmakers — and voters — should refrain from receiving Communion if they diverge from church teaching on abortion. Each bishop sets policy in his own diocese. In their annual fall meeting, the nation's Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights.
According to national exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant. In South Carolina, which McCain carried, voters in Greenville County — traditionally seen as among the state's most conservative areas — went 61 percent for the Republican, and 37 percent for Obama.
"It was not an attempt to make a partisan point," Newman said in a telephone interview Thursday. "In fact, in this election, for the sake of argument, if the Republican candidate had been pro-abortion, and the Democratic candidate had been pro-life, everything that I wrote would have been exactly the same."
Conservative Catholics criticized Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004 for supporting abortion rights, with a few Catholic bishops saying Kerry should refrain from receiving Holy Communion because his views were contrary to church teachings.
Some say move is too extreme
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she had not heard of other churches taking this position in reaction to Obama's win. A Boston-based group that supports Catholic Democrats questioned the move, saying it was too extreme.
"Father Newman is off-base," said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. "He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. ... Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Sens. Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words."
A man who has attended St. Mary's for 18 years said he welcomed Newman's message and anticipated it would inspire further discussion at the church.
"I don't understand anyone who would call themselves a Christian, let alone a Catholic, and could vote for someone who's a pro-abortion candidate," said Ted Kelly, 64, who volunteers his time as lector for the church. "You're talking about the murder of innocent beings."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press
** Is this extreme? To answer my own question YES, I think it is..**
Filed under: Politics
128 Comments
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Sounds like you feel threatened by faith.
GOLO member since January 18, 2008
November 19, 2008 2:38 p.m.
November 15, 2008 12:11 a.m.
November 14, 2008 2:15 p.m.
That said, they are walling themselves into a smaller and smaller ideological box, while the rest of the world moves on around them. Pretty soon all they'll have left are the diehard devouters. It's a recipe for obsolescence.
GOLO member since June 10, 2008
November 14, 2008 2:13 p.m.
GOLO member since July 18, 2008
November 14, 2008 10:46 a.m.
nah, i'm done. don't like discussing this stuff over the web. none of us will change b/c of it. Regarding jointhere and unc4ever, I'll try and read the book. I'm always interested in stuff like that, although I already do believe that the historical jesus probably existed. I know you find it frustrating that there are those of us we don't believe, be we find is at least as equally frustrating that there are those that do. Luckily, most of us can get along anyways.
GOLO member since July 18, 2008
November 14, 2008 10:44 a.m.
GOLO member since September 17, 2007
November 14, 2008 10:39 a.m.
GOLO member since October 21, 2008
November 14, 2008 10:30 a.m.
GOLO member since October 2, 2008
November 14, 2008 10:29 a.m.
@ Cartman
That is funny. I was going to post that two pages ago, but it didnt seem like the right time...LOL..but as I was blogging this story, that is the first thought that came to mind.
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
November 14, 2008 10:28 a.m.
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