Should Politicians Who Support Abortion Receive Communion?
Other U.S. bishops remained silent, and the Vatican itself did not weigh in on the issue, though one could reasonably assume that there was no need, since a series of papal encyclicals, documents from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church all support Archbishop Burke's position. Still, some took the silence to mean that Archbishop Burke stood alone.
Thus, when the archbishop was named prefect of the Apostolic Segnatura earlier this year and transferred to Rome, it was natural that, as Fr. John Zuhlsdorf reports, some people would think that the move was an attempt "to get him out of the way before the November elections." But in his first major interview in his new position, Archbishop Burke has made it clear that nothing could be further from the truth. As the Catholic News Agency reports, the archbishop told the Italian magazine Radici Christiane that politicians who "support abortion, which entails the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives," "should be publicly admonished in such a way as to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life."
Many non-Catholics--and, indeed, many Catholics--misunderstand the reason why Communion should be denied in such cases. They think of it as some sort of "punishment" for "stepping out of line." But as Archbishop Burke explained in the same interview, the denial of Communion is "Above all, for the salvation of that person [the politician], preventing him from committing a sacrilege."
The Catholic Church teaches that we can only receive Communion if our souls are in a state of grace--in other words, if we have not committed a mortal sin. But public support for abortion is a mortal sin. If we receive Communion unworthily, then, as St. Paul writes, we receive it to our own damnation.
The denial of Communion to a pro-abortion politician has a second effect. As Archbishop Burke notes:
"If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average person think? He or she could come to believe that up to a certain point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother’s womb."As Christians, we cannot fully live our faith privately unless we also live it publicly. For those Catholics who go into politics, that entails bringing the moral wisdom of the Church into the public square. If they bracket their faith--declare themselves "personally opposed, but"--they not only deprive society of the benefits of the truths that the Church teaches, they also undermine those truths in the eyes of their fellow citizens.
Not with you on this issue Scott. What about other moral teachings of the church, such as the death penalty? That moral teaching gets completely overlooked. As we “cafeteria Catholics” pick and choose the moral teachings we want to follow, are not the bishops doing the same?
Jen, are you suggesting that because some Catholics believe that “the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2267), other Catholics are justified in believing that abortion is OK?
Or are you suggesting that the bishops should tell Catholic politicians who support the death penalty that they should not receive Communion, even though the Catechism clearly states that the death penalty is licit in some circumstances, but abortion never is?
5 NON-negotiables are:
Abortion
Euthanasia
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Human Cloning
Homosexual Marriage
One can choose to be pro-abort, pro-suicide, pro-ESCR, pro-gay marriage – but then they cannot, may not, are prohibited from calling themselves Catholic and receiving Eucharist. They are in a state of mortal sin.
I don’t think it is anyone’s business who can receive Holy Communion. Worry about your own soul and let God be the judge. This kind of talk sickens me and is a disgrace to the Catholic faith, no wonder there was a reformation! Catholics must learn to love God, honor God, and let God judge sinners.
a disgrace to the Catholic faith
Protecting a person from receiving the Body of Christ to his own damnation (as St. Paul writes) is a disgrace to the Catholic faith?
I don’t think it is anyone’s business who can receive Holy Communion.
Does that include non-Catholics? Non-Christians? Atheists? Satanists? In other words, are there lines you would draw, and if so, isn’t it reasonable for the Church to draw lines as well, even if they aren’t the same as the ones you would draw?
I don’t think it is anyone’s business who can receive Holy Communion. Worry about your own soul and let God be the judge. This kind of talk sickens me and is a disgrace to the Catholic faith, no wonder there was a reformation! Catholics must learn to love God, honor God, and let God judge sinners.
So we should just let people eat and drink condemnation unto themselves, in the words of St. Paul? That doesn’t sound very charitable to me. Admonishing the sinner is a work of mercy.
Let God be the judge. Only God knows what is inside someone’s heart. There certainly are worse sins than non-Catholics receiving the Precious Body and Blood.
Another example of sin committed in the name of Christainity, in this case, Catholicism and Holy Communion.
Cast the first stone, Scott. And we wonder why young people are leaving the Church? When the Pope talks about LOVE and FORGIVENESS, and pompous Catholics are pointing fingers?
Beth, there may indeed be worse sins, but St. Paul seemed to place this one pretty high up.
I don’t need to “cast the first stone,” or any stone for that matter. The Church–including the Pope who is speaking of love and forgiveness–says that those who publicly support the destruction of unborn children should not receive Holy Communion until they have publicly repented.
There is, in fact, an unbreakable connection between that love and the Blessed Sacrament. That is why Pope Benedict followed up his first encyclical, Deus caritas est–”God Is Love”–with Sacramentum caritatis–”The Sacrament of Love.”
Read Sacramentum caritatis closely, and ask yourself whether Pope Benedict treats the Blessed Sacrament as cavalierly as you do.
God is the only one who should be the judge of who receives the gift of life. Now the mothers and doctors believe they have the right to choose life or death for another human being, when in reality that decision is God’s.
If God is the judge, He is also the judge who will judge those who stand by and let innocent unborn children be martyred for the sake of being politically correct.
Catholic or not, chosing to kill another is NOT a “right”. It is murder.
Though I agree with about half of this issue, then also should anyone who supports the war in Iraq should not receive Communion, because, according to the Just War Theory, it was not started; or being ended justly. Also, those who do not help the poor should not receive Communion; afterall they are failing one of the other corporal works of mercy, and I don’t see Republicans doing that real well (privatizing Social Security, thinking that the economy is fine, shall I continue?). Furthermore, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, on 1868 states indirectly that for those who vote for someone who is pro-choice/pro-abortion, for it to be a sin one would have to praise or approve of the sin (abortion); many of which Democratic Catholics do not do, but find that person more suited to lead this country than someone who thinks that it would be better for us to stay in Iraq for “fifty maybe a hundred years.” I personally, though cannot vote, would vote for Barack Obama, who is vehemently pro-abortion. But I would not vote for him for this reason, rather I would vote for him because his policies elsewhere, and as a whole are better than John McCain’s policies, in my opinion. I am also an ardent practicing Catholic, and ardently pro-life, finding it to be a very sad thing that Catholics would be forced to vote for someone that is that pro-abortion. I think that, after voting this way, I would be sending Mr. Obama a nice little packet of stories and pictures of abortions etc. Maybe that can help change his mind, and maybe that’s what we should be focusing on here too; trying to give to these people the truth; in pictures, videos, or words, and keep praying for them. Pax +
IT IS
There is a field of
awareness
It Is
It is not
high nor low
chained nor free
sad nor happy
good nor bad
It Is
It Is
the space that lives
between the thoughts
between the breaths
It Is
What would the
music be
without the
Silence
between the notes?
IT IS
a field of
awareness ~
Come Friend,
I will meet
you there.
I think the Church has the wrong focus in the abortion debate. Making abortion illegal will not stop abortions from happening, any more than a 70 mph speed limit makes everyone drive 70 mph on Michigan’s highways, or making marijuana illegal prevents people from smoking it.
The role of the Church is to provide moral guidance and support/advocacy for women to get the resources they need (including income support) in order to choose life.
When I was a single, pregnant 18-year old, I did not have an abortion, even though abortion is legal. But I made my choice because I had the moral guidance of my faith, a lot of support from family and friends, and the welfare system to assist me financially so that I could still go to college after having a baby. Without all of those things, I might have felt that I had no choice, and I might have made a different decision…
The Church should focus its energy and resources on assisting desperate, frightened women so that they can choose life, rather than “punishing” politicians who are NOT advocating abortion. They are trying to keep abortion legal because they don’t want to see women dying in illegal, unsafe, back-alley abortions – because they WILL still have an abortion if they feel they have no other realistic option.
And ANYONE who uses Catholic doctrine to justify support for a particular political party is a “cafeteria Catholic”, since none of the parties support all Catholic teaching.
This is the kind of stuff that is the reason secularism is growing in America. Which is just fiune with me. But if you want top spiritual guidance on this issue, I’d defer the 2004 recomendation by one Joseph Ratzinger that communion shouldn’t be denied if one voted for the pro-abortion candidate for other reasons than abortion.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0403722.htm