Saying he was writing with a sense of "urgency," Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., sent a letter Nov. 4 to Biden stating his views on worshipping at Mass and the reception of Communion. The letter was posted on the diocesan Web site two days after Biden attended Mass Nov. 2 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Tallahassee. The vice president-elect was in Florida on a final campaign swing through the state.The full text of Bishop Ricard's letter is posted online. An excerpt:At no point in the letter did the bishop bar the vice president-elect from receiving Communion in the diocese, instead seeming to leave the decision to Biden.
A spokesman for Biden said in an e-mail message to Catholic News Service that the vice president-elect would have no comment.
Our worship of God during Sunday Mass, which culminates in the reception of Holy Communion, is precisely the moment when we are nourished and strengthened by the Holy Spirit’s gift of courage to stand up in fortitude to protect the weakest among us. The Eucharist, as the real presence of Christ, is also the sign of our unity as a Church, which is built on sharing in the mission of Christ to protect the defenseless. While grateful for the effective collaboration you and your office have offered on so many worthy projects and concerns, I also observe, by your support for laws that fail to protect the unborn, a profound disconnection from your human and personal obligation to protect the weakest and most innocent among us: the child in the womb.As the bishops said in their 2004 reflection on Catholics in Public Life, “The Eucharist is the source and summit of Catholic life. Therefore, like every Catholic generation before us, we must be guided by the words of St. Paul, ‘Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord’ (1 Cor 11:27). This means that all must examine their consciences as to their worthiness to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord. This examination includes fidelity to the moral teaching of the Church in personal and public life. .
Respect for the Holy Eucharist, in particular, demands that it be received worthily and that it be seen as the source for our common mission in the world.”
I pray that the Catholic faith you have been raised in, the faith by which you pray, and the life of virtue which flows from both may strengthen you so that you may have the strength needed to witness Jesus, even as the martyrs did, and live by the virtue of fortitude as you proclaim your support to the Person of Christ in the most vulnerable of his members: the pre-born child. You are, Senator, always welcome to nourish such a faith within the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.
16 comments:
Allowing Biden to continue to receive Communion spits in the face of all Catholics who have tried to live a Catholic life. Where are my bishops, my defenders, my teachers? It's as if the bishops WANT to kill off the Church and settle into irrelevancy. First they lost the respect and faith of many Catholics over the pedophile cover-up, now they show us yet again that save for a few good men, they are leading the Church in the USA into oblivion.
Further proof that our Bishops are not men of metal, but tinfoil. Afraid to do much other than bloviate inconsistantly. Could you imaging what this election would have been like with the likes of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen here to protect and lead the faithful.
Our Bishops are chickens!
I don't think the answer is as simple as Molly and Simplex Vir imply. Truthfully, I agree 100% with their sentiments, BUT I think the Bishops are afraid of a backlash during an Obama Administration that would use any excuse to remove the tax exempt status of Catholic parishes and evangelical churches who opposed Obama's ascendency on moral grounds. If the Bishops publicly humiliate Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, Kucinich, Kennedy and every other Marxist who pretends to be Catholic by denying them communion (as they should), then these politicians WILL retaliate. These politicians are inherently EVIL. They support abortion. And they will use their power in government to make the Bishops tow the line.
We who are the Catholic laity have to write to these evil politicians and tell them that we won't vote for them any longer, that all their socialist promises for the common good are worthless as long as they sanction the murder of the unborn.
Com'on folks. Don't be deceived. Just look at Pelosi and Biden and Kennedy. Look at what they support. The spirit of antichrist fills them and any person who calls herself or himself Catholic and supports these fools and then drinks the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ eats and drinks damnation to her or his eternal soul.
You cannot be Catholic and be a member of the Party of Death - the Demokratic Party. Episcopalian yes. Unitarian Universalist yes. Scientologist yes. Christian Science yes. But not Catholic. Not Baptist. Not Pentecostal. Not truly Christian. It's that simple.
Is it possible, do you think, that they're waiting to see how the new administration deals with FOCA, which will probably happen early on?
Just to have something on which to hang an excommunication.
This statement has a bit of a "shot across the bow" feel to me. Remember that political excommunicatons are not done lightly--the last one in the US was over an integration matter in the '60s.
I agree with you, Cminor, but Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Tec Kennedy, Patrick Leahy, Dennis Kucinich and every other Catholic politician who supports abortion must be excommunicated (why are they mostly Demokrats with Guilliani being the lone Republican example?)
Molly:
Not only spits stinking vomit, is openly rebellious to Rome:
“The prefect of the Apostolic Signature, Archbishop Raymond Burke, said this week that Catholics, especially politicians who publicly defend abortion, should not receive Communion…
(Being a) scandal, consisting of leading people to think that the public act that this person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really not that serious - if the Church allows him or her to receive Communion.”
When will we DEMAND to Rome, responsibility from the USCCB?
Cordially
Guillermo Bustamante
This article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081110/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama
says Obama will use executive powers for embryonic stem cell research.
You stupid liberals. This man is going to use unborn babies as experimentation platforms. How much more antichrist can you possibly get? Our bishops told you to vote against him and you didn't. Do you think God will stay His mighty hand of justice when unborn babies are being dissected for research in order to keep reprobates like Obama and Biden alive?
The Bible said in the last days things like this will happen. But Jesus wins in the end. The King of Humility will be the King of Everlasting Justice. I for one cannot wait. Our redemption draweth nigh!
I for one am going to be watching for those falling abortion statistics that Doug Kmiec more or less assured us would follow Obama's election.
"With the Incarnation (Holy Communion in us), forever remove the curse that entered the world through Adam."
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
The current USCCB should focus THIS HIPER-SCANDAL:
A surgical attendant in an abortion is automatically excommunicated and… the brains-leaders-law designers- (Biden, Pelosi, et all "Catholics") of the cold blooded murder are not.
And they are ALLOWED by the USCCB to name themselves "Catholic". LEADING TENS OF MILLIONS OF FAITHFUL TO BE CONFUSED (VOTED FOR THE INFANTICIDE CANDIDATE, AND ESCR).
THE SLAUGHTERED, BUTCHERED, DISEMBOWELED LITTLE VOICES CLAIM TO HEAVEN!!! More so than the Hitler's Holocoust (that was wraped).
This genocide (biggest of mankind) is OPEN, "civilized, aseptic, & heralded as choice!"
Lets illustrate this, with an anecdote:
Abp. Wuerl, YESSS the one who refuses to take responsibility of the Eucharistic historic MEGA-SCANDAL in DC... represents the USCCB fog machine (of vague-darkening statements) going full blast.
Said Wuerl:
“‘Faithful Citizenship’ says, are the life issues. I believe that’s what we’re going to be judged by historically, down the road. I think one hundred years from now, people are going to look back and wonder how it was possible that we could have had a culture that builds into it the wholesale destruction of unborn life”.
WOW! Does he 'look back & wonder', or is asking our forgiveness? Not. Neither the USCCB.
It takes a very hardened face to pontificate anew this, after YEARS PASSED BY... eluding responsibility to teach and enforce JP II's Encyclical EVANGELIUM VITAE (1995):
“The serious demographic, social and family problems which weigh upon many of the world's peoples and which require responsible and effective attention from national and international bodies, are left open to false and deceptive solutions, opposed to the truth and the good of persons and nations.
The end result of this is tragic: not only is the fact of the destruction of so many human lives still to be born or in their final stage extremely grave and disturbing, but no less grave and disturbing is the fact that conscience itself, darkened as it were by such widespread conditioning, is finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of human life”.
Deep regards
Guillermo Bustamante
I think Guillermo Bustamante is correct. The USCCB has to take a united stand and publicly excommunicate every abortion-supporting Catholic politician. These politicians can convert to Epsicopalian if they want. But they aren't Catholic. And neither is any person who, knowing Obama and Biden support abortion, voted for them anyways. The Body of Christ has to be pruned. The 64% who are liberals can go join the renegade Protestants, though they won't like the Evangelicals and Pentecostals who still believe that the Word of God is the Word of God.
Let's have social justice for the unborn. Let's serve the common good of the unborn. Why can't we do that? Liberals are too selfish, perhaps?
The Bishops have to stand up and make a public example of Pelosi, Kerry, Kennedy, Biden, Leahy, Kucinich and all the rest.
Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent!
(Liberals HATE repentance.)
As I read through all these posts, I am reminded of a Bible verse we all know and love, "All right, hurl the stones at her until she dies. But only he who never sinned may throw the first stone." (John 8:7).
YOU HYPOCRITES!
As you spew forth your venomous rhetoric (not too dissimilar from the religious extremism that has brought terrorism to our country by people who believe that God is empowering them to punish the Americans), I am saddened that your conversations have centered on divisive language and isolationism!
I am a strong opponent of abortion, and yet I realize that to truly be pro-life, you have to encompass ALL LIFE including those who are already alive! I particularly believe that ending an illegitimate war where thousands of lives are also being consumed is AS important as the abortion issue. We, as a united front in Christ, have to constructively dialog with our newly elected officials to let them know that we oppose the killing of the unborn, the war in Iraq, the genocide in Rwanda, the Congolese army using children as soldiers, etc. We have to hold all life sacred where we oppose the death penalty and work to help the oppressed and the marginalized of society. Please do not let a narrow definition of 'pro-life' blind you to all of Mr. Biden's merits because he has made gains in these areas of the pro-life arena.
Now ask yourself; and I mean really sit back and ask yourself, do you really believe that Vice President-Elect Biden is so evil that he deserves to be excommunicated?! Are you better than he is to such a degree that you should not be excommunicated? If you answered 'Yes' to either of these questions, then I suggest you reflect on your moral standing with Christ and ask for forgiveness! I will pray for you and I ask that you pray for me as well because we are all sinners.
As a 'liberal Catholic' with an education in the Benedictine tradition, I learned a very important lesson; God left the Church in the hands of sinful men and that we as a faith community must constantly work to build each other up to be more like Christ... not tear each other down. The USCCB is doing the right thing by engaging in dialog, not casting stones (bishops are sinners too). I pray that you will pray for Vice President-Elect Biden and work as a community in peaceful dialog with Mr. Biden to find a just solution for all to have the right to life! Perhaps, you could take a page from the Obama-Biden campaign and revitalize a grass-roots movement on this issue just as a grass-roots movement inspired many people in this election.
Peace in Christ,
M
Anonymous at 10:40pm with the usual lame deflection without any regard to the Church's absolute moral teaching....Why don't you quote to me chapter and verse from the Cathechism,COWARD..where it says a person who is complicit in the death of millions of unborn children cannot be excommunicated?? It is by that person's own sinful choices and actions that he becomes excommunicated from the church and gravely needs repentance and the sacrament of Confession. I would also remind you that the Holy Father DID NOT BIND the consicences of all Catholics to condemn the Iraq war. Did you also know that the Church DOES ALLOW the death penalty in certain circumstances? Get your nose in the Cathechism and LEARN THE FAITH...
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Peace in Christ.
I could be wrong, but I don't think that's in the Benedictine tradition.
I could be wrong, but I don't think that's in the Benedictine tradition.
No it isn't. This is what as known as the "Olive branch in the eye" tactic.
But, I would caution my fellow Catholics Against Biden to avoid rhetorical meltdown and name calling. Abortion is intrinsicly evil. Formally supporting abortion is evil. Public support for abortion is grounds for denial of communion. Catholics have a moral duty to oppose legal abortion and cannot accept a position of acquiescence or detent. Stick with these truths.
Pelosi, Biden - Excommunicated
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Elect, Joseph Biden receive a Latae Sententiae Excommunicated by the Catholic Church and are forbidden from approaching the sacraments.
Catholic office holders, whether presidents, vice-presidents, senators, congress men or women, or judges at any level must adhere to Catholic teaching or run the risk of separating themselves from the Body of Christ. In such egregious and chronic cases of gross moral evil such as instituting and perpetuating abortion and the structures of sin that surround it, Catholic officials are excommunicated in virtue of the acts themselves. A Latae Sententiae Excommunication is triggered when they vote for laws, funding, and structures that enable and perpetuate such obvious and egregious evil (Cf. Code of Cannon Law, Canons 1364, 1398; Cannon 1329, Par. #2). They are in turn forbidden from approaching the sacraments as the result (Cf. Catechism of Catholic Church #1463).
The lame argument that they personally oppose such things as abortion, yet vote for them repeatedly, demonstrates the most virulent form of moral and political schizophrenia yet to afflict mankind.
The further up the hierarchy of authority one goes, the more responsible and the more culpable one becomes. Hence, a house speaker or vice-president who supports abortion through voting or rhetoric is significantly more culpable than a woman who effectively procures an abortion. She is responsible for one abortion; they are accomplices in millions. Therefore, any Catholic politicians who foster the laws and structures that enable such outrageous crimes against humanity receive the canonical penalty of excommunication.
Any Priest or Bishop who permits such an elected or appointed official to skate along relatively unscathed, is perhaps the most negligent and the most culpable of all. To fail to publicly censure such public officials is tantamount to participating in their crimes. There is no excuse whatever for a Catholic politician who supports such morally outrageous perversions of authentic justice such as abortion, partial-birth abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, and same-sex marriage. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church ultimately must severely censure them and make such censure public. The sin is egregious and public. The redress must be commensurately severe and public.
Among some Church leaders there is an understandable fear of acting decisively, now. This is, obviously, because the pain of the recent sex abuse scandals is so fresh in the mind of a rightfully indignant public. However, if the Church should fail to exercise her solemn pastoral duty at such a critical moment in history, it is likely that this further lack of decisive action would prove fatal for the last vestiges of respect remaining for the leadership of the Church.
Catholic Church leaders are in a unique position to influence the nation and the world for the better by calling their people to high moral standards. Because the Church may have failed to act appropriately and decisively in one matter shouldn’t consign it to a perpetual paralysis of the will to do good in other matters. Fear of criticism, loss of tax advantage, or political expediency must never deter the Catholic Church from its sacred duty.
Every person of good will, above all Catholics in virtue of what their faith requires of them, must properly form their consciences to the objective norm of the true and the good: to that which is in accord with right reason, justice, and traditional moral values, and then vote in accordance with that well formed conscience.
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