Letter from my bishop re: voting

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Lucy_1

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I was doing some research on an unrelated topic, and came across a letter that my Bishop wrote in the diocesan newspaper from 2004. He states that any parishioner who supports a candidate that is pro-choice, pro gay marriage, etc., “makes mockery of faith and belies his identity as a Catholic,” and should remain seated during communion.

Would the Catholic parishioners in my diocese be bound to obey the Bishop’s directive not to receive Holy Communion?

This is a thread that can easily go off the rails, so please limit yourself to answering the above question in bold.

Also, please note that the Bishop’s position is that he is not directing ppl on how to vote, rather is giving instruction about church teaching.

My Bishop is a very holy man, and I am a faithful Catholic who, for a variety of reasons, sometimes votes for candidates who do not hold to Church teaching. So this puts me in a pickle.
 
Also, to twist the pretzel a bit more… since I’ve just discovered this letter from 2004, and I’ve already voted for candidates who aren’t in line with church teaching, does that mean that retroactively I should not now receive communion?
 
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I don’t know the answer to your question. But I certainly couldn’t agree more with that bishop and what he wrote. If only more of them were as outspoken as him!
 
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Also, to twist the pretzel a bit more… since I’ve just discovered this letter from 2004, and I’ve already voted for candidates who aren’t in line with church teaching, does that mean that retroactively I should not now receive communion?
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As far as I’m aware, it’s not a sin to vote for a candidate who goes against Church teaching unless you are voting for him/her because of that.
 
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My priest is not very doctrinally conservative, and would probably think I’m a nutter for bringing this up.
 
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Lucy_1 said:
But I don’t support those things. I don’t think I understand what you’re saying. Can you explain it like I’m five please 😁
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I meant that the Bishop would be correct in that parishioners who support those things should refrain from receiving communion.
 
MiserereMeiChristi said:
I meant that the Bishop would be correct in that parishioners who support those things should refrain from receiving communion.
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But he’s saying that parishioners who vote for candidates who support those things should refrain from receiving communion.
 
Lucy_1 said:
But he’s saying that parishioners who vote for candidates who support those things should refrain from receiving communion.
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Oh, sorry, sometimes I’ll skim through posts and not interpret them correctly. I didn’t see the ‘a candidate’ part of your original post.

I thought that you meant the bishop stated that parishioners who personally support those things should refrain from receiving communion.
 
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Lucy_1 said:
He states that any parishioner who supports a candidate that is pro-choice, pro gay marriage, etc., “makes mockery of faith and belies his identity as a Catholic,” and should remain seated during communion.
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That statement isn’t consistent with Catholic teaching, actual Church teaching is much more nuanced than that.

If you vote for a candidate because of those positions, that would be wrong.
Lucy_1 said:
Would the Catholic parishioners in my diocese be bound to obey the Bishop’s directive not to receive Holy Communion?
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It’s an opinion, not a juridic act on the part of your bishop. So, no.
Lucy_1 said:
Also, please note that the Bishop’s position is that he is not directing ppl on how to vote, rather is giving instruction about church teaching.
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Unfortunately that direction is completely inadequate and incomplete.
 
1ke said:
It’s an opinion, not a juridic act on the part of your bishop. So, no
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Thank you for your help. I will try to look into this a bit. Man, it’s kinda overwhelming that as a lay person I have to be familiar with canon law in order to figure something like this out. Being Catholic is so complicated sometimes!
 
I don’t think a bishop has authority over that. At least I hope he doesn’t.

I’ll choose to believe that he doesn’t
 
I see what you’re saying, but abortion has been around for 50 years, despite many Republican presidents and judges. Roe was confirmed by a Regan appointed judge in Casey v PP! So I think we have to consider other avenues to end abortion. And there are a lot of other issues regarding the respect due to the human person, which Trump simply rolls over. Anyway, I appreciate your (name removed by moderator)ut and I don’t really want to get into the political nitty gritty. I don’t know who I’ll vote for, but I’ll try to choose someone Jesus would approve of. To me that doesn’t seem to be Biden or Trump, so I’m not sure where that leaves me.
 
Lucy_1 said:
Would the Catholic parishioners in my diocese be bound to obey the Bishop’s directive not to receive Holy Communion?
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No. How you vote and whether you receive Holy Communion is up to your individual conscience. You will of course need to account to God for your decisions, but the bishop does not have a right to tell people how to vote, so his letter should be read as pastoral guidance, not as any kind of a binding order.

Also, since you have a right to keep your vote secret, you are not required to tell any bishop or priest how you voted, so there’s no way your bishop or priest could track that.

2004 was also 16 years ago. Do you even have the same bishop? If you have a new bishop, he may have totally different ideas about this.
 
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The bishop is not permitted to tell his flock how to vote, nor to find out how they voted (it is secret), nor to withhold the Eucharist from them based on their secret ballot which he is not even supposed to know about.

The bishop is coming quite close to overstepping his authority in this case, if not actually doing so.
In such a case, Catholics in the diocese may rely on their individual consciences.
Lucy_1 said:
Man, it’s kinda overwhelming that as a lay person I have to be familiar with canon law in order to figure something like this out. Being Catholic is so complicated sometimes!
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Most bishops do not burden their flock in this manner. This is a bit of an unusual situation.
 
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1ke said:
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Lucy_1:
He states that any parishioner who supports a candidate that is pro-choice, pro gay marriage, etc., “makes mockery of faith and belies his identity as a Catholic,” and should remain seated during communion.
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That statement isn’t consistent with Catholic teaching, actual Church teaching is much more nuanced than that.

If you vote for a candidate because of those positions, that would be wrong.
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To the OP and others, go to https://www.usccb.org/offices/justice-peace-human-development/forming-consciences-faithful-citizenship and read the official statement which the Catholic bishops of the United States issued in 2007 on that very issue which explains what 1ke has correctly stated above.
 
felsguy said:
To the OP and others, go to h ttps://www.usccb.org/offices/justice-peace-human-development/forming-consciences-faithful-citizenship and read the official statement which the Catholic bishops of the United States issued in 2007 on that very issue which explains what 1ke has correctly stated above.
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This is a good document, though a bit on the long side. Here is the link to it:

 
Tis_Bearself said:
This is a good document, though a bit on the long side. Here is the link to it:

usccb.org

fo​

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Paragraphs 31-39, about two pages) titled Making Moral Choices deal with the specific issue of voting although the first 30 paragraph provide the background if you have the time and interest.
 
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Code: 
I don't think it is a sin to vote in a way different from what your bishop advises.
In fact, he doesn't have the authority to tell you who to vote for.
However, I have the same moral values as your bishop, and I will vote in the same way he advises. There is spiritual warfare going on in the United States, and it it good not to weigh in one the wrong side.
 
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