On second day in office, Cuomo attends church with daughters and Sandra Lee

[Brooklyn]

Where are the bishops!!!

Gov. Cuomo got some spiritual backing Sunday as he set out to revitalize state government.

The new governor began his second day in office at 9 a.m. Mass at Albany’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, where he was urged to move forward with a sense of “evangelical daring” in his work to fix the broken state government.

“We know they, over the next four years, will be deeply immersed in the work of evangelization by bringing about the transformation of our state and our society,” Bishop Howard Hubbard said in his homily.

Cuomo, who was with his three daughters and live-in girlfriend, Sandra Lee, sat in the front pew as Hubbard described evangelization as the work of addressing not only a community’s spiritual needs, but its social and political ones as well.

Citing the efforts of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower, Hubbard said people need a sense of vision and a willingness to take risks to transform society and make a stronger community.

“Ultimate victory over forces that are seemingly insurmountable is really possible,” Hubbard said.

The divorced son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, who was once chastised by Catholic leaders for his support of abortion rights, calmly received Holy Communion. Lee walked in line for Communion with him.

nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/01/02/2011-01-02_on_second_day_in_office_cuomo_attends_church_with_daughters_and_sandra_lee.html?print=1&page=all

Someone somewhere must condemn this. It certainly won’t be the Bishop of Albany since he was the one who did this sacrilegious act. And just what kind of transformation does Bishop Hubbard think this abortion-loving thumbing-his-nose-at-God politician will bring about? God help us all.

 

[MusicforMovies]

There was a time when the Church used her spiritual authority to steer political leaders to do good. i.e. the Pope excommunicating a King for a serious moral infraction and urging him to repent and change his ways.

It’s something that should never be done lightly, but there are times - if done always in love and concern for the individual - it might do a world of good.

We should pray for the Gov. and his girlfriend. We should also pray that God would give our Bishops and priests the strength to stand for what is right, even when it is hard, and even (especially if) it might appear negative to the media. In an age of 24/7 media - peer pressure - has gone global.

Peace in Christ,
Joel :harp:

 

[Brooklyn]

There was a time when the Church used her spiritual authority to steer political leaders to do good. i.e. the Pope excommunicating a King for a serious moral infraction and urging him to repent and change his ways.

It’s something that should never be done lightly, but there are times - if done always in love and concern for the individual - it might do a world of good.

We should pray for the Gov. and his girlfriend. We should also pray that God would give our Bishops and priests the strength to stand for what is right, even when it is hard, and even (especially if) it might appear negative to the media. In an age of 24/7 media - peer pressure - has gone global.

Peace in Christ,
Joel :harp:

I appreciate your compassion, and certainly agree that all involved here need our prayers. But this is a scandal of the first degree, and needs to be addressed by the Church.

 

[neutralinchrist]

Simple: God Still Loves Them.

Tom

 

[neutralinchrist]

I appreciate your compassion, and certainly agree that all involved here need our prayers. But this is a scandal of the first degree, and needs to be addressed by the Church.

Leave it in God’s Hand the Church is not the absolute authority.

Tom

 

[Waiting]

Leave it in God’s Hand the Church is not the absolute authority.

Tom

Guess you’re not aware that Jesus told Peter that whatever he bound on earth would be bound in heaven, and whatever he loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven. Sounds like Peter had, and still does have, absolute authority over Church matters.

 

[ab75]

I appreciate your compassion, and certainly agree that all involved here need our prayers. But this is a scandal of the first degree, and needs to be addressed by the Church.

This is really nothing new, yes there was a day when the Church threatened excommunication to a king, and there have alse been many centuries where leaders in the Church ignored much greater scandels than this (not to mention several popes and bishops who lived much bigger scandels). I appreciate your passion, but sometimes the best we can do is pray and encourage.

In short, do all you can to encourage the faithful to be faithful, but be careful to fall into the trap that this issue is new, or that things are getting worse. Pretty much every metric shows the Church is becoming much less scandelous and more true to the teaching, not less.

 

[TMC]

Cardinals Dolan and Wuerl have each spoken out on the issue of denying communion to politicians because of their political stances or acts. Each has explained that, despite a few high profile cases here and there, the Church has traditionally declined to use the Eucharist as a cudgel to beat the recalcitrant into line. The Church has always had high and low profile sinners and dissenters in the pews, and has generally chosen to deal with them with pastoral care and education - not by using the Body of Christ as a tool of punishment or reward.

 

[Inhimthroughher]

Cardinals Dolan and Wuerl have each spoken out on the issue of denying communion to politicians because of their political stances or acts. Each has explained that, despite a few high profile cases here and there, the Church has traditionally declined to use the Eucharist as a cudgel to beat the recalcitrant into line. The Church has always had high and low profile sinners and dissenters in the pews, and has generally chosen to deal with them with pastoral care and education - not by using the Body of Christ as a tool of punishment or reward.

It is not a punishment to deny them communion. It is an act of mercy to let them know they are no longer in communion with the Church, an act of mercy to prevent them from receiving unworthily, and a way of protecting the Blessed Sacrament. The fact that these two Cardinals don’t get it doesn’t make it right.Wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong. Canon 915 is clear and those who disobey it will answer for it. Weak Cardinals are nothing new.

This also is not a political stand. Abortion is not a political issue it is murder and against God’s law. The other issue is the public scandal of a live-in-girlfriend. Fornication and Cohabitation are unacceptable and also would preclude him from communion.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Where are the bishops!!!

nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/01/02/2011-01-02_on_second_day_in_office_cuomo_attends_church_with_daughters_and_sandra_lee.html?print=1&page=all

Someone somewhere must condemn this. It certainly won’t be the Bishop of Albany since he was the one who did this sacrilegious act. And just what kind of transformation does Bishop Hubbard think this abortion-loving thumbing-his-nose-at-God politician will bring about? God help us all.

Absolutely sickening. Right in the front pew. And strutting up to receive the Eucharist. This DEFILES the Lord’s Body!!! What is WRONG with our leadership!!!

 

[TheRealJuliane]

It is not a punishment to deny them communion. It is an act of mercy to let them know they are no longer in communion with the Church, an act of mercy to prevent them from receiving unworthily, and a way of protecting the Blessed Sacrament. The fact that these two Cardinals don’t get it doesn’t make it right.Wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong. Canon 915 is clear and those who disobey it will answer for it. Weak Cardinals are nothing new.

This also is not a political stand. Abortion is not a political issue it is murder and against God’s law. The other issue is the public scandal of a live-in-girlfriend. Fornication and Cohabitation are unacceptable and also would preclude him from communion.

:clapping::sad_yes: In that church there should have been a sharp inhalation heard from the entire congregation at the idea that these people could present themselves for Communion…and the priest should have refused Communion to all of them. This makes a mockery of the sacrament! You may as well wipe your rear end with the Host. Disgusting.

 

[buffalo]

Cuomo is a manifest public sinner and not to be given Holy Communion.

**Ten questions regarding the denial of the Eucharist.

****Why should the Church deny the Eucharist to hundreds of ‘Catholic’ pro abortion politicians?" **

		 				** 					Answer:  				** 				The Catholic Church condemns abortion,[3 				](http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_11tenquestions.html#a3) 				euthanasia,[4 				](http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_11tenquestions.html#a4) 				sodomy,[5 				](http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_11tenquestions.html#a5) 				cloning,[6 				](http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_11tenquestions.html#a6) 				embryonic stem cell research,[7 				](http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_11tenquestions.html#a7) 				as well as other attacks against the sanctity of life and the  family. It is the obligation of the bishop to follow canon law. Canon  Law n.915 mandates the denial of Communion to all "manifest, obstinate,  persistent sinners," including but not exclusive to politicians.[8 				](http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_11tenquestions.html#a8) 			
		 				**Canon 915 not only protects the Eucharist from sacrilegious reception, but also prevents the faithful from sorrowful  				[ 					scandal](http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=963).  			**
		 				It's important to understand what 'manifest, obstinate, persistent'  means. Many wrongly think it applies only to politicians.[9 				](http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_11tenquestions.html#a9) 				This is not so.  			
		 				If a Catholic is a '*manifest*' sinner, that means he is 'known,' or 'public.' This must be differentiated from the Catholics who are in the state of '*private*'  grave sin, to whom their sin is known only to themselves and God. The  private grave sinner cannot be denied the Eucharist because their sin is  unknown to the bishop, to his priests, and his ministers of the  Eucharist.  			
		 				If a Catholic is gravely '*manifest*' and '*obstinate*'  in his sin, that means he pigheadedly continues to 'persist' or 'stand  firm' in grave sin that is 'public' in nature and causes scandal to  others. This is quite different from those who persist in 'private' sin.   			
		 				'Catholic' pro-abortion politicians are certainly manifest,  obstinate and persistent sinners and they are thus subject to the  provisions of c.915.[10 				](http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kra/kra_11tenquestions.html#a10)

 

[JSSebastianoP]

Cardinals Dolan

If you are referring to NY’s Archbishop Dolan, I don’t think that he has been made a Cardinal yet, but I do wish he, being the loudest Catholic voice in NY and now the USCCB president would say something…

 

[ProVobis]

Cohabitants and pro-choicers should not be receiving communion. But there seems to be a deeper issue which bothers me here. Communion has become a political tool, not exactly to give greater glory to God. Maybe they should remove cameras from those events or turn the cameras away from people receiving communion. Scandal becomes scandal because of the publicity given to the act. There are many non-Catholics watching and you don’t want to give them the wrong idea of Catholic communion.

 

[Ender]

This situation is not merely obvious but blatant and I am at a loss for words to describe my feelings on reading about it. One can only wonder how Catholics can take seriously anything the bishops say when they don’t appear to take Church teaching seriously themselves. I am so tired of hearing that we must love the sinner in this context - loving the sinner has nothing to do with ignoring the sin, which is what one has to do in order to consider it a fit thing for Governor Cuomo to continue to publicly receive communion when he so publicly flouts Church teaching. I am truly speechless.

Ender

 

[DawnInTexas]

Scandalous!

God Bless you.
+The World Is Sick, And Needs The Divine Physician.
Love, Dawn

 

[Tsuwano]

Guess you’re not aware that Jesus told Peter that whatever he bound on earth would be bound in heaven, and whatever he loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven. Sounds like Peter had, and still does have, absolute authority over Church matters.

This is correct, and such power should not be taken lightly. Perhaps this is why the Bishop is hesitant to approach Mr. Cuomo publicly on the matter. We have no way of knowing what or whether the Bishop has said anything privately to Mr. Cuomo, but it certainly doesn’t help the Church or the ministry of the Bishop to second guess his actions. If you want to do something, then pray that the Bishop may have courage and wisdom in dealing with his flock and that Mr. Cuomo will come to greater understanding of the faith he claims to profess.

 

[Tsuwano]

It is not a punishment to deny them communion. It is an act of mercy to let them know they are no longer in communion with the Church, an act of mercy to prevent them from receiving unworthily, and a way of protecting the Blessed Sacrament. The fact that these two Cardinals don’t get it doesn’t make it right.Wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong. Canon 915 is clear and those who disobey it will answer for it. Weak Cardinals are nothing new.

This also is not a political stand. Abortion is not a political issue it is murder and against God’s law. The other issue is the public scandal of a live-in-girlfriend. Fornication and Cohabitation are unacceptable and also would preclude him from communion.

Denying a member of the Church communion may indeed be an act of mercy in one sense, but it is no less a punishment for the faithful believer.

 

[Tsuwano]

Absolutely sickening. Right in the front pew. And strutting up to receive the Eucharist. This DEFILES the Lord’s Body!!! What is WRONG with our leadership!!!

I believe you are wrong. I don’t think any human act defiles the Lord’s body. It defiles the human person committing sinful acts, but the Lord’s body in eternally undefiled and intact, thank you.

 

[Inhimthroughher]

Denying a member of the Church communion may indeed be an act of mercy in one sense, but it is no less a punishment for the faithful believer.

Receiving the Eucharist in an unworthy manner is a mortal sin. It is not punishment to protect someone from desecrating the Body and Blood of Christ and commiting a mortal sin. Is it punishment to not let someone do something that is bad for them?