Rhode Island parish priest puts out list of pro-abortion legislators, says they can't receive communion. Legislator named strikes out against him

  • Thread starter Thread starter mdgspencer
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Poet said:
Laws are voted on. An individual legislator may vote for outlawing abortion and be outvoted. How can they be held accountable, morally, for that?
Click to expand...
Can you give me a single example of a legislator in the US who has ever proposed a law on abortion that was 100% in line with the Catholic position?
 
And what he also said:
“On the other hand, we also remember Pope Francis. We…I personally can never judge the state of a person’s soul. So it’s difficult, that’s what I’m saying. I’m not up there as a tribunal, as a judge, distributing Holy Communion, I’m there as a pastor, as a doctor of souls,” Dolan said.

“So it’s difficult to make a judgment on the state of a person’s soul. My job is to help people make, with clear Church teaching, make a decision on the state of their soul and the repercussions of that.”
Click to expand...
To me, Cardinal Dolan is responding as Jesus would, especially in how he responded to the woman caught in adultery, who under the law should’ve been stoned to death.

God’s mercy supersedes Canon 915.
 
Appeal to God’s mercy is contested ?

Boy, I hope the Church doesn’t teach this.
 
I read it and it still doesn’t go against God’s mercy for those who seek it.

Rejecting God’s mercy, perhaps the Bishop of the Dioceses doesn’t accept God’s mercy when he gave the priests in his dioceses not to give Communion to Biden ?

Like Cardinal Dolan said, “no one can know the state of a person’s soul when they go up to receive Communion.”
 
Last edited:
I never said anything against the pastor and Cardinal Dolan himself agreed with the priest in the article.

The priest was under obligation to obey his Bishop
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Like Cardinal Dolan said, “no one can know the state of a person’s soul when they go up to receive Communion.”
Click to expand...
I ask this question seriously.

Has the Church just given up? We know from polls that many Catholics are in favor of abortion. We know that less than 10% use a licit means of birth regulation. Confession is sparsely attended. Holy day masses are likewise not well attended.

Why does the Church say they don’t know the state of anyone’s soul when, in many cases, they’ve told us?
 
I certainly see where you’re coming from, especially in threads like this where time after time, some Catholics feel they have a right to rebuke a cleric for doing what he feels is his duty.

That said, the Church has not, and will not ever give up.
 
Last edited:
The minister of the Eucharist at Communion time, has no idea if the person went to Confession or what the state of their soul is in.

Only God knows for sure
 
Then make sure you don’t refuse communion when you are EMHC. However, if the Pastor did what he felt was the best course of action concerning care for their souls, who are any of us to criticize him?
 
An EMHC can not refuse Communion to a Catholic who presents themselves to receive.
 
That’s prudent, to be sure, but I think it is unwise to hold the priest to the same rule.
 
I’m not.

As Cardinal Dolan said, the priest was following what his Bishop is requiring the priests in his dioceses to do.

EMHC’s follow the dictates of the priests celebrating Mass, not their own whims
 
So like another poster in this thread do you agree that women who have abortions should be imprisoned just as murderers are? If not, why are you equating the two things?
 
FiveLinden said:
So like another poster in this thread do you agree that women who have abortions should be imprisoned just as murderers are? If not, why are you equating the two things?
Click to expand...
He also mentioned theft so it would be a comparison.
 
Last edited:
JimR-OCDS said:
To me, Cardinal Dolan is responding as Jesus would, especially in how he responded to the woman caught in adultery, who under the law should’ve been stoned to death.
Click to expand...
If Cardinal Dolan is right then the church is wrong, as is everyone who ever enforced 915, or taught it…going back to St Paul.
God’s mercy supersedes Canon 915.
Click to expand...
If that was true then clearly the church is not only in serious error but has no real understanding of God’s mercy to have ever come up with such a law.
An EMHC can not refuse Communion to a Catholic who presents themselves to receive.
Click to expand...
This is false. He is under obligation to refuse communion when the conditions of 915 have been satisfied.
 
Last edited:
JimR-OCDS said:
Like Cardinal Dolan said, “no one can know the state of a person’s soul when they go up to receive Communion.”
Click to expand...
This is the worst argument he could have made because, as he surely ought to know, it completely misstates what is at issue. He is not called to judge someone’s soul, rather he is called to respond to someone’s public actions. Canon lawyer Ed Peters demolished this comment not long after Dolan made it. It was completely inapplicable.
The priest was under obligation to obey his Bishop
Click to expand...
Not on this matter he isn’t. He is under obligation to obey his conscience and church law. The bishop has no authority to change that.
 
Last edited:
How does this connect to what I said? I completely agree with you that anyone voting to keep abortion is cooperating with evil. But many have not voted to keep it legal and have put forward laws to try to limit it.

For example: 33 states have passed 470 pro-life laws over the last 10 years.


A number of states made moves to severely limit abortion or outlaw it altogether last year.

If those legislators pushing to steadily make it less and less legal and harder to get, to cut funding, etc. are outvoted, my point is they are not morally culpable for being outvoted when they tried to limit, roll back, and move us closer to a nation respecting life.
 
An EMHC has no business inquiring whether a person went to confession before Mass, it’s not their job.

EMHC’s are not Sacrament Police
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top