Why does the Holy Father not speak out?

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nicolep said:
I agree. While the priest couldn’t take any specific action, given enough comments from parishoners, he could take it to the bishop.
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Which gets back to my previous post: it is up to the bishop to decide what course of action, if any, to take.

There is not a bishop in the United States who is not aware of the issue. The vast majority of them are not taking the direct action you seek. As to the Pope, he has not said that the bishops must take a specific canonical action. He has certainly condemned the positions of politicians who thumb their collective noses at moral law.

I am reminded of the glee certian people had when Ratzinger was elected to the papcy; some of the comments were that there was going to be a “slapdown”.

Hasn’t happened.

Isn’t happening.

From the looks of it, isn’t going to happen.

They don’t get it; they don’t get who the pope really is, and they don’t get how the Church generally acts. In general, it does not go around on the prowl looking for someone to refuse Communion to, or someone to excommunicate (a greater penalty). It simply does not act in that fashion. Either penalty is one that is considered very serious, and is applied only after a rather lengthy process (most of which the public is generally unaware); and then it is applied sparingly.

Them’s the facts. A lot of people are unhappy about it; but a lot of people are not carrying the responsibility of others souls, either.
 
otjm said:
Which gets back to my previous post: it is up to the bishop to decide what course of action, if any, to take.

There is not a bishop in the United States who is not aware of the issue. The vast majority of them are not taking the direct action you seek. As to the Pope, he has not said that the bishops must take a specific canonical action. He has certainly condemned the positions of politicians who thumb their collective noses at moral law.

I am reminded of the glee certian people had when Ratzinger was elected to the papcy; some of the comments were that there was going to be a “slapdown”.

Hasn’t happened.

Isn’t happening.

From the looks of it, isn’t going to happen.

They don’t get it; they don’t get who the pope really is, and they don’t get how the Church generally acts. In general, it does not go around on the prowl looking for someone to refuse Communion to, or someone to excommunicate (a greater penalty). It simply does not act in that fashion. Either penalty is one that is considered very serious, and is applied only after a rather lengthy process (most of which the public is generally unaware); and then it is applied sparingly.

Them’s the facts. A lot of people are unhappy about it; but a lot of people are not carrying the responsibility of others souls, either.
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I pretty much nodded my head through your entire post (automatic excommunication for those who procure or help procure and abortion is where denying communion came into play). I wish there was an easy answer, but there isn’t that I can find. Sure, Pope Benedict XVI could issue a blanket statement, but I doubt the bishops would act any differently. They all know. I know there are some bishops doing things…saw a news article about a bishop sending a letter to a pro-life politician stating she couldn’t receive communion.
 
AHapka said:
As an EMHC I’m not allowed to deny Holy Communion to ANYONE.

And that’s the way it should be.

I would imagine, at best, there could be some sort of protocol where I would refer someone to the priest, but I don’t know. The Bishops would have to settle that.
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Are you sure?

At my parish there is a woman who is repeatedly denied communion by all; the priest and EM’s. Now I do know that the pastor has instructed the EM’s that she is not to be given communion. The woman is schizophrenic, doesn’t consume the host, and is not Catholic. She goes to daily Mass and will get in the communion line several times, she even goes to different parishes where some do give her communion.:eek:

At my former parish there was another woman who was also denied communion. She too had some sort of mental disability, would come to Mass with costumes on, her face painted, odd looking wigs etc. She was denied communion and the sacrament of reconciliation. I figure she also was not Catholic.
 
What I find fascinating about the original post is that it seems spectacularly un-Catholic. First and foremost, it makes a false assertion against the Vicar of Christ. Our current pope has spoken out, quite clearly, not just in public statements, but in documents, like the Post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis.

Second, it seems to lack any understanding of the Sacrement of the Eucharist, its role in the Faith, and the responsiblities of the Ordinary. They are commanded, by Canon law, to dutifully provide the Sacrements. The denial of something as fundemental as the Eucharist is an extrordinary step, never taken lightly. Pope John Paul II gave us very clear guidelines on how the matter should be approached (his document focussed on the proper denial of communion to divorced Catholics, but our current Pope, as Prefect, made it clear that the same principles applied to other grievous public sin (CIC 915).

Finally, it not only shows no respect for the Holy See and the Pope’s actual actions, it borders on an accusation of Heresy or Schism towards the Princes of the Church here in the US. Contrary to popular believe, the USCCB did issue a statement supporting the withholding of Holy communion in certain circumstances. However, it noted the importance of each instance being handed by the local Bishop, applying proper prudential judgement, and the principles of application previously spelled out by Rome.

Frankly, the whole idea of lamenting ‘why doesn’t the Church punish those bad people’ seems distincly Evangelical Protestant to me. Catholic should presumably put emphasis on what we focus on each Mass. We do not, like extreme Evangelicals, proclaim our inherent superiority over others. Instead, we Catholics look to our own unworthiness each week and humbly ask for the continued forgiveness and tolerance of God.

Similiarly, we regularly profess our believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. It seems illogical to profess one’s belief that Bishops, teaching in communion with the Pope, represent Christ, then complain that the ordinary is not following one’s own superior moral opinion with regards to judging and punishing other members of the body of the faithful…
 
sigh Ok, have we dealt with the original question by now? Or has this turned into a debate? :confused: If it’s a debate, how about starting a thread just for that? If the question hasn’t been answered, then somebody please do so.
 
Christy_Beth said:
sigh Ok, have we dealt with the original question by now? Or has this turned into a debate? :confused: If it’s a debate, how about starting a thread just for that? If the question hasn’t been answered, then somebody please do so.
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I think the original question has been answered several times.
 
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