You just can't beat the Catholic Church:
In his letter, Bishop Sheridan wrote: "Any Catholics who vote for candidates who stand for abortion, illicit stem-cell research or euthanasia suffer the same fateful consequences. It is for this reason that these Catholics, whether candidates for office or those who would vote for them, may not receive Holy Communion until they have recanted their positions and been reconciled with God and the Church in the Sacrament of Penance."The Catholic Church is so freakin' wonderful, I just hope they don't lose their tax-exempt status because that might put an end to all the naked partisanship-qua-moral authority fun.
Lots of metaphysical questions left unanswered, though. Are we setting up some sort of poll test at the altar, or is this a warning to those Catholics whose guilt compels them to advertise their shame with Democratic paraphernalia at Mass? Does this only count for Masses that fall on election days? OK, is it a sin to consider voting for a Democrat, or is that sort of like political lust versus doing the deed is the same thing or whatever? If I own a restaurant, should I serve to liberals? Can I root for the Sox if there are known liberals in the outfield? What if I covet my neighbor's representative? What happens if your leg gets chopped off, does it grow back in heaven? What about my dog and his leg? You guys sure about that transubstantiation bit?
Posted by Kriston at May 17, 2004 1:12 PMAs Sheridan fails to mention, Catholics aren't supposed to support the war in Iraq or the death penalty. So the Republicans are out. And I can't vote for Democrats either? Damn. I've been disenfranchised by the Vatican.
Posted by: Lauren at May 17, 2004 2:25 PMDisgusting. They should stay in the pulpit, in the confessional, in the soup kitchens and hospitals and stay the f*** out of politics. --s
Posted by: J.Scott Barnard at May 17, 2004 2:59 PMThis guy refers to politicians who "stand for abortion." That's a willful misreading of the pro-choice position. They're not for abortion, they just don't want it to be entirely illegal. It's not like they celebrate the termination of pregnancies. Some in the church pretend there's no distinction between believing something yourself and wanting to foist your beliefs on others through government.
I saw this clown on TV the other night. A reporter asked him who he voted for last time and he refused to tell. He claimed he's not telling people who to vote for, which is rather strange since he's setting up an issues litmus test that certainly seems to point to Bush.
Posted by: Dimmy Karras at May 17, 2004 9:01 PMI have no problem with the Church refusing Communion to people who can't toe the line when in comes to basic church tenets. If you want to belong to a group, then you have to adhere to the group's rules. If you can't adhere to the rules, then find another group. Make like a Lutheran and leave.
I think that a better question is whether opposition to abortion, stem-cell research, euthanasia are so necessary to being Catholic that the Church should be refusing Communion to people with different views. I don't think that it is.
Posted by: steve-o at May 21, 2004 3:32 PMToday, I went to the beachfront with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said "You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear." She placed the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but I had to tell someone!
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