The following comes from a March 25 story on IrishCentral.com.
Vice President Joe Biden attended mass and received communion on Sunday [March 24] at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York where the mass was celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
At a time when the administration is being sued by Dolan and the Catholic Bishop’s Conference over the Obama health care provision on birth control, the meeting was seen as an attempt to create a new dialogue.
An Irish American Catholic, Biden receiving communion was also seen as significant. Dolan’s predecessor Cardinal Edward Egan refused to give communion to those who differed with the church on the abortion issue.
Biden says he is pro-life but will not seek to impose his views on others.
Biden met with Cardinal Dolan after the mass for coffee but what they discussed was not made public.
Biden’s latest move comes at a time when the Obama administration appears to be using the VP in a new outreach to American Catholics.
Biden represented the administration at the swearing in of Pope Francis in Rome where he again received communion. He was also inaugurated into the Irish America Hall of Fame last week, also in New York, attended by many leading Irish American Catholics.
Meanwhile, Dolan revealed that he had many stories to tell about the papal conclave.
“You know I just got back from three historic weeks in Rome, and you better get used to hearing a lot of stories about those three weeks,” Dolan said.
“It was quite an experience, to hear the first-hand stories of how they chose the pope and special inside information we got, it was truly a delight,” said a woman who attended the Mass.
Palm Sunday is among the most significant of the Catholic holy days and begins Holy Week which ends with Easter Sunday.
Read the entire story here.
Perhaps the cardinal didn’t know that Biden is pro-same-sex marriage and pro-abortion ( he won’t impose his beliefs on anyone but he sure will help carry the standard for this administration) – I mean, after all, Dolan didn’t apparently know about Cuomo, etc, etc, and still doesn’t seem to know.
The cardinal was obviously close enough to tell whoever gave communion to Biden not to do it, but he decided to continue to give scandal and allowed it to occur.
Afterwards, the cardinal had coffee with the Biden – Obama got a dinner and Biden gets a cup of coffee.
Biden is certainly old enough to know he shouldn’t receive communion and Dolan is the head of the USCCB-surely someone there knows that Biden shouldn’t receive communion. Whatever happened to mortal sin and the Sins that Cry to Heaven for Vengeance – they’re in the catechism for a reason or do we just look the other way as the cardinal did in the picture?
Perhaps, Bob, the answer to your implied question is “extortion”.
March 27th: Cardinal Dolan has said he will never refuse the Eucharist to anyone because to do so would be to ‘politicize’ the Eucharist…so Card. Dolan will allow Christ’s Body and Blood to be disrespected – it’s worse than that really – Biden promotes mass murder actively and aggressively not only in our own country but outside the country. He went smilingly to a very poor country in Africa and informed them that if they would include abortion rights in their new constitution then the money would flow but if they refused…people like Biden, Pelosi, Cuomo become emboldened by Cardinals and Bishops who allow them to consider themselves Catholics in good standing with the Church and so continue to receive the Eucharist. Would Card. Dolan offer Christ’s Body to one who was involved in and promoting pedophilia…? Murder is even worse…Herod is forever excoriated for the slaughter of the Innocents that he ordered…he is reviled, and rightly so. But in our time we see those who have actively and deliberately promoted the slaughter of millions and yet they smile and go on as good Catholics…the blood of those slaughtered innocents is on the hands of those who, not only order their killing, but those Catholic Cardinals and Bishops who allow them to go on considering themselves Catholics in good standing with the Church. Cardinal McCarrick went so far as to hide the letter then Pope Benedict wrote to the American Bishops telling them that those who were actively and publicly involved in abortion, such as Catholic politicians, should be refused the Eucharist. Card. McCarrick gave the Bishops his interpretations of the Pope’s letter but not the letter itself. In civil law, anyone involved in the act of murder, a driver, the one who ordered the murder, is considered an accomplice and is guilty of murder and receives, at times, the same sentence as the one who carried out the murder…but we allow these Catholic politicians to go on their way with no consequences…and we wonder why the numbers of those who practice their faith is declining.
Dolan will take the path of least resistense. He would offer the Eucharist to anyone.
Imagine! Christ’s blood poured out for all for the forgiveness of sins. What scandal!
We are not to judge, God will judge us soon enough, have faith.
We are not judging, we are taking a stand with Christ! Will we deny him and ask his forgiveness as Peter did, or be at the cross like Mary and Saint John? Peter wept bitter tears, because he sinned terribly to the one he loved so much. Will we do the same? Apparently!
No one is judging here. Only God knows the heart. BUT…….it is most certainly a scandal. A major confusion for those that aren’t real solid in their faith for whatever reason, and bolsters up the heretical crowd in the Church. I can just hear them saying: “See, we can really do anything and still be important influences in the Church.” Satan is love, love, loving this!
To Anonymous :
But we all know how these politicians voted. They voted for abortion on demand full-term (forcing the taxpayer to pay for killing the innocent helpless neighbors) Biden and Pelosi, two leaders of the pack of wolfs, who also advanced any homosexual whims (same-sex pseudo marriage) with their Votes. They could have voted NO, or the least they could have done was to abstain from voting.
To try and justify, not excommunicating these politicians, publicly, is an aberrations in itself.. They are wearing their hearts on their sleeves. No mistaken that they are working against Jesus’s Church. The Bride of Christ.
Are we not to Love Jesus with our whole self (Mind, body, and Soul)
Or didn’t God give you a ‘mind’ to use for ‘Faith’ and ‘Reason’.
You bet we can make a judgement on ‘blatant’ Sin. These people are not only sinning personally, but publicly promoting sin in print and photo ops.
Let’s face it. Dolan washes his hands of protecting the flock from wolves like Biden and Cuomo in the name of keeping dialogue alive. Betraying Jesus has it’s price. The Judas principle in action.
Paul…..couldn’t agree more. Faithful Catholics are really getting tired of the endless scandalizing. Looks to me like lines are being drawn.
Marcum…….yep…..all done in the name of “dialogue”. Dialogue and finding “common ground” a very necessary thing but cannot be done at the expense of the truth of the Catholic Church. Truth must be upheld. Charitably? Of course….but charity is proclaiming of the truth be it painful or not. So yep…..the “Judas Principal” at it’s finest.
The government forces me to pay for many things I believe immoral, not the least of which is war after war after war, which I believe to be completely immoral. And the trillions spent on these wars pales in comparison to the health care funds. And by the way, it is illegal as a matter of settles US policy to expend any funds for abortion.
You are incorrect. We must always judge sin. We must always judge right from wrong.
Three of the Spiritual Works of Mercy are: 1) Admonish sinners; 2) Instruct the uniformed; 3) Counsel the Doubtful.
Under ‘Obligations and Rights of all the Christain Faithful”, Code of Canon Law 212 #3 is very clear. It states: “212 §3. According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church
and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.”
Letting people go to Hell is not charitable. There is no co-existence between good and evil.
Thank you MIKE for helping us distinguish that. You are a good soul.
Herein lies the issue: “According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church”.
Few amongst those who manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion(s) accord the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they ought to possess in order to make such a manifestation.
This is why, in the opinion of so many, the bishops are not doing their jobs.
Anonymous,
Why should we listen to someone who refuses to identify his or her self?
For your information, Our Lord commanded us to “admonish the sinner”. Please tell us how we can possibly do so, without first determining just what the sin is and who is committing that sin! The answer is really obvious, we can’t!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
What does admonishment mean, exactly? Exclusion from the ecclesial community?
And would the Lord empower those who appear as apparitions on the internet to admonish others, whom they have never met, and to whose souls they have never encountered?
South Dakota or bust is the bumper sticker for you.
So Anonymous and Janice, if you saw someone give a gun to a youth and told him to shoot someone and he did, you think we should not judge and do anything about it, include calling the police, That would be a mortal sin of silence and make you an accomplice, at least morally. Not to speak about the killing of the innocent in the womb and reprimand those who advocate and encourage killing them in the womb is the same thing. What an irresponsible and reprehensible excuse. Many people have listened to the screams of a person being beaten or killed and not even as much as call the police because they did not want to get involved or bother to take the time. Your and Janice’s thinking is quite similar. Perhaps it will happen to you someday, and if you survive perhaps just remember what you told the rest of us, “Now don’t judge.”
Calling it like it is is not judging!
Looking the other way is judging!
Right on!
Calling the Bidens of this world abortion promoters is not judging, Anonymous. It is simply describing common observation. The judgment of God has already been sinking down through the heads of these scandalous persons, each time they receive Communion. Those who knowlingly give them Communion also share in the scandal and the condemnation of God. It is nothing more than saying what God has condemned, and those who are being condemned by God. Biden, Pelosi, etc are the false Catholics who are in states of condemnation right now, and holding hands with the bishops who refuse to correct them, who like Cain said “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Church teaches what the judgment of God consists of, and expects us all to respect it and point out those who are gathering it on their own souls.
I was not chosen as a judge, only Jesus can do that……
We are required to judge the SIN and advise our brothers and sisters who are in sin.
Receiving the Eucharist while anti-Church is a SACRILEGE. If one dies in that state he/she is destined for Hell.
Father Jose Maniyangat saw cardinal, bishops, and priests in hell during his NDE.
Anonymous, it is souls who go to Hell. You have the obligation to point out the judgment of God on these souls. But you refuse, and rather coddle them by advocating that God is distant, a false theology. God is here and now according to the Church. God came to us, and this is what Easter is all about. Whatever religion you practice, you ought to be honest and say.
There is nothing subjective here. Biden publicly and blatantly promotes the culture of death, ad infinitum. His own bishop denies him the eucharist. He’s gotten the message, over and over again, that what he’s doing is gravely wrong. Yet he continues. This is scandal that cries to heaven for correction, and you say we should simply ignore it while the damage continues?
Bob,
Those archaic ideas about “mortal sin and the sin that cries out to God for vengeance” went out with the modernist heresy of which Dolan seems to be very much a part of.
“Only those who stay with Tradition will be saved” Our Blessed Mother at Akita, Japan.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Kenneth,
Archaic they may be, but at least the classes I taught knew them, too and they knew the importance of what was being taught. Unfortunately, Tradition (or being a “conservative” Catholic) is enough to be sent on your way by pseudo-Catholic administrators.
Very well said! To think that Dolan’s name was even mentioned as a possible pope before the recent conclave is disgusting. We all saw the picture of Dolan laughing uproariously with Obama at the Al Smith dinner. Laughing while millions of babies die here and abroad with funding approved by Obama. This cardinal is a disgrace and McCarick is even worse-much worse! Thank God he’s retired. I must say that Benedict XVI was a marvelous pope, a humble holy man who began a real liturgical restoration. But I hope new Pope Francis will spend some time researching any new episcopal appointments and not start running around the world like JPII who appointed most of these current bums solely on the advice of Fr. Jadot.
Yes Jack, Amen! Your words sound just like me, and he is a disgrace! Us practicing, faithful Catholics need to take action and call Dolan’s office in NY about this as i recently did concerning cuomo receiving the Eucharist and his invite to obama to the al smith dinner!! We must speak up for the truth!!
Apparently there are two posters named “Anonymous”. The styles of their posts are different. Maybe there are three of these posters. The Anonymous posters should add some identifying symbol so as to distinguish their posts from the others.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Whenever a poster fails to enter a screen name, our system automatically assigns the anonymous tag. So, yes, there are frequently several anonymous posters a day.
It’s interesting my computer does not allow me to accidentally forget to include my name…if I forget it just won’t post, it comes back and lets me know to add a name.
Jack, your comment leads me to believe that you are unfamiliar with the process of appointing Bishops. Generally, each Bishop is responsible for providing the names of several priest who should be considered. These are sent to the Nuncio, as well as discussed wtih other Bishops from time to time. There is a long vetting process that each candidate is exposed to. People are interviewed, comments are reviewed, etc. At some points, the names and background information is submitted to the congregation for Bishops in Rome. They do another vetting. At some point, the congregation submits the names of three qualified (for a particular diocese) people from whom the Pope chooses one. It is a well thought out process, but like any process the results can vary.
Dolan and so many more US Bishops are afraid to death of this administration to the point that they betray our saviour. Sound familiar?
“It was quite an experience, to hear the first-hand stories of how they chose the pope and [the] special inside information we got….”
I thought cardinals took vows not to discuss these deliberations after the fact. I guess not.
Also, if memory serves, VP Joe Biden is allowed to received communion every Sunday in his home parish in Delaware. Nothing is ever said about this.
Biden’s previous Bishop in Delaware forbid him to receive Holy Communion and forbid him to speak in any Catholic School in his home Diocese.
I don’t know if the current Bishop of his Diocese has lifted this ban.
(This can be found on the internet.)
Mike,
At Akita Japan, a fully approved appartition, Our Lady told us that “there will be bishop against bishop and Cardinal against Cardinal!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Kenneth, when bishops do not back one another up, it is like two parents who cannot agree on how to discipline their children, and the little ones use one parent against the other to get what they want to their own detriment just because one parent does not want to be the “bad guy” (disciplinarian). When the parents back each other up, the children grow in virtue and the marriage survives because the parents are united. Otherwise, the children end up spoiled and in trouble and the parents fighting all the time. We can see this in the public schools in California now. Too many divorces with parents pitted one against the other, and the children quite often without virtue.
but hopefully, Mike, someone else will read and think twice about how they are raising their children, and some of the bishops will realize what they are actually doing. Ghee! How I miss John Cardinal O”Conner. After all he went through, I think he has a sure place in heaven. May he rest in peace.
You are preaching to the choir.
I know. I know.
Lots of readers reading in effect what is a re-emphasis of a good point, though.
We have a lot of issues and abuses happening all over. Just today, I went to a local church, Most Precious Blood Catholic church and asked if a priest was available for confession. It was just a question, the office lady was rude and said “why didn’t you go on Saturday or the other day we had a service for that”. She came off annoyed with me and I asked again, I’m so sorry to inconvenience anyone, I just wanted to know if any priest was available for confession.” She didn’t even bother to ask any priest at first, until I pressed on and then she did. I would of been OK if she said No. I would of just waited for another time or gone some where else. She did reach a priest after a few minutes my asking.
The priest came and what was suppose to be a confession, this priest instead was over reading into my concerns that I expressed and tried to confess, he wanted to problem solve and even asked some questions that didn’t pertain to me my faith and person, then I politely reminded that I was in only for confession, he kept talking and didn’t allow me to finish my confession, as the conversation went on, he got into an argument with me, even insinuated that I should of came on Saturday at the scheduled confession times, that he was busy when I came in and who was i to come in without an appointment etc etc….
Folks I am very disturbed by this, I wish I can go more into details but instead of me receiving the sacrament of confession, it turned into an argument with this priest who seemed to be reading into to much on my confession and talking a lot more and didn’t allow me to finish my confession. I am distraught right now. I need guidance on what i need to do about this priests inappropriate behavior, he tried to make me feel guilty for coming in the office and asking if a priest was available. I didn’t know that I was going to be treated so badly. I need to calm down before I write more on this…this is very discouraging and it is the reality we are faced in our church. Can you imagine if I had been someone who is considering of leaving the church, this priest would of helped with making that quick decision.
I didn’t know how to defend myself with the behavior of this priest. When I told him that I came to confession and that he was over analyzing me, he made a comment that disturbed me even more , he said something like Oh so are you saying that I am the one who needs to go to confession. There was no logic with this priest, he kept talking and talking and I was not given the opportunity to give a good confession, I don’t know what to say or feel, I am in shock. I did walk out because he seemed like he was about to explode, even his eye’s grew big as he spoke to me.
I am so heartbroken right now. I don’t anymore….right before this happened I was visiting our Lord in adoration. Boy the devil sure loves to attack. I feel weak and tired.
Dear Abeca,
Welcome! First of all, please forgive this priest from your heart, if u can’t, ask god to help u. You don’t want Satan getting the better of u here and create hate in you because it sounds like this priest he has an or maybe not so hidden agenda.
Then take that disrespectful and belittling experience with this priest and thank our lord that he allowed u to feel so low…see our our holy lord felt? And he was like a baby lamb without doing anything wrong…and u And I still to this day..make him go through it all.again with our own choices…sighhhh !.then start praying for holy priest …when I become a capuchin priest, my prayer is to never cause any such negative affect in the congressional… Unless its for their salvation..then I will admonish …but again in order to save them.
Excuse all the typos, English is my second language.
God in any language is capitalized, thank you!
Abecca have you written about your Confessional experience to the appropriate Diocese Bishop? (With a copy to the US Papal Nuncio if necessary?)
This is the only way you will improve the conduct of a bad Priest, so that he will not drive away those with less Faith.
Thank you MIKE, pray for me to have the courage to write one, I am drained and don’t know if I can express it well in writing, I know that i do here but it is much painful to rewrite in detail but it seems like it has to be done.
Abeca,
Sometimes I write difficult letters while in the Divine Presence!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Will do Abeca! That’s a promise.
Mike,
“This is the only way you will improve the conduct of a bad Priest, so that he will not drive away those with less Faith.” Such are the words of Wisdom!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Hello Mike I found out that I first need to write to his pastor from his parish but I was also contacted by someone else in the Diocese so I will get my email letter next week. I pray to convey well for I sometimes tend to block out shocking moments….thank you for your prayers.
God bless you dan, I will keep you also in my prayers. i appreciate your beautiful heartfelt comments in Christ. They are pearls indeed.
Dan,
Follow our beloved St. Padre Pio, OFM, Cap. and you wont go wrong!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Mr Fisher oh how could we ever forget St. Padre Pio. We love him and his story. Praise God for his great example…Thank you for reminding all about Saint Padre Pio.
Dan,
You probably by now have read my comments about Fr. Thomas Matin, CMF and his beliefs on “why they become priests”. He too was a Spiritual Child of St. Padre Pio, CMF, Cap. In fact, he brought the Padre Pio Prayer Groups to Southern California.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Abeca, in 1984 or 85 I went to Confession at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (now a Basilica) in Washington DC, and realized at some point during the confession that there were two men instead on one … I assumed at least one was the priest. That was the first and last time I went to confession there. Another time only a few years ago, I went to confession where a visiting old priest was hearing them; when he told me to say the Credo, and I asked him which version, he got really disgruntled, instead of simply saying which one he meant, the Apostles or the Nicene. He seemed really “mechanical” about it, as though he had long before lost the desire or ability to actually hear the confessions of people. Maybe he was only waiting for the words of the penitant to end and then rattle off some penance. I wonder if one of the big problems with many priests is that they vainly try to take the confession instead of giving it to God. That would explain a lot of the depravity among so many priests these days. No man can take in the vast array of sins that people confess and keep their spiritual sanity. Those who give it all up to God are the ones who build up the Church and make themselves and help make their people holy.
I’m so sorry Skai for what you have had experienced. Now that my faith was tested today…I can sympathize with you. But just because these things happen, we can never underestimate the beauty in the sacrament of confession….I remember a very holy and good priest once told me that when we go to confession and if the priest understands his true role and is holy….then at the confessional something miraculous happens. Those were not his exact words but he made sense….all the nonsense I went through did not need to happen, so I need to pray for this priest, as much as it upsets me, it will have to be his superiors and our Lord to help him get back on track.
I can tell you this has been a sad day for me….when it was suppose to have been a good day to unite with my Lord but instead…oh well, it’s a pity that some of our priests forget their real calling. I pray that Jesus may refresh him. I want to apologize for thinking that the office lady was rude, perhaps she knew that maybe Father may not have liked a walk in and maybe that is why she acted the way she did, perhaps that may have been my warning that in that parish, walk in’s are not welcomed.
Abeca,
I KNOW that Our Lord has blessed you even in your pain. He knows what your intentions were and are in regard to your confession. BE NOT AFRAID of that! Just go again when you can and explain to your confessor you tried to go and had a bad experience. Pray for this priest! Satan is really working triple time and especially on our Priests! In fact we need to be seriously in prayer for ALL OF OUR PRIESTS especially now. Keep them in daily prayer! I have seen Satan work and attack lately with a vengeance even in my own Parish which is normally pretty traditional. He is working every angle he can now, as he knows how short time is. He is even working hard and sometimes succeeding (temporarily) on some of our RICA people coming into the Church. It has been disturbing to watch and witness, and especially after some of the scrutinies which (from what our Deacon says) are mini exorcisms. Pray without ceasing, prayer is of UTMOST importance for all of us especially the more time goes on…….I will say a prayer that all goes well with you next time.
I don’t know where you live but feel sorry for you to have experienced this. My Church in Sacramento is a Traditional Latin Mass Parish. We have Confession before every Mass, even weekdays. If all confessions have not been heard before Mass, it continues after Mass. Sometimes there are all three priests hearing Confession. What a Blessing I Have !
Jo Ann thank you. You are blessed. We do have a Latin Parish but it’s not close by…. and I agree, I like that confessions are during Mass at the one Latin rite parish that we have.
My local parishes only have confessions on Saturday and by appointment only and as you can see they discourage walk ins….especially if you are not registered in their parish. It’s becoming a business not a calling. Now that I am over the shock, I think this priest violated some rules/canon law or whatever the right word is. I live in a suburb of San Diego.
Rebecca,
Once when I was sitting in his office at San Conrado Mission, it was very late at night, Fr. Thomas Matin CMF was on the phone with someone. When he got through he slammed his holy fists on his desk and lovingly yelled to me “what do they think they were ordained for, they were ordained to hear confessions, visit the sick, and celebrate Holy Mass”! He then told me let’s go. When I asked him where, he lovingly said as he often did to me “never mind, let’s go”. As it turned out we drove all the way from the Dodger Stadium area to San Bernadino to visit a woman who had called him because she could not get a local priest to come to her. I have told this to many priest and seminarians, especially ones who knew of Fr. Thomas’s sprituallity.
I hope and pray that this gives you some consolation in this Holy Week.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
My faith is always being tested. It feels like a snake pit at times.
Yes Skai I understand…..I can relate…Have a blessed Easter…
You seem to have PLENTY of energy to write your post…in excrutiating detail. About something that should have been PRIVATE.
Fritz if I had written all the details, you may be as shocked and heartbroken as I am right now…it was shocking, I only gave the details I thought weren’t very private. Enough is enough…….I didn’t need to be provoked into more sin and now I am without having have said a good confession. This was unnecessary. It tore me up today spiritually, it’s a good thing I love my faith and our Lord to not let it lead me astray but it sure caused unnecessary sadness of the realities that we are enduring.
This tells us that we really need to take seriously our prayer life and pray for these priests……and families….the evil one is attacking the priests and families…..but first we must acknowledge that there is bad will and that is the culprit.
Abeca Christian, I apologize for being so blunt in my first response to your post. For me, Confession is a very private thing, and when people talk about their Sacramental Confession experiences with me, I always ask them to stop — believing this is an encounter they should not be talking about with others. Nowadays, it seems even the most INTIMATE parts of our life are shared on the internet.
When I have had a bad experience with a priest, I TELL him, and then try another priest — sort of like dealing with a doctor or a dentist. Thank God, we have many priests in our country, so if one man does not seem good for my soul, there are plenty of others to turn to. In this sense, we are very blessed, unlike those people in countries where a priest comes to their village perhaps every two or three years.
Fritz I understand what you mean, I’m sorry I didn’t think it was private because a sacrament did not take place. But you are correct, it’s not a normal thing for me to comment on since this is the first time I had something this BAD happen to me. I apologize to all who have had worst or the same things happen to them and many did not believe them. Sometimes we are insensitive trying to defend the bad actions of some priests, that we forget what it truly does to ones soul and salvation. Since I am huge in evangelizing, I would have felt really bad if this had happened to someone I tied evangelizing to return to the Catholic faith. How can I explain these bad will actions of some priests, especially since some faithful do not want to drive far just to attend Mass at a more devout parish or if they don’t or can’t drive far to go to confession to a more devout priest. We have to acknowledge and be sensitive to these concerns and not brush them off, that is why I am praying about this one because I need to prep myself on what loving actions I need to take.
I’m fearful that I may just not want to be bothered anymore by it and let it go and never return there but how is that helping this priest, real love is to help him but it would have to be his superiors because pride can make them more unrepentant and if I correct him further, it may cause defensiveness and self righteousness. I’ve been to confession where there were other strange things happening but this one was by far the worst experience I have had to endure.
Fritz, guys like you are like the priest this poor lady tried to confess to! Stay off this site for now. This dear soul needs good advice, not a harangue from a self-righteous boor!
“This tells us that we really need to take seriously our prayer life and pray for these priests……and families….the evil one is attacking the priests and families…..but first we must acknowledge that there is bad will and that is the culprit.”
Atta girl Abeca! Now you are back up on the saddle focused on Jesus! Whoever gets upset with you for wanting our priests to be real fishers of men perhaps finds your post to be a reminding indictment of their own harsh mistreatment of Christ’s lambs. We call our priests Father and the name represents the welcoming love of God the Father. When a mother gives birth to her children her 24 hour day is inundated with endless requests. While it is true that our priests are busy, a mother certainly understands the meaning of being busy with duties and responsibilities from round the clock 2 0’clock feedings and months of interrupted sleep. Mary stood at the foot of her son’s Cross. A mother’s love and guidance is on call until God calls her home. A mother’s love is never scheduled at the expense of excluding a comforting and kind word even if she has to let her good obedient child or an unruly child know that she is busy and will help them as soon as she is able.
The saints were fishers of men. They valued each individual as a very special prize soul to be won for Christ. They did not view a drop in penitent as an annoying disruption to their corporate 9 to 5 schedule. Even if incredibly busy, they recognized the value of catching a big fish in every person that came to them for guidance, help or confession. Abeca one of the best priests that I ever had the honor of knowing told us that the biggest fish are caught right before Easter. Go back and bring that priest some Easter bread and a printed off of the computer picture of the Good Shepherd hugging the lost lamb. Place the picture in a simple inexpensive frame and drop it off with the receptionist.
Abeca, Dan is right. Jesus is the spotless lamb and every time we face these kind of hurts, we are reminded of just how much Jesus suffered to redeem us from our sins. The good priest that I knew loved St. Alphonsus Liguori.
St. Alphonsus was known above all as a practical man who dealt in the concrete rather than the abstract. His life is indeed a “practical” model for the everyday Christian who has difficulty recognizing the dignity of Christian life amid the swirl of problems, pain, misunderstanding and failure. Alphonsus suffered all these things. He is a saint because he was able to maintain an intimate sense of the presence of the suffering Christ through it all.
Quote:
Someone once remarked, after a sermon by Alphonsus, “It is a pleasure to listen to your sermons; you forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ.”
Catherine thank you for your compassionate post to me. That sounds like a good idea….I’ll pray about that one too. I recall a good friend of mine that she has seen that if a priest is in bad will, that it takes something stronger to break that. She told me that God always sends loving messages to them to help correct their error but even with that, because of their bad will, they still do not see. But its not up to me to decide that, only God knows and I place in His loving hands. Catherine if I had posted all the details, I think you would fall off your chair.
Your words are beautiful and yes I will take them to heart…I am a person who reflects often…I enjoy your words…thank you sister in Christ. And yes you nailed it about the example of a mum and the fisher of men….that is exactly what didn’t take place….you are a good soul!
Fritz also to give you peace…the sacrament was not administered….so it was not a confession, instead it was a shocking situation….I am still….can’t even describe what I am feeling right now….and yes I do feel weak and tired spiritually and needed that beautiful sacrament…and sadly enough I should of used restraint enough not to vent on this site….but it is what it is. It was shocking…..and I am human….I feel helpless because in my mind I keep asking myself…what do I need to do besides prayer…to make sure someone else doesn’t have to endure such an experience…what are the steps I need to take. This situation also causes unnecessary guilt for wanting to report a priest….we feel that they are untouchable. That they can’t do wrong….they are human too but I thought that they would take seriously their calling especially on ministering the sacraments….how anyone not sympathize with those who do not like the NO, their concerns are valid in connection to the parishes that treat the priesthood like it’s an occupation. and not a calling. There is a big difference.
Never mind me….I apologize if I had said or done anything wrong…it definitely shows that I need to go to go to confession and or maybe I’m just being scrupulous in the shock I felt today….
abeca, you may not realize but unless you are in danger of death you should not seek confession during Holy Week unless it is a scheduled time. Possibly, if you have committed a grave sin or you are returning to the Church for Easter, a priest would not mind being interupted for a Confession. Holy Week is the busiest, most time pressured week of the Year. There is Palm Sunday, a long liturgy; daily Masses then Holy Thursday and Good Friday- also long liturgies. They also must renew their promises to the bishop at the Chrism Mass-another long liturgy. They have to prepare homilies for all these; plus their duties in encouraging those entering the Church at the Easter Vigil on Saturday. Then all the really crowded Masses on Easter Sunday. In addition to their needing to pray their breviary. They have spent Lent going from parish to parish for Penance Services, also. Preparations for these liturgies take time. It seems like the priest did as he should in coming to hear your confession. Once he puts on that stole, he is in persona Christi. You should never argue with him. You should listen patiently to all he says as if Jesus was sitting there telling you. Unless he molested you physically, there is nothing to report although I think that you should talk about your experience with another priest. The sacrament was being administered, but you walked out before receiving absolution. You are angry and your pride was hurt. Be at peace. If you have not committed a grave sin, then do an act of contrition and ask Jesus to help you understand what He wanted you to learn. Maybe it was that a priest needs your prayers. Maybe you have toddled off on a stray path and the Good Shepherd was trying to bring you back. If you have committed a grave sin, then do an act of perfect contrition and do not receive the Eucharist until you have confessed. The Sunday following Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday. When you confess and receive Communion on that day, all the temporal punishments for your sins are removed as well as your guilt. God bless you and help you heal.
concerned,
There is no reason that abeca should not have sought Confession. There is nothing in canon or liturgical law that says, “You cannot seek Confession outside of established times during Holy Week.” Sure priests are busy this week, but “will he not leave the 99 behind and seek the one that has strayed?” He wasn’t in the middle of Mass, and if he was doing other administrative duties, those can take a back seat to caring for a soul and relieving it of a grave burden. The whole thing could have lasted about 10 minutes if it had been handled by the receptionist and priest properly.
Thank you concerned, no I did not know that. I was in adoration when I was led to walk in that parish and ask. I appreciate you letting me know.
Also you are mistaken, it did not happen on how you said it and I was not arguing with the priest…he has committed some sins of false witness as well. I wonder because of that area, that he thought I was a woman who in on contraceptives or other things…that is not the case at all…I wish I could post the details, I would like to think that everyone here would then understand how wrong it went. If he had led me finish my confession, then if he felt that I did not commit a moral sin, then he can help me by letting me know but that was not what happened at all.
I was hoping that someone that knows church teachings would give me guidance as to how to handle this situation but today I have a fresher mind and am able to reason better…yesterday was a huge shocker.
I’m tempted to give all the details but nah….. This priest did all the talking and questioning that it was hard to put in one word….it pushed an argument instead. Praise God I have respect for our priests that I tried my best to be respectful under the circumstance…I do admit I didn’t expect that and well I was taken aback. Instead of watching his eye’s come out further as he seemed like he was growing more angry, it was best that I left. He took me into a room and it was face to face…maybe it’s best to have one where you are not facing the priest…who knows. Now I know…in an emergency only, perhaps the priest could of kindly communicated that to me. But that is not the only thing that took place.
Thank you for your kind words though… : )
abeca , you said in your post that it turned into an argument. I have read your posts and did not think you would be one to be in mortal sin which is why I posted as I did. Perhaps since you were in adoration the Lord desired you to seek this confession so that you could aid this priest. He may have been giving you something to unite with his suffering. Thomas, There is no Church law that says you cannot ask for confession during Holy Week. But looking at the website for the Church I can see how many opportunities for Reconcilliation had been offered during Lent. abeca may not even belong to that parish so she would not know that and like she clarified, she felt inspired to make a confession during adoration. abeca seems faithful so I was assuming she was not in a grave situation.
Fritz,
You obviously know NOTHING about the consequences of the TERRIBLE SIN of SCANDAL, otherwise you would not write such dribble!
unless you are in danger of death you should not seek confession during Holy Week unless it is a scheduled time.
Apparrently there is some confusion concerning my statement that you should not seek confession outside of scheduled times during Holy Week. It is not a church law; it is an act of courtesy and consideration to the priests who one knows to be “maxed out” during that week. Most priests will hear a confession whenever it is requested. However, if one knows one’s soul is not in danger (venial sin), the use of Holy Water will remit them and make an act of contrition. If one is in mortal sin, one should seek confession. If it is not available, one should make an act of perfect contrition and make plans to go to confession as soon as possible.
Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz your post from March 27, 2013 at 11:42 am helped me with understanding that I did not make this priest break any canon laws. Thank you, as I reflected I felt the same way as you have described here Thomas. This will help me write a better letter to send as a concern and hopefully to help this priest feed Christ’s sheep better. God bless you Thomas, as I can see you have great wisdom.
I am a convert and have also had issues in confession, I dealt with scruples and have still not found a spiritual director or good confessor.
I am being encouraged to go to Traditional Latin Masses now, peayers for you!!
are you praying for your confessors? Do you ask for a spiritual director? Until you find one, please ask Mary to be your spiritual director. I will share this with you: “She will take out of your heart every scruple and servile fear; she will expand it so that you will run in the commandments of her Son with the holy freedom of the children of God.” This is from a work called True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort. It is about consecration to the Immaculate Heart.
concerned I have come to the conclusion that your comments are way off base….please stay away from anyone that may have valid concerns. After receiving good counsel and knowing the full details, yes that priest was wrong and like MIKE has advised, I need to follow up with a letter…which I am working on but feel like it may be a waste of time due to the attitude many have today, it seems like an unending spiritual battle. concerned whatever petty remarks you want to send at me again, i will have to ignore…I need to stay focused and your are a distraction.
Our church needs help right now, there is a lot at stake here. We don’t need more folks who keep brushing the dust under the carpet so to speak. God give us the courage to persevere with fortitude. This holy week, should remind us of what Jesus went through for us and one would think that having love for our Lord would also mean taking on our own cross here on earth and take action to love and care for our church, which includes taking the necessary steps to ensure it’s faithful stay holy. Go in peace.
Skai I wanted to thank you also for making us all aware that there are several Anon posters here, that they are different people responding…good to know. God bless! Also thank you to the editor as well.
Fritz,
You seem to have plenty of time to criticize on something you know little about. Learn your Faith! The only thing that needs to remain private in Confession are your sins and their nature!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Fritz, what is wrong with you? You don’t have to read things that you don’t want to read. You also do not need to be bullying women. That is what you did to Catherine over one of her posts. Now you’re bullying Abeca.
Abeca, I am sorry to hear what you went through. My own daughter one time went to confession and the priest refused to give her absolution, not because she was obstinate in sinning, but because he said she hadn’t committed any mortal sins. My wife and I looked at each other because we had just gone to the same priest and neither one of us had confessed anything mortal, either. We went to the bishop and that priest got a talking to. Whether or not he changed, I don’t know because we never went back to him.
I would go to the bishop on this issue. Not knowing which diocese you’re in, that may sound laughable to you, but I would go to your bishop. Either write a letter or tell him in person, if you can, following up with a letter. If he won’t hear you on it, then, if you’re in a suffragan diocese, go to the archbishop. I’m sure that either Gomez or Cordileone will hear you on this. If that doesn’t work, then you should go to the Apostolic Nuncio, the papal ambassador. And if that doesn’t work, you can go to what’s called the Apostolic Penitentiary at the Vatican. No, it’s not a prison, but it’s a court that hears cases on issues concerning the Sacrament of Penance. Keep copies of all your documents on this matter.
Finally, if you’re near a larger city, there should be some place around you that has a regular daily Confession schedule. Go there to make your Confession because whoever is there should have the proper disposition to be treating penitents. Unfortunately, “should” is the operative word here.
Thank you Thomas…this was helpful. Thank you for being sensitive to me because when we feel we have a valid concern, there is nothing worst than when someone makes you question it the more leaving you dry and making one feel that perhaps we were wrong…then one has to question, then when will and how can we correct these errors when we are told to brush them off and are never taken seriously about them.
God have mercy on us all as we try to discern correctly. My prayers are with this priest and for myself.
Yes I’ll try to see if I can speak to our Bishop (if I don’t give up on this) next week because I’m sure this week maybe a real busy time for them and I don’t want to upset anyone any more. I’m going to return to reflecting on this holy week and to not let this upset me further but I only pray to react in the way God wants me to react. Sometimes it’s hard to decipher because we are pulled into to many directions. yesterday my human side came out…I’m thankful that I am not a robot but that I can be humbled and recall my human condition.
You should not experience what you did from any priest. I would suggest that you consider if it is time for you to consider another parish. Finding a parish that fits your needs, has a priest that is sensitive to the needs of the parishioners is not an easy thing to do. Many people spend months or longer finding the right parish for them and their family. I, personally, would never set foot in that church again. The rite of confession has changed over several years – not the sacrament, but the way it is done. Instead of confessional booths as in the old days, they are now in a room and are much more like a counseling session or at least a conversation. Some people don’t like that approach, and need to find some place that uses the booths. In any case, I feel for you for the bad experience you had. Others are correct, get to the higher ups about this.
Bob one I am humbled by your charitable response. I thank you. God bless you.
@Abeca, your experience makes my heart sad. I’m sorry. Would that all of our priests truly knew who they are ! But they do not. So, they wander far from the sacraments. Please acknowledge how pitiful this priest is. Pray for him. Then find a different priest for confession.
Once we were traveling and my son, then 15, asked for confession before Mass of a priest who was not offering the Mass. He got a cold response “we don’t usually do that now”. Another priest heard his confession. (Yes, a rarity, 3 priests in one place.) But another time my same son, knocked on a rectory door and was received warmly and enthusiastically though it interrupted that priests meal with friends.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit convicts us at hours not regularly scheduled. Pray for priests like the latter. Forgive the others.
Most of all remember that when they fail at their ministry they also fail Christ. Do not take it out on Christ by abandoning Him.
“interrupted that priest’s meal …”: O, the cataclysmic struggles some priests have to endure!
I wish that priest could have been with me in Fr. Thomas Matin’s little office that evening long ago that I described earlier. He might have been shammed to repentance by humble Fr. Thomas Matin, CMF.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
AnnAsher you are a rare and beautiful soul who just gave me great advice and has cheered me up. I am sorry that your son too had a few discomforts and I’m grateful that he kept knocking until someone did receive him. I agree with everything you said. I will take your advice and thank you for reminding me to not abandon Christ and to keep praying . Thank you for your mercy. I too must give mercy as mercy was given to me.
I said a prayer for everyone here who responded to my post, I am touched by all your responses. God bless you and Hi mercy be with you always. ABBA LORD WE ADORE THEE. These souls have lifted me up with their charitable words….God bless them for their good deeds. Amen. God forgive me for placing to much attention to myself on this….but I am thankful that these good souls are a reminder of what is the real purpose in life…..God bless you all!
Anne,
I know enough about my Sister in Christ Abeca to tell you that the last thing you have to worry about is that she might take it on Christ and or His Church!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Abeca Christian, sounds like the priest is a “priest for himself” and not for Christ. How very sad! I am so sorry that you received what sounds like condemnation to me, instead of a “bath in Divine Mercy”. Do understand that Our Dear Lord will deal with him when the time comes. Pray for the conversion of this priest; it sounds like he is in much need of prayer. AND, I can just see Jesus smiling down on you right now because you take the Sacraments very seriously, and apparently more so than the priest in question. You will be blessed!
Thank you semperficatholic. I appreciate your advice and heartfelt love in Christ….I will definitely take your advice..what a perfect time to carry this cross and pray for this priest. Your comments and others have helped me see the real spiritual side. Which I already know, I just needed your words and others to help me carry that out and be reminded of that instead of letting me get upset further.
Mr. Fisher I love your faithfulness to Christ and I am very much humbled by your comments here. You are a great witness to me.
I’m very sorry to hear about your experience. I once went to confession with a priest in Sacramento who had the same aggressive, shaming attitude. This priest, though, was presbyterially incompetent. Fortunately, most priests are not this way in the confessional.
Thank you Steve….I’m sorry that you too had a taste of something similar….as I suspected….it is something that needs to be brought to our church’s attention. Lovingly it needs to be corrected. It sounds like it happens too often. My grandmum has instilled in me that it was also a sin to provoke others into more sin….so I take it seriously…just think when someone has a contrite heart and to confess ones sins, it is a humbling action….a priest needs to be sensitive to that calling of this sacrament and not cause more grief.
I’m sorry, too, that you had such a bad experience. We need to pray for priests like that, because they will have the Good Lord to answer to for their actions. That is definitely not the norm…I bet if you went to the next parish down the road your experience would have been been completely different and you would have come away feeling uplifted and renewed. I urge you to go again (soon) and can almost guarantee you will see how right I am. Good luck and God Bless.
Kathy I must admit I am fearful to go another parish right now especially this week. Tomorrow I’ll see if I will go to my Latin Rite Mass, they usually have confession during mass…but it’s not local. I agree with you and you are right, it may be different at another parish. : ) Thank you for your kind words. God bless you.
. Of course there is no room for rudeness.. Next time, try calling for an appointment. They’d would be much more obliging..Priests need to get a better handle on their time. And people want them to be allowed to get married…just imagine.
Abeca,
At Our Lady Help of Christians traditional parish in Garden Grove, CA, all you need do is ask, and if a priest is available, he will hear your confession. This morning, before and after Mass, Fr. Sretenovik heard many confessions and he loves to do so. It has been my observation that this is the case in all traditional parishes.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Mr. Fisher, who gave them faculties for Confession?
Mr. Fisher thank you for mentioning this parish, when I visit Garden Grove and if I’m there on a Sunday morning and if possible, I’ll make sure to look them up to visit. I trust your good judgement and know that you are in excellent graces with our Lord. You are a good soul especially because all that know you, you are a true gentleman and also a protector of the unborn. Your work to save more unborn babies from an abortion is way high up in your priority that it tells a lot about your good character. I know that the devil uses others to attack you because of that. The devil never rests, he is a liar and a slanderer. God bless you. You are a true soldier for/of Christ!
abeca, scandal is leading people astray. If you go to confession at that chapel (which is not Catholic) you may not be absolved from your sins. Mr. Fisher attends there because he accepts their ideas that the Catholic Church is heretical and they are the True Faith. Please don’t hate another poster so much that you would jeopardize your soul and the souls of others. Call the bishops office and see if he gave them faculties to hear confession before you go. Bishop Vann may have, but you should check first.
anon I have no clue what you are talking about? Hate another poster? What are you talking about?? You just bear false witness against me…please stop.
The spiritual battles just keep on coming… What’s with people today…all they see is hate hate hate? How will anyone reflect well when hatred is all they see in others actions. Especially when they are mistaken. God have mercy. The real hate are the sins that we do not recognize within our selves due to bad will. They are hatred towards our Lord and all that is good. They hurt our relationship with Jesus. I don’t know about anyone else but I can’t imagine life without our Lord and if my sins are what are separating me from my Lord and from getting closer to Him…then I don’t want them! I may not have power over them because of my human condition as a sinner, but I can surely trust in our Lord.
Anon if you are concerned about Mr. Fisher, I suggest you pray for him, he is a good soul and because of that, I know that prayers do move those in good will. But let it be God’s will, not ours.
“preach the gospel at all times, if necessary, use words” – st francis of assisi. sounds like clergy needs a reminder too!
A little correction. Pope Francis was not “Sworn In”. When someone becomes Pope there is a Coronation and Sacred Oath.
Dolan and Biden could become today’s version of Ss. Peter and Paul. What a blessing on us all. Just imagine no more sin, as it will be abolished.
Cardinal Dolan will, unless he repents, enjoy the same accommodation after Judgement that poor Archbishop Cromwell of London is probably now enjoying!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
This is a judgement. This is what we are commanded not to do. It is not admonishing the sinner. Nor is it determining a sin. (And may I say, Kenneth, that you seem a little grumpy today. I hope your Holy Week will improve.)
We are indeed commanded to judge, Anonymous. Have you never heard the verse by Jesus, “Judge not lest you also be judged”? The verse also says, “First pull the log out of your own eye …”: Jesus is telling us to judge after squaring up our own souls … like with the Sacrament of Confession or lesser means as they sometimes suffice. When you interpret this verse, Anonymous, as a command not to judge, then you really cause yourself to become even more confused and more shallow of perception. You seem to be able to distinguish ideas but not able to understand them. “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”? You, Anonymous, evidently do not fear the Lord; if you did, then you would not willy nilly toss out interpretations of His recorded Word. “Willy nilly” because you have never stepped up to the challenge of providing rational justification of your claims. It is hard to imagine that you really do not understand your responsibility to bear out your claims with examples and doctrinal support. You simply make a claim, and do this over and over, no matter how many others post lots of information and doctrinal arguments demonstrating that your claim is errant or shallow or fails to address what you try to make it address. You never step up to the challenge to prove your point, but seem to consistently throw straw and pebbles from the shadows.
The Catholic Church-apostles, Doctors, Fathers, Saints, Popes etc has always interpreted it as DO NOT Judge, not judge yourself then judge your neighbor. Do you remember the Gospel? “Let the one without sin cast the first stone.” All the accusers left and the adulteress was left with the one without sin. Did he cast a stone? No, he did not condemn her-and she was guilty. He did not declare the guilty guiltless but told her to go and not to commit this sin anymore. It does not mean that you need to stay silent when faced with a situation of sin. It is an act of mercy to admonish the sinner.
You can do that without judging. Those who are saying that we must judge are using the word in a different manner. Can you admonish the sinner without using dysphemisms? Can you admonish the sinner without self-righteousness? without threats? without incurring guilt yourself?
We make just judgements daily, that is how we can avoid temptations and discern. We can judge what our Lord already has judged as sin and what leads to hell but we can’t judge what is really deeply rooted in ones heart, only the Good Lord knows that. I think that many need to understand the difference. That is where some fall in error.
How can a bishop believe that the Holy Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ and not protect it from profanation by Biden?
What a disgrace.
Oh, just terrific — now we’ve got people watching if OTHER people receive Communion.
The annoying spies from the New Testament would be SO proud: “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” (Luke 6:1-2)
Why don’t we just set up video cameras in every Communion line to see who does what — and of course interrogate those who do NOT receive Communion about what sins are keeping them away?
It is not your (or anyone else’s) business to Judge why anyone may or may not choose to receive Holy Communion.
Those who respect and honor the Real Presence, and choose not to commit Sacrilege are better Christians than those who go to Communion because of what others may think.
Sometimes those who choose not to receive Holy Communion are not Catholic, or have merely forgotten and had something to eat within less than an hour of Communion distribution.
But, we are our brother’s keeper. And we are tasked to pull them out of snares and help them avoid snares and pitfalls. Arrogance will not carry out this command to love one’s neighbor, and will remain silent while that neighbor suffers or loses his or her salvation. Arrogance is a garment that is not permitted in one’s union with God through Christ.
Public, grave and consistent mortal sin is a source of scandal and therefore is dealt with in a public manner. If you mortally sin and receive Eucharist, and no other person is aware of it, it is yet another mortal sin and needs to be confessed, and repented in private….but it does not cause scandal because no other person witnessed it with knowledge of your sin.
Mr. Biden and others like him have publicly rejected the most foundational of Catholic teachings and the scandal they cause has rippled throughout all of the Church. Therefore, his attempts to receive should be rejected until he publicly recants his mortally sinful position on abortion & gay marriage. He has no problem speaking of his sinful support of these things publicly…so when and if he confesses and repents, he should have no problem speaking out clearly in defense of the unborn and of marriage between one man and one woman. Any priest who hears his confession would likely make that part of his penance and condition of absolution( just as one is asked to return stolen goods in seeking absolution).
The only one making the Eucharist political is Cardinal Dolan…there is nothing political about the desecration of Our Lord…it is more important than politics…it is foundational to our faith that no one receives in the state of mortal sin. It is for the spiritual welfare of the faithful that this is taught, demonstrated and adhered to always. That alone would take the politics out of it! Killing the innocent unborn is not politically incorrect…it is immoral! The fact that these politicians do so publicly and continue to call themselves Catholic is what is political and clearly malice against the virtue of the Faith; heretical in nature and contrary to Christ’s Church here on earth, they spit in the face of the Son of God.
No one has ever suggested that private sin be made public; that persons approaching for Holy Communion should be scrutinized by others. It is the public nature of public figures speech which makes it the center of attention in this and other forums and rightly so.
Perhaps if all the Bidens and Pelosis in the political world were treated as they should be by all bishops and priests and excluded from the sacraments, they might over time begin to see the importance for the salvation of their own souls in repenting. They would be welcomed home with open arms!
Alice,
“The only one making the Eucharist political is Cardinal Dolan” sorry but you are wrong and Biden and others of his ilk know it. By just standing in the Communion line, they are committing serious public scandal. As an active pro-life leader, I have often been confronted with “but Cardinal or Bishop xxxxx allows them to receive Communion so it must not really be that bad!”
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Of course you are correct that the offenders are making it political (I meant to offer that as a given), but additionally, Cardinal Dolan is allowing this to continue, which with all the “politics” re: HHS and gay marriage, it seems likely that he is “looking the other way” in order to accomplish a political end. That political end, I realize, also has a moral imperative associated with it, but still, it seems to be that the Cardinal is dealing with this in a political manner as well. As if to say, “I am not personally offended”, when in fact the offense is directed not at him but to the Son of God. the Cardinal is called to always protect the Sacrament, not use it to show his personal tolerance for evil behavior. Otherwise he would prevent him from receiving. The Bidens, and others, clearly use their reception of Communion as a political signal to others that the government is the friend of the Church and asks us to believe that if they are good Catholics and can support abortion, gay marriage, etc., then why can’t the rest of us just shut up and follow?
and yes, Cardinal Dolan is not the only Cardinal or Bishop letting them get away with it either!
Maybe they think that once they’re in mortal sin, it does not matter how many more mortal sins they commit, and so they simply keep up the appearance they need for votes. Or, maybe they believe that it is just as easy and feels no different to confess one mortal sin as to confess one dozen of them. Maybe they really never noticed the difference between being in a state of grace and mortal sin … They may have been taught but never noticed experientially what it was about. Why wouldn’t they, even as children? Possibly because they never responded to the faith that Christ extends to everyone. In this case, no matter how much they learned, it would do them no good.
Ding dong, Fritz, are you in there? There is a difference between dietary laws and the Holy Eucharist. You ought to look into it.
Back in the day, the people currently running the Irish American Hall of Fame would have been run out of town. Maybe they’re the descendants of “The Soupers”.
Feeney: Irish American Hall of Fame? Soupers? Now, I know what Clancy’s Saloon is, but I’ve never heard of these others … some secret Irish societies maybe, huh? Even Clancy’s had a cellar, but it was hardly secret … perhaps because so much beer flowed that no one could hear anything anyway, and even if they could, they would never be able to remember it … sorry, we’re talking Irish here … I should improve my grammar: “… they would have never have had been able to remember it” : )
I confess my post about Clancy’s Saloon is a stupid one, and hereby retract it.
Skai okie dokie
The photo of Joe Biden and Cdl Dolan together at mass says it all. How can the Catholic church expect to be taken seriously any longer? As a simple layman, I can only express grief and deep disappointment. Cdl Dolan at the democrat convention, giving his blessings after that illustrious body raucously denied God not once but thrice was enough to give me pause. Giving Holy Communion to this liberal abortion supporter and sodomite marriage pusher has to be the last straw. Cardinal Dolan, you are a disgrace!
This is an outrageous sacrilege! As Michael Vorris pointed out, the Cardinal and his way of thinking should be called DOLLANITES, as they care nothing about Christ, and are only concerned about being politically correct. The code of canon law specifically states that Holy Communion must not be given to those who dissent from Catholic morals or doctrine. Cardinal Burke, and other Vatican officials have made this quite clear. Cardinal Dolan has spread scandal before: he preached and give a thumbs up at a gay Mass in Manhattan ; he was silent when New York state approved homosexual marriage, and he invited Obama to the Al Smith dinner. Saint John Eudes has strong and powerful words to describe evil clerics who are wolves in sheep’s clothing. By being politically correct, Cardinal Dolan is more like a princess of the Church instead of being man enough to be a prince. May God have mercy on him, and all the others who are causing scandal to the Mystical Body of Christ. It will not go well for them on judgement day.
I agree with you? How to do get around this?
I think of people who have gone through divorce and remarriaged outside the church and cannot receive communion. I would think that people who openly support abortion or redefining marriage would absolutely be refused communion. Why do we have a douple standard? Have you written to Dolan? How about Pope Francis?
God is allowing all this to happen, but as someone else pointed out, we are losing people to other faiths because of all this.
I would also add, God can take care of himself. He says that people bring condemnation of themselves when they receive in mortal sin.
People who have gone through divorce and remarriage can go to Holy Communion with certain provisions ONLY. See the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” #1650 – note the last sentence.
There is no double standards only some disobedient Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests who aid and abet in Sacrilege and Scandal.
Dolan has been written to many times, yet continues to give Scandal.
I know how you feel confused.
“his way of ‘thinking'”? “thinking”?? Wow, that’s a good one. Jesus called that sort of mental activity, not thinking, but craft, eg, “that fox, Herod”. Thinking is what we find par excellence when reading such as St Thomas Aquinas. Craft is what we find when we read publications by church bureaucrats.
Was that, Dolanites or Dollarites?
Regarding Canon 915 – please see: “APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION SACRAE DISCIPLINAE LEGES of the SUPREME PONTIFF POPE JOHN PAUL II for the PROMULGATION of the NEW CODE OF CANON LAW” (1983) – on the Vatican web site. It contains the following sentence. “Finally, the canonical laws by their very nature must be observed.”
Note the word “MUST”.
Any Cardinal, Bishop or Priest who KNOWINGLY gives Holy Communion to a ‘Catholic’ public heretic or schismatic – is being disobedient to the Magisterium. In addition they are aiding and abetting in Scandal and Sacrilege.
Canon 915: “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
Canon 1399: “In addition to the cases established here or in other laws, the external violation of a divine or canonical law can be punished by a just penalty only when the special gravity of the violation demands punishment and there is an urgent need to prevent or repair scandals.”
what about the Pope himself giving communion to people who support abortion and want gays to marry?
Also didn’t Christ say, “What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven?
Glad you asked. Your information is not correct.
I watched the Papal Installation Mass more than once. I never saw Pope Francis give Holy Communion to either heretic and schismatic Biden or Pelosi; did you actually see this or are you making assumptions?
There were more than 500 Priests giving out Communion, most of whom were not Americans and probably have no idea what most world-wide politicians do or do not do in their public lives.
In addition none of the Popes have ever made a statement that it is ‘ok’ to receive Holy Communion while in the state of Mortal Sin, or that it is ‘ok’ for Cardinals, Bishops or Priests to purposely violate the Code of Canon Law.
Mike,
Nice try, but it won’t fly! If the new Pope is aware of what took place and allowed it, he too must answer before Almighty God some day! He could have and should have instructed his priests not to knowingly give such public sinners Communion!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Mr. Fisher – how do you know what the new Pope knew?
How do you know what the Priest giving Communion knew?
Do you personally know what every “Catholic” politician across the World knew?
If you don’t know, how would you expect all others to know?
Did you contact the new Pope within a timely manner about Pelosi and Biden?
Perhaps God has given you the gift of reading minds.
Mr. Fisher, why are you demeaning the new Pope and adding to public doubts about his character and holiness – – – unless you know for a fact that the Pope knew Pelosi and Biden are heretics and schismatics and their public activities in the USA.
Rash Judgment and Calumny #2477.
Unless you have proof of your veiled accusation – you owe the new Pope a public apology.
Not one reliable report has stated Pope Francis knew anything about Biden and Pelosi.
The issue seems to be the condition known as the “culpability factor”; so, maybe the bishops give Communion to these people because they think that they are not fully culpable … sort of like “invincible ignorance”. But then it would touch on the mortal sin of sloth, that these bishops and communicants are guilty of.
A bishop is supposed to be a priest, a prophet and a king. In other words, he must teach, govern, and sanctify. Unfortunately, Cardinal Dolan is none of the above, and as a result has none of the necessary attributes of being a shepherd. Just as England is undergoing a severe change in getting new, orthodox bishops, so do we here in the United States, and in other nations, need a hierarchy which is devoted in serving God, and in bringing the Church closer to him. The scandal caused by giving Holy Communion to a heretic such as Biden goes against Catholic teaching which says the ‘Bread of Angels must not be given to dogs. Ave Maria Purrissima!
Goes back to Cardinal Cushing on the sale of contraceptives saying I will not impose my belief on others. Another “souper”.
Anybody realize that this is Holy Week and we are all in it together, the trials are sure to be big. The scandelous things that we see and hear are abounding. Give God thanks in all things and rejoice . The Easter Feast is just around the corner, the ressurection of Our Lord Jesus is our hope. I am so excited. God is the Victor. Please don’t say things that you will regret, especially about the Princes of the Church. We don’t know all the details, and Bidon’s public reception is upon him. Everyone needs to pray a lot for his sorry soul so that he understands what he is doing and Whom he is receiving. We can offer prayers of reparation and use our suffering as a prayer as well. May God Bless you all.
Cardinal Dolan is more than an embarrassment to actual, practicing Catholics. He personifies the dead-on-the-side-of-the-road form of Catholic practice that passes for acceptable these days. Many cardinal might like and respect C. Dolan (and the American press surely does), but not people of Faith. He is the typical central-casting type of Irish-American priest, red-faced, glib, and affable; but not a good Catholic leader of the Faithful. One cannot even consider the question without apoplexy: a Man of God sitting down to eat with Obama, giving out communion to VP Biden, etc. This is a man without principle, except to get to the front of the buffet line. The Church dodged a bullet by not having C. Dolan elected Pope. He is the perfect confessor to Governor Cuomo and the wonderful NY City and State Catholics that “practice” their faith there.
St. Chris, there are plenty of faithful Catholics here in NY who have to suffer with this man Cdl Dolan. Please God lift this scourge from your Church….
+J.M.J+
I’m not sure if this helps anyone but here goes. I would recommend that if you are seeking confession pray that you find a good priest to hear your confession, I can say with confidence that It will happen. Having moved from the UK to France my experiences have been mixed but in the UK I used to occassionally go to mass and confession and actually my confessions were invalid because I was living outside of marriage, unfortuately it wasn’t until I met a good priest in France that told me this.
Today I’m a practicising Catholic married with one daughter and another child on the way.
The point that i’m trying to make is this, sometimes God puts these barriers in our way not only to see how much we want something but also because we need to ammend other parts of our life before we are readyto enter back into communion with our Faith. We just need to be patient and definately persistant!
The barriers have been in man’s way for thousands of years, not exactly a recent event.
Let us give thanks that Card Dolan was not the choice of the conclave.
Dear Ann Asher: Cdl Dolan didn’t have prayer. He is simply not qualified. He is illiterate in Latin and barely speaks Italian, which is a requirement for the Bishop of Rome. He should never have been promoted. He confirms the Peter Principle to a tee. Initially, he made a favorable impression; a breath of fresh air that rapidly dissipated, alas! I think as head of the USCCB he is a complete failure. His letter regarding the HHS mandate was largely ignored by bishops and priests alike. He delivered the Catholic vote to Obama, in my opinion, by his fecklessness,
Being pro-life but not wishing to impose one’s views on others is equal to being anti-murder but doing nothing in the face of others murdering. Being silent in the face of the murder of innocent Americans is failure to protect American lives, the first order of responsibility of governments historically and around the world. Joe Biden fails as a Catholic and as an American political leader, virtually powerless though he is at present as “merely” the Vice President of the United States of America.
Disgrace #1 and Disgrace #2 meet.
“Biden met with Cardinal Dolan after the Mass for coffee but what they discussed was not made public.”
Meanwhile the continuing grave scandal of profaning the Blessed Sacrament is made very public.
Social emotions such as PUBLIC EXAMPLES OF COMPROMISE, guilt and shame are often shown in facial expressions.
Google Recognizing Emotion From Facial Expressions: Psychological and Neurological Mechanisms Ralph Adolphs – University of Iowa College of MedicineRecognizing Emotion From Facial Expressions
Google Emotions and Body Language
GUILT/REMORSE
Facial Expressions
angelic smile blink at owlishly blush deepening hue of shame
elaborately casual expression
eye one another conspiratorially
eyes blinking with incredulity
eyes downcast eyes widen incredulously eyes widening innocently features remarkably composed and angelic flush
gawk incredulously harried or haunted look incriminating look insipid grin paleness pitiful look of appeal quivering lip shameless grin smile like a saint unable to make eye contact
You know, Biden, Pelosi, Sebilius and all the other so-called “catholic” politicians who say they are catholic but don’t want to “impose” their beliefs on others and support abortion and other culture of death legislation are only fooling themselves. They can approach and receive Holy Communion all they want and receive the Body and Blood of Christ all they want from whomever they want. They are only condeming themselves. Yea, even self-excommunicating themselves because they are unrepentant of their sin against the Holy Spirit and the teaching of the Catholic Church which alway and everywhere teaches that abortion and gay “marriage is wrong. No one can make them accept and support or defend the Faith and its teaching. This would take a conversion of heart, and by their public actions, statements and behavior, so far, they have chosen to remain outside.
No, they are not “only” condemning themselves, Stella. They are preventing others from hearing the Word of God … mainly due to the complicit bishops hiding this fact.
Biden knows that the bishops, including Dolan, are more political than they are faithfully Catholic—-just as he is. They use each other and abuse the Faith. The majority of the bishops are that way.
We should not judge others, God will judge us soon enough, have faith.
And, Anonymous, you’d have us all follow the pied piper if he put on a bishop’s mask. What a fake you are!
God also says “admonish the sinner” How can we possibly do so without making a determination as to who and what are sinners?
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
This is why the Holy Spirit didn’t pick Dolan to be the next Pope
It was dozens of cardinals who picked the pope. I can see the difference between them and the Holy Spirit, can’t you?
Skai, isn’t that like saying that the Bible was written only by man and not by the Holy Spirit? The Spirit works through us. Think about it. Christianity is incarnational. The Word was made flesh. And even in our fallen flesh the Spirit still works through the human body. God is with us. He’s not an outside force that makes things appear and disappear. He didn’t create the Bible out of thin air. It came through man. Jesus didn’t appear on earth suddenly out of cloud of smoke. He was born like each of us to a woman. The whole point of Christianity is that the human body is special and God shows us this in many ways, including how the holy father is selected.
Good points, Mark F.
Abeca Christian’s postings at first seem off topic for this story about Vice President Joe Biden receiving Holy Communion on Palm Sunday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, with Cardinal Timothy Dolan presiding. However, Abeca’s stated desire for absolution expresses the right attitude toward sin, that is horror and a want to be rid of it as soon as possible, that should be part of every Catholic’s thinking. Abeca’s story stands in stark contrast to that of Vice President Biden, who has never disavowed his support for abortion, homosexuality, and other evils. On the one hand you have someone who has no qualms about receiving our Lord in Holy Communion while holding fast to proclaiming objectively evil activities as good, and, on the other hand, you have someone whose horror for sin and desire for absolution was met with opposition by a priest, in the very action that should have led to absolution, the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
As a priest, I can say Skai is right in that “No man can take in the vast array of sins that people confess and keep their spiritual sanity.” I must give it to God or I will spiral into despair. A few years after ordination, I began the practice of whispering a Hail Mary as soon as a penitent leaves the confessional. In that prayer, I have given the confession over to the Blessed Mother, that the forgiveness extended by her Son in the sacrament will lead that person to closer relationship with Him. Then it’s done, as far as I’m concerned. No matter what kinds of sins I just heard, I can now move on to be able to give my attention to the next penitent, with a clear mind and a clear soul.
As a seminarian, I had similar-type experiences to those described by Abeca with three different spiritual directors over the years. One was a parish priest who canceled two different appointments with me without informing me; when I showed up at his rectory, the secretary was abrupt and said, “Everyone knows Monsignor is out of town this week. It was in the bulletin.” When I explained that I am not a parishioner and had not seen the bulletin, and hadn’t received a phone call from Monsignor, she toned her voice down but reiterated that it was “well known” about the pastor being away from the parish that week and that she found it difficult to believe Monsignor would schedule an appointment, knowing he was to be at such-and-such conference or workshop in another city. I left a message for Monsignor to call me when he returned. Long story short, I had to initiate the connection with this priest because he didn’t return my call even by two weeks later, I had one more appointment with him, during which he never apologized for his failure to communicate with me on his inability to follow through with our previously booked appointment. The other two spiritual directors were more like what Abeca described: not really listening to me, overly ready to analyze everything I said, expressing anger when I expressed some discomfort with some questions asked. One of those I only met with two times. At the end of the second session, he announced he didn’t feel comfortable continuing as my spiritual director because of some of the things I shared, and the feelings I expressed, in the moment, about those things. I was relieved because I didn’t feel comfortable with him either. I thanked him for his honesty and asked him for his recommendation to another priest. I felt the meeting ended with us on amicable terms, but then in an evaluative meeting with my vocations director, I discovered that the spiritual director priest had repeated the contents of my session to the vocations director. I was hurt and felt violated by the exchange, yet neither the spiritual director nor the vocations director apologized for the gross violation of confidentiality.
I share all this, Abeca, to let you know you are not alone. Please pray for me and for my brothers in the priesthood every day. God bless you and keep you.
Famijoly I was in tears when I read your post. Someone understood me? Yes many here do. God bless you and yes I will be praying for you. Father Yes and YES, I won’t stop praying for you and all our priests. This experience has woken that up in me, the great importance to keep praying for our priests and church. I know that we do pray for our priests during mass and even when we pray the rosary and praying for our priests is always the norm all over in our faith…a lot of faithful are praying.
When I offer prayers for you, I will say this name Famijoly, because God knows who you are. I pray for Famijoly! and yes when we pray, we pray for even the priests who need it the most, I know that our good priests pray for us often too…they know what is at stake.
Thank you kindly and for your mercy. That is why I like to connect on this website because there are good faithful souls here who do love the faith and defend it and also can understand….I wish I had a good priest like you near by us….I am in San Diego….I don’t mind driving far to seek out good priests, we appreciate you….I know that good priests are overworked because many of the faithful drive far to go see them…..they are the real men in Christ….they truly care for my soul as you have demonstrated here….I offer up my prayers to you! God bless you. I am grateful for your comments. After all this, how can anyone doubt that there is a God….God is great! For the conversion of all sinners, which includes me the bigger sinner, I pray and for those that sometimes are weak and tired, may God refresh them and make them stronger to do HIS WILL. I love our priests….I am sorry for sometimes giving up on that notion….since December, with a few tragedy’s our family are having to endure and still enduring with hardened hearts from lost teens and souls….our faith has been tested and the devil has been truly attacking our family. It always happens right after a good prayer time, like after adoration or praying the rosary, the attacks come on strong….
The Vatican has often cautioned about giving Holy Communion to pro-abort politicians, but they still do it. It scandalizes the faithful. I am against giving them the Holy Eucharist of Christ. Jesus Christ is not a reward or a peace offering or bait. But they bring judgment on themselves, don’t they? This sacrilege should cause us to look into our own souls as well. We need to pray for the souls of both.
How many regularly receive Holy Communion without confession first, with mortal sins on their souls? Who wants to admit they are sinners and go unprepared to the Healer of Souls? With indifference and coldness to to Divine Presence in the form of bread and wine? With hatred? As much as I am repulsed by these bad Catholic politicians receiving, I am wondering about each of us!
About not judging, correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t Our Lord Himself tell us to beware of wolves in sheeps clothing. How can we do this if we do not use our mind and make a judgement? Elsewhere in the Gospel, Jesus told us to judge just judment!
I was taught that we cannot judge someone’s interior motive(unless they express it openly or it is obvious) but, we can surely judge their actions as being good or bad.
Now the Church teaches that public servants who support abortion etc. by their voting, speech, influence… are not to be givine the Holy Eucharist because of the scandal that would be given (let alone the sacrilege to the Blessed Sacrament).
These are public actions. They can and should be judged… or are we not supposed to look at a candidate for office voting record to see if we should vote for them? We make jugements all day long on what is good, bad, better, worse,
etc. Why is it when it comes to God, the Faith and the sacred being profaned, we are supposed to not use our mind? And by the way, you that say not to judge, are by that very statement, making a judgement on those who are judging.
Let’s find out what the Church really understands and teaches about these passages in Scripture before we decide to tell people to “stop judging”
I remember reading when Nestorius denied Mary being the Mother of God while he was speaking in a Church, (I think he was preaching a sermon) Anyway, when he denied Mary being the Mother of God, the people in the Church rose up on the spot and called him out on that(a judgement!) He was finally condemned as a heretic… the Nestorian heresy. Would’nt it be wonderful if we grew into enough faith to do the same?
Tell me where I am wrong here! Give me authoritative teaching, not opinion please. Thank you!
Dear Lord, please give us holy leaders to guide and strengthen the faithful. Thank You!
An excellent post, Hello. You are right. God wants us to make fair, impartial and just judgments and make sure we are not doing the same thing. That is all the phrase “Judge not” means.
I am becomming more and more disappointed in Cardinal Dolan..he seems to love the spotlight,the media and everything seems to be a joke to him.Please keep your Vatican conclave stories quiet.Is nothing sacred anymore..
Biden will b running for President next election cycle. He is already starting to campaign, and will be effective with the “Catholic” vote. C. Dolan does not realize that he is politicizing the Eucharist, and is campaigning for Biden.
Either Cardinal Dolan and Biden do not believe in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, or they do, and relish in His humiliation in the sacrilege of His Body. This is beyond tragic, the men who wear red to signify the death they are willing to suffer for the Faith have betrayed Jesus. Everything is a joke to Cardinal Dolan. He even joked he hoped he would not have to die for the Faith when he was given his red hat. We are in such dark times. Domine, miserere nobis. +JMJ+
I only imagine the horror of Cardenal Dolan when he was offering the Body of Christ to God our Father during the sacrifice of the Mass and later seeing The vice president extending his hands to received the Body of Our Lord Jesus. Like the Blessed Mother warns us in Fatima the spirit of Desorientation is rampant everywhere.
Martha,
For the good of his soul, we hope and pray that he experienced horror at that sacrilegious moment, but I strongly doubt it!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
you have to feel bad for our Bishops. Such cowardice.
Abeca,
Your desire to go to confession was put in your heart by the Holy Spirit. How pleased Jesus was that you responded to His prompting. I wish that the secretary hadn’t been rude; she is the Church’s representative on the front line. Sometimes they forget that. As the evening office clerk in our parish, I try to remember it, but when the phone is ringing off the hook, and people are asking for keys, for copies, for rosaries, for you-name-it, sometimes you get frazzled. Your secretary needs prayer, and probably a day of recollection.
My brother is a priest, and once he told me that one of his parishioners saw him in the drive-through at a fast food chain, waiting to place an order. The parishioner knocked on his window and when my brother lowered the window, the person asked if he could hear his confession, which, my brother invited him into the car to do so. I was appalled that someone would do that, but he said that he would never refuse the sacrament to someone who had asked for it. I’m sure he would have preferred that this person show up on Saturday when it was regularly scheduled, however my brother just “went with it.” I guess my point is that we have to remember that people, including priests, are just “human” and sometimes they don’t always behave in a welcoming way. Having worked in a parish office, I see what a lot of people don’t see–the calls to visit the sick, the calls to look at the leaks in the church roof, the calls to help someone move out of their apartment, the list goes on and on. It is possible that you were in the “wrong place at the wrong time” and that this priest was pushed beyond his limit. He may have been called out of his warm bed the previous night to administer the Last Rites and to sit with a grieving family. We’ll never know. You certainly deserved to have been treated with more respect and dignity, and to not have to suffer humiliation. But as Dan says in his post, Jesus sometimes asks us to accept those sufferings and to offer them up. I hope you are able to pray for the priest and the secretary and I pray that you do not give up your spiritual journey because of this. May you enjoy a most Blessed Easter.
V.P. Biden is a complete fake. His visiting with Cdl. Dolan, while receiving Holy Communion at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, was done to make it appear that he had gone to Confession with Dolan and he had therefore confessed and received absolution for his sins. It’s all for appearance’s sake, most especially since he plans to run for the presidency in 2016. Nancy Pelosi and other politicians are doing the same thing, attempting to make it appear that they are right with the Church. In their sick minds, they believe that if they were really living in sin, the Church would stop them before the Communion rail. This is even worse because they are making it appear the same to other Catholics that the Church would stop all of them…..since they haven’t, they are right with the Church. This is the scandal the Bidens and Pelosis of the world perpetrate and, unfortunately, the bishops are aiding and abetting it. Where does this end? My sincere hope will be that our new Pope Francis will make it very clear to all bishops around the world that it is black and white, not gray, that they must prevent the abuse of the Sacraments, most especially Holy Communion, and it should be public, so that the world will know that they were excommunicated until they give up the open sins of promoting abortion and other crimes. The most used, abused, tortured, maimed, and murdered in this world are children…..when is this going to stop!
All Catholics of the world cannot, must not, be a party in any way to this ongoing mass murder and we should not vote for anyone who is a part of this holocaust.
The time is now!
Biden is disrespecting Jesus, in the Eucharistic Presence, but he is also foolishly calling down judgement from God, upon himself. He know full well, what the Catholic faith teachings are, on what he is doing. I hope he wakes up and repents before he is called out of this world at the end of his life. If he doesn’t, there are dire consequences.
The heart of this man is where Jesus needs to be. Once there maybe He can work the miracle that is needed. Let V.P. Biden receive and hopefully submit to the Lord.
We need to be better people ourselves. Holier people. Decent people. We can’t keep sinning and rebelling against Holy Church and then turning around and condemning people (some of them God’s elect) for sinning differently than we do. Repent! And believe the Gospel!
Serving communion to heretics is a statement of approval.
I think Biden was sent to do this aiming at discrediting the leadership of Cardinal Dolan who has become internationally known and important after the Conclave.
The majority of troublesome American bishops came about during the post Vatican ll era through the work of Jean jadot and his influence lived on for years. He was not a factor during the pontificate of j.p. ll.
What a rich thread of comments from sincere Catholics, including our Catholic priests. California Catholic Daily is a gift to us all. It’s wonderful how the Internet can do so much for us in communicating our heartfelt concerns. I learn a lot from my true fellow Catholics on this site, and I thank you all. We keep on hearing about how bad the Internet has been for morality, but I have found it to be just the opposite. It all depends on whether people are seeking the light or not. Though we often debate and even disagree, I think everyone who posts comments on this site does care sincerely about their position, and CCD does a great job of presenting articles on topics of interest to us all. Thanks to CCD too.
Those who hold secular power must be careful to not intertwine the State with religion. As a Catholic, I hope Biden stands opposed to abortion. However, by law, he cannot force his beliefs onto others. We must all understand that one may maintain the sinfulness of certain acts, but should leave the choice to perform them to those whose souls are at stake.
The legality of an act on earth does not determine its sinfulness before God. And the sinfulness of acts should never determine whether it is possible to perform them; it must determine, in one’s own heart, his actions. Joe Biden has not sinned publicly by allowing others to make the choice to sin, and Cardinal Dolan does nothing wrong by not withholding the Eucharist.
Utterly false doctrine that you spout, Anonymous. The likes of Biden not only make abortion available but they also push it. They are abortion pimps, catering to those who oppose God. As has been pointed out, the Church teaches that Holy Communion must be prohibited to public figures who promote sin. You falsely claim that Biden et al “allow” others to sin, but this is false. Biden provides money to enable abortion, he provides law enforcement that enables abortion. Your complicity with abortion makes you an abortionist as well. Jesus tells us plainly that we are our brothers’ keepers … and you, Anonymous, defy this solid teaching found both at the beginning of the Bible and in the Gospel.
“Joe Biden has not sinned publicly by allowing others to make the choice to sin.” Huh? Abortion involves ending an innocent life that has not the ability to make a choice. We don’t always criminalize that which the Church knows to be a sin but we do – or should – when it involves ending life. There is no where in the US Constitution that says that we have to set aside our religious views when we vote or make laws. The Constitution prohibits the government from creating a state religion not from citizens from voting their consciences. By your reasoning you would have stifled both the abolitionists and Dr. Martin Luther King.
Cardinal Dolan, and most prelates believe in the subordination of the Catholic faith to the pervading cultural mores, and as a result, morality and doctrine are fluid, and subject to constant change. God is not to be mocked. The ancient martyrs died for the faith., but now, there is no faith to die for, since everything is relative. What a mess the Catholic Church finds herself in. The only solution is to undo the damages caused by the liberals of the 1960’s.
Why is it any surprise? Cannot one bishop or Cardinal in the Holy Roman Catholic Church just say “no” when one of these pro-baby killers come up for Holy Communion?
You all understand just because he is a Cardinal does not mean he cannot go to Hell right? What is the point of being a Roman Catholic anymore when there are no rules to follow and you can do what ever your pleasure might be??????? Well this is what is happening right here and now. Thank you Vatican II.
Vatican II was created by pre-Vatican II people.
Skai, VERY INTERESTING INSIGHT.
After all, it’s not like all the Bishops of the Catholic Church who gathered for the Vatican 2 Council were a bunch of young hippies on marijuana from Malibu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If what I can recall from studying when the Vatican II started, yes before I was born, hee hee……wasn’t it that time when the Jesus heretical movement was started. So just think, they start to spread their heresies and unsuspecting Pre Vatican II people get a little bit indoctrinated and makes them insecure about their faith because of lack of bible knowledge. Maybe the roaring 20’s, the sexual revolution has effected those who just attended Mass and have taken for granted the richness of the faith back then. Maybe since the Vatican II, some people who took for granted the Pre-Vatican traditions are more aware of it now. It may have been a real eye opener. Just wondering….just a thought.
Abeca, I was already in university when Vatican II began its implementation. All those Catholic students were pre-conciliar kids. Half of the parochial school grads were “do it if it feels good” and half were virtuous. In that Pope Emeritus has said there will be a “smaller yet holier church” and one effect of Vatican II is making it obvious who are striving towards holiness and who are not, then it seems to me that the purpose of that Council was to separate the sheep from the goats. The pro of 1.2 billion Catholics is that there is a lot of it that acts as a buffer against enemies, and the con is that this buffer makes it difficult for the world to find the faithful when seeking God.
Skai you make sense, I think I was trying to make sense of what you said the first time. You do make sense.
Fritz, on a deeper level in addressing your mockery, you seem to be ignorant of the fact of what the Cross and Resurrection accomplishes … namely conversion of souls from whatever state of sin they’ve been involved in. There are countless conversion stories of souls from the most difficult lives of sin. St Paul notes that some of the Christians had even been homosexuals or effeminates … He himself had been a state executioner of Christians. St Mary Magdalene is traditionally regarded as having been saved from prostitution. St Matthew the Tax Collector before his conversion had been a tax thief. Some great Catholics have been criminals or terrible sinners or even normal virtuous men and women. Jesus calls to all, and some respond and follow.
Many on this site would like nothing better than for the Pope or Cardinals and Bishops to publically refuse communion to public officials that don’t follow every teaching of the Catholic church. And, I suppose, other “so call Catholic” who doesn’t abide by every segment of the CCC. The point is that if they did make a big fuss over the issue, it would cower all other public officials to question their beliefs and reverse their votes. Ain’t going to happen! None of the reasons for it not happening have much to do with dogma either. Can you imagine the news headlines ten minutes after the Pope refused communion to the Vice President of the USA who was on a special mission to the inaugural mass of the Pope? That would be more scandal worldwide than the Pope wants on his firt day. Maybe Cardinal Dolan didn’t stop VP Biden from receiving communion but had a long chat with him over coffee. Our religion has many beliefs with which the majority of the nation disagrees, especially on some key issues. But, at the same time you can’t run around flogging the VP in public. That will drive people from the church, create more heated dislike for the church and its members that already exist. Let’s keep in mind that there would not be much support from the pews either. In some cases 90% of catholics disagree with the church on some issues. Most Catholics, I suspect, would see the picture of the VP and Cardinal and think how wonderful it was that he went to communion, like he does almost every other day of the year.
And, Bob One, what exactly did you think was the whole point of excommunication? Are you mocking the Church Fathers, St Paul, dogma, Christ?
Abeca Christian, I am sorry that you had a bad experience with trying to go to confession. In our diocese the churches have been having extra time set aside for people to go to confession. I went to confession on Monday. It seemed different as the church was so quiet. I think when I came in I was the only person in church except for our two priests. I am glad that I was able to go to confession and be forgiven my sins. Reading your experience makes me feel fortunate. In the past, there have been two priests that I stopped going to for confession. I think the one priest made fun of me because from hearing my confessions he knew that I was chaste and he put me down because of this. But on the other hand in a way it also protected me from the man.
I am new to this computer stuff but I think that I am making some slow progress. This website is interesting and so are the comments. I would just like to say that the real moral problem today is that we need more saintly people; especially among the laity. When that situation improves then we’ll get better bishops and priests. We need more prayer.until then I’m afraid we’ve gotten what we deserve.
Pretty much, stan. After all, priests come from among the laity.
Pope Francis I pray for you this wee hours of the morning. May the Holy Ghost help you recognize these abuses in the church and may He lead and guide you to take action as you lead Christ’s church, I pray for your faithfulness and holiness to be a gem, one that does stand out as a true witness and example for many to follow…God bless you and guide you and may your heart be obedient to that calling. We pray the same for all the lay faithful in our church…God have mercy on us and save us. For the conversion of all sinners we pray and for the lost and broken God reclaim them and heal them. In Jesus name we pray! AMEN! JMJ
Getting back to Cardinal Dolan giving Holy Communion to a heretic and schismatic —
Please see: “APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION SACRAE DISCIPLINAE LEGES
of the SUPREME PONTIFF POPE JOHN PAUL II for the PROMULGATION
of the NEW CODE OF CANON LAW” (1983) on the Vatican web site.
It includes: “Finally, the canonical laws by their very nature must be observed.” – – – note the word “MUST”.
This includes Canon 915, and Canon 1399, as well as the rest in entirety.
Please contact any Bishop who violates the Code about this requirement (which is not a choice).
The Code of Canon Law can be found on the Vatican web site.
What is wrong with Cardinal Dolan. Does he think that is above Gods Lawn. Just because he is a Cardinal. I hope he thinks about his soul when he faces Our LOrd