For their own good, Catholic politicians who support abortion must not receive communion, the chair of the US bishops’ pro-life committee has said.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas said that advocating for “intrinsically evil acts” such as abortion is a grave moral matter than can lead to mortal sin.
“Recent efforts to perpetuate and expand abortion in state laws have illuminated the deplorable actions of some Catholic public officials and advocates,” Naumann said.
The archbishop warned of the spiritual consequences: “Conscious and unrepentant mortal sin endangers our eternal souls and places ourselves on a path to Hell.
“To receive our Eucharistic Lord, while in a state of mortal sin, only further jeopardizes the eternal fate of our souls.”
Naumann said that he also has responsibility to ensure other Catholics are not scandalised or misled by an apparent tolerance of politicians who support gravely immoral causes.
Full story at The Catholic Herald.
So which of the Bishops are ‘clean’ regarding the scandal sex abuse of minors?
In my humble opinion, dirt there removes that Bishop’s moral authority.
It’s about time! Now let’s see all those so-called Catholic politicians across the political spectrum be denied Holy Communion when like whitened sepulchers they go to Mass. How many of our Bishops will be real leaders in this initiative or will they be like Cdl Dolan who continues to schmooze the NY governor who is and has been living in sin already with his live-in girl friend.
Why is abortion the sole issue that determines ones Catholicity? What about politicians who do nothing to end hunger or who support business practices that increase pollution? Also, why can priests, bishops and cardinals who molest children remain in the clerical state and receive communion but these politicians cannot?
Let me tell you why Harold because abortion is murder, pollution however regrettable is not, but only liberals like you make the moral throwing trash on the side of the road to murdering an unborn child
I hope your questions are sincere. One becomes Catholic by baptism. We can lose salvation by mortal sin but we do not stop being a Catholic.
Sins of omission are vary serious and can be gravely immoral and can have eternal consequences. Anyone aware of committing a grave sin should not present themselves for Communion.
Priests are like all of us. If one has confessed one’s sin to a priests and received absolution, we can again receive Communion.
I do not know about remaining in the clerical state. They are not to present themselves as priests and cannot say public Masses.
Almost 50 years too late, but a welcome stance if the bishops stand as one against all opposition, and take all the opprobrium heaped upon them from inside and outside the Church. Maybe an opportunity to clean off some of the dirt?
Perhaps Catholic politicians who support the expansion of the nuclear arsenal should be denied Holy Communion. Many recent Popes have addressed the immorality of these weapons and the “guns versus butter” issues that arise as a result of their development. By continuing to hammer on abortion, by the way I am pro-life, the Bishops are clearly aligning themselves with the religious right and the republicans.
This is good, so far, but what about those who support, say, homosexual marriage and LGBTQXYZ “rights”? These related areas may be “legal” but, to many, the things demanded by their adherents are not moral but do give great scandal. This is tougher on the politically craven Church leaders who fully understand that many “Catholics” (including clergy, particularly in the Vatican) support these “rights” and find great comfort in them. Still, homosexual predations are a central evil in today’s world, and the acceptance of homosexuality as “normal” is a dividing issue in the Church (why, just look at those wonderful Methodists, refusing to pull the plug on scripture, by rejecting accommodation with homo-marriage and…
I’m sorry, Christopher, but what does this post have anything at all to do with homosexuality, “homosexual marriage”, “LGBTQXYZ rights”? Homosexual “predation” dividing the Church but heterosexual predation is just fine with you? Please stick to the topic. Otherwise we go down rabbit holes. Not everything is about the gay.
Archbishop Naumann is excellent in this— but the entire Church, under our Pope, should be 100 per cent aligned on this important issue– with the Pope firmly enforcing rules on reception of Holy Communion– no exceptions! Abortion is MURDER!! As St. Paul said — committing sacrilege, taking Holy Communion in a state of unrepentant Mortal Sin– leads to eventual death. And a trip to Hell!