Bishop steps into church, state fray

Bishop steps into church, state fray

Local Roman Catholics have heard. The question is whether they will obey.

Catholics are considering a pastoral letter from Bishop Michael Sheridan, head of the Diocese of Colorado Springs, in which he said Catholics who vote for a political candidate who supports abortion, euthanasia or illicit stem cell research should decline Holy Communion. The letter was published May 5 in The Catholic Herald, the diocese’s official newspaper.

Sheridan’s position is the most stringent any U.S. bishop has taken publicly this election cycle and has added grist to the national debate about politics and religion.

Sheridan's letter said in part: "Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem cell research or for any form of euthanasia... place themselves outside full Communion with the Church and so jeopardize their salvation. Any Catholics who vote for candidates who stand for abortion, illicit stem cell research or euthanasia suffer the same fateful consequences. It is for this reason that these Catholics... may not receive Holy Communion until they have recanted their positions and been reconciled with God and the Church in the Sacrament of Penance."

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support the war with Iraq and the death penalty, both of which the vatican has come out against???

they're willing to forgive an unneccessary war or two
if it gets abortion banned in the USA.

My bishop is a very wise and good man. I wholeheartedly agree with his opinion that God gave every human being free will "to choose"...and we will be judged in the end for our choices by a judge much wiser and all knowing than Bishop Sheridan.

I am glad John Kerry has not succumbed to the will of Bishop Sheridan who I believe is an outspoken evil man with a personal agenda.

After all, Arnold, Rudy, Pataki, Ridge, are pro-choice.

Will you withold the sacrament from Andrew Sullivan, too?

Or does this only apply to Democrats?

So, how about another Reformation?????

That would fit in with some of the other things going on in the world.

It's a Reformation I'm after..

Our village has a large Catholic population and a large church, they get parking lot plowed by village, police crossing guards for Sunday Services. It is time to stop feeding the monster that would destroy our liberties.

180

Tax the Republican Catholic Church activists.

Then I think they would have a leg to stand on. As it is, it's pure partisanship.

If these bishops keep up with this crap, then the church's status as a tax exempt entity needs to be revoked.

advocate irresponsible positions that lead to torture. Apparently human life is only important when it involves cells that are unaware that they are human.

deny them Communion rights? :eyes:

They should oppose any politician who favors using the government to force mandatory abortion upon women who do not want them or doctors who do not want to perform them. Catholics should oppose anyone who advocates using the power of the state to take innocent human life by force. Fortunately, John Kerry is not in that category since he merely supports the primacy of conscience over civil authority. If early Christian martyrs hadn't felt that way, there would be no Catholic Church and we would all still be offering incense to the Roman Emperor.

The archbishop in Oregon said that poeple who publicly was pro-choice or
pro gay marriage could not receive communion. So, now I am done.
It was not my choice. As member of the executive board of the Democratic party, I feel they have excomunicated. I didn't leave, they kicked me out, and I am not going to change for them.

Lupita

had with these supposedly celibate men who know nothing about marriage, sex, children, family responsibilities, etc. tell women what to do with their sex lives.

I really think that because they are celibate they think about sex all the time and as a consequence, have become obsessed with it.

not to mention outside the bounds of legitimate behavior in a secular democratic state.

Conservative clergy tried this kind of bullshit in Europe, saying anyone who voted for socialist or communist parties, who did not support fascist political parties, would be outside the Church.

It usually had little if any effect on those whose interests the socialists were representing.

This Bishop should be censured by the Vatican.

If he is a proponent of the Vatican's stand on killing and death.


"Is Pope John Paul II telling the world that if President George W. Bush goes ahead with his plans to invade Iraq without United Nations sanctions, the Catholic Church will consider Bush a war criminal?"


Pope John's words:

“A war would be a defeat for humanity and would be neither morally nor legally justified,” the Pope told Bush in a papal message delivered last week by a special envoy. “It is an unjust war.”

This leads even conservatives like John McLaughlin, host of the syndicated McLaughlin Group and a longtime supporter of both conservative and Republican causes, to have second thoughts.

“The Pope is saying an invasion of Iraq would be criminal,” says McLaughlin, who is also a former Jesuit priest. “A statement that strong cannot be ignored.”

As Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell scramble for votes in their uphill battle to win UN Security Council approval for an immediate invasion of Iraq, the Pope’s words are creating growing problems for Bush at home.

the link is dated 3.10.03

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=15&num=1904

a politician (cannot be both according to canon law). The bishop should keep his politics to himself or resign and become a politician.
As Christ said: Reneder unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's.