SC Roman Catholic priest says Obama supporters shouldn't receive

By MEG KINNARD | Associated Press Writer
9:04 PM EST, November 13, 2008
 
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."

During the 2008 presidential campaign, many bishops spoke out on abortion more boldly than four years earlier, telling Catholic politicians and voters that the issue should be the most important consideration in setting policy and deciding which candidate to back. A few church leaders said parishioners risked their immortal soul by voting for candidates who support abortion rights.

But bishops differ on whether Catholic lawmakers — and voters — should refrain from receiving Communion if they diverge from church teaching on abortion. Each bishop sets policy in his own diocese. In their annual fall meeting, the nation's Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights.

According to national exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant. In South Carolina, which McCain carried, voters in Greenville County — traditionally seen as among the state's most conservative areas — went 61 percent for the Republican, and 37 percent for Obama.

"It was not an attempt to make a partisan point," Newman said in a telephone interview Thursday. "In fact, in this election, for the sake of argument, if the Republican candidate had been pro-abortion, and the Democratic candidate had been pro-life, everything that I wrote would have been exactly the same."

Conservative Catholics criticized Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004 for supporting abortion rights, with a few Catholic bishops saying Kerry should refrain from receiving Holy Communion because his views were contrary to church teachings.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she had not heard of other churches taking this position in reaction to Obama's win. A Boston-based group that supports Catholic Democrats questioned the move, saying it was too extreme.

"Father Newman is off base," said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. "He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. ... Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Sens. Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words."

A man who has attended St. Mary's for 18 years said he welcomed Newman's message and anticipated it would inspire further discussion at the church.

"I don't understand anyone who would call themselves a Christian, let alone a Catholic, and could vote for someone who's a pro-abortion candidate," said Ted Kelly, 64, who volunteers his time as lector for the church. "You're talking about the murder of innocent beings."

___

On the Net:

St. Mary's Catholic Church: http://www.stmarysgvl.org/

• SC Roman Catholic priest says Obama supporters shouldn't receive - Holy Communion
  • Aren't they interfering in something that's not in their competency?.....sm - abc
  • Now I've heard it all!!!!! s/m - gourdpainter
  • I will be so glad when the culture wars are over - I am so sick of this junk
    • Yep. - Isn't that the truth.
    • Exactly s/m - gourdpainter
      • I am also Roman Catholic. What's wrong with that? - abc
        • Gross. - sm
          • THANK YOU!! Finally, a voice of reason! - (sm)
          • That's almost as sick as...(sm) - Just the big bad
            • You need to check your facts, dear heart. - sm
              • What I have is personal bitterness...(sm) - Just the big bad
                • You need to get help for your bitterness. - sm
                  • News flash...(sm) - Just the big bad
                    • Rant away if it makes you feel better. - sm
                    • Message to Just the Big Bad... - Another Big Bad Atheist
                      • We religious wackos in America are - about to find out what
                        • ROFL...Please by all means....(sm) - Just the big bad
                    • News flash - yourself, you need to read - her posts again....you
          • Thank you for not tip toe-ing thru the - tulips! You are telling the
        • answer s/m - gourdpainter
          • Thanks, GP...nm - abc
          • Not being Catholic........ sm - m
            • Where does this damnation come from - Presbygirl
              • Right here.......... sm - m
            • good point s/m - gourdpainter
        • Help me understand.... sm - m
          • Yes, I could! It is MY baby and MY belly!..nm - abc
            • OMG - I hope you're not an MT!!!!!!!! - sm
            • Thanks for explaining it to me..... sm - m
              • Thank you for your fairness and tolerance......nm - abc
            • Abortion : adoption....s/m - abc
              • abortion:adoption....for 99.6 percentile...sm - abc
                • Not 99.6 percentile, but not stupid either - (sm)
                  • What a stupid statement by........sm - abc
                    • Good point there - big double standard re life
          • Let me say this s/m - gourdpainter
            • I agree with you, GP.. sm - m
              • I totally agree with you. - gourdpainter

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The Roman Catholic church believes that any nonbarrier birth control method is abortion.  That includes birth control pills, I.U.D, patch, anything.

They also believe that every sexual act should be open to the gift of a baby by God, therefore condoms and diaphragms are not really keeping things "open."

They also believe that avoiding sex during your fertile period using the "rhythm method" is also bad because theoretically you could avoid having children altogether.

However, it is not a mortal sin not to have children, just follow the above rules.

So Pro-Life really is not a political issue.  It really is a religious issue that they turned into a political issue.

What do you say we all switch and vote a dirty old maverick into the White House?

Sorry, just felt the urge to be an @$$. 

I don't normally post on this board, I stay over on the MT boards, but I have one thing to say from my heart:  Please remember that you reap what you sow.  All of the years of the Bush-bashing from the left...it was always "okay" to do that because Bush is an "imbecile" or whatever other hateful names he was called.  You didn't agree with his policies, etc.  So let's bash him.  Forget that he is a human being with people who love him.  I believe he did the best he could with what he had to work with in terms of faulty intelligence given to him and the unimaginable stress of being the Leader of the Free World. 

Well, now the tables have turned.  I, personally, do not intend to bash Obama until he does/does not do something I disagree with, but when the time comes that some people might have the gall to disagree with something Obama does and refer to him in a negative way by calling him names or otherwise, please remember how it was *okay* for the left to do it to Bush.  Just remember that.  The time will come when the hateful negativity comes back on you with a vengeance. 

Thanks for listening. 

While you guys are here on this page engaging it "silly season semantics", we Obama supporters are working our plan to ensure that we get this wonderful man of the people in office.  Has Senator McCain given his supporters any ideas on what they can do to try to help put him in office?  Most of the 90,000+ people at the Democratic convention are right now working the plan (not to mention the millions of us who watched from home!)  You guys need to wake up and give your support to someone who will work for you rather than against you in Washington. 

The only thing wrong with being wrong is stubbornly clinging to your wrongness.  You probably voted for our current president 4 and 8 years ago.  The deplorable condition that our nation has fallen into over the course of the last 8 years makes me know I must do everything possible to avoid 4 more.  I, and millions like me, are so happy that Senator Obama chose to use his awesome intelligence, skills and experience of working with people to help us help ourselves.  We are an unstoppable force.  Better get on board, folks. 

and bar owners really do not care about the danger the city could be in because of the legislation passed allowing bars to stay open 24/7 for 4 days.  I would think that safety would be a concern, but you just proved me wrong. 

While I can see the controversy about when life begins when we are talking about the very early stages of development, I have this question for anyone who has ever had a child....or been one.  Generally when a mother is about 20 weeks pregnant, give or take a couple of weeks, she starts to feel the baby moving around inside her body. The baby moves more and more as the weeks go by.  Toward 30 weeks or so, you can actually feel the baby changing positions to get more comfortable, moving around.  So you are saying that baby I felt moving in my body wasn't alive yet? 

declaration of war from these leaders?  He can't possibly be responsible for RECEIVING letters from people.  This is ridiculous and serves to do nothing but fan the flames of hate and fear.  Please open the link I provided and look at the graphs.  George W. Bush has completely destroyed any trust, respect or credibility the United States once had.  The WORLD wants a leader they can trust.  The WORLD simply doesn't trust the Republicans after eight years of Bush.  Open the link and see for yourself.

And the thread you started above is simply false.  Public service will NOT be mandatory.  He's trying to bring back a "Peace Corps" style attitude to America and wants to REWARD those who CHOOSE to perform community service with help paying for their college tuition.  The rich kids can still float through and don't have to do anything, but the poorer families -- and they are increasing in the USA every day with every job lost -- are offered a way to help pay for college tuition.  That's hardly sinister.

"Ask not what your country can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your country" used to hold a positive meaning in this country. 

Maybe some Americans have gotten too greedy and spiteful for those words to mean anything today, but they still hold meaning for many of us.

Or does your plan exclude these people?

And while you're getting your 50K, can poor people still get food stamps to feed their families?

..I will IMMEDIATELY begin to send out resumes and when I find another job, I will quit.  I will give the courtesy of two weeks' notice, though, because one of us should be professional.  However, my association with an employer like this will end immediately.

I don't understand why MTStars won't forward yours to me.

I guess receiving an email from you would require me to publicize my email, and that sort of makes me feel like I'm diving into a river swarming with piranhas, and, not knowing what kind of physical damage (viruses, etc.) they could do to my computer, I'm just not comfortable doing that.

Let me think about this for a while, and I'll get back to you (or you get back to me if you think of something).  In the meantime, yes, I really would like to have an intelligent conversation with a reasonable person.  It would be a breath of fresh air. 

Here is a mere sampling of responses to Nancy Pelosi's attempt to rewrite the abortion issue on Meet The Press on Sunday.  Flame their words all you want, but this goes back throughout the archives at the Vatican.  Also, Pope John Paul was just as outspoken regarding this subject as Pope Benedict is. 

If someone can find a way to justify abortion after reading these posts, all I can say is "good luck."  Do your own research and you'll see where many Catholics "in charge" are far from impressed with this. Search Pelosi abortion, Biden, etc., and you'll find plenty. Evangelicals feel the same way.

http://thehill.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=75650&Itemid=70

And another from the Washington Post:

Archbishop scolds pro-choice Biden

Valerie Richardson and Julia Duin
Tuesday, August 26, 2008

DENVER | Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived at the Democratic National Convention on Monday amid rumblings over whether his pro-choice Catholicism would help or hurt the Democratic ticket.

An Irish-Catholic from a working-class upbringing, Mr. Biden won the nod as presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama's running mate in part because of his appeal to blue-collar Catholics, the same voters who swung during the primary for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Although he represents Delaware in the Senate, Mr. Biden grew up in Pennsylvania, a must-win state for Democrats in November.

But the party's hopes of winning the critical Catholic vote took a hit Sunday when Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver said Mr. Biden should avoid taking Communion as a result of his pro-choice stand on abortion.

Archbishop Chaput, who was scheduled to lead a pro-life candlelight vigil Monday night here in front of Planned Parenthood, called Mr. Biden's support for abortion rights "seriously wrong," said archdiocese spokeswoman Jeanette DE Melo.

"I certainly presume his good will and integrity," said the archbishop, "and I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion if he supports a false 'right' to abortion."

The archbishop, who was not invited to speak at any convention events in what appeared to be a deliberate snub, told the Associated Press that he would like to speak privately with Mr. Biden.

The debate underscored what has emerged as a central theme of this year's convention: the tension between the Democratic Party's renewed outreach to religious voters and its long-standing support for unfettered access to abortion.

At a panel discussion Monday sponsored by Google on "The Shifting Faith Vote: What It Means for the Election," panelists said that concerns over social issues, such as poverty, are moving some faith-based voters away from the Republican Party.

At the same time, they haven't aligned with the Democrats, primarily because of the abortion issue.

"The push for the Democratic Party is to have a new position on abortion," said Steve Waldman, Editor of the religious Web site beliefnet.com. "When you look at Catholics and evangelicals, you see that they agree with 80 percent of what [Mr. Obama] says, but there's this stumbling block with abortion."

Whether pro-choice Catholics should take Communion became a major issue in 2004 during Democrat John Kerry's run for the presidency when more than a dozen bishops, including Archbishop Chaput, publicly asked the senator from Massachusetts not to present himself for the Eucharist.

Their stance may have given a boost to President Bush, who increased his share of the Catholic vote from 47 percent in 2000 to 52 percent in 2004.

Catholics, the nation's largest religious voting bloc, represent 26 percent of the electorate. Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, said that 11 percent of those this year are considered "swing voters," more than in any recent election year.

Catholic advocacy groups didn't wait long before weighing in on the "wafer wars." The conservative Catholic group Fidelis condemned the selection of Mr. Biden.