On Thu, 03 Jun 2004 21:27:10 -0400, JDG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Archbishop's column, taken from the Denver Archdiocese website: > > It's a matter of honesty: to receive Communion, we need to be in communion > > If we claim to be Catholic, we need to act like it � all the way, all the > time, without excuses
There has been a long argument over the eucharist and communion, in not only the Catholic Church. Although in the 70's it was a Catholic priest who told me that when he arrived at one church he found that no one, or almost no one, was taking communion and found it was because of an attitude that had developed that you had to be without sin to recieve communion. He said he struggled the rest of his time at the church to get the flock to reconnect to Jesus. There have been accusations that the bishop is cherry-picking issues. There was an accusation in the other direction the other day: "Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) yesterday released the results of a study that examined nearly two dozen votes and bills to determine which senators supported Catholic teaching most consistently. Kerry's record was the most pro-Catholic. Durbin and his staff denied that they cherry-picked issues to make Kerry come out on top. They said they spent three weeks combing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual legislative report and looked at every bill on which the bishops took a clear stand, from abortion and war to raising the minimum wage. " http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11083-2004Jun2.html Someone will raise the objection that you can't compare minimum wage and abortion. I could respond why are some wanting to deny communion to politicians who 'don't condemn abortion as strongly as the Church likes' but has no position on politicians who 'support the death penalty', a position the Church strongly opposes. I think the Church might consider going back to earlier positions - life begins at "quickening" (first feelable movement of fetus) or "first breath" (as at the time of Jesus) instead of taking the position that life begins before the sperm and egg are united (as attempts to avoid this are going against God's will and is a sin.) Or perhaps most people should stay out and let individual conscience and doctor-patient relationships make decisions on human life and human conscience and individual priest-church member relationships make decisions on communion. Gary Denton - easter lemming maru #1 on google for easter lemming _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
