Question: why does the Catholic church come down harder on those who commit suicide that those who protect and promote homicide? What does that tell you about the moral priorities of the one true church?
“That suicide is unlawful is the teaching of Holy Scripture and of the Church, which condemns the act as a most atrocious crime and, in hatred of the sin and to arouse the horror of its children, denies the suicide Christian burial.”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14326b.htm
“Members of the Kennedy clan are gathering at their Cape Cod compound, preparing for a private Mass for family patriarch Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who passed away from brain cancer late Tuesday night…On Saturday, President Barack Obama will speak at a private funeral mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica - commonly known as the Mission Church - in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood.”
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/20578396/detail.html
Rated 100% by NARAL.
Voted NO on defining unborn child as eligible for SCHIP.
Voted NO on prohibiting minors crossing state lines for abortion.
Voted NO on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions.
Voted NO on criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime.
Voted NO on banning partial birth abortions except for maternal life.
Voted NO on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Ted_Kennedy_Abortion.htm
Steve,
ReplyDeletedenies the suicide Christian burial
That's no longer the canon law.
...than those who protect and promote homicide
You do not know whether or not he repented before he died. His priest may know something we don't.
In the peace of Christ,
- Bryan
Steve,
ReplyDeleteRead this account of Senator Kennedy's Catholic faith here.
Please don't confuse the actions of a church member with being reflective of the views of the whole church. There are many members of the Catholic Church with differing opinions, and the Catholic Church like any other institution is still a work in progress as is the greater body of believers.
ReplyDeleteLocaltheo: "Please don't confuse the actions of a church member with being reflective of the views of the whole church."
ReplyDeleteOf course not. But the actions and beliefs of Senator Ted Kennedy are reflective of the private judgments exercised by *many* Catholics towards the teaching by Holy Mother Church.
From the link I posted above:
"The apparently conflicting portrait of a man loyal to the church despite widening disagreement on key issues "almost perfectly represents" the views of most American Catholics, said Boston College professor Alan Wolfe.
Russell Shaw, former spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said when Kennedy defied the church on issues such as abortion and later, gay marriage, he reinforced a corrosive belief among Catholics that they can simply ignore teachings they don't agree with."
Here's the sad thing, something I kept coming back to during the whole Kennedy thing . . .
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic "wing" of the Democratic party could be such a bulwark of pro-life strength in the Democratic party. They have numbers and they have clout. The sad thing is they have sacrificed morality for political expediency. It's really sad. They're hollow people.
Sadly, the same can be said of others. Both Clinton and Gore were much more pro-life running in their states before they ran at a national level. But when they got national ambitions they threw their pro-life stands away.
I guess that's pretty common these days unfortunately . . .
Bryan Cross said:
ReplyDeleteYou do not know whether or not he repented before he died. His priest may know something we don't.
1. If you're referring to whether Kennedy is in heaven or elsewhere, Steve didn't comment on the question in this post.
2. If you're referring to whether Kennedy repented of his stance toward abortion, well, even if he did repent, it doesn't erase the fact that his decisions and actions led to countless aborted babies -- and we can still judge the legacy he left behind.
PRINCIPIUM UNITATIS SAID:
ReplyDelete"That's no longer the canon law."
And that's another problem. If you were a Catholic apologist 100 years ago, you'd doggedly defend the propriety of your church to deny Christian burial to suicides–but 100 years later, after it reverses itself, you doggedly defend the opposite policy. What does that say about the one true church and its devoted followers?
Dr. George Tiller was shot while handing out bulletins at Reformation Lutheran Church.
ReplyDeleteWow! A new title for a new blog post:
"Abortion and Reformation Morality"
Nice.
Alex,
ReplyDeleteI'll let you make that analogy after Protestants start saying the Reformed Lutheran Church is headed by the infallible vicar of Christ and you must obey her decrees (except for the ones we now decide no longer apply, naturally).
Until then, well, there really is no comparison, is there?
Ask yourself this question:
ReplyDeleteSuppose Edward Moore Kennedy had been born a Methodist and his wife had been, say, Presbyterian.
Can you imagine him converting to Catholicism the way, eg, Brownback, Bork and Beckwith have?
Bit of a stretch to imagine, isn't it? Kennedy Catholicism is like Adam Sandler Judaism - a rich tribal identity, not reflective of assent to a series of theological propositions.
TOM R SAID:
ReplyDelete"Kennedy Catholicism is like Adam Sandler Judaism - a rich tribal identity, not reflective of assent to a series of theological propositions."
True, but that illustrates the fact that Catholicism has no standards for church membership. I don't expect the popes or bishops to monitor every Catholic. But in the case of influential, high-profile Catholics like Kennedy, there's no excuse not to exercise church discipline.