And the Post Dispatch Doesn't Want to be Left Out...

This presidential campaign, Burke's rebukes snare Giuliani
By Tim Townsend

As the 2008 presidential campaign revs up, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke is reprising his role from 2004.

And the blogs are buzzing.

This time, there's a Republican Catholic whose position on abortion rights contradicts church teaching. And Burke is pressing the issue again, saying that anyone — not just a bishop — administering Communion is morally obligated to deny it to wayward Catholic politicians.

And the point has been made numerous times - Canon 915 is perfectly clear in this regard, yet many refuse to accept it.

In an interview earlier this year, Burke said of Giuliani: "I can't imagine that as a Catholic he doesn't know that his stance on the protection of human life is wrong. If someone is publicly sinning, they should not approach to receive Holy Communion"...

A Giuliani campaign spokesman, Elliott Bundy, said in an e-mail: "This is a decision that should be left up to the bishops and the priests of the Church." Giuliani has refused to talk publicly about how he lives his Catholic faith, and Bundy would not answer questions about whether Giuliani regularly receives Communion, saying only, "Those issues are private." Giuliani is expected to be in Clayton on Thursday for a breakfast fundraising event at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Advocating the killing of unborn babies makes it "public" - and Rudy should know better - and he does. He publicly dissents from a fundamental Church teaching and consequently can no longer receive Holy Communion until such time as he publicly recants.

What has provoked the chatter on blogs is an article Burke wrote in a prestigious but obscure Catholic legal journal. In the article, Burke says that as long as the politician in question had been cautioned by a church authority not to receive Communion, and has refused to heed those warnings, any Catholics qualified to serve the Eucharist — and who knew of the warning — would be committing a mortal sin if they failed to deny Communion to that politician. That includes lay people, as well as those who are ordained.

"That is the point," Burke said. "That's been, consistently, the church's position."

Consistently - throughout the entire life of the Church. Since discipline has been rejected as too harsh, rational thinking has suffered as well. Such confusion has, in many minds, affected one's ability to clearly distinguish between right and wrong, virtue and vice, good and evil. What has grown out of proportion in this extended period of laxity and self indulgence is the sickness of narcissism and the deadly sin of pride.

The archbishop said he was struck by the public reaction to his comment, and by the fact that so many Catholics didn't understand the issue.

The process of "dumbing-down" the people had no limits, and many, it seems felt secure in confirming others in their ignorance and in their sins. And this even extended to ecclesiastical leaders. It is basically a situation of spiritual neglect and malfeasance.

Last week, Burke said he had written the article simply to clarify traditional church teaching. He said that in denying Communion to wayward politicians, the church was not judging their souls, rather it was protecting them. It also is protecting the sacredness of the Eucharist and the Catholic faithful from scandal, he said.

Let's see how many fail to grasp this simple concept, shall we?



And one may note the the hateful rhetoric has begun in the PD Comment section already. And the ignorant always seem to be walking hand-in-hand with the calumniators.

It certainly seems like we'll have another busy year ahead - trying to educate those who are incapable of learning...Thank God we have prayer and can offer up these trials to Him! And let's not forget to pray for Archbishop Burke as he continues to educate the faithful and guide them toward Christ and His Kingdom!