Friday, November 10, 2006

Grave Public Scandal by "Catholics" for Amendment 2

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Respect for the souls of others: scandal
2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."[85] Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.[86]

2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.
Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to "social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible."[87] This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger,[88] or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.
2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!"[89]
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Shouldn't those professed Catholics who took a public position to support the cloning and deliberate killing of human life - human persons in their earliest stages of development - publicly recant their positions?

Did they not commit grave public scandal by deed since others were deliberately led into a grave offense by voting for the passage of Amendment 2?

Did they not commit grave public scandal by manipulating public opinion causing others to turn away from basic moral values?

Did they not commit grave public scandal by using the power and influence at their disposal in such a way that it lead others to vote for laws contrary to the natural law and the teachings of the Church?

The Catholic Church condemns abortion,[ii] euthanasia,[iii] sodomy,[iv] cloning,[v] embryonic stem cell research,[vi] as well as other attacks against the sanctity of life and the family. It is the obligation of the bishop to follow canon law. Canon Law n.915 mandates the denial of Communion to all “manifest, obstinate, persistent sinners,” including but not exclusive to politicians. [vii]

Canon 915 not only protects the Eucharist from sacrilegious reception, but also prevents the faithful from sorrowful scandal.

It’s important to understand what ‘manifest, obstinate, persistent’ means. Many wrongly think it applies only to politicians. [viii] This is not so.

If a Catholic is a ‘manifest’ sinner, that means he is ‘known,’ or ‘public.’ This must be differentiated from the Catholics who are in the state of ‘private’ grave sin, to whom their sin is known only to themselves and God. The private grave sinner cannot be denied the Eucharist because their sin is unknown to the bishop, to his priests, and his ministers of the Eucharist.

If a Catholic is gravely ‘manifest’ and ‘obstinate’ in his sin, that means he pigheadedly continues to ‘persist’ or ‘stand firm’ in grave sin that is ‘public’ in nature and causes scandal to others. This is quite different from those who persist in ‘private’ sin.
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Excerpted and adapted from Ten questions regarding the denial of the Eucharist.

We have witnessed, in the passage of Amendment 2, a concerted effort by most Catholics and many of our separated brothers and sisters in Christ, to stand firm for the defense of the unborn and against the deliberate cloning and killing of human life in its embryonic stage of development. May God be praised that so many chose to graciously accept His graces and abide in His Truth.

Yet, we have also been subjected to and scandalized by the perverse ramblings and rhetoric of professed Catholics who openly supported passege of the Amendment. The public was fed poisonous and wicked advice to support a grossly immoral law, a law which violates the very life and dignity of the innocent. These "Catholics" publicly support the creation of a class of human beings who are to be slaves to serve their own personal whims and desires, and who, after having served that purpose, are to be summarily executed.

How is it even possible for these people, unless completely ignorant of objective truth and their obligation to act based upon that truth, to claim to be Christians? Do not their actions remind of us pagans, or worse?

How can these people, after having committed such grave scandal, be permitted to partake of the Sacred Body and Blood of Our Lord, when they are clearly and publicly not in communion with Him or His Church?

Lord, help me to pray for them, and have mercy on me for my anger. Help me to practice the virtue of charity when it comes to those who would have been happy to see you killed by researchers or aborted by doctors or drugs when you were but a tiny embryo in the womb of your Mother.

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