This one, I can't let go.

[bktheirregular]

From the Denver Post:

"Bishop draws line for voters: Communion tied to politics"

"The bishop of Colorado's second-largest Roman Catholic diocese has issued a pastoral letter saying Catholics cannot receive Communion if they vote for politicians who support abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or gay marriage."

*blink*

*blink*

You know, I'm starting to get this odd impression that I'm living in some bankrupt Third World theocratic police state, and the country I was brought up to cherish is bound and gagged in the hall closet.

Because this ... this ... I want to use the phrase "spiritual blackmail", but that sounds too gentle.

"Spiritual extortion"? Is that strong enough?

Comments

[diannelamerc.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm starting to get this odd impression that I'm living in some bankrupt Third World theocratic police state, and the country I was brought up to cherish is bound and gagged in the hall closet.

Not that I disagree in the slightest, but to be fair that part is coming from the politicians, not the clergy. Separation of church and state is incumbant on the government, not the churches. Religions may try to influence society all they want to. Lawmakers, however, are simply not allowed to cater to any single religious group no matter how large above another no matter how small.

This clergy, on the other hand, _are_ going in for the politically-based spiritual extortion. While I have to admit I have a grudging respect for anyone who truly believes something and then refuses to wiggle around, compromise, or negotiate, this does seem pretty dumb from a worldly, practical POV. American Catholics have shown themselves unlikely to accept this kind of ultimatum from their higher-ups.

[redbeardjim.livejournal.com]

Religions may try to influence society all they want to.

Yes, but if they go in for endorsing specific political positions and/or candidates (as this bishop is pretty clearly doing), they are liable to lose their tax-exempt status.

[diannelamerc.livejournal.com]

Good point. I forget that whole "tax-exempt" thing. (And why are they exempt again?)

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

American Catholics have shown themselves unlikely to accept this kind of ultimatum from their higher-ups.

You're so not kidding. There are lots of people already familiar with the fact that Sheridan is a great big gleeb. They've been ignoring him for years.

There are also a lot of people who will take this very literally and seriously. And while those same people are highly likely to share the political views it encodes, it's only going to give them more excuse not to actually think about those views. :-PPPP

[suzvoy.livejournal.com]

!!!!!!!

[chibiaingeal.livejournal.com]

In addition to the idea being stupid...

How the heck are they going to know that a parishoner voted for such a politician? Unless they confess to it during confessional but...

*shakes head*

How inane!

[takaal.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about that myself... But then, I'm firmly in the "there's just something in the air in Colorado that encourages the extremist weird stuff" camp.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Under current doctrine, priests and lay ministers can't actually withhold Communion from anyone. It's up the the individual to determine whether they should take it. Non-Catholics, the excommunicated and Catholics in a state of unreconciled sin (i.e. who've got something on their conscience that hasn't been dealt with through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which is what confession became after Vatican II) are excluded, but nobody's actually going to stop them from taking Communion. The added sin is on them if they do, not on the person administering the Sacrament.

So BK's "spiritual extortion" phrase pretty much hits it right on the head, but the effect will be very personal and private.

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

yeah. Although it pisses me off that the effect on the local known Catholics in office is to hold *them* to a damn standard that the Church is setting. They'll have to have 'secret votes' just to not compromise their religious privacy.

And yes, he is a gleeb.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

It's stupid, too. I mean, so the bastard tries to blackmail people. Hello? Plenty of other religions out there, and it's not that hard to adopt a new one.

I think that this idiot is thinking nostalgically of the days of excommunication and Interdict. That worked when the Church was 1) the only variety of Christianity out there, 2) the focus of society and 3) had more overt political influence than it does these days. Now there are diverse versions of Christianity available, and plenty of non-Christian religions as well; the Church is NOT the focus of society; and its political influence is more subtle than overt.

All this will do is push people who disagree with the Church right out the door. And they will either find a new religion to believe in, or they will dump religion altogether. And in an era when most people in America DO disagree with the Catholic Church--which doesn't have the best rep these days, after all the sex scandals, and which is rapidly running out of aspirants to the priesthood and the convent--shoving people out the door is not a good move. It will cost the Church believers; it won't gain the Church souls.

It's a case of the bishop shooting the Church in the foot. The guy must be as dumb as a box of hair.

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

I'm with whoever pointed out this is a Church thing, not a political thing. Half the politicians in Colorado who are Catholic have spoken up with a big "are you *kidding* me?" on this issue.

And this is essentially unenforceable (see Val's response a few up from here). They just wish it wasn't.

_{grrrrrrrrrrr....}

[georgiamagnolia.livejournal.com]

I read that today in the paper and about screamed out loud, only I was at work and that may have brought the rest of the office to see who was killing me. I live in the Greater Denver Metroplex but I am not a Catholic, so this doesn't affect me so much. It only reinforces my wariness of organized religion in general. And also reinforces my own conviction that ones beliefs should be between ones Deity and oneself, whatever beliefs or Deity that may be. But I am such a minority.

"bankrupt Third World theocratic police state, and the country I was brought up to cherish is bound and gagged in the hall closet"

Yep, I think you got it in one there. As usual.