Priest No Communion for Obama Voters: Need Confession First
The pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Greenville, SC, is urging parishioners who voted for Barack Obama not to present themselves for Communion unless they go to confession first because they have cooperated with "intrinsic evil'' by voting for a candidate who supports abortion rights over a candidate who does not. The Rev. Jay Scott Newman told the Greenville News that he doesn't intend to deny anyone Communion, but made it clear that his view is that Obama voters should not present themselves without seeking penance first "lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.''
Newman is the only priest in the U.S. known to have taken this position -- the Catholic bishops met this week in Baltimore and this idea was not even discussed, at least in public session. Newman has posted on his parish web site the following letter explaining his rationale:
Dear Friends in Christ,
We the People have spoken, and the 44th President of the United States will be Barack Hussein Obama. This election ends a political process that started two years ago and which has revealed deep and bitter divisions within the United States and also within the Catholic Church in the United States. This division is sometimes called a �Culture War,� by which is meant a heated clash between two radically different and incompatible conceptions of how we should order our common life together, the public life that constitutes civil society. And the chief battleground in this culture war for the past 30 years has been abortion, which one side regards as a murderous abomination that cries out to Heaven for vengeance and the other side regards as a fundamental human right that must be protected in laws enforced by the authority of the state. Between these two visions of the use of lethal violence against the unborn there can be no negotiation or conciliation, and now our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president. We must also take note of the fact that this election was effectively decided by the votes of self-described (but not practicing) Catholics, the majority of whom cast their ballots for President-elect Obama.
In response to this, I am obliged by my duty as your shepherd to make two observations:
1. Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ�s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.
2. Barack Obama, although we must always and everywhere disagree with him over abortion, has been duly elected the next President of the United States, and after he takes the Oath of Office next January 20th, he will hold legitimate authority in this nation. For this reason, we are obliged by Scriptural precept to pray for him and to cooperate with him whenever conscience does not bind us otherwise. Let us hope and pray that the responsibilities of the presidency and the grace of God will awaken in the conscience of this extraordinarily gifted man an awareness that the unholy slaughter of children in this nation is the greatest threat to the peace and security of the United States and constitutes a clear and present danger to the common good. In the time of President Obama's service to our country, let us pray for him in the words of a prayer found in the Roman Missal:
God our Father, all earthly powers must serve you. Help our President-elect, Barack Obama, to fulfill his responsibilities worthily and well. By honoring and striving to please you at all times, may he secure peace and freedom for the people entrusted to him. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
Amen.
Father Newman
Article from the Boston Globe
Comments (9)
Well, it didn't take long for the cowards to step on this priest. That tax-exempt status is worth more than souls and babies' lives.
Statement from Msgr. Martin T. Laughlin, Regarding Voting and Holy Communion ( http://www.catholic-doc.org/ ):
"This past week, the Catholic Church’s clear, moral teaching on the evil of abortion has been pulled into the partisan political arena. The recent comments of Father Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville, S.C., have diverted the focus from the Church’s clear position against abortion. As Administrator of the Diocese of Charleston, let me state with clarity that Father Newman’s statements do not adequately reflect the Catholic Church’s teachings. Any comments or statements to the contrary are repudiated." ...
Posted by Cyprian
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November 14, 2008 11:09 PM
Posted on November 14, 2008 23:09
Apparently the American Catholic church feels that they have to smash the Word of God, as spoken forth by the great Father Newman.
Father Newman is just doing what he is required to do, but in this day and age in the American Church, he is remarkable!
long live Father Newman!
Posted by Dan Hunter | November 17, 2008 11:07 AM
Posted on November 17, 2008 11:07
Well, I think it is pointless now to argue over whether it was right or wrong to vote for obama or not because at the end of the day, he is still the new pres. So now we must actively defend the unborn's lives in a new way. It is dead obvious that abortion won't be stop by the gov anytime soon. So lets start a rosary crusade that the BVM helps to not only change the attitudes on abortion, but to also change our views on sex and fornication itself. Cyprian, are you with me?
Posted by Sam Orsot | November 19, 2008 11:33 AM
Posted on November 19, 2008 11:33
Mr. Orsot, is there some reason we can't start rosary crusades while *also* continuing political efforts and holding responsible those who gave us this latest setback?
Yes, we should pray and do whatever we can to change people's hearts. But I don't understand why so many want to turn a political defeat into complete political surrender.
Posted by Aaron | November 19, 2008 1:05 PM
Posted on November 19, 2008 13:05
Mr. Aaron, I am not advocating surrendering. I am saying what is done is done. Obama will be president for the next four years. Should he die, Biden will serve the rest of his term. So again whats done is done. I think that we should pray firstly, like a rosary crusade, and work to change attitudes, not only in the gov, but also in the minds of the every day people. I think we should do all we can to address this sexual crisis stemming from the 60s. I am not advocating surrender, I am advocating attacking the snake from a different direction.
Posted by Sam Orsot | November 19, 2008 1:24 PM
Posted on November 19, 2008 13:24
It seems that Fr. Newman is softening his original statement, which is probably the correct action. The issue is the intention and comprehension of the voter, which affects the gravity of the offense. But there should be an accounting, for there will be one eventually. In most cases I'd suspect that the greater onus falls on the bishop for not telling folks that it was a sin to vote for Obama.
I highly recommend praying the Rosary at abortion mills. The problem is that most bishops and priests do not favor this. Until the bishops are willing to give up the tax exemption, they will not take risks to save these babies. Forty years ago, they should have militantly opposed abortion. After Roe v Wade, they should have had each parish commission 10 persons a week to pray at the mills. This would clog the mill area with thousands of Catholics, and business would stop. They could have done it. They could still do it, but it will now cost us more.
But I know the outcome: the bishops will do no more than wring their hands and whimper.
Posted by Cyprian
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November 19, 2008 4:44 PM
Posted on November 19, 2008 16:44
Interestingly, did you see who stopped same sex “marriage” in California? No, it wasn’t the Bishops and Catholics but the Mormons and the Fundamentalists.
On Monday, World Net Daily reported that recently a group of Fundamentalists went through the homosexual district of San Francisco singing Amazing Grace and other hymns and were attacked by hordes of those joyful, happy, and gay people pouring out of the bars. Such funny things like, “We’re going to kill you,” were common. The police came to escort the singers to safety but they refused to go. They were ready to be killed. The police insisted that they leave. I admire their spunk. http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81310
Posted by Cornelius | November 19, 2008 8:45 PM
Posted on November 19, 2008 20:45
I am not a Roman Catholic but I admire your unshakable position in challenging the liberalism of the modern society at least in principle in issues like aborminable matters in sexual relationship and killing of babies. Keep the light burning as the older pillar in the house of God! Maranatha!
Posted by Godson Paul Nzeh | December 10, 2008 3:53 AM
Posted on December 10, 2008 03:53
Godson Paul Nzeh, thanks for the comments. Maybe one day you will join us in Christ's Church, where you will find the living authority, true worship and Scriptures, handed down from the Apostles. God bless you.
Posted by Cyprian
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December 10, 2008 7:32 AM
Posted on December 10, 2008 07:32