Canon law professor confronts DC Archbishop Wuerl on refusal to deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians

Canon 915 states: "Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy Communion."

Canon law professor confronts DC Archbishop Wuerl on refusal to deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians...

"When a man has stepped over the threshold and allowed himself to fall into mortal sin, he must be purified by trial, but he must also, My children, be purified by the rule of penance and confession.
"What manner of evil is being set now upon mankind that compels him to lose his soul by rejecting the Sacraments, by no longer confessing to his confessor, but coming to receive My Son in sacrifice, while his soul is degraded by sin of mortal nature!" - Our Lady of the Roses, September 7, 1976

LifeSiteNews.com reported on May 8, 2009:

American canon lawyer Edward Peters has challenged the reasoning behind Washington D.C. Archbishop Donald Wuerl's recent assertion that he would not deny Communion to the heavily pro-abortion House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

In an interview with Politics Daily published Wednesday, Archbishop Wuerl said he would not deny Pelosi Communion, which was equated with using the sacrament as a "weapon", and maintained that "there's a question about whether this canon [915] was ever intended to be used'' in such a manner.

"I stand with the great majority of American bishops and bishops around the world in saying this canon was never intended to be used this way.'' said Wuerl.

Canon 915 states: "Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion."

Commenting on Wuerl's position in his blog "In the Light of the Law," Peters, a professor of canon law at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, said he thought the archbishop's claims were based on a misunderstanding of the purpose of canon law.

"No canon in the Code was written with the intention of bringing politicians to heel. That's a disingenuous way to frame this issue," wrote Peters.

As canon law is "designed to advance the salvific mission of the Church", said Peters: "To hold, therefore, that any canon is intended to bring a particular secular grouping of people 'to heel' is to misunderstand what canon law is for."

"The mistake is compounded," he said, "when one goes on to use that mischaracterization of canon law to avoid the correct application of canon law.

"If Wuerl wants to argue that Pelosi has not acted in a way as to make herself liable to consequences under Canon 915, he's free to make his case. (I think he'd lose that argument, but he's free to make it.)

"But he cannot gratuitously assert that Canon 915 was never 'intended' to apply to the Pelosis of this world and leave the matter thus," Peters affirmed. "Canon 915 unquestionably applies to all Roman Catholics regardless of their civil status or secular profession."

In lieu of Speaker Pelosi ceasing her abortion advocacy or voluntarily refraining from Communion, Peters said, "I see no choice for Abp. Wuerl but to order enforcement of Canon 915 against her."

However, the canon lawyer noted: "nothing gives the forces of darkness greater pleasure than to see those committed following Christ at serious odds with one another.

"Such disputes must, in a fallen world, arise, but we should strive to resolve them correctly as quickly as possible and, once settled, to go on more united than ever toward the next struggle," wrote Peters.

See previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Archbishop Wuerl Refuses to Deny Communion to Pro-Abortion Speaker Pelosi
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09050613.html

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Head of Vatican's highest court: Ministers have "obligation to deny" Communion to pro-abortion politicians...

LifeSiteNews.com reported on August 19, 2008:

The head of the highest court in the Vatican has given an interview with a Roman magazine in which he notes that when dealing with pro-abortion Catholic politicians, "the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny It (Communion) to him."

Last month, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Raymond Burke, formerly the Archbishop of St. Louis, as the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which is the highest judicial authority of the Catholic Church besides the Pope himself. In an interview published in the current edition of the Italian magazine Radici Cristiane, Archbishop Burke addresses the issue which has caused great controversy among the hierarchy in the West.

In the interview, parts of which were translated by Catholic News Agency, the Archbishop noted first that pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be publicly corrected and told not to receive: and, if they persist, they should be denied. He spoke of dealing with "public officials" who contravene Divine and Eternal law such as "if they support abortion, which entails the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives."

"A person who commits sin in this way should be publicly admonished in such a way as to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life," the archbishop said. "If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege," he added.

The Archbishop explained that the Church does this "not with the intention of interfering in public life but rather in the spiritual state of the politician or public official who, if Catholic, should follow the divine law in the public sphere as well," reported Catholic News Agency.

"We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist," the archbishop continued. "Secondly, there could be another form of scandal, consisting of leading people to think that the public act that this person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really not that serious - if the Church allows him or her to receive Communion."

"If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average person think? He or she could come to believe that it up to a certain point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother's womb," he warned.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Abortion-Politician-Communion Scandal Shows Real Lack of Pastoral Concern
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052102.html

Can Catholics Who Vote for BO
Still Receive Communion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08061208.html

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Pro-abort politicians "must" be refused Communion: Philippines Archbishop...

LifeSiteNews.com reported on July 14, 2008:

A Philippine bishop has reiterated the teaching of the Catholic Church that politicians who support legal abortion "must" be refused Holy Communion at Mass.

Archbishop Jesus Dosado of Ozamiz archdiocese issued a pastoral letter this weekend saying priests should tell such politicians, "until they bring to an end the objective situation of sin" that they should not present themselves at Mass to receive Communion. Priests are to give pro-abortion politicians instructions in the Church's teaching, and if the politician persists in his error, he should be told not to present himself for Communion.

"The practice of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion merely as a consequence of being present at Mass is an abuse that must be corrected," wrote Archbishop Dosado.

To support his instruction, the archbishop quoted an official 2000 Vatican instruction, "Holy Communion and Divorced, Civilly Remarried Catholics" that said that when "precautionary measures" had failed and the person remains in "obstinate persistence," and presents himself to receive the Eucharist, the minister "must refuse to distribute it."

"This decision, properly speaking, is not a sanction or a penalty," the archbishop said. "Nor is the minister of the Holy Communion passing judgment on the person's subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person's public unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin."

Archbishop Dosado also cited the letter by then-Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger of 2004, written in response to the ongoing scandal of pro-abortion US Presidential candidate Senator John Kerry persisting in publicly receiving Communion. He said that the decision to present himself for Communion had to be the result of the person's "reasoned judgment" on his spiritual state.

The speaker of the Filipino parliament, Prospero Nograles, responded saying that Archbishop Dosado's pastoral letter violated the principle of "separation of church and state."

This argument was commonly presented during the 2004 US Presidential campaign after a small number of Catholic bishops issued statements enforcing the Church's teaching. Their defenders countered by saying that the demand that a bishop, who is instructing his flock in religious, not political matters, should remain silent, was itself a violation of the principle that the state should not interfere with the running of churches.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Linguyen-Dagupan, told local radio, "If a priest or bishop does not punish a public sinner, it is the priest or bishop who is wrong."

Archbishop Dosado also dispelled another commonly presented argument that said abortion was just one of many moral issues with which people "of good conscience" could disagree with the Church. He countered the widely held "seamless garment" opinion that abortion is just one part of a larger pro-life ethic and was on an equal moral footing with war, homelessness or poverty.

"If a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion," the archbishop said. "There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war, but not about abortion."

Read more:

Abortion-Politician-Communion Scandal Shows Real Lack of Pastoral Concern - Editorial
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052102.html

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Exclusive interview: Ottawa Archbishop explains why pro-abortion politicians are denied Communion...

LifeSiteNews.com reported on March 14, 2008:

The mainstream media has picked up on comments by Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast regarding reception of Holy Communion for pro-abortion politicians. However, one part of the discussion which has received little discussion is the reason why the Church would deny politicians reception of Communion.

"The Code of Canon Law says in #915 that 'those whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin," explains the religious leader of Canada's national capital,"are not to be admitted to Holy Communion'."

"What is at issue is whether a politician who does not himself or herself participate in an abortion but supports 'a woman's right to choose' (or however else shows support for abortion) is guilty of grave sin and then obstinately persists in this state of grave sin."

Archbishop Prendergast stresses that denying Holy Communion is undertaken out of concern for the offending Catholic (politician in the case at hand). "The Church's concern is for anyone who persists in grave sin, hoping that medicinal measures (which is how excommunication and interdict are to be understood) may draw them away from the wrong path to the truth of our faith."

The Ottawa prelate points out how Christians from the beginning were told of the need to be in good standing with the faith before receiving Communion. "(St.) Paul said that before receiving communion a Christian should take part in self-examination and only then receive the Body of the Lord after necessary conversion (1 Cor 11:28)."

Prendergast has no dislike for politicians, in fact just the opposite. "I deeply admire politicians for their desire to serve the public good and to make the many sacrifices necessary to win public office and to give themselves to public service," he says, adding, "They ought to be motivated by a concern for justice, good order, the public good, etc."

He notes however that "One of the greatest areas for effecting justice is the support of life in the womb and through all stages of life. Abortion goes against the Church's understanding, based on the teaching of Jesus, on the inviolability of innocent human life - including the unborn - and of the obligation of public servants to protect the weakest in society. It is hard to see how the support of abortion is not a very grave evil."

The decision to take "medicinal" remedies, says the Archbishop, is not taken lightly, and is simply an attempt at direct intervention with the politicians. "Perhaps politicians embrace the support of a woman's right to choose unthinkingly, following party policy; this is where the church with the help of its pastors and through fellow believers needs to come to the assistance of those who serve the public good," he said.

"It may take time to work with political figures before one can conclude that they are obstinately persisting in manifest grave sin and that, therefore, denial of communion or of encouraging them not to present themselves for communion is reached as the medicinal remedy to draw them back to the way of Christ, Our Lord, the Way, the Truth and the Life."

One other consideration in addressing seriously such grave violations of Church teaching is scandal. "If one were to allow Catholic political (or other public) figures to freely espouse abortion without drawing to their attention that this is a grave evil," explained Archbishop Prendergast, "other believers might be tended to accept this, not knowing any better and be led on the wrong path: that is what 'scandal' is. One must do everything possible to prevent others from falling away from the path of Christ - i.e. from being scandalized."

See related LifeSiteNews articles:

Pope Supports Excommunication for Pro-Abortion Politicians - "Incompatible with Receiving Communion"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07050901.html

Second U.S. Bishop Says Vatican Letter on Pro-Abort Politicians Withheld from Bishops
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/aug/04080603.html

Cardinal McCarrick Continues to Conceal Rome's Insistence that Pro-Abort Politicians Be Denied Communion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06102310.html

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Archbishop Burke says ministers are "held, under pain of mortal sin, to deny the sacraments to the unworthy"

Archbishop Burke preaches tough Communion rule:
Turn away abortion-rights backers under pain of mortal sin...

The Columbus Dispatch reported on October 1, 2007:

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, a veteran of clashes between Catholic bishops and politicians, has attempted for years to enlist fellow bishops to deny Holy Communion to wayward politicians.

Now, the conservative cleric is invoking the church's highest punishment -- mortal sin -- to persuade the lay and ordained Catholics who distribute Communion at Mass to safeguard the sacrament.

Drawing on the works of the late Italian Jesuit scholar Felice Cappello, Burke says those ministers are "held, under pain of mortal sin, to deny the sacraments to the unworthy."

That argument could place Communion ministers on the frontlines of the "wafer wars" as the 2008 presidential race heats up, and as bishops debate a document on "faithful citizenship."

"It is clear that church discipline places an obligation on the minister of Holy Communion to refuse Holy Communion to persons known, by the public, to be in mortal sin," Burke writes in a new journal article.

Burke lays out his case like a legal brief in Periodica de re Canonica, a journal widely read in seminaries and published by Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, an elite school for Catholic clergy.

"No matter how often a bishop or priest repeats the teaching of the church regarding procured abortion, if he stands by and does nothing to discipline a Catholic who publicly supports legislation permitting the gravest of injustices, and, at the same time, presents himself to receive Holy Communion, then his teachings ring hollow," Burke writes.

A former top official in the Signatura, the Vatican's high court, and a noted expert in canon law, Burke previously has kicked off public debates over policing the Communion rail. While bishop of La Crosse, Wis., he ordered clergy to refuse to offer the sacrament to certain pro-abortion-rights politicians.

In 2004, Burke and a handful of other bishops said they would refuse Communion to presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Burke also said Catholics who voted for pro-abortion-rights politicians, such as Kerry, should refrain from taking the sacrament until they confessed their "mortal sin."

In his new article, the archbishop explicitly criticizes his fellow bishops, the majority of whom voted in 2004 to leave the Communion decision up to individual bishops.

Burke retorts: "The question regarding the objective state of Catholic politicians who knowingly and willingly hold opinions contrary to natural moral law would hardly seem to change from place to place."

The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the influential conservative Catholic journal First Things, called Burke's article "a scholarly tour de force."

"The (archbishop's) concern is not a political concern," Neuhaus said. "The article is about, how does the church preserve the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist?"

But the article is ambiguous in some areas, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center in Washington.

If Burke is calling on Communion ministers to disobey their bishops and deny Communion to Catholic politicians, it would be "revolutionary" and "encourage anarchy," Reese said.

"Most bishops do not want ministers of Communion playing policeman at the Communion rail," he added. "This is a significant change in focus. Suddenly, you're going to have a few thousand decisionmakers in parishes across the country."

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of St. Louis said Burke was unavailable to comment on this article.

"The discipline and rules set down by My Son and those He chose to write the Book of life and love must be adhered to. We direct, in the name of the Trinity, that you bishops and cardinals of the world must use your full powers as hierarchy to excommunicate and defrock all who seek to dethrone My Son and destroy the Faith!" - Our Lady of the Roses, August 21, 1974

"The Eternal City of Rome must now take action by those in rule, the cardinals and the bishops, to restore this city to the light. Those who seek to build a church of man must be removed by the power of excommunication given to those who rule as representatives in My houses, churches upon your earth.
     "As it was in the time of Noe, as it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrha, so shall it be upon your earth. Man shall be permitted to fall fast into the abyss. Why? Because he has hardened his heart and closed his ears to the truth. He has given himself to all manners of pleasures of the flesh. Sin has become a way of life in your country and in the countries throughout your earth.
     "The children of God, the candles upon earth, My child, shall suffer much persecution from the agents of darkness.
     "Man runs amiss, My child. He scatters the sheep. He seeks peace where there is no peace. He is going farther into darkness.
     "You shall not gather your flocks, My pastors, by compromising your Faith! You shall not gather the flocks for the Eternal Father in Heaven by giving yourselves to the world, by adopting humanism and modernism as your guide.
     "It is a simple lesson of faith that you must give to the children and to all in your care. As pastor you shall stand before Me and shall you say to Me that your teaching has been pure in My sight? Amen I say unto you, I shall cast you from Me and send you into the abyss. As you sow, so shall you reap." - Jesus, December 31, 1975

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D146 - Honor the Eucharist, Part 1 PDF
D147 - Honor the Eucharist, Part 2 PDF
D186 - Excommunication PDF

Articles...

Archbishop Burke: Bishops must discipline pro-abortion Catholic politicians
https://www.tldm.org/News11/ArchbishopBurkeDisciplineProAbortCatholicPoliticians.htm

Pope Benedict supports excommunication for pro-abortion politicians: "Incompatible with receiving Communion"
https://www.tldm.org/News10/PopeExcommunicateDenyCommunionToProAbortCatholicPoliticians.htm

Pope Benedict XVI says that refusing Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians is a "doctrine of the Church"
https://www.tldm.org/News7/Ratzinger3.htm

Honduran Cardinal: "A politician who publicly supports abortion, he excommunicates himself"
https://www.tldm.org/News10/HonduranCardinalCommunionMustBeDenied.htm

Pope Benedict warns pro-abortion politicians against receiving Communion unworthily
https://www.tldm.org/News10/PopeUnworthyCommunion.htm

Catholics must be free of grave sin to receive Holy Communion
https://www.tldm.org/News6/ReceptionofCommunion.htm

Archbishop Burke: more profoundly sorrowful would be a bishop who failed "to safeguard the worthy reception of Communion"
https://www.tldm.org/news6/Burke2.htm

Sacrilegious Communion and the U.S. bishops
https://www.tldm.org/News6/sacrilege.htm

Austrian Bishop Lugner says mall owner excommunicated for providing space for abortion clinic
https://www.tldm.org/News10/AbortionBishop%20Lugner.htm

Bishop Henry says he would refuse Prime Minister Holy Communion, would consider excommunication
https://www.tldm.org/News7/AbortionBishopHenry.htm

Links...

Bishops and bald eagles, Judie Brown, March 2, 2007
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/brown/070302

Cardinal Ratzinger said, "The minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it." He did not say 'could,' or 'may,' but that he "must," Barbara Kralis, July 6, 2004
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/040706

Prohibition is worthless without enforcement, Barbara Kralis, June 24, 2004
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/040624

Is not murder just as evil as lust in the eyes of God? Barbara Kralis, June 8, 2004
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/040607

Ten questions regarding the denial of the Eucharist, Barbara Kralis, May 24, 2004
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/040524

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