Priest: No communion for Obama supporters

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27705755/?gt1=43001

snip:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"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," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

snip:

"Father Newman is off-base," said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. "He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. ... Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Sens. Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words."

A man who has attended St. Mary's for 18 years said he welcomed Newman's message and anticipated it would inspire further discussion at the church.

"I don't understand anyone who would call themselves a Christian, let alone a Catholic, and could vote for someone who's a pro-abortion candidate," said Ted Kelly, 64, who volunteers his time as lector for the church. "You're talking about the murder of innocent beings."


**Not condemning the entire catholic church! I do feel that they need to address their own issues instead of pushing their politics on their parishioners.

The IRS needs to get rolling on these churches.

Enough of this bullshit.

He wants to play... OK... we play.

:spray:

when offered the Eucharist...say "I voted for Obama. Amen." If he refuses he gets a slap down.

Worth getting excommunicated for.

And, get over the abuse shit. You're painting everyone who is a Catholic with the pedophile brush and it's not only not accurate, it's flat out mean.

I think they need to concentrate on that issue instead of getting into politics.

Pelosi, Kerry, Biden. All very good lifetime Catholics. All get the shaft from the Church. If they'd embrace these people for what they do, rather than stick on one divisive issue, they'd see a lot more involvement, a lot more community, a lot more of what Christ wanted to see.

David

jayscottnewman@mac.com
He now knows how I feel about this.

during his term.

If they truly care about abortion, they will accept that Roe Vs Wade is here to stay and the next best option is to go with the guy who will decrease poverty, increase sex ed, and--as a result-- decrease abortions.

I read at a (non DU) conservative Catholic forum, and everyone on that forum is so conservative that they agree with the Catholic church when it comes to birth control. They vote Republican only because they are pro-life (a candidate could go after everyone else wtih an AK-47 in hand and as long as they want to criminalize abortion it's a vote in the bag).

However what they fail to realize is that birth control to the rest of the world is not an evil. And since most Catholics don't save themselves for marriage, why are you imposing it on everyone else.

Hillary Clinton says it best when it comes to abortion. Safe, rare, and legal.

Guess he missed that part where Jesus said, "Love thy brother as you love yourself". To say nothing about forgiveness, empathy and understanding and a host of other values.

there is also a question of his parish losing it's tax exempt status.

As for this individual's being tangled up in a child molestation situation, it is unfair to blame all Catholics, (I m not Catholic BTW), for what others have done. I know a lot of good Catholics, as well as people from every other religion.

and to date, I don't regret it.

Those who supported candidates who were for the Iraq War and had no problems with dropping bombs on the innocent should also be forced to abstain from Communion.

When this same shit happened in 2004, I got very, very angry and was hanging on by my fingernails. Then we got a new right-wing pastor, the bishops elected Ratzinger, and I was outta there.

Don't regret it, but miss the spirutality and community. I loved being a radical lefty in a center-right religion, but not a radical lefty in a far right religion.

Now I just need to find the perfect religion for me. I have no idea what it is, but I'm not going to leave Catholicism because I was sick of comprimising my morals to just have to comprimise maybe a little less elsewhere.

Agreed 100% on the war and the incredible hypocracy.

David

I spent a good 6 months doing a whole lot of soul searching. I wasn't happy as a Catholic to begin with. But, after several years trying to reconcile my values and Catholic doctrine, I figured that the Church was not right for me. I converted to Methodism, and though an infrequent attendee, I consider myself practicing Methodist.

The church will lose people and lose more ground. That's his loss.

Too many.

:rofl:

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Do you have any idea how offensive your use of the term "consecrated shit" is to a Catholic? There are a lot of liberal Democratic communicants who would find your words to be remarkably insensitive and on a par with the hate spewed by John Hagee and his ilk.

Technically, that's what it is

Snarking incorrectly is like debating with your fly open.

Defending the ridiculous is like debating with an altar boy's fly open

And if McCain was allowed to bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, innocent beings would not be murdered.

Total disconnect.

to do penance for their vote.

The right wing strangle hold on the church is going to kill it. I already left because of this idiocy.

They're in this stupid fight against right-wing evangelicals for the radical fundamentalists. If they opened up to the middle, stressed spirutuality and community instead of right wing ideals and complete obsession with everything remotlely related to sex/reproduction, they'd see a new renissance.

As far as I'm concerned I hope they crash and burn, and this is from someone who was once a very devout Catholic, and for whom leaving the Church was incredibly painful.

David

Fuck 'em.

retraction from his bishop in a day or so.

have taken a real swing to the right, also.

We need another John XXIII - desperately!

is a low blow. All Christians are not responsible for the Republican Evangelical movement either.


Please tell me how the parish priest behavior speaks for all Catholics. Father Phleger's comments did not speak for all Catholics even though I appreciated them GREATLY.


That said: the South, including Georgia (I'm a resident), needs to get its house in order. There is very little industry here and most of the people are uneducated. The largest export from the South CANNOT BE HATE. We need some better leadership for the foothills and outhouses in these large stretches of land.


Where, oh where, does Jesus limit communion for baby killers? He gave directions for each individual to defer communion if they have sinned against someone to make it right before they accepted the sacrament. It seems to me that Jesus left it up to each Christian's conscience.

He didn't appoint an undershepard to choose what was best.

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Darn.

and we ignored that male decision as to women's reproductive issues also.
My God forgives.

So, they can't receive communion or give it according to that idiot?

They told others to look at the whole picture (this was not in an official capacity). Their view there are too many other social issues to deal with and not be a one issue voter.




I love those guys :D

She used to be president of the college, too. She probably voted for Obama, too. Again, she and the other nuns were really disgusted about the war in Iraq. I think they would have been more worried about "Bomb Bomb Iran" than the abortion issue.

My family has many devout Catholics who would NEVER vote republican - NEVER!

bless me father for I have sinned
I performed my civic duty and chose a man whom I thought would do the MOST good for the MOST people in the great country of ours, who will bring all the people in the country together, over an individual who lied to us, who belongs to the biggest hypocritical group of zealots on the face of the earth?\
If that is a sin, in your eyes, and it also should be in mine, I guess I'll take my chance with the big guy upstairs when he calls me, UNTIL THEN STFU AND STAY OUT OF POLITICS!

Two can play this game.

Bet they never refused communion to a Mark Foley supporter.

Write a nice letter...

:mad:

Take your donation money with you and give it to something USEFUL like Obama's re-election campaign.

If the church wants to get uppity they can do it without MY donations...sell a DiVinci padre...

Doug D.

I'm considering leaving anyway. My church telling me I support evil? Who needs that? They were the ones that supported discrimination in California.

Priests are moved from parish to parish and who can receive or not receive communion is not done on the priest or parish level.

http://web.mac.com/jayscottnewman/Site/

jayscottnewman@mac.com

fucking medieval pervert

He should definitely lose his tax exempt status (as all churches should, IMO).

He enjoys his ass-hat. It keeps him warm in winter.

This is for real? Not The Onion? OMG. :hide: Un-freaking-believable. :grr:

Here's the church information:

St. Mary’s Catholic Church
111 Hampton Avenue
Greenville, South Carolina
29601

telephone 864.271.8422
fax 864.370.9880

Pastor abusing power: Rev. Jay Scott Newman
jayscottnewman@mac.com
http://web.mac.com/jayscottnewman/Site/A_Parish_Priest.html

IRS info:



Local IRS Office
440 Roper Mountain Rd.
Greenville, SC 29615

Monday-Friday - 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
(864) 286-7095

I don't believe in the god fantasy, but now I feel like making it known to the dying church.

what's a little excommunication between fellow DU'ers?

Consider yourself excommunicated!

:party: :bounce: :party: :evilgrin: :party:

?

I had to deliver something there for work, and I found a flyer there that said "Life doesn't end at birth." The jist of it's message was that candidates shouldn't think that just because they use a few pro-life catchphrases that they necessarily have a Catholic's vote. it talked about quality of life, about the poor.

Not all Catholics feel as this person does

when they just molested little boys and stayed the hell out of politics.

But seriously, if the Catholic Church is opening striving to make itself irrelevant, this guy is really going the extra mile.

Oh wait! Pre-emptive strikes are against Just War doctrine. And lets not forget about the republicans support of the immoral death penalty!

He forfeited his tax-exempt status. Besides, the country could really use the tax money right now.

The fact that he also happens to be Catholic is irrelevant, except that he is using his position literally as a bully pulpit and he is not alone, given the stated position of other Catholic bishops. It doesn't help that there is an extremely conservative Pope in the Big Bully Pulpit.

Apparently, Father Newman also believes that he can usurp the Almighty's ability to forgive. I don't think so.

I am a recovering Catholic. Now I believe in no religion as that religion has been interpreted by any other human being, who like me, is subject to error. I believe basically in three major tenets and try very hard to practice them: a) know oneself; b) nothing to excess; and c) treat others as one would like to be treated. That said, I certainly have done/continue to do some heartfelt praying to any Higher Power who will listen. I just don't need to do so ostentatiously or in a group, although I have on occasion participated with groups for certain occasions, e.g., funerals and various rites of passage, because I have friends who are devout believers (but who don't impose their beliefs on me or anyone else).

And I absolutely do not want ANY religion running or influencing my government. :banghead: