“Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil,”
Perhaps he’d like to share with us the name of this mythical “plausible pro-life alternative.”
It’s not like Republican politicians have ever actually done *anything* for the pro-life agenda besides lip-service.
It’s people like this dipwad who are contributing to the divide in this country. No wonder the Left thinks the religious right is ridiculous.

While I can see your point about Republicans no longer seeming like the ideal pro-life candidates, that certainly does NOT make Democrats suddenly better on the issue. A vote for McCain, who might have done little or nothing to promote the pro-life cause, would certainly have been better than Obama, who is proudly and passionately pro-choice.
And of course, if you voted for him because you’re pro-choice…well, stop going to a Catholic Church! I mean, come ON! Episcopalianism is essentially the same thing as Catholicism, except being pro-choice there actually makes SENSE!
God bless.

so..let me see here…if one voted for Obama, they are sinners because Obama is pro-abortion they say? ..and the republicans believe the war should go on indefinitely with hundreds who have already died….does the pro-life not include adults..or only babies in the womb?? if you’re going to be pro-life…be pro-life all the way…
the catholic church should stay out of politics.. and focus on their own problems, scandals and shortage of clergy to look after their flock due to them being the only organized religion that imposes celibacy.

Newman sounds like a case of “open mouth, insert foot”____According to the article Newman’s statement is not church law. ____I like what Reese said: “There’s good reason priests should not say stupid things but be careful when talking about confession, Communion and politics.”____Basicly the RCC should just stay out of politics. Many Catholics do realize the candidates don’t run on just 1 issue, in this case, abortion rights. But Obama also had other things on his agenda. How a Catholic (or anyone else) votes in the voting both is really none of the RCC’s business. ____

Does this priest seriously consider Sarah Palin a plausible president? What’s he been smoking?
“After professing atheism at age 13, Newman was baptized in the Episcopal Church in 1982, later joined the Catholic Church and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1993.”
Aha! He’s an atheist plant who’s trying to subvert the RCC. Or maybe an Episcopal plant. In either case he’s making progress.

“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,”
While I admire Fr. Newman’s zeal, I disagree with him on theological grounds as many Obama supporters could have voted for him based on what they believed to be proportionate reasons; therefore it wouldn’t necessarily be mortal sin.
“If the bishops wanted 54 percent of the Catholic population (who voted for Obama) to go to confession before receiving Communion, they would have said so at their meeting in Baltimore,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center.
Not necessarily, Rev. Reese, as that would fall under the jurisdiction of each diocese under each individual bishop. They may have thought it to be imprudent to bring it up at that time or had other issues that required their immediate attention.
He added: “There’s a good reason why priests should not say stupid things but be very careful when talking about confession, Communion and politics.”
Sounds like Rev. Reese needs to follow his own advice a little more carefully.
..and the republicans believe the war should go on indefinitely with hundreds who have already died….does the pro-life not include adults..or only babies in the womb?? if you’re going to be pro-life…be pro-life all the way…
If abortion is the taking of innocent human life then the estimated 1.5 million babies aborted each and every year far outweighs the casualties of the Iragi war, to put things in a numerical perspective.

I wonder how many Catholics had to go to confession for what they thought of this priest and where they thought he should stick his pronouncemnt.

“If abortion is the taking of innocent human life then the estimated 1.5 million babies aborted each and every year far outweighs the casualties of the Iragi war, to put things in a numerical perspective.”
From the Wikipedia article on abortion, the section on Spontaneous Abortion:
“One study testing hormones for ovulation and pregnancy found that 61.9% of conceptuses were lost prior to 12 weeks, and 91.7% of these losses occurred subclinically, without the knowledge of the woman.”
So reasonably 70%, and in any case a high percent of conceptuses are lost to miscarriages, i.e. abortions that can only be ascribed to “God” if you are inclined to think a god is active in our lives.
So clearly if “God” (despite publishing a Bible in which abortion is not mentioned) really cares about abortion “He” or “She” or “It” should clean up His/Her/It’s own act first.

“One study testing hormones for ovulation and pregnancy found that 61.9% of conceptuses were lost prior to 12 weeks, and 91.7% of these losses occurred subclinically, without the knowledge of the woman.”
Hmmm, I wounder which study. http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Spontaneous+Abortion
‘It is estimated that at least 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage (estimates range from 15% to 75%).’
In any event, I wounder how they conduct these studies. After all, if most conceptuses are lost within the first 2 weeks (in the link I posted), then that’s usually before women even know they’re pregnant. What do scientists tell these women they’re studying?
Do they recruit sexually active ones without saying, and can they retrieve a pool of them big enough to get reliable data? Results seem to vary widely.

I strongly agree that a Priest, Pope, Bishop and preacher has the right to ask their congregation to repent for voting for Obama due to the Right to Life campaign in saving human babies. You know if you touch an embryo of an eagle you get in big trouble. Its obsurd! Animals have more rights than unborn human babies. The American Holicost!!!!!!!!
And we have a President that believes and indorses it!!!!!!!!
Please unite in prayer and do everything you can possibly do for these unborn children. You can go to prolife.com. There are lots of things that we can be doing!!!!!!!!!!!! Lets not just sit around and talk lets take action, this is the final hour.
Despirate,
Carla Burch
Jacksonville, Fl

Heavens forbid we should muddy the waters with anything like the truth, but I’ll give it a shot.
Here’s a fact – Barack Obama believes the decision should be left to the woman and her physician. Effectively, the Catholic Church does, too. The Catholic church itself is pro-CHOICE in that they don’t require women who conceive to be locked up until they give birth. This means they leave the CHOICE of whether to abort up to the woman in question. Of course, those who do choose to abort are subject to consequences both immediate and eternal, but the CHOICE is still theirs.
There is absolutely nothing sinful about believing people should be free moral agents.

Carla, eagles are on the verge of becoming extinct, humans are not. Remember everyone keep your hands off the embryos of eagles! Animals do not have more rights than humans, just different ones.

I think that SC Priest acted in a very arrogant manner. Who is he to say that voting for Obama was sinful? Just because Obama supports a woman’s right to choose does not make him evil.
One thing that always bothered me about most “pro-life” people is that many are “pro-life” only when it comes to a child in the womb. They tend to support war, capital punishment and are against programs that help the poor. How is that being pro-life? I have nothing but respect for those who are truly pro-life. They are against abortion, war, euthanasia and capital punishment. Many are also vegetarians. Now THAT is a true “pro-life” position. All the rest are nothing but hypocrites.

Well said. I am one of those prolife, propeace, pro alternatives to the death penalty, and a vegetarian, people out there.

He is an arrogant priest.I doubt if at all he read theology.Let someone tell him that the eucharist belongs to Christ and is food for sinners.

Carla B:__It is really very simple…if you don’t agree with a woman’s right to choose, then don’t have an abortion, but don’t tell another woman she can’t. Roe V Wade is in place to offer a clean, safe termination, if a woman feels that is what she has to do. Without Roe V Wade there is still a choice. It’s called a coat hanger, or a butcher in a back alley, death of the woman very possible. Do you really think there were no abortions before Roe V Wade was passed? There have been terminations since the beginning of time. If I was a praying person, I’d be praying the Roe V Wade never is withdrawn. You don’t have to have one….the is your choice. As for the above priest…and his attitude towards his congregation? He needs to stay out of their personal space…better known as their votes. The right man won…am looking forward to getting our “born again” disgrace out of the White House.

It is, in my opinion, a grave sin to bully, and bludgeon people spiritually if they dare hold a political opinion different from their church. Those who voted for Obama might, for instance, have been attracted to his life affirming message of LEAVING a war that has cost thousands of people their life and limbs in the here and now, whereas the other “viable” candidate wanted to continue the loss of life on both sides. Tell me where the sin is in that? Obama doesn’t want anyone to have an abortion, but he is for keeping the procedure safe, and for finding avenues of reducing the number of them through education and supporting people in need of reproductive services. Most of us who voted for Obama know the difference between an evil view and a pragmatic one. We opted for a bigger picture that included keeping families from being homeless, saving jobs so they can feed their children, ending a war that steals lives, and helping save the enviroment that must support the lives of future generations. ____Confess that as a sin? No Freakin’ Way!!____

A couple of things to say, Carla you fail to grasp the difference between an endangered species and a species that has overpopulated it’s environment beyond its carrying capacity. We have bred like rats and there is no human Holicost(sic) from abortion it’s the children born into poverty, sickness and hopelessness. As far as the 1.5 million abortions a year, I am sure they are dwarfed by the deaths from preventable childhood illnessess. So voting for a candidate who will give women control over their bodies and give them a chance to see most of their children grow up is a pro-life candidate.

The real sin is the fact the same greed and selfishness that promotes abortion, promotes poverty or visa versa.

This knucklehead has – as have so many others – misunderstood the meaning of a sacrament. It is not a reward for good behavior, it is the means for grace. Mediated by a priest or not, none of the sacraments, including communion, was intended to be either a carrot or a bludgeon. I suggest somne remedial education in sacramental theology.

Help me B’net Tiger – you’re our only hope!
I have tried to post responses to several of these articles, and in some other places too. Only one in three makes it past those goofy codes at the bottom of the screen. I have been scrupulous about keying them in just right – correct oreder, lower case – everything. But it does not work. My frustration is mounting!

Jest it’s happening to all of us. I’ve even had my husband come in and check what I’ve typed, so I knew it wasn’t a typo. The reason we see so many “your name” is because when we go back to repost we forget to type our name. If you click try again you won’t lose what you have typed, if you click on anything else you’ll lose it and have to start over. Usually I luck out with only two times, when it’s been more, and I’ve forgotten and lost everything I’ve said I’ve got other things to do and just left.

This knucklehead has – as have so many others – misunderstood the meaning of a sacrament. It is not a reward for good behavior, it is the means for grace. Great comments jestrfyl!
The Diocese and the Church have condemned Father Newman’s actions and statements.
By attaching stipulations for the sacraments based on political affiliations Newman violated both Church and Federal laws.
The sad thing is how anti-American all of this turns out to be.
The GOP has done nothing to slow or stop abortion in the 6 years that they controlled every branch of government.
The partial birth abortion ban of 2003 ended a procedure that only accounted for .014% of all abortions, and in no way reduced the number of abortions.
The GOP is never going stop abortion for two reasons.
1) It’s an easy way for them to garner votes and distract from real issues.
2) Abortion is Constitutional.
As challenge after challenge has demonstrated, we live in free society that allows people the freedom to make mistakes and sin. It is not the job of the U.S. Government to legislate morality.
It is the job of the Church to stop abortion. They can start by actually helping babies who live outside womb.
The hyprocrisy in this regard is mindnumbing. Why does the U.S. has the highest infant mortality rate of any industrialized nation in the world (expect Lativa — they passed us in 2006). The hypocrisy of those who claim to care about babies, but think that a pre-natal care system which can boast “Better than Latvia” is good enough for the U.S. is overwhelming. People screaming the loudest about abortion continually vote for legislation that disenfranchises and endangers the babies and children we already have in the world. The GOP has based their politics on hatred and sexual neurosis and many Catholic priests are very susceptible to that message. But ultimately, this only thing that they GOP really shares with the Catholic Church is all of the gay (Larry Craig) and pedophilia (Mark Foley) scandals.
The morals of the GOP in the past 8 years regarding human life is horrifying. They’ve supported torture, (Gitmo, Abu Gharib) lied us into war (Iraq), and have neglected the poor (New Orleans, healthcare, etc.).
Just to reiterate, it is not the job of the U.S. Government to legislate morality. And even if were, in the sum of moral choices Barack Obama was for the vast majority of Catholics the clear moral choice.
In fact based on what I’ve said, it’s clear that a vote for the GOP was one not grounded in love and good will but in hatred and sexual neurosis.
Finally, all of this is just embarrassing:
A morbidly obese white southerner tells people that voting for a black man is a sin — this is not something normally associated with the Catholic Church. It makes the Catholic Church look silly.
It seems that the diocese agrees with me. They’ve taken down the bulletin. Apparently Newman has as difficult a time controlling himself at the keyboard as he does controlling himself at the dinner table. He needs to pray for discipline and restraint.

The Diocese and the Church have condemned Father Newman’s actions and statements.
By attaching stipulations for the sacraments based on political affiliations Newman violated both Church
and Federal laws.
The sad thing is how anti-American all of this turns out to be.
The GOP has done nothing to slow or stop abortion in the 6 years that they controlled every branch of
government.
The partial birth abortion ban of 2003 ended a procedure that only accounted for .014% of all abortions,
and in no way reduced the number of abortions.
The GOP is never going stop abortion for two reasons.
1) It’s an easy way for them to garner votes and distract from real issues.
2) Abortion is Constitutional.
As challenge after challenge has demonstrated, we live in free society that allows people the freedom to
make mistakes and sin. It is not the job of the U.S. Government to legislate morality.
It is the job of the Church to stop abortion. They can start by actually helping babies who live outside
womb.
The hyprocrisy in this regard is mindnumbing. Why does the U.S. has the highest infant mortality rate of
any industrialized nation in the world (expect Lativa — they passed us in 2006). The hypocrisy of those
who claim to care about babies, but think that a pre-natal care system which can boast “Better than
Latvia” is good enough for the U.S. is overwhelming. People screaming the loudest about abortion
continually vote for legislation that disenfranchises and endangers the babies and children we already
have in the world. The GOP has based their politics on hatred and sexual neurosis and many Catholic
priests are very susceptible to that message. But ultimately, this only thing that they GOP really shares
with the Catholic Church is all of the gay (Larry Craig) and pedophilia (Mark Foley) scandals.
The morals of the GOP in the past 8 years regarding human life is horrifying. They’ve supported torture,
(Gitmo, Abu Gharib) lied us into war (Iraq), and have neglected the poor (New Orleans, healthcare, etc.).
Just to reiterate, it is not the job of the U.S. Government to legislate morality. And even if were, in
the sum of moral choices Barack Obama was for the vast majority of Catholics the clear moral choice.
In fact based on what I’ve said, it’s clear that a vote for the GOP was one not grounded in love and good
will but in hatred and sexual neurosis.
Finally, all of this is just embarrassing:
A morbidly obese white southerner tells people that voting for a black man is a sin — this is not
something normally associated with the Catholic Church. It makes the Catholic Church look silly.
It seems that the diocese agrees with me. They’ve taken down the bulletin. Apparently Newman has as
difficult a time controlling himself at the keyboard as he does controlling himself at the dinner table.
He needs to pray for discipline and restraint.

“In fact based on what I’ve said, it’s clear that a vote for the GOP was one not grounded in love and good will but in hatred and sexual neurosis.”
48% of voters opted for the GOP candidate; I had no idea whatsoever that spiteful, sexually neorotic people were so predominate in this country!! What a brilliant statement. I can tell you’ve really thought this one through. So that’s who the GOP has been pandering to all of these years, hmmm.

Previous post was mine.
“Apparently Newman has as difficult a time controlling himself at the keyboard as he does controlling himself at the dinner table. He needs to pray for discipline and restraint.”
Turns out he’s not the only one.

The biggest reason for infant mortality in this country is because people with young babies are going without the proper medical care, before and after they are born. They are put in this position because they cannot afford medical insurance. Many of these people were not able to finish education, because again, lack of money and direction by adults in their home and in the schools, and churches they attend. Our new President Obama will change this by seeing that health insurance is available for all. He was elected because people have put their faith in him to do something positive for this nation.

Oswald:
Excellent post!

Why stop at abortions, Catholics? Why don’t you try to force me to go to church on Sunday and make sure I don’t get any breakfast first either? I mean really, a mortal sin is a mortal sin. And this priest might want to check the registry of roman catholic saints where he would find MANY of them to be politically anarchist in their views.