In reference to the discussion below about Constitution Party presidential candidate Michael Peroutka and his having renounced his faith, a reader writes with some interesting information. Under the old Code of Canon Law (pre-1983), there were two classifications of excommunicated persons: vitandus and toleratus. For the former, they had to be shunned by Catholics completely, while Catholics could maintain necessary business and social contacts with the latter. Those classifications no longer exist.
So it’s possible that a Catholic could have been forbidden by canon law, under the old code, from voting for Peroutka, who would have been excommunicated latae sententiae, i.e. automatically, upon leaving his faith. It would also have applied to John Kerry, who we now are told by an unofficial communication from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, may have incurred automatic excommunication for his position on abortion.
In fact, Peroutka is less offensive, and would have been even under the old code, because he doesn’t claim to be Catholic like Kerry does.
Of course, I do hope and pray for the repentance of both Peroutka and Kerry to return to their faith. We all know that as Catholics we are obligated to pray for them, right?
The pope won’t do anything to him—we know that already.
Maybe the next one will. We’ll see.
This is so interesting…I wish I had had the infor earlier…would have saved me a lot of angst…I was seriously thinking of voting for this fellow..and I’m sure he’s a decent guy….but I did the right thing and voted for Bush by absentee last week…..it won’t matter a hill of pork rinds in CT but at least it’ll add to his popular vote tally….BTW can anyone tell me why Zogby is the only pollster with such a dim view of Bush’s lead?? PS If Bush were win the election by only 1 electoral vote….there could be protracted fight worse than last time….we could all thank Connecticut….after decades of carrying 8 electorals we got cut down to7 after the 2000 census……hehe
Yes Dom, we should pray for all of the strayed and those leading others astray. But as I have noted elsewhere my prayer for wayward bishops, priests and politicians tends to be in the nature of: sigh).
PPS…Maybe we could have an electoral college contest pool next week…might be fun, Dom….just a thought.
To any RC Bishop reading this: What are you doing with your life? It’s not too late to aid the people of God by preaching the Truth. Call your local press and speak the Truth about abortion. Do it for the salvation of souls. Plus, isn’t that what you’re getting paid to do?
Sts. Peter and Paul pray for us.
For those of you who were unable to be made fully aware of the homily that Father Hummer gave during the mass with Senator Kerry, you might be interested to know that he spoke on the sanctity of life and the importance of the value of human life. He took that time with Kerry to reiterate the Church’s point on abortion. However, unlike some people who may or may not call themselves Christians or Catholics, Father Hummer did not insult the candidate. He simply restated the church’s position, noting that he hoped that with “patience persistence” we might be able to bring about change. Name calling and insulting does nothing but bring about division. Father Hummer took the opportunity he had to share communion with Senator Kerry to try to persevere and move forward the church’s fight against abortion. However, the main stream media did not take the time or effort to print his entire homily, so those who do not know remain ignorant of what really happened. Please keep this in mind when you sit in judgement someday. Would you like someone to have the whole story or only selected sections.
Laura – “Win, will you?” covered it all for me. I prefer to listen to those I trust like Fr. Corapi and Fr. Pavone.
Yes, his witness was so effective just like all those bishops over the years who speak good words and then undermine them with the equivalent of “never mind what I say.” By telling Kerry, “Win, will you?” he just told Kerry that whatever Father said about abortion is unimportant as long as Kerry gets in office and replaces a president who has been demonstrably pro-life, unlike Kerry who hasn’t met an abortion he didn’t like in 20+ years of public service.
As nan says, “Win, will you?” says it all.
Laura in Ohio,
Apparently you and Fr. Hummer do not full understand or accept the Teaching Magisterium’s what it teaches as regards any Catholic that is pro-abortion. Also you and Fr. Hummer do not accept what the Teaching Magisterium says are the consequences that any Catholic must pay for holding such a position as promoting abortion.
Fr. Hummer was obliged not to extend Communion to Kerry. Fr. Hummer has the obligation as a priest to protect the Holy Sacrament from public profination.
No one is sitting in judgement over Kerry. He has publicly passec judgement upon himself.
A Trad like myself likes the old Code of Canon Law.
By this logic, Pertoutka is less offensive than Bush.
We are not called to vote for a pro abortion candidate. End of statement. Its ironic that Peroutka has renounced his Catholic upbringing and he is the only candidate to stand up for Catholic teachings on the rights of the unborn.
There seem to be other questions being raised about Peroutka. For example, according to the article at:
“Win, will you?”
http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=5324
:06
God save us from pandering priests.
This Fr. Hummer raised ” the destruction of Iraqi life” and then urged Kerry to “win”. I guess this Fr. Hummer must not care about the 2.5 million slaughtered by the Communists in Vietnam & Cambodia after John Kerry et al got the United States to unilaterally withdraw all support from those opposing the Communist invasion. I guess that doesn’t really matter, after all, they’re already dead.
I would hope that Fr. Hummer has a message on his answering machine from his bishop tomorrow …
Assuming that Chillicothe is part of the diocese of Columbus, Hummer the heretic might benefit during the transition from Bishop Griffin, a good man who resigned late last week due to a long struggle against arthritis, to Bishop Frederick Campbell, who will replace him.
“clusion that Code of Canon Law does require that manifest and public pro-abortion politicians must be denied Communion. Do a search on my web site for “Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts” and you’ll find the official guidance on this issue. As for what the Pope has said, he has said nothing on this issue so you can’t use him in your argument either way.
As to the homily, I find this paragraph disturbing: There
are many people who think that the destruction of Iraqi life is as direct an
assault on the sacred as is the taking of unborn life. There are many people
who regard the death penalty as an admission of the smallness of our nature
rather than evidence of our greatness. There are many people who think that
the right to health is as important as our right to safety.claimed to be a math whiz…or any other for that matter. However, I do appreciate the opportunity for discussion on this issue.
For one thing, since Roe v. Wade can only be overturned by the Supreme Court, Bush could affect the change by appointing strict constructionist justices, like Scalia and Thomas. I’m under no illusion that Kerry would appoint strict pro-abortionists.
Also, Reagan and Bush’s I and II were able to limit abortions during their terms. For one thing, Reagan created and the Bushes continued the Mexico City policy that forbids federal funding of pro-abortion groups overseas. And we couldn’t get a ban on partial-birth abortion passed while Clinton was in office.
I’m not just blaming it on the court. The fact is that a president can’t just wave his magic wand and make Roe v. Wade go away. What he can do is set priorities. I won’t pretend Bush is perfect on the issue, but there’s nobody worse than Kerry.
And saying that we should focus on the problems that lead to abortion rather than seeking to stop it is like saying we should focus on the problems that lead to murder, not try to stop people from committing murder. It’s not a zero-sum game: we can do both. Kerry doesn’t want to do either.
Want to know how fervently Kerry plans to protect and promote abortion? Read his own words: http://www.cathfam.org/KerryNARAL1.21.03.html
BUT, why dondidate I am not treating him like a leper – that doesn’t compute. Thank you Dom for posting the link to the NARAL address our brother in Christ delivered in ‘03. Yes, we should in all charity and patience TEACH, not roll over and play dead. Please check out fathercorapi.com and priestsforlife.org.