CELEBRATING 14 YEARS OF THE BLOG "CINOPS BE GONE" # 1 OF 2
IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH - HTTP://CINOPSBEGONEBLOGSPOT.COM - MAY 14TH, 2021
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER, CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY, APR. 25 TO MAY 8TH, 2021 P. 3
"PHOENIX BISHOP SAYS CHURCH TEACHING ON COMMUNION APPLIES TO ALL POLITICIANS"
BISHOP OLMSTEAD PUBLISHED THE EXHORTATION "VENEREMUR CERNUI" APRIL 1 ST., HOLY THURSDAY, WHICH MARKS THE INSTITUTION OF THE [HOLY] EUCHARIST.
Catholic teaching sees the Eucharist as Christ's transformative sacrifice on the cross, this Holy Communion must only be received worthily. This teaching is not partisan, but it certainly applies to political leaders who back abortion and euthanasia. Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix has said in an apostolic exhortation on the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
"Holy Communion is reserved for those who, with God' grace, make a sincere effort to live this union with Christ and His Church by adhering to all that the Catholic Church believes and proclaims to be revealed by God," Bishop Olmstead said, explaining that Church teaching on this has "always been clear and based on Scripture."
This is why the Church "requires Catholic leaders who have publicly supported gravely immoral laws such as abortion and euthanasia to refrain from receiving Holy Communion until they publicly repent and receive the Sacrament of Penance," continue his exhortation, Veneremus Cernui. "Not all moral issues have the same weight as abortions and euthanasia. The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is an intrinsically grave sin and there is a grave and clear obligation for all Catholics to oppose them conscientious objection," the bishop said.
Bishop Olmstead said that the current political climate means the Church can be "easily accused of favoring one party and singling out politicians of a certain party with such teaching." "However the Church is only faithfully reaffirming its perennial teaching on the Eucharist and the worthy reception of Holy Communion which applies to every single person," said the bishop. Elsewhere in the letter, he explained that in an unworthy reception of Holy Communion, the sacrament "becomes a sacrilege." He added that "the spiritual medicine become for that person - it is frightful to say - a form of spiritual poison."
"When we do not really believe in Jesus, when we do not really seek to conform our entire life to Him and receive Jesus even though we know that we have sinned against Him, then this just leads to a greater sin and betrayal," said Bishop Olmstead. In his exhortation he urged an increase in devotional acts as well as repentance and confession.
"The Church invites everyone to the Wedding Banquet while at the same time commits herself to helping everyone arrive properly dressed in a purified baptismal garment, lest the greatest Gift - the Eucharist - becomes his or her spiritual destruction," he said.
Bishop Olmstead published the exhortation April 1, Holy Thursday, which marks the institution of the [Holy] Eucharist.
"The more the Lord in the Eucharist is our central focus, the more surely He will bring us through this dark and turbulent waters," said the bishop.
"On this day when we commemorate the institution of the Eucharist, I, as your shepherd, implore each of you to seek out Jesus in the Eucharist to be strengthened and renewed in your faith."
"He voiced hope that everyone, whether strong in faith or weak, Catholic or not, will have a sincere "Eucharistic amazement" incited in them."
George H. Kubeck
P.S. "Only when we are not afraid of the tongues of fire or of the strong wind that accompanies them does the Church become an icon of the Holy Spirit." Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, "Co-Workers of the Truth," Meditations for Every Day of the Year, May 13th, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1992
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