Democratic VP Nominee and His Catholicism

Senator Joseph Biden (D) of Deleware, was selected by Senator Barak Obama to be his running mate. It would have been nice to have someone who completely embraces the Catholic faith rather than just some of its tenets. Ironically, Senator Biden believes LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION but he also defends Roe v. Wade and does not want to outlaw abortion. He does oppose partial-birth abortion but does not support a ban on cloning. IF he is elected Vice President, he would still be ineligible for Holy Communion based on his stands. Deacons, Priests and Bishops would be compelled to refuse him Communion as urged by Archbishop Burke (for any Catholic politician who notoriously supports abortion). The next question is what happens if the Republican VP nominee is also a pro-abortion Catholic? We can and ought to pray that ALL Catholic politicians have a change of heart and abandon their allegiance to the pro-death ideology of abortion and euthanasia. We can and ought to pray for universal consistency among all Catholics on matters of faith and morals so these situations at election time never repeat themselves.

The OnTheIssues web site list his inconsistent views thus:

• No public funding for abortion; it imposes a view. (Apr 2007)
  
• Supports partial-birth abortion ban, but not undoing Roe. (Apr 2007)
  
• Accepts Catholic church view that life begins at conception. (Apr 2007)
  
• Nominees should agree on constitutional right to privacy. (Apr 2007)
  
• Voted NO on defining unborn child as eligible for SCHIP. (Mar 2008)
  
• Voted NO on prohibiting minors crossing state lines for abortion. (Mar 2008)
  
• Voted YES on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Apr 2007)
  
• Voted NO on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. (Jul 2006)
  
• Voted YES on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)
  
• Voted NO on criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime. (Mar 2004)
  
• Voted NO on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions. (Jun 2000)
  
• Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions. (Oct 1999)
  
• Voted NO on banning human cloning. (Feb 1998)
  
• Rated 36% by NARAL, indicating a mixed voting record on abortion. (Dec 2003)
  
• Expand embryonic stem cell research. (Jun 2004)
  
• Rated 0% by the NRLC, indicating a pro-choice stance. (Dec 2006)
  
• Ensure access to and funding for contraception. (Feb 2007)
  

Catholics who support abortion should not receive Communion, says Archbishop Burke

Rome, Aug 19, 2008 / 10:00 am (CNA).- The
prefect of the Apostolic Signature, Archbishop Raymond Burke, said this week
that Catholics, especially politicians who publically defend abortion, should
not receive Communion, and that ministers of Communion should be responsibly
charitable in denying it to them if they ask for it, “until they have reformed
their lives.”

In an interview with the magazine, Radici Christiane, Archbishop Burke
pointed out that there is often a lack of reverence at Mass when receiving
Communion. “Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ unworthily is a sacrilege,”
he warned. “If it is done deliberately in mortal sin it is a sacrilege.”

To illustrate his point, he referred to “public officials who, with knowledge
and consent, uphold actions that are against the Divine and Eternal moral law.
For example, 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.

“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.

Archbishop Burke also noted that when a bishop or a Church leader prevents an
abortion supporter from receiving Communion, “it is 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.”

“Therefore, it is simply ridiculous and wrong to try to silence a pastor,
accusing him of interfering in politics so that he cannot do good to the soul of
a member of his flock,” he stated.

It is “simply wrong” to think that the faith must be reduced to the private
sphere and eliminated from public life, Archbishop Burke said, encouraging
Catholics “to bear witness to our faith not only in private in our homes but
also in our public lives with others in order to bear strong witness to
Christ.”

The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy unequivocally supports His Grace in this unambiguous response to those Catholics who support abortion and still approach the Sacred and Most Holy Eucharist. We are proud to have been called the "Burke Brigade" last year in the secular press when we visited the Archdiocese of St. Louis. God save and bless Archbishop Burke.