CORNWALL, Ont. – The altar rail is no place for confrontation between Catholic politicians and the clergy who want them to fall into line, Washington’s archbishop emeritus said Tuesday.
But if a politician consistently and publicly defies the church, he should be denied communion, Theodore Cardinal McCarrick told the Conference of Canadian Catholic Bishops meeting here this week.
”You have no choice in the matter. That person should not partake of communion. Sometimes you just have to do it.”
I was pretty sure there was only one Theodore Cardinal McCarrick until I read this article. I mean is this the same Cardinal who seemed to mischaracterized the letter from then-Cardinal Ratzinger and also spent two years with a committee on this subject only to come up with for each Bishop to do their own thing?
By discussing the matter civilly, the cardinal said, ”I feel we have brought people closer to the centre … In the middle is virtue.”
Okay this is the same Cardinal. There is of course always a problem using political terms within the Church. Left, right, center just don’t equate very well. Have you ever hard of a martyr described as a centrist? Cardinal McCarrick does love talking about the middle. Truth does not lie (pun intended) between two extremes, it transcends them. Virtue is not the middle of two positions. Fr. John Hardon’s wonderful Catholic dictionary defines virtue as "A good habit that enables a person to act according to right reason enlightened by faith." Now I am not implying that the Cardinal ever means anything not orthodox, but I have called him a man of the muddle before because most of what he says that is reported seems to me to be informed more by politicalese and beltway talk than in ways that have a more Catholic heft behind them. If he would start substituting center with truth I think it would improve the little pieces of quotations we do get from the media.
The article ends with his quote "”These dialogues are not about winning votes, but saving souls.”" To which I say amen.
17 comments
You’re sounding more and more like Chesterton – according to him, Catholicism might almost be considered the union of extremes…
It is true that the historic Church has at once emphasised celibacy and emphasised the family; has at once (if one may put it so) been fiercely for having children and fiercely for not having children. It has kept them side by side like two strong colours, red and white, like the red and white upon the shield of St. George. [the red and white cross in the British flag.] It has always had a healthy hatred of pink. It hates that combination of two colours which is the feeble expedient of the philosophers. It hates that evolution of black into white which is tantamount to a dirty gray. In fact, the whole theory of the Church on virginity might be symbolized in the statement that white is a colour: not merely the absence of a colour. All that I am urging here can be expressed by saying that Christianity sought in most of these cases to keep two colours coexistent but pure. It is not a mixture like russet or purple; it is rather like a shot silk, for a shot silk is always at right angles, and is in the pattern of the cross.
[GKC, Orthodoxy CW1:301-2]
“Bethlehem is emphatically a place where extremes meet.” [The Everlasting Man CW2:303]
It’s amazing how leaving an official post in Washington will clear up your thinking. You still keep your hat, but you get your balls back, apparently.
discussing the matter civilly, the cardinal said, ”I feel we have brought people closer to the centre … In the middle is virtue.”
Isn’t lukewarm water in the middle of hot and cold?
Well, at least he didn’t invoke the name of Allah.
Are you sure there is only one Cardinal McCarrick ?
:o)
Are you sure there isn’t another Cardinal McCarrick?
Yeah, but he was in Canada. Is he willing to say that here in the U.S.? Is he willing to say that in a U.S. Presidential election year?
The altar rail is no place for confrontation between Catholic politicians and the clergy ….
What’s an altar rail?
I think we’re (the commenters) are giving McCarrick too much credit. He doesn’t say what he means by “publicly and consistently (defying) the church”. My guess he doesn’t include continuing to support abortion laws but maintaining a “personal opposition”.
I think we’re (the commenters) are giving McCarrick too much credit.
Don’t worry. You aren’t.
“in medio virtus stat”
I believe this is attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas – though I don’t think he had the lib/con categories of late American politics in mind.
I always chuckle when I hear one such as McCarrick reference “the communion rail” or “the altar rail” One would be hard-pressed to find an altar rail in 90% of american churches. Even more rare is the actual intact rail which is used during the distribution of Holy Communion (though this is not prohibited)
Excellent points Jeff. Our faith transcends political terms. We defend the unborn as well as help the poor. That definately is not ‘centrist’.
If you stand in the middle you tend to get run over. Cardinal McCarrick is another spineless Catholic that want’s to be loved by everyone. He denies his own cross for that of worldly favor.
That GKC quote was brilliant and beautiful. I’m always searching for ways to express that truth (and orthodoxy)is an exclusive possession of neither the Left nor the Right, nor is it that “lukewarm” guck in the middle, but is arrived at (by God’s design?)in respectful conflict among those who sincerely seek The Truth. …Thanks for sharing Chesterton’s explanation. The more I read of him, the more I respect his perspective.
Dang, Russ took my altar rail joke! Oh well, great minds think alike, I guess!
Evidently Cdl. McC is no longer in fear…
Yellow stripes, dead dogs.
I don’t believe Cardinal McCarrick said that. Is there a video of him saying that? It would be the first time he actually said something that supported the Catholic faith. Pardon my skepticism, but the guy’s been a weasel all of his life and NOW he’s a stand up guy?
A priest friend of mine told me about one of his mentors, distributing Communion, saw in the line before him a man he knew was a confirmed sinner. He just reached under his vestments and handed over a cigar and said, “The cigar of Christ,” and the man moved on. No huge fuss, no nothing. Point made.
I said, “But how do you really know he hasn’t had a change of heart and been to Confession?”
The priest said, “Sometimes, you just know.”
But I don’t see bishops handing out cigars.
Give please. The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it. Help me! Could you help me find sites on the: Irish betting odds. I found only this – internet sports betting odds. Subscribe to sports handicapping blog. Subscription sports analysis and picks from professional gamblers. Thanks :cool:. Artie from Madagascar.