It seems a little strange to issue a press release about a guy receiving communion, but the church has its customs. Cardinal Egan on Giuliani:
"The Catholic Church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God.
"Throughout my years as Archbishop of New York, I have repeated this teaching in sermons, articles, addresses, and interviews without hesitation or compromise of any kind. Thus it was that I had an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, when I became Archbishop of New York and he was serving as Mayor of New York, that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion.
"I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the Papal visit here in New York, and I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding.”
UPDATE: Per the contribution from Jim Kelly posted as a comment here, you can see George Marlin's initial take with this link.
Also, here is Robert D. Novak in his nationally syndicated column on the topic.
And, from our reporter Jennifer Barrios this afternoon comes word that Giuliani issued a two-sentence statement saying he is willing to meet with the cardinal but that his "faith is a deeply personal matter and should remain confidential."
Comments (4)
This whole story caught fire nationwide as Conservative Commentator George J. Marlin's article appeared on his blog last week.
That story was sent nationwide to the papers. Even Robert Novak had a story appearing in many of today's nationwide papers with a the take off of the Marlin article.
(I also passed this story onto a number of people)
You can read George J. Marlin's story here:
http://streetcornerconservative.com/
Jim Kelly - NY Conservative Campaigns
Jesus gave communion to Judas at the Last Supper
I recall that He also said that it would have been better that Judas had not been born (Matt 26:24) and the author of the Gospel also noted that the devil went into him at that time (John 13:27). Seems to me that any caring pastor would protect their charge from such horrible consequences.
P.S. Judas had not yet actually handed over Jesus so it's a shade less clear what his state was at that time.
In response to the preceeding,the inescapable fact is that Judas was at the Passover dinner with Jesus and the other Apostles that evenng. i am not as good as you at citing chapter and verse(they didnt teach that at a fine Mineola based Catholic High School in the mid 60s) but I am certain that one can infer from the text that Jesus knew the identity of his betrayer. And yet he did not choose to sanction him or single him out when he distributed the bread and wine. The Gospel text does not have Jesus preface his "Do this in memory of me" statement with ,"Everybody except Judas". The fact is we need the Eucharist and sinners more than others.
This begs other political questions. The Pope opposed the Iraq war. The Church has a very vocal pro immigrant stand. The Church is stridently opposed to capital punishment. Should we check where Catholic politician stands on those issues,too, What if he or she favors the Church position on some and not others. Abortion is heinous and wrong and I am very opposed but I dont see how it is any more heinous than the unintended slaughter of the last 5 years of war in Iraq. They are both moral tragedies and in my opinion morally equivalent.
I run on.
Thanks