Lord Valve wrote:

For any undecided voters out there. Just remember this. The liberal
media elite will always conveniently fail to mention that the choices
you make will ultimately be judged by God. Remember, even in the
voting booth, He still can see what you chose to do.

And you, too, don't forget -- what you write as well, and what you
think. Are you forgetting that only 'he who is without sin' should
throw the first stone. Bad boy! He's watching you, and judging!
yD

LV

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...0/110933.shtml

Politicians who support abortion "are cooperating with evil" and
should not receive Communion U.S. Catholic bishops said in a
statement, approved in vote of 183 to six, and issued Friday at their
meeting in Denver.

But the bishops left it up to pro-abortion politicians to refrain from
receiving Communion when they are in a state of serious sin, which
includes support of abortion, while approving of fellow bishops who
deny the sacrament to pro-abortion lawmakers if they choose.
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To date six bishops have taken that position, tellling pro-abortion
politicians they will not allow them to receive Communion their
dioceses.
Moreover, the bishops said that "the Catholic community and Catholic
institutions" should not give "awards, honors or platforms" to
Catholics who "act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles,"
an obvious reference to Catholic universities who have been inviting
pro-abortion politicians and other public figure to speak on campus.

"The Catholic community and Catholic institutions" should not give
"awards, honors or platforms" to Catholics who "act in defiance of our
fundamental moral principles," the bishops declared.

As a result, Catholic universities, for example, are told they should
not give honorary degrees or speaking invitations to politicians who
have a record of supporting abortion, bans already in force at some
Catholic universities, but ignored in others.

The Times noted that Senator John Kerry, a nominal Catholic who
supports abortion rights, for example, recently gave an address at
Georgetown University. In a recent study, the Cardinal Newman Society
which monitors Catholic colleges and universities cited dozens of
Catholic institutions of higher learning who continue to host
pro-abortion politicians and public figures.

In their statement, reported in the New York Times, the bishops told
Catholic lawmakers that that they were not worthy to receive communion
until they had examined their consciences, including their "fidelity
to the moral teaching of the church in personal and public life."

The statement backs both those bishops who would refuse Communion to
pro-abortion politicians and those who would leave the matter up to
the consciences of those who defy the Church's condemnation of
abortion and continue to receive Communion. "Bishops can legitimately
make different judgments on the most prudent course of pastoral
action," the statement said.

State of Mortal Sin

Under Catholic doctrine, any member of the Church who is in a state of
mortal sin may not receive Holy Communion until they have repented,
resolved to avoid the sin in the future, and been to confession.
Receiving Communion in a state of mortal sin is in itself a serious
mortal sin.

Leslie Tentler, professor of history at the Catholic University of
America and director of the university's Center for American Catholic
Studies, told the Times "It's obviously a compromise statement. The
general tenor seems to me very much one of conciliation. Look at the
verbs and nouns they use: `teach, persuade, dialogue, engagement' with
politicians. On the other hand they don't slap the hands of the
bishops who say they would deny politicians communion. They point out
what's absolutely true, and that is that bishops can make decisions on
matters of this sort in their own dioceses."

Many American bishops, however, say they would never refuse communion
to a politician, either because it is not a pastoral approach, or
because it makes the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ, a
political issue.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, for example said, "The
archdiocese will continue to follow church teaching which places the
duty on each Catholic to examine their consciences as to their
worthiness to receive holy communion. That is not the role of the
person distributing the body and blood of Christ."

"I think the ball will be in the court of pro-abortion politicians to
explain to all of their constituents why they are in this position,"
George Weigel, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in
Washington told the Times.

"This puts the onus of responsibility exactly where it belongs, which
is on people who claim to, and let's hope want to, live authentically
Catholic lives, but are going to be told in no uncertain terms, 'You
are not doing that,'" said Weigel, a biographer of the pope who has
close contacts with the some Vatican officials and bishops.

In their statement the bishops addressed those Catholic politicians
such as Kerry and others who claim to be personally opposed to
abortion, but they will not vote against it because it is the law of
the land and because they cannot impose their religious beliefs on
others.

But, wrote the bishops "The separation of church and state does not
require division between belief and public action, between moral
principles and political choices, but protects the right of believers
and religious groups to practice their faith and act on their values
in public life," the bishops wrote.