Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 2:17am

The Chicago Way

Cupich

 

The new Archbishop of Chicago has a long history of hostility to the pro-life movement.  Brian Williams at One Peter Five notes that he seems much happier with pro-abort politicians:

 

In a homily this past June, Monsignor Henry Kriegel (pastor at St. Patrick Catholic Church in the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania) referenced an evening spent dining with the well connected Catholic blogger Rocco Palma of Whispers in the Loggia. Regarding the impending episcopal appointment in Chicago, Msgr. Kriegel said at the time:

“…(Palma) told us who’s going to be the next archbishop of Chicago; a position which will be filled in September. And if he’s correct, it’s going to be the beginning of a whole new style of episcopal leadership in the American Catholic Church, away from these bombastic, confrontational, counter-cultural bishops to bishops who are much more conciliatory and overflowing, as Francis says, with mercy.

On Sunday’s edition of Face the Nation, recently installed Archbishop Blasé Cupich demonstrated that Chicago is indeed being introduced to a new style of episcopal leadership. This was nowhere more evident than the archbishop’s response to host Norah O’Donnell’s question regarding pro-abortion politicians and the reception of Communion:

O’DONNELL: So, when you say we cannot politicize the communion rail, you would give communion to politicians, for instance, who support abortion rights.

CUPICH: I would not use the Eucharist or as they call it the communion rail as the place to have those discussions or way in which people would be either excluded from the life of the church. The Eucharist is an opportunity of grace and conversion. It’s also a time of forgiveness of sins. So my hope would be that that grace would be instrumental in bringing people to the truth.

In other words, those who persist in mortal sin and public scandal through their continued political support of abortion should still receive the Eucharist. This very topic has been thoroughly addressed by canon lawyer Dr. Edward Peters when discussing the specific case of U.S. Congresswoman and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi:

“Canon 915, as I and others have explained many times, is not about impositions on individual conscience, it’s about public consequences for public behavior. It’s about taking people at their word and acknowledging the character of their actions. It’s about not pretending that people don’t really mean what they repeatedly say and what they repeatedly do.

(…)

“As a canon lawyer, my view is that Nancy Pelosi deserves to be deprived of holy Communion as the just consequence of her public actions; as her fellow Catholic, my view is that Nancy Pelosi deservesto be deprived of holy Communion to bring home to her and to the wider faith community the gravity of her conduct and the need to avoid such conduct altogether or, that failing, at least to repent of it. Quickly.”

Go here to read the rest.  Here is the comment of Cupich on his recent meeting with Obama:

 

Archbishop Cupich was installed as head of the Chicago Archdiocese Nov. 19, replacing Cardinal Francis E. George, who retired as head of the archdiocese. On Nov. 25, he and Obama met at the Copernicus Center Chicago, where the president was speaking to rally support for his immigration initiatives. The meeting lasted seven minutes, according to archdiocesan spokeswoman Colleen Dolan.

At an event later that day, Archbishop Cupich said the meeting focused on the immigration actions Obama announced Nov. 20. The archbishop said he thanked the president for his actions. The plans Obama announced include a program to defer deportation for potentially more than 4 million people who are in the U.S. illegally but who have children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, and make other changes in enforcement priorities.

In the meeting with Obama, as in the CBS interview, Archbishop Cupich said the rules for how the administrative actions are implemented should include protections so that people who sign up for the deferred deportation program are not put at greater risk of being sent home if the program is changed under a future president.

Archbishop Cupich also posted a statement about the immigration policies Nov. 26. In that statement, he said that, along with his brother bishops, he wanted to extend his gratitude and support of the administrative relief measures.

Cupich has leftist causes to support, and unborn babies can pound sand as far as he is concerned.  Popes are known by their appointments and the Cupich appointment by Pope Francis can be of little comfort to those who recall this 2004 letter from then Cardinal Ratzinger:

2. The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin. The Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorize or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a “grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. […] In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to ‘take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law or vote for it'” (no. 73). Christians have a “grave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God’s law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. […] This cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it” (no. 74).

3. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.

 

 

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bill bannon
bill bannon
Monday, December 1, AD 2014 1:04pm

Archbishop Cupich is simply wrong that the Eucharist is an ” opportunity for grace “. It is an opportunity for an
increase of sanctifying grace which sanctifying grace is presumed beforehand and is a requirement preceding the Eucharist and obtained if need be by Confession. To make a long story short, Paul in II Cor.5 said to ” expel the wicked man from your midst” in the case of the incestuous man. The early Church excommunicated for bad physical behaviour. The modern Church does not… except latae sententiae for abortion physical participants. Mental participants like pols e.g. Cuomo get off scot free. At some point the Church switched to excommunicating in ecclesiastical court not for moral theology errors ( Curran was only dechaired from teaching) and physical manifest sins….but….for heresies of de fide dogma in written form mainly. You can march in a pro choice parade without repercussions ( the Biden family) but are excommunicated if you write error about the Trinity….but few are so theological as to do the latter.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Monday, December 1, AD 2014 3:53pm

+Cupich’s words are the same in substance to +Wuerl. +Wuerl approved of giving Communion to abortionist John FARC Kerry, whose wife inherited her late husband John Heinz’ property around Pittsburgh. BTW, Teresa Kerry’s sons are as crazy as she is and are nothing like their father. +Wuerl said he would not use Communion as a “weapon”. This means +Wuerl will not confront abortionists.

I reiterate Dale Price’s admonishment. If you like your bishop, pray for him. You may get clobbered by the Wuerlwind and get stuck with a +Cupich wannabe yourself. I fear for the good priests at St. John Cantius in Chicago.

The most recent issue of Catholic Extension, which is based in Chicago, extols +Cupich. It made me nauseous.

Paul W Primavera
Monday, December 1, AD 2014 4:34pm

St Paul to Pukich – er Cupich:
.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 1st Corinthians 11
.
PS, does Pukich care any for the unborn Mexican immigrant babies who will be murdered under the policies and programs of Barack Hussein Obama?

PRM
PRM
Monday, December 1, AD 2014 4:56pm

Well, as someone commented a few weeks ago, Cardinal George can take comfort that his immediate successor, anyway, is unlikely to end his life in jail.

Mary De Voe
Monday, December 1, AD 2014 7:46pm

The Immaculate Conception is Mary’s perfect innocence from the very first moment of her existence. Due process of law is a constitutional guarantee to every person from the very first moment of his existence.
.
If +Cupich refuses to believe that Mary’s soul was immaculately conceived from the very first moment of her existence, then +Cupich is a heretic. If +Cupich refuses to accept that every person is entitled to constitutional due process of law, that children may not be put to death for the crimes and sins of their parents, then +Cupich is a traitor, a tyrant and a murderer.

Franco
Franco
Monday, December 1, AD 2014 9:17pm

I’m convinced the humble Argentinian is punishment
from God for the many Catholics who have rejected the
teachings of the Church and for the many Catholics who
have taken the Eucharist unworthily.

It is obvious Cupich and the great modernizer have lost
their Catholic faith for popular pagan ideals.

Pat
Pat
Monday, December 1, AD 2014 10:15pm

Luke 17:14 – 17
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him. And he said to them, “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.
.
The law and the prophets lasted until John; but from then on the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone who enters does so with violence. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter of the law to become invalid. …”
.
Proverbs Ch. 14:
in v. 27 – The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that a man may avoid the snares of death.

This all is a reminder of the ‘stiff-necked people’ .

Barbara Gordon
Barbara Gordon
Monday, December 1, AD 2014 11:29pm

The Southern Baptist Convention (the largest Protestant denomination in the country) in the 1980s and 1990s were in the middle of the same type of war that the Catholic Church is in now. Those who believe that scripture is inspired by God won the battle, however, it was barely won and there was a schism in their denomination where those who did not believe traditional Christian articles of faith s.a. Christ being virgin born, man being a sinner, man being given forgiveness/eternal life through Christs’ death, burial, and resurrection. Heck, they had atheists teaching in their seminaries as well, and missionaries who were teaching that Jesus did not rise from the dead! However, over several years, the battle was waged and prayed and fought–the liberals had to leave. The liberals tried to take away all of the assets of the SBC through the judicial system after attempting to gain control of the SBC through political means and losing. The atheist crowd finally had to separate and form their own separate denomination.

My point is: keep praying and working.

Guy McClung
Admin
Tuesday, December 2, AD 2014 6:41am

When two or three are praying to end abortion, AB Cupich may not be there, but Jesus is. Guy McClung, San Antonio

Ken
Ken
Tuesday, December 2, AD 2014 7:40am

Not a rhetorical question,
Can you name one Catholic pro-abortion politician who renounced his wicked past and said it was from frequent, illicit reception of Holy Communion?

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Tuesday, December 2, AD 2014 1:55pm

+Cupich: “The Eucharist is an opportunity of grace and conversion. It’s also a time of forgiveness of sins.” Hard to square with 1 Cor 11:27-29 (“Whosoever eats and drinks unworthily drinks a judgment on himself..”) nor Ratzinger’s comments that “it is never licit to cooperate in moral evil.” Cupich does not allow himself to be engaged in open debate (as neither do most of his left-leaning robed ones) because his “thinking” would be shredded.

Cupich does himself one better in his double-talk in his 11/30/14 interview with Nora O’Donnell on Face the Nation. The topic this time is Obama’s unconstitutional edict on immigration. This is precious:
..
O’DONNELL: I noticed that you said the work of comprehensive immigration reform is not important because it is on my agenda, but because it is on God’s. What does that mean, God wants immigration reform?

CUPICH: Well, it means that the aspirations that people have for better life for their children in which they are reaching out in hope as many people who have come to this country have. Those aspirations were placed in their heart by God. We have to attend to that. This is not just something that they’re wanting on their own, but God has always called us to a better life. Has always called us to experiencing how we can provide for our families in a better way. And I think that being a grandson of immigrants I feel that very deeply.

Cupich avoids the fact that tens of thousands of legal immigrants already in the long process of admission under democratically-enacted laws have been treated with contempt by the Obama amnesty edict. Moreover, he, like Pope Francis, openly advocates the [questionable] end over the means — but that is OK, because the desires of THESE 5 million (ready 25-50 million when we are done with this) illegals are motivated by God. The desires of the rest of us to oppose this injustice, advisedly, are not. Even he seems to recognize the weakness of his claim, having to wrap himself in the banner of “being the grandchild of a [legal] immigrant.” Precious.

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Tuesday, December 2, AD 2014 2:07pm

Later in the interview, +Cupich oh-so-clearly defines his stance on Catholic traditional marriage vs. gay marriage:

O’DONNELL: “Same-sex marriage is now legal in 35 states with more battles in the courts in the coming months. What should the church say about same-sex marriage? Does it need to change at all?”

CUPICH:” Well, I think in Washington State where I was bishop for the last four years there was a referendum on this very issue and I spoke very clearly about this. I said first of all that we cannot use this moment of public debate to say anything or do anything that would provoke violence against gay and lesbian people. We have to make sure that we’re not part of that and we would condemn that. At the same time it’s not just about gay marriage. It’s about whether or not we’re going to have statutes in our states that uphold and protect people who take the risk of bringing children into the world. People who as mothers and fathers coming together in their love, continue the human race.”

O’DONNELL: “Pardon me, do you think gay parents can good parents?”

CUPICH:” I think there are people not only who are gay but many single people are good parents. And I don’t think that’s the issue. I think the real issue is, should we have — should we continue to have legislation that supports, protects and upholds those people who take the risk of actually bringing children into the world and preserving the human race.”

O’DONNELL:” I understand the church’s teaching, but just to be clear, so you do think there should be legislation to protect the parents who are bringing children in to the world and caring for them that are in same-sex relationships?”

CUPICH: “Well, but no. I’m saying that the people who bring children in to the world are a man and a woman in their own love that bring children in the world.

I do know that there are gay couples, there are others — grandparents, single people who adopt children, who maybe even have children not from the act of love, but to care for children in that way.

And yes, I think that there has to be way in which we do support them. But I do think there is something unique about a man and woman coming together and bringing children in to the world, preserving the human race and providing that example as a mother and father, a male and female within a family that also deserves the state’s support and also protection.”
….
O’Donnell had him on the ropes (“Do you think that gay parents can be good parents?” He mushed his way out of it by saying that marriage of a man and a woman is “unique”—but he doesnt dare define that uniqueness, of course. So, +Cupich’s position on marriage is perfectly clear to me, of course.

trackback
Wednesday, December 3, AD 2014 5:19am

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cpola
cpola
Wednesday, December 3, AD 2014 6:32am

Steve Phoenix – concerning “samesex marriage” -, I guess someone has to buy a copy of City of God for this Bishop. He appears not to fully grasp the underpinning of the long-held Church teachings on the use of the sex act.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Wednesday, December 3, AD 2014 4:36pm

“Blasé ” !! Yes

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