blogtcs.com

It went like this: Fr. Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Greenville, South Carolina, wrote in his bulletin that those who voted for Barack Obama should go to confession before receiving Communion.

Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.

A local newspaper picked up the story, which was then picked up by the Associated Press and linked to by a number of popular sites like the Drudge Report. Many of them linked to the article or bulletin with headlines like: SC priest: No Communion for Obama supporters, which implied that Fr. Newman was refusing to distribute Communion to Obama supporters.

That was never the case, he later clarified on his parish’s Web site. But, then, his diocese — which presently does not have a bishop —  a statement made by Msgr. Martin T. Laughlin, the diocesan administrator.

The statement comes in either PDF or video form and is featured on the Diocesan Web site front page. It also has replaced Fr. Newman’s clarification; St. Mary’s Web site now merely links to the diocesan one for those “responding to the AP story.” The statement reads in part:

This past week, the Catholic Church’s clear, moral teaching on the evil of abortion has been pulled into the partisan political arena. The recent comments of Father Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville, S.C., have diverted the focus from the Church’s clear position against abortion.  As Administrator of the Diocese of Charleston, let me state with clarity that Father Newman’s statements do not adequately reflect the Catholic Church’s teachings.  Any comments or statements to the contrary are repudiated.

Sure, the election may be over, but the Catholic discussion of what the election means is probably only going to heat up. And all this may look like small potatoes if FOCA is pushed through.