Here's yet another example of what I call "morality by geography".
During an interview on WTTW's Chicago Tonight, host Phil Ponce raised the topic of Springfield, Illinois Bishop Thomas Paprocki, who had issued a decree on "Same-Sex 'Marriage' and Related Pastoral Issues."
Mr. Ponce asked Cardinal Cupich, “As you probably know, the Bishop of Springfield, Illinois, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, decreed in June that people in same-sex marriages should not receive Communion or ecclesiastical funeral rites. What’s your reaction to that?”
Cardinal Cupich said, “Well, we have been asked about that already and we responded that that is not our policy and we, as a matter of practice, don’t comment on the policies of other Dioceses.”
In his decree, citing scripture and the Canon Law that governs the Catholic Church, Bishop Paprocki said that homosexual "marriage" marked "a reversal of millennia of legal and judicial recognition of the marital union as possible only between on man and one woman." He also said he had a "responsibility as Diocesan bishop to guide the people of God entrusted to me with charity but without compromising the truth."
On the "Reception of Holy Communion," the Bishop decreed, "given the objectively immoral nature of the relationship created by same-sex marriages, persons in such unions should not present themselves for Holy Communion, nor should they be admitted to Holy Communion”, based upon Canons 915-916) of the 1983 Code of Cannon Law.
Likewise, the Bishop noted: “Pastors aware of such situations should address these concerns privately with the persons in such circumstances, calling them to conversion and advising them not to present themselves for Holy Communion until they have been restored to communion with the Church through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Finally, Bishop Paprocki stated: “In danger of death, a person living publically in a same-sex marriage may be given Holy Communion in the form of Viaticum if he or she expresses repentance for his or her sins," in keeping with Canon 921.
Repeatedly asked if he supports the teaching of the Catholic Church that homosexual acts are "intrisically disordered" and cannot be approved under any circumstances, Cardinal Cupich has continued to decline answering the question.
If the Bishops cannot agree on the doctrine and discipline regarding homosexuality and the practice of Holy Communion, in what sense is the Catholic Faith universal?
What thinkest you?
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