Friday, June 20, 2008

Philadelphia Cardinal Rigali: One Must Believe What the Church Teaches to Receive Communion

Now this is a true Prince of the Church! You must read this article: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08062003.html.

Here are some of his awesome quotes:

"St. Justin in the second century tells us: 'The only people who are to go to Communion are people who believe everything we believe'. So it's a question of our faith."

"We have to accept the teachings on the body of Christ and we have to accept the teaching of the body of Christ, which is the Church, on other things to be fully worthy," he said.

Cardinal Rigali added that "obviously the Church has an obligation to safeguard the Eucharist against abuses."

"To be in the state of grace you must embrace what the Church embraces, you have to embrace the faith of the Church, and you're not free to receive the Eucharist if you don't embrace the faith of the Church. This is St. Paul, this is St. Justin, this is the whole history of the Church."

Why is this so hard for certain well-known church leaders to understand? Why don't they teach this to their people? Why do they permit scandal among the faithful who see pro-abortion politicians receive the Eucharist? Doesn't this make them wonder why only 57% of Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist? (Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice among US. Catholics - CARA 2008)

It's not terribly surprising that so many Catholics see Senators Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and Christopher Dodd receive the Holy Eucharist and say to themselves, "Well, I guess the Catholic Church really doesn't believe that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ if it allows people who strongly support the killing of the unborn to receive too!"

It not so much a matter of denying people their perceived "right" to receive, as much as it is a matter of protecting the sanctity of the sacraments of the Church which were instituted by Jesus Himself!