GaySeniors.Info BLOG

Very interesting

 from Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

“Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president,” Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits 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.”

Risking their immortal soul
During the 2008 presidential campaign, many bishops spoke out on abortion more boldly than four years earlier, telling Catholic politicians and voters that the issue should be the most important consideration in setting policy and deciding which candidate to back. A few church leaders said parishioners risked their immortal soul by voting for candidates who support abortion rights.

But bishops differ on whether Catholic lawmakers — and voters — should refrain from receiving Communion if they diverge from church teaching on abortion. Each bishop sets policy in his own diocese. In their annual fall meeting, the nation’s Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights.

According to national exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant. In South Carolina, which McCain carried, voters in Greenville County — traditionally seen as among the state’s most conservative areas — went 61 percent for the Republican, and 37 percent for Obama.

“It was not an attempt to make a partisan point,” Newman said in a telephone interview Thursday. “In fact, in this election, for the sake of argument, if the Republican candidate had been pro-abortion, and the Democratic candidate had been pro-life, everything that I wrote would have been exactly the same.”

Conservative Catholics criticized Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004 for supporting abortion rights, with a few Catholic bishops saying Kerry should refrain from receiving Holy Communion because his views were contrary to church teachings.

Some say move is too extreme
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she had not heard of other churches taking this position in reaction to Obama’s win. A Boston-based group that supports Catholic Democrats questioned the move, saying it was too extreme.

“Father Newman is off-base,” said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. “He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. … Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Sens. Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words.”

A man who has attended St. Mary’s for 18 years said he welcomed Newman’s message and anticipated it would inspire further discussion at the church.

“I don’t understand anyone who would call themselves a Christian, let alone a Catholic, and could vote for someone who’s a pro-abortion candidate,” said Ted Kelly, 64, who volunteers his time as lector for the church. “You’re talking about the murder of innocent beings.”

Many bishops also directly criticized Biden and other Catholic candidates and public officials for backing legalized abortion. Some said Biden should not take Holy Communion when attending Mass.

From Tomcat 

My friends,

I would like to personally invite you to the 8th annual A Celebration Of Friends weekend at the beautiful Hilton Fort Lauderdale Airport Hotel, 25 thru 28 June 2009.
 
WE HAVE NO REGISTRATION FEES. 
The only thing we ask is that each person attending make a $40 charitable contribution at the ACOF Registration tables during the Celebration (Thursday thru Sunday). This donation will give you access to all ACOF shows and vendor displays for all four days of the Celebration. Your time will be your own to do what YOU want, where YOU want, with whoever wants to do it with YOU!
Registered Celebration members will receive:
•Run Of the House:
$99 Rooms – Single/Double Occupancy
$109 Rooms – Triple/Quad Occupancy
(Group Room Rates apply five days pre/post actual event)
•Complimentary high speed Internet (hard wire) upon request
•$5 per Daily Parking 
Thursday – Sunday:
•Complimentary Daily American Breakfast Buffet in the main restaurant.
•Complimentary Nightly One Hour Full Cocktail Receptions.
•Complimentary Valet Parking for cars with state registered Handicapped Stickers.
So make your reservations early. Reservations may be made directly by calling 954-920-3300/800-HILTONS or book on-line at http://www.celebrationoffriends.org  (Mention group code CELEB when making your reservation either online or via the telephone).
 
A Celebration of Friends Inc. is a charitable 501(c)3 organization dedicated to help fill the social needs of the mature gay male with low-cost conventions or, Celebrations while at the same time raising funds for selected local charities.

Welcome to the A Celebration Of Friends weekend!

WHERE MATURITY MEANS SOMETHING

EVERY DOLLAR YOU GIVE TO THE CHURCHES IS USED AGAINST YOU !!!!

“As California goes, so goes the nation,” Mayor Gavin Newsom boldly predicted at a City Hall celebration the day the state Supreme Court legalized marriages of gays and lesbians.

“This is the most intense and expensive social issues fight we have ever seen. And I think the real reason is because it’s very rare in American life (that) we have ever put existing rights on the ballot,” said Patrick Guerriero, a former leader of the gay Log Cabin Republicans who now directs the “No on 8″ campaign.

But the measure’s opponents have found a formidable foe in the coalition of religious and social conservatives who sponsored the initiative. Since leaders of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appealed to members to back the ban, Mormon dollars and volunteers have streamed into California.

L. Whitney Clayton, the church’s liaison with a coalition called ProtectMarriage.com, said the religious right and Mormons see a threat to the fundamental underpinnings of their faiths.

“The impact upon society over the long run is something that makes people very apprehensive,” Clayton said. “What will our children be taught in school? What will happen to the freedom of religion? What will people be able to preach and believe, and will they be able to do the things that they are accustomed to doing?”

California Roman Catholics, at the urging of bishops, also have stepped up with money and manpower, as have evangelical Christians.

Even the presidential candidates weighed in on Proposition 8: Sen. John McCain endorsed it and Sen. Barack Obama opposed it.

GO OUT AND VOTE !!!!!