Separation of Church and State

Illinois like other states had swiping abortion law changes. The changes in the new laws in Illinois will make it easier for abortions and will allow for later term abortions as well.

With these changes in the law, there is an actually a Catholic Bishop standing up! He announced that lawmakers that voted the recent bill will not be allowed to receive communion.

Of course, my local news outlet posted about what the Catholic Bishop did on their Facebook page and many commented with "separation of Church and State".

My first thoughts after seeing all these comments about "separation of Church and State":

The GOVERNMENT can not impose or make a state church. You can be whatever religion you want to be, believe what you want to believe, practice your Faith as you see fit. The idea of separation of church and state does NOT mean a Bishop cannot stop a Church member from receiving communion.  Just like a priest/bishop can deny a baptism, a marriage, or someone from receiving the sacrament of confirmation. Just like the church has the right to deny membership to someone or ex-communicate someone.  -- so, in short, the Bishop has every right to deny communion to those lawmakers and it is not a violation of the separation of Chruch and State.

For Catholics, communion is receiving the body, soul, divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just having bread or wine/grape juice. Guidelines for receiving communion is:

As Catholics, we fully participate in the celebration of the Eucharist when we receive Holy Communion. We are encouraged to receive Communion devoutly and frequently. In order to be properly disposed to receive Communion, participants should not be conscious of grave sin and normally should have fasted for one hour. A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord without prior sacramental confession except for a grave reason where there is no opportunity for confession. In this case, the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible (canon 916). A frequent reception of the Sacrament of Penance is encouraged for all.

Non-Catholics are not permitted to receive. So the Bishop's degree only applies to those lawmakers that are Catholic and as a Catholic, they should know it's not okay to have the mindset "I'm personally would not, but I can't say you can't". That your Faith is not something you only practice on Sundays. Your Faith is something that should be shaping EVERYTHING you do! When your public actions or private actions are contrary to what your Church teaches you should not be receiving communion. That makes you a hypocrite!

Besides voting to approve an abortion bill means you are supporting something that is intrinsically evil and could possibly be jeopardizing your eternal salvation. It can never be supported. It's about time bishops and others stood up and said enough. -- By remaining silent and allowing these Catholic lawmakers to continue to receive communion means the priests and bishops are also supporting evil and putting their own souls at risk. 

I know the Catholic Church has other issues that need to be worked on. I'm not naive, but it's about time that good Godly men and women within the Church stood-up and demand better from the priest, bishops, Pope, and laity. We can not allow the excuse what about this area get in the way either --

Change has to start somewhere! And just because other areas have problems too, doesn't mean it's not okay to stand up here.

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