Communion issue is raised about Cuomo

[Godhumor]

Source: Buffalo News

A blog post from seven weeks ago by a Detroit canon lawyer appears to be rekindling a sticky debate about whether Catholic politicians can be denied holy Communion.

But the furor this time is centering more on the private life of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, rather than his public policy positions.

The canon lawyer, Edward N. Peters, a consultant to a Vatican court, is taking the governor to task for receiving Communion because he lives with his girlfriend, Food Network host Sandra Lee.

The relationship amounts to a "public concubinage" — a lifestyle that disallows Cuomo from receiving the Catholic sacrament, Peters wrote on his blog, "In the Light of the Law."



Read more: http://www.buffalonews.com/city/politics/article349436.ece

---

Glad to know this, of all things, will be an issue for my governor.

I hope Sandra Lee comforts him with her infamous "Kwanzaa Cake" (seriously, go search it on Youtube. It is quite the concoction).

[Sanity Claws]

1. The Catholic Church has lost its moral authority

I'm a former member of the church and am absolutely sick of how it condemns and judges people. It should take a look at its own house first.

[polichick]

5. It never had any - it's the biggest scam in human history...

I always wonder what they'd have to do to send more parents running with their children - maybe if they shot people in the pews!

Good on you for getting out!

[Historic NY]

2. Let he who w/o sin cast the first stone....Lawyers....please

[frazzled]

3. Oooh, "public concubinage"

That's a new one.

Well, Sandra's wacky Kwanzaa Cake is par for the course of her "cooking" (open a few cans of prepared "food" and have a cocktail while you stack, stir, or whisk them together). I'd love to see dinner around the Cuomo household, unsanctified or not.

[Godhumor]

10. My favorite Cuomo story was about Mario's fantasy baseball league

Mario ran a league while he was governor that required all teams to have at least one player of Italian heritage. One year, a player discovered in the last round of the draft that he hadn't picked one, but there was no decent picks left. Instead, he picked a Dominican he really wanted with an Italian sounding name hoping Mario wouldn't notice.


Mario noticed and refused to let the draft move on until the transgressor fixed his mistake.

[frazzled]

16. Heh, that reminds me of ...

one summer when my son was in high school, he and some friends decided to get together to play what they called "Jewish baseball." Only there weren't enough Jews, so they decided that their Chinese friends qualified as Jewish.

[aquart]

21. My favorite Mario story was the day a temp agency sent me to work for him.

It was a brownout. The electric typewriters were working but not the air conditioners. I walked into his hot office and he told me that he would understand if I wanted to turn around and leave, but he'd like me to know why he needed me to stay. So he told me about the task he'd been given to find a solution to public housing in Forest Hills and convinced me to stay and take dictation for what became the Forest Hills Report, which was the beginnings of his political career.

He did what very few employers ever did, he gave me the basics of the previous dictation so I'd know where I was. As he dictated, if he saw a question on my face he would get hopeful and ask me to tell him what I was wondering about. Then his face would fall as he realized I did not have the perfect solution, and a few paragraphs on he would dictate..."some people think" (I was the "some people") "but this is not so because...."

By the time we returned from lunch, even the typewriters were out, so he signed my sheet for a full day and sent me home. He must have liked my determination because my agency would later yank me out of other jobs to go to his Court Street offices, although I never again worked for Cuomo.

[Patiod]

25. Cool story (well, actually it was hot). Thanks!

I've always been a fan of his.

[polichick]

4. What hypocrits! Gee, I wonder if institutionalized pedophilia should...

...keep people from receiving communion.

[Tansy_Gold]

23. Institutionalized pedophilia might keep people from receiving communion,but

it would never keep anyone from distributing communion.



Then again, I think the whole idea of communion/transubstantiation is gross and quasi-cannibalistic.


Tansy Gold, happy atheist

[polichick]

24. I agree with you - the whole idea is pretty creepy. nt

[PoliticAverse]

6. I'm confused. Is "public concubinage" better or worse than the private kind? n/t

[Moonwalk]

8. Well, both public and private were permitted in the old testament....

I don't see how the church can still have people reading that book and admiring it's main characters given that many of them had multiple wives and concubines. Granted, Jesus didn't have any, but plenty of Catholic rulers did, and plenty of popes and priests had girlfriends as well. Didn't stop them from taking communion.

[beac]

7. And yet Newtie, the serial adulterer, is the darling of Opus Dei. Go figure. n/t

[dflprincess]

9. They're assuming that Newtie has repented and that his sins are all in the past

while Cuomo's "transgressions" are ongoing.

As the nun who prepared my class for First Communion said about confession "You may lie to the priest and you may fool him, but you can't lie to God." We will just have to assum that Newtie fooled the priests involved in his conversion - though I find it hard to believe anyone is that stupid.

It's interesing - once upon a time they would never have called a man out for his sexual behavior. Though now it's only males whose political views (in some areas) don't mesh with the Church's.

[beac]

12. Yes. Where were they when Giuliani was shacking up? n/t

[benld74]

11. I have been a Catholic ALL my Life,,,

And I can honestly state, I am sick and tired of hearing the so-called hypocrits from my church making ANY kind of headline EXCEPT for HELPING people.

[JDPriestly]

13. The governor should convert to the Episcopal religion.

[rug]

15. He probably should. Or try get his first marriage declared null.

[Marnie]

14. It is interesting that it is "canon law" but not biblically

required?

[msanthrope]

17. Sure, ignore the REAL sin and focus on the sex.

That Kwanzaa cake was an affront to humanity. A war crime.

[Godhumor]

19. That is a very apt description of the cake

It honestly should be in a museum somewhere as an example of when to reshoot a cooking episode.

[Historic NY]

18. They never whimpered a word when Rudy was married to his first cousin...

for years and then was getting his prostate massaged with his concubine, all under his wifes nose. Its only a problem when its a Democrat.

[aquart]

20. OMG, was that her? I remember that ridiculous cake.

[AngryOldDem]

22. It's a private matter between Cuomo and his confessor.

I'll even cut out the middleman: It's a matter between Cuomo's conscience and God.

Just who died and made the Church the arbiter of God's grace and forgiveness? Just one of the myriad reasons I've walked away from this organization.

Why in the hell should a Detroit canon lawyer even care about someone not in his diocese?

[MicaelS]

26. It's getting worse than this....

According to a friend of mine who spends lots of time on religious forums, there's been a push for several years by some very conservative Catholics to start excommunicating ANY and all Catholic politicians who are pro-choice. Starting in the US, Europe and Mexico, but spreading worldwide.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1619070,00.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2007/05/10/2007-05-10_face_off_on_abortion-2.html

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2007/05/21/excommunication

[patrice]

37. Pro-Life is not DOGMA. It's been supported "ex cathedra" & in papal bulls, but its still not Creed.

[struggle4progress]

27. "... officials with the Diocese of Albany said the issue was a private matter ..."

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/politics/article349436.ece

[defendandprotect]

28. Maybe we should ask, "How many Catholic priest pedophiles should be denied communion" .... ?????

[DeadEyeDyck]

29. KnR

[trackfan]

30. The Constitution is clear:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

[Angry Dragon]

31. The Vatican considers itself a foreign city/state

So it is a foreign country and so therefore it has no jurisdiction on American citizens

[SoCalDem]

32. BFD..

MANY Catholics go to mass & not take communion.. It's OPTIONAL..

I wish that people would stop fussing over OTHER people's faith or lack thereof.

[alp227]

33. unrec - religion is BS anyway n/t

[WinkyDink]

34. I'm sure Communion or lack thereof has much to do with his governance.

[Keith Bee]

35. Who cares?

:boring:

[patrice]

36. I thought the sacraments could only be denied to heretics. If we're going to deny them to sinners,

there'd be NO ONE receiving the sacraments.