Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance.

The Sacrament of Penance is the official name for what is commonly called confession.

http://www.usccb.org/faithfulcitizenship/FCStatement.pdf

It’s the document the bishops write and have distributed to church members in the month before election, reminding them that human life, family life, social justice, environmental stewardship and global solidarity are all values which a voter must take into account in order to make a moral choice.

There were a number of bishops who refused to let it be distributed in their dioceses simply because it did not name abortion as the number one overriding issue on which to vote.

Regardless of where you stand on abortion, voting your conscience is difficult and takes time and information, because there are many issues to be considered and weighed. Those who fantasize that they can do right simply by voting on one issue sell short the difficulty of being an honestly conscientious citizen.

I’ve seen the petitions against the Mormon church regarding the work on Prop 8, and haven’t signed because I know that they were within their rights legally, if not morally.

Cara: there’s been a lot of chatter that LDS actually funneled money to the YES on 8 campaign by telling congregants that donations to the fund would count towards their tithe. I’m not sure if this is true or not (I’m sure if it is they were very clever in how they handled it) but if it is true were does this fall on the legal spectrum?

There’s a huge contingent of churches and church leaders who think that the tax-exempt rules should not preclude them from naming candidates. (And let’s be honest: if you stake out enough policy positions as a church, it becomes fairly clear which candidates you have in mind.)

Interesting that you are saying this. Jay Scott Newman was raised by a Baptist single mother in NC, proclaimed himself Rebel Atheist at a very young age, and eventually converted to Christianity after he got to Princeton. I’ve always thought he had a sort of southern-Protestant approach, which is likely a regional trait, simply from growing up here.

Thank you for the link and the great comments. This whole thing has thrown me for a loop, to say the least.

No it’s not. If it was, they’d be able to talk about candidates as well. But I do agree with you, from working at a non-profit, with how 501(c)(3) status works. I’ve seen the petitions against the Mormon church regarding the work on Prop 8, and haven’t signed because I know that they were within their rights legally, if not morally.