In Ireland one third of Catholics go to mass on Sunday. Exactly the same proportion who said , 'No', to abortion.
There are (non-apostate) Catholics who neglect Mass and the Sacraments, but who would have voted 'no'-I have personal knowledge of some of them. On the other hand, there are quite a (apostate) few, we can be sure, who received communion yesterday who proudly voted for abortion (subsequent developments since the referendum can leave no wriggle-room for anyone to argue that this was about anything other than abortion-on-demand). On the whole, the ratio of Catholic : non-Catholic approaches 2 : 1, I'd say. The task, with the help of God, is to improve this. Please God, we have reached rock bottom. The trend seems to be that, once abortion is introduced, many young people perhaps realise what it really involves and their pro-life position strengthens. The young vote approximated 87% for 'yes', if reports are true. Their position can only improve.
Someone asked me if voting, 'Yes' was a mortal sin. simply said, 'Yes'. Even if it were not for some reason it is better to treat it as if it was.
God regards the taking of innocent life so seriously and as such an evil act that it ranks as one of the Ten Commandments. His commandments. For anyone, Catholic or otherwise to vote in favour of killing, which abortion clearly is, is to flatly reject God’s commands. The unborn child is the most innocent and defenceless of all. How anyone could vote yes to abortion and still believe they can be in communion with God is beyond me. We are all sinners and none of us are beyond reproach but with most sins we can make reparation and amends and resolve to sin no more. But once a vote is cast, which helps to usher in an act clearly contrary to God’s express Will, how can one retract or amend that?
There are two kingdoms. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. You cannot serve both. You must choose one or the other. To approve of and work towards, which voting yes to abortion is, the enlargement of the kingdom of Satan, is to work against Christ and His kingdom. Light and darkness. Good and evil. You can’t get more serious than this. For any Catholic to vote yes to abortion would strongly suggest either a serious lack of knowledge of what allegiance to Christ entails and requires or a disregard for it. Thou shalt not kill is not hard to understand. I am compassionate towards people in extreme and difficult situations but abortion can never be the answer. God always provides a way.
Ireland votes pro-abortion for Trinity Sunday, the heavens respond The Irish constitution begins in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, stating: “In the name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred, We, the people of Éire, Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ . . .” … vote to kill the unborn.” In 2015, for Trinity Sunday, the Irish voted for same-sex mockery of marriage. This year, 2018, Ireland voted for abortion for Trinity Sunday. Also, this year, as reported by the BBC, terrible lightning storms raged between Dublin and London, the city to which Irish women went for abortions until now. HERE there is a piece with amazing photos. Around 15,000 lightning strikes were recorded in four hours on Saturday night, BBC Weather said. VIDEO of the lightning: http://wdtprs.com/blog/2018/05/ireland-votes-pro-abortion-for-trinity-sunday-the-heavens-respond/
Yes he does. Thank you David for the affirmation, I pray for those who lack conviction of God's promise to provide for us.
+ I am afraid we are very,very, very far indeed from reaching rock bottom on this. I fear we have still a long way to go to reach that. We are like an elevator in free fall, or someone falling of a huge cliff. I am sorry, I am full of joy and peace myself despite the tears; but I am afraid that is my sense of things. My understanding is that we are only really get started in this. There really only really will be a Faithful Remnant on this. Very,very few indeed will stay the course. I am sorry I don't want to make folks suicidal I do hope I am being a sour old crank.
The results of the referendum would suggest that 1/3 of Irish people are Catholics. I think it is actually much lower than that. When you consider that many people who voted no, were of different faiths. There were even LGBT groups who campaigned for a no vote. So of the 33 % who voted no, many many are not Catholic. And then others who identify as Catholic who voted No would be some who agree with other things which go against the teachings of christ such as contraception, sex before marriage and other things. I also think that if they were pressed on them issues, many of them would choose to abandon their faith rather than give up the things they like. So I think the number of Catholics is actually much lower than we think.
I completely agree. The number of Catholics in Ireland who assent and adhere to all of the Church's teachings, including the hard teachings, is really minuscule.
I think we are approaching an “Elijah moment” in the world. Like the ancient Israelites of Elijah’s time, we are living in a period of spiritual famine. And just like in Elijah’s time Israel was divided, with one camp worshiping the Baals and the other holding fast to tradition in spite of famine, the New Israel - the Church - is today is also similarly divided into two camps. It took Elijah performing a miracle in the midst of the Israelites to win back their hearts for God. I believe we are approaching such a moment in this present crisis, and it will be Our Lady who this time miraculously intervenes: “Ahab called all Israel together and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah stepped out in front of all the people. ‘How long’ he said ‘do you mean to hobble first on one leg then on the other? If Yahweh is God follow him; if Baal, follow him.’ But the people never said a word. Elijah then said to them, ‘I, I alone, am left as a prophet of Yahweh, while the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty. Let two bulls be given us; let them choose one for themselves, dismember it and lay it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I in my turn will prepare the other bull, but not set fire to it. You must call on the name of your god, and I shall call on the name of mine; the god who answers with fire, is God indeed.’ The people all answered, ‘Agreed!’ Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one bull and begin, for there are more of you. Call on the name of your god but light no fire.’ They took the bull and prepared it, and from morning to midday they called on the name of Baal. ‘O Baal, answer us’ they cried, but there was no voice, no answer as they performed their hobbling dance round the altar they had made. Midday ame, and Elijah mocked them. ‘Call louder,’ he said ‘for he is a god: he is preoccupied or he is busy, or he has gone on a journey; perhaps he is asleep and will wake up.’ So they shouted louder and gashed themselves, as their custom was, with swords and spears until the blood flowed down them. Midday passed, and they ranted on until the time the offering is presented; but there was no voice, no answer, no attention given to them. Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come closer to me,’ and all the people came closer to him. He repaired the altar of Yahweh which had been broken down. Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh had come, ‘Israel shall be your name’, and built an altar in the name of Yahweh. Round the altar he dug a trench of a size to hold two measures of seed. He then arranged the wood, dismembered the bull, and laid it on the wood. Then he said, ‘Fill four jars with water and pour it on the holocuast and on the wood’; this they did. He said, ‘Do it a second time’; they did it a second time. He said, ‘Do it a third time’; they did it a third time. The water flowed round the altar and the trench itself was full of water. At the time when the offering is presented, Elijah the prophet stepped forward. ‘Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,’ he said ‘let them know today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, that I have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Yahweh, answer me, so that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God and are winning back their hearts.’ Then the fire of Yahweh fell and consumed the holocaust and wood and licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this they fell on their faces. ‘Yahweh is God,’ they cried ‘Yahweh is God.’ Elijah said, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal: do not let one of them escape.’ They seized them, and Elijah took them down to the wadi Kishon, and he slaughtered them there.” 1 Kings18: 20-40
i have deleted my facebook account ad I cant hack the hypocrisy. I am utterly devestated. Had to go to Doctor today as I am laid low with flu. Doctor foun I now have an irregular heart bdat. Not very serious but I think its the stress of the last few dayd. I hope more bishops speak up on the confession issue.
DeGaulle, I think that that there are some very good statements in the following article which apply to all Catholics in the world including those of the bishop that you have mentioned. Catholics who voted Yes should consider confession, says Bishop Kevin Doran says he believes Catholics who backed repeal of the Eighth committed a sin by Vivienne Clarke and Patsy McGarry May 28, 2018 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/soc...uld-consider-confession-says-bishop-1.3511127 Catholics who voted Yes in the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment should consider going to confession, the Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran has said. He said he believed voting Yes was a sin if someone “knew and intended abortion as the outcome” of their vote. The bishop was speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke about Friday’s referendum, which saw 66 per cent of the Republic’s 2.15 million voters backing repeal of the amendment. Bishop Doran said “every person’s vote has both a moral significance and a political significance”. While “the Catholic Church is a family and nobody ever gets struck off”, he said “what I’d say to a Catholic who voted Yes is this, if you voted Yes knowing and intending that abortion would be the outcome then you should consider coming to confession”. He said: “Ultimately all sin, and sin is not just related to this area, but all sin is about decisions that impact on our relationship with God.” Asked if it was a sin to vote Yes, the bishop relied: “If they knew and intended abortion as the outcome, yes, I believe so.” When asked if people should receive communion if they had not gone to confession to repent a sin, he said: “That’s a matter for their personal conscience because I can’t see into someone’s heart or soul as they approach the altar. “In over 40 years as a priest I have never turned anybody away from holy communion because the presumption, as people approach the altar, is that they come in good faith. “I think ultimately this is about asking people to take personal responsibility for their own relationship with God and their own relationship with the church. But I would be putting down a marker that it isn’t something that you can just take as casual, like it doesn’t make any difference.” The notion that the church would insist on repentance was not new, Bishop Doran continued. It had been part of the church for 2,000 years. “It is all about the mercy of God and the renewal of the relationship.” ‘Cultural Catholics’ Bishop Doran said social media comment in recent days suggested there were some people who voted Yes in the hope they could negotiate with the Government about “pulling back” on its proposals. “To be honest, given the kind of celebrations that took place in Dublin Castle the other day about the prospect of abortion, I don’t see that as a likely outcome.” He added he did not think the result was going to change people’s core values. There was now a difference between faith - which was personal - and religion, which was communal, he said. For far too long there had been a reliance on the faith model in schools and there wasn’t a tradition of faith formation in dioceses. He said the result indicated something “a little bit shocking” in Irish society. “There are cultural Catholics and committed Catholics... To be honest, many people would consider themselves Catholics, religion has become somewhat divorced from faith.” He said “I think perhaps one of the problems we face is that for too long we’ve tended to rely exclusively on a model of faith formation which is addressed to young people in schools, and apart from the Sunday homily there hasn’t been serious faith formation in our parishes. “That’s something I’ve been trying to address in the diocese of Elphin with the establishment of a core of volunteer trainee catechists specifically for parish work.” On Sunday, the Catholic primate of all-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin said Ireland had “obliterated” the right to life of the unborn, and now stood on the brink of bringing in a liberal abortion regime. Speaking in Knock in the wake of Saturday’s result, the archbishop said: “We have elevated the right to personal choice above the fundamental right to life itself.” Saying that he was “surprised” by the scale of the result, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin told The Irish Times the church in Ireland was “now moving into a different stage” . One of the biggest challenges now facing the Catholic Church was how it engages with young people, and whether Catholic-run schools were “delivering for the investment we make in faith development”, he said.
