NY Congressman Walks Out Of Church after deacon's sermon attacks him for stem cell vote

[Ian David]

Forwarded to me from The Interfaith Alliance
http://www.interfaithalliance.org

NY Congressman Walks Out Of Sermon Over Sermon On Stem Cells

“A deacon upbraided Rep. Brian Higgins during Sunday morning Mass in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church for voting in favor of embryonic stem cell research, prompting the congressman and his family to walk out during the sermon.

The Rev. Art Smith, pastor of the South Buffalo church, said he felt "horrible" about the Higgins family's departure on "Respect Life Sunday" and offered an apology from the pulpit after the congressman had left.

Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo later issued a statement also criticizing Deacon Tom McDonnell's action. "I can't tell you how terrible I felt," Smith said Tuesday. "While we have to always uphold the church's teachings regarding life, I don't think it's ever fair to publicly criticize someone who serves {tithes} our community and our parish so well."

Added Kmiec: "The pulpit is not the appropriate place for confronting a member of the congregation. It is my belief that in situations like this, we are more effective when we have substantive, one-on-one conversations with individuals outside the context of the Mass." (Buffalo News, “Pulpit barb prompts walkout by Higgins,” 01-24-07)

More:
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20070124/1069193.asp?msource=MR_001

[cspanlovr]

1. The devil made him do it!

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

2. Oooooooohhhhh......He Apologized.

Fucking Hypocrite!!

I hope the Representative takes up membership at a different church.

The church should have their funding revoked, although obviously that has no chance of happening

Anybody heard of SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE?

So-Called Religious Bastards.

[mitchtv]

5. Better yet

if he introduces a resolution revoking tax free status of the RC Church in the US., and files a complaint with the IRS

[speedoo]

13. No, the Pastor apologized for what one of the Deacons did.

Looks like the Deacon, who is a lay person, went way over the line.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. I hope the congressman and his family seek out another church.

n/t

[Sherman A1]

6. Agreed

I think he should tell this crowd to stick it where the sun don't shine.

[sabbat hunter]

4. you should remove

the word tithes. you dont know that he gives 10% of his money to the church. nor was any mention of that in the article.

just my 2 cents

[Ian David]

8. It's in snark-brackets. n/t

[sabbat hunter]

18. snark brackets?

thats a new one on me :)

:P

[Ian David]

19. They're like "scare quotes." But if it's new to you, I think it's because I just invented it.

Just like I invented:

"The UnaFreeper" (aka, Chad Castagana)
"The Couchwaffen GOP" (Chickenhawk freeper-types)
"Maoist anti-gay fag-hag" (Brian Camenker)
"Der Mittenfuhrer" (Mitt Romney)

and a few other good ones.

edited to add: according to the google, I appear to be the first one to ever say "snark brackets" on the internets.

[Evergreen Emerald]

20. Cool! Yours could be the new phrase of the year

like "truthiness"

[SharonAnn]

7. Good for him for walking out. They need to see that parishioners won't put up with this.

Not on the same scale, but I walked out of Mass last fall during the reading of St. Paul's Epistle about "wives being submissive to their husbands." I'm really tired of that crap.

When they have to go to such lengths to explain, the know it's something they shouldn't be reading and that it will offend some people. It's nothing that Jesus said, it's an optional reading that the Catholic Church has decided to use, so they can just "undecide" to use it.

I was there because I was visiting my Dad who was dying and my siblings wanted to go to Mass during my stay, so I went to respect my Dad. But, when I saw that was coming up in the Readings and that the offending section was in brackets, indicating that it could be skipped, I was prepared. So, when the priest began the reading and continued to read ALL of the bracketed portion, I got up and walked out.

My brothers were teasing me later and one joked "Maybe you needed to hear it." I responded, "Maybe the priests and the parishioners needed to see a woman get up and walk out because of what he said. I think they think that we'll put up with it." Usually we're pretty quiet and don't say much or we just go away.

I wish I could participate in the Catholic Church but as long as it's run by these men and women are denied full participation, I won't support it in any way. Not with my money, not with my attendance, not with any other support. When asked about it, and I know and work with the parish priest in our town on other issues, I'm just very matter-of-fact about it. I say "When women are allowed full participation in the Catholic Church, I'l consider it. Until then, I make it a policy not to support organizations that keep women from full participation."

[sutz12]

9. Wow....way to go Sharon!

You rock! :thumbsup:

[wryter2000]

16. A friend of mine left his church for good

They passed out one of those voter guides, and he never went back. He'd run their sound system for years, had been a lay deacon, and his father had been a pastor there. He just walked away.

[Ian David]

17. Oh, but he could have had so much fun before he left...

Never piss-off the guy running your sound system.

[wryter2000]

21. LOL

My friend isn't evil enough to be a DUer. :rofl:

[oasis]

10. Some puffed-up Deacon takes it upon himself to berate a member of the church

during services? :puke:

[RamboLiberal]

11. I wish someone would stand up and ask these "preachers"

what the hell they think is going to happen to these surplus embryos! Who the hell is going to adopt them? And why throwing them away as medical waste is preferable to them being used and useful in medical research?

Remind them that it was last year the 100th snowflake baby was born - they better get a move on to get hundreds of thousands of married believing women lining up to adopt those orphan embryos. Or they need to outlaw fertility clincs!

What a stupid illogical argument they put forth!

[BayCityProgressive]

12. ugh

thank Darwin I am agnostic. These people are insane.

[aquart]

14. The IRS needs to send that church a letter.

[NRaleighLiberal]

15. Churches playing politics like this have nothing to do with true religion....nt

[Arugula Latte]

22. Religion. HUH. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again ... n/t

[Doctor_J]

23. Did Deacon Respect For Life rail on the owners of the

Town Cars with the I Love The War President bumper stickers? Or does he mean only Respect For Embryos?