Quote:
Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam
Regardless, to the topic at hand. Apparently, his understanding (and you guys have understand that his Catholic education was before Roe v. Wade) is that if you have an abortion, you're excommunicated. He said that when he does go to confession, and goes through the steps to get back in grace with the Church (can you imagine that? "My last confession was 30 years ago."), he will only mention how he voted if the priest asks him. He didn't vote for Obama because he was pro-choice, my dad voted for Obama because he just plain didn't like McCain, and fell more in line with Obama's other views.
I do think my Church would frown on abortion, but I have never heard anything about not voting for someone based on their views. My hometown is weird though - it's in the North, so it's pretty progressive (I think) on some points, but it's in a really rural area, so it's pretty status quo on other points. The sad part is all the kids keep moving out of town, my dad's one of the younger people in the church and he's 57. I think that's a problem with the Methodist Church as a whole, though, because when I went to church in Pittsburgh I was the youngest there by at least 30 years.
I've gone on another tangent. Sorry.
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The Church does not hold that abortion=excommunication. (The act of procuring an abortion
does incur excommunication
latae sententiae, but the catechism is clear that the scope of mercy is not restricted.) There is a lot of bad information out there, and much of it does stem from that yucky time after Vatican II when there was a lot of confusion within the Church itself. No sin is unforgiveable with true repentance. The Church even sponsors a program called Rachel's Vineyard to help those traumatized by abortion (usually women who have had them and have guilt). (As well as prison ministries for convicted murderers and other criminals, so there is a lot of evidence out there that the Church actively reaches out to every Catholic, and especially to those in most need of forgiveness.)
Your dad may be like a lot of Catholics who are having to learn a lot on their own. I went to Catholic schools for 13 years and never learned a thing about my religion that mattered. It was all social justice and Kumbayah. I was raised during that period where very liberal cafeteria Catholics were running a lot of the schools and parishes. It took my own initiative as an adult to put the pieces together. It helps that I was raised in a very Catholic home, but like your dad, there were plenty of things that I misunderstood from my youth.