I guess Father Newman is a conservative, but I wonder why he got so partisan after the election? It is a tough world in Cafeteria Catholic America. I don't think we ever finished the birth control discussion that was going on when I was in grade school. It just kind of faded away...redwine
...off the wire from The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C.
S.C. priest clarifies anti-Obama stand
Minister says column on abortion written in haste
Wire report
Monday, November 17, 2008
GREENVILLE — A South Carolina priest told his parishioners he was too hasty when he told parishioners who voted for President-elect Barack Obama to refrain from taking Holy Communion because of the politicians stance on abortion.
The Greenville News reported that during a Mass at his church Saturday, the Rev. Jay Scott Newman received a standing ovation.
When the applause stopped, Newman said he wrote his column in haste and would have done a better job of explaining his position had he taken his time.
Newman said he wrote the column "at the last moment and right at the deadline." He said he regretted the attention his Web posting has drawn.
Newman said all future comments should come from South Carolina's Roman Catholic Diocese in Charleston.
On the church Web site early last week, Newman wrote to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion without first doing penance for voting for the Democrat.
"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.
"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil," he wrote.
Newman told The Associated Press on Thursday his missive was not intended to be partisan.
"If the Republican candidate had been pro-abortion, and the Democratic candidate had been pro-life, everything that I wrote would have been exactly the same," he said.
On Friday, the Diocese of Charleston issued a statement rebuking Newman, saying his comments did not "adequately reflect church teachings."
