Modesto priest backs off over Obama voter confession

Home // December 24 2008 > Modesto priest backs off over Obama voter confession

Modesto priest backs off over Obama voter confession

Published: December 24, 2008

Modesto, California pastor, Fr. Joseph Illo, who told parishioners they might need to go to confession before receiving communion if they voted for Barack Obama, has admitted his letter went beyond Church teaching.

The Modesto Bee reports that in the new letter to the 5,600 households in his parish, Illo does some confessing of his own.

"I realize that (my previous letter) goes beyond what the Church has actually stated," he said in the letter dated Dec. 19. "The Church does not state that voting for a candidate who promotes the practice of abortion is always a mortal sin."

He added that in his personal opinion, abortion outweighs other moral issues, such as war, capital punishment, poverty, racism, hunger, etc. But, he added, he submits to the authority of Bishop Stephen Blaire on this issue.

He concluded his letter with this:

"During Advent, we meditate on the mystery of the God's Son forming in Mary's womb. May Our Lady intercede with her Son, that we may cherish all human life, particularly the smallest and most vulnerable."

The letter of clarification was sent after a wave of national publicity drenched the parish and the Stockton Diocese after the earlier letter, which was dated Nov. 21. CNN had asked Blaire for an interview about his priest's statements. Multiple newspaper, TV and radio reports carried the news far beyond Illo's intended audience.

"My brother in Denver called and said, 'Hey, dude, you're on the news,' " Illo said Dec. 1 about the impact of his initial letter. "We are flooded by calls and e-mails from all over the country. Some are cheerful and grateful. Others are enraged at me."

The majority of Illo's parishioners supported the priest's stand. He said his e-mails - before news of the letter was carried nationally - were running about 12-to-1 in favor of him.

Illo said Monday the parish has received about 825 e-mails, phone messages and letters since his initial letter went public. About 40 percent of those - mostly from people out of the area - criticized his views. The rest supported him.

'Open, respectful dialogue'

He doesn't anticipate a landslide of comments after his second letter.

"I think it's over," he said.

"I learned that it's important for spiritual leaders to engage the current moral issues of the moment," he added. "I feel we've had an open and respectful dialogue overall. There were lots of good comments. It was fairly constructive. The nasty letters were minimal.

"It's important for the churches to be involved in the democratic process, just like churches were involved in the civil rights issues in the 1960s."

Sue Fenton, a longtime St. Joseph's parishioner, was among those upset by Illo's initial letter. "I was steaming," she said in an early December e-mail. She said Monday she was "glad to get the (second) letter. This kind of cleans things up a little bit. I like him, and I feel a little bit bad for him that he had to soften the edges."

But, she added, "I think he was dead wrong (in the earlier letter). I believe in a loving God who understands. ... How can we tell people they are in mortal sin?"

National exit polls show more than 54 percent of Catholics who voted cast their ballots for Obama.

More at Modesto Bee

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1 Corinthians 11: 27-29

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Posted By: Bill Malecki
54% of Catholics voted for a Presidential candidate who favors abortion rights, opposes a ban on partial birth abortion and will nominate pro choice federal judges and nominees to the US Supreme Court.

They had a choice: Senator McCain's platform supported all the positions teh leadership of American catholics wanted.

Obviously, American Catholics are not listening to either their local priests or to Rome. The Pope's wonderful visit in April did not cause a renewed sense of orthodoxy.

Clearly the public is deaf to its church leaders.

When the public refuses to follow where its leadership wishes, new leadership is needed.

Posted By: Nassau Nell

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Modesto priest backs off over Obama voter confession

Published: December 24, 2008

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