Last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted 168-55, more than 3-1, to provide new guidance for receiving Holy Communion.
Behind the decision?
Bishops’ alarm that the public religious practice of President Joe Biden is conveying a heretical message to the faithful and the nation.
At Sunday Mass, Biden regularly receives Communion. Yet he not only supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to have an abortion, but his new administration also provides ample funding of abortions.
Restrictions that existed in the Trump era, such as the Hyde Amendments that prohibit taxpayer-funding of abortions, are about to be lifted in the Biden presidency.
If the “teaching document” the bishops are expected to produce is consistent with traditional doctrine, a series of collisions on moral issues is about to shake the American Catholic Church and Democratic Party.
For that majority of U.S. bishops, who believe pro-choice Catholic politicians should be denied Communion, will likely collide not only with Biden and their fellow bishops but with the Vatican. Pope Francis had wanted to avert this now seemingly inevitable showdown on the issue.
Even if the document does not mention him by name, Biden will be pressed by the media to explain how he can back government funding of the killing of the unborn and still receive Holy Communion.
Pope Francis will be pressed as to whether the U.S. bishops are wrong to insist that U.S. Catholic leaders who defy Catholic doctrine on one of the great moral issues of the age should not be treated as devout Catholics.
If the bishops produce a teaching document that is consistent with traditional Catholic doctrine, what will it say?
Abortion is the killing of an unborn child, a grave moral crime and sin. No Catholic may be a party to it. Political leaders who endorse abortion rights and vote to fund abortions contribute to a systemic moral evil and a scandalizing of the faithful. And they should neither receive nor be given Holy Communion. To do so is to give moral sanction to their misconduct.
The major argument raised against a denial of Communion to pro-abortion Catholics is the deeper division in the church it could create.
“The choice before us at this moment,” said Washington, D.C., Cardinal Wilton Gregory at the bishops’ gathering, “is either we pursue a path of strengthening unity among ourselves or settle for creating a document that will not bring unity but may very well further damage it.”
But is episcopal collegiality a higher cause than standing up for the right to life of millions of unborn who are about to be done to death?
Is a perceived unity among bishops more important than public witness to the truth that the unborn in America have been destroyed for 50 years at an annual rate that exceeds the COVID-19 pandemic at its worst?
Is clarity about doctrinal truth less important than fraternity?
No one can know what is in the heart and soul of Biden, who visibly manifests a devotion to his Catholic faith unrivaled in any national politician of his generation.
Still, there is no denying the message Biden’s appearance receiving Communion gives off. It is that to be pro-abortion and fund abortions does not necessarily conflict with being a good Catholic.
Pro-life Bishop Kevin Rhoades of South Bend, Indiana, dissents: “There is a special obligation of those who are in leadership because of their public visibility.”
Rhoades previously objected to Notre Dame’s conferring of its prestigious Laetare Medal on Vice President Biden, citing his support for abortion and same-sex marriage: “I disagree with awarding someone for ‘outstanding service to the Church and society’ who has not been faithful to this obligation.”
Asked Friday how he felt about the possibility that Catholic bishops would vote to deny him Communion, Biden dismissed the idea and walked away: “That’s a private matter, and I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Where is this going?
The bishops have scheduled a decision by their next conference to write a report that seems certain to be read as a rebuke to Biden.
While this will divide the Catholic community, the pope is unlikely to give the document his support. Hence, its effect will be restricted to those dioceses whose bishops agree with it — and choose to deny Communion to the president of the United States.
Biden will be pressed to speak to the issue of abortion and the bishops’ decision to deny him Communion. His attendance at Mass and taking Communion will become matters of deepening controversy. His attendance at Sunday Mass may be marked by demonstrations.
And he will be charged with hypocrisy — for pretending to be the kind of Catholic that a majority of American bishops contend he is not.
With many states having adopted new restrictions on abortion that appear to conflict with Roe v. Wade, the issue of abortion appears about to be returned to the Supreme Court — and to the front burner of U.S. politics.
Not good news for Joe Biden.
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of “Nixon’s White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever.” To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at www.creators.com.
Communion: “the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.”
Joe shares nothing with THE PEOPLE, particularly the Christian truth and Values of “Thou Shall not Kill (Abortion), Thou shall have no other gods before me (God Government), Thou shall not steal ( Social redistribution of wealth God has already properly distributed, nor honest elections), Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s property ( See Previous Commandment), Thou shalt not bear false witness ( Just ask Trump about this one)
Joe obviously comes for the Bread and the wine, totally ignoring the sacrificed body and the blood it represents. To Joe and his kind of sacraments are the sacrifice of the body and lifeblood of honest American citizens and their innocent unborn, in constant infinite social debt and taxation.
Who and what you turn to in times of challenge and trouble defines who and what you worship. Joe like his mentor turns to fallible men, vulnerable governments, unworkable laws, and unearned power, that when corrupted always eventually fall by the weight of their own evil. Who wants to take communion with THAT, let alone share your intimate thoughts and feelings with he and his son Hunter, let alone make it UNIVERSAL which is the true meaning of Catholic. When there is no doubt, you throw them out as fast as God cast Satan into his own corrupted kingdom.
One either loves, honors and worships GOD or they do not.
One either tries to obey and live by the word of GOD or they do not.
Now keep in mind;
Not everyone who claims to be a Christian, is a Christian.
Not every Church is a Church of GOD.
Matthew 7:15-16 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
16 By their fruit you will recognize them.
John 8:42-44 “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Matthew 7:21 – …”21Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’”…
Abortion and socialist redistribution of honest God distributed wealth is not the will of the Father.
Isaiah 49:5
“Woe to the one who argues with his Maker—
one clay pot among many.
Does clay say to the one forming it,
‘What are you making?’
Or does your work say,
‘He has no hands’?”……..but the people SEE Joe has no brain, but a soul with a for sale sign.
Hey Joe, we are all going to die someday. When that day comes for you, will God give you communion, for supporting the constant killing of babies? Joe, being in support of constantly murdering babies has given you “communion” with the devil.
Joe Biden and all like minded individuals have much more to worry
about than receiving communion. Matthew 25:40 “As you have done
to the least of these you have done unto me”, aborted babies blood
cries out to The Lord and on whose hands it drips have only one
future….’Outer darkness for eternity’……….William
This document is needed and it isn’t needed just for those such as Biden and Pelosi who are in the public eye. It is far beyond time for the Church to clearly state WHAT EXACTLY Eucharist is and under what conditions it can be worthily received or when it should be forgone by the person wishing to receive.
First of all in the Catholic tradition Eucharist is NOT a symbol it is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. If someone doesn’t believe that they have no business receiving the Eucharist in a Catholic church. Receving the Eucharist suggests that you are in communion (thus an alternative name to Holy Eucharist) with the Church. If you are not in communion then you should not receive.
If one is in a state of mortal sin and receives Eucharist the reception is actually putting a more grave sin on top of the other one. Sacramental confession is necessary to again become worthy of receiving Christ in the Eucharist. The definition of a mortal sin is one that meets these three criteria: grave matter (killing unborn babies is grave matter); it must be known that it is wrong and against God; and one must still knowingly and willingly engage in the behavior.
WILL he? I hope so.
BUT unfortunately i DOUBT he has the spine to follow through with his threat.