8/26/08

The Body of Christ and Catholic politicians



Writing for National Catholic Reporter, John Allen looks at the question of the reception of Communion by politicians who have a pro-choice voting record. Here follows an excerpt; a link to Allen's complete article is at the end of this post.

With Biden pick, America's bishops face a familiar headache

By John L. Allen, Jr.
(Denver, CO)
As the Democratic National Convention opens in Denver, here’s an irony worth pondering: Perhaps the most disappointed group in America over the choice of a Roman Catholic as the party’s nominee for Vice-President may well be the country’s Catholic bishops.

That’s not necessarily any reflection on the personal merits of Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, but rather what kind of Catholic he is, and what that means for the American bishops between now and November 4 (and perhaps for four or eight years after that).

As is well known, Biden is solidly pro-choice, which puts him at odds with official Catholic teaching on abortion. In that regard, he is akin to Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, another pro-choice Catholic, whose nomination for president four years ago unleashed what came to be known colloquially as the “Wafer Wars.”

In brief, the issue is whether a Catholic politician with a clear record of opposition to church teaching on “life issues,” with abortion holding pride of place, ought to be denied Communion – the consecrated bread and wine which Catholics believe to be the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

In principle, it’s a question that doesn’t just apply to presidential candidates but to public officials at all levels. In reality, however, the massive visibility of a presidential campaign raises the stakes in a unique fashion.

While the American bishops are compactly pro-life, they’re divided as to whether to rebuff pro-choice politicians at the Communion line. An influential minority of bishops believes that publicly denying Communion is essential to defending church teaching, while a majority believes that Communion should never be politicized, even in the service of a good cause.

The latter group takes the position that during Mass, the priest or other minister of Communion is not in a position to judge the consciences of people who come forward. The burden is therefore on individual Catholics themselves to make sure they’re in what the church has traditionally referred to as a “state of grace" before they take Communion. This was the line quietly taken during Pope Benedict XVI’s recent visit to the United States, when pro-choice Catholic politicians such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Giuliani received Communion at papal Masses (though not from the pope himself.)

In 2004, following agonizing debate, the U.S. bishops decided that they could not arrive at a uniform national stand on this question, and therefore it would be up to each bishop to set policy in his diocese. That’s fully in keeping with Catholic theology, which regards each bishop as the supreme authority in his diocese, answerable only to the pope. Yet it also means that a national candidate could be treated differently depending upon which diocese he or she happens to be in on any given Sunday. Such disparities in turn fuel perceptions of division in the church, which is something the bishops always abhor.

Heading into the 2008 campaign season, there weren’t any pro-choice Catholics in the top tier of Democratic candidates, but there certainly was on the Republican side in the form of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Many bishops were, therefore, privately relieved when Giuliani’s campaign imploded, because it at least seemed to mean that the “Wafer Wars” would not be back in the headlines – except, perhaps, with much less intensity on the state and local levels.

Biden’s nomination implies that sense of relief may have been premature.


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Read John Allen's complete article (and comments from his online readers) here.

9 comments:

  1. I think the Catholic Bishops in the US have so little moral authority due to their continuing refusal to reform themselves and bring certain among them to justice in the sexual abuse scandals that I can't even consider this question seriously.

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  2. I agree with Novo's sentiments. Further, I am disappointed to once again have an election cycle where the pulpit and pews are treated as precincts. Candidates for all levels of public office are human beings who are flawed just like the rest of us. Voters must select the person they feel best represents them across a broad spectrum of critical issues.

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  3. I also agree with Novo. The American bishops have become experts at focusing on the splinters in everyone else’s eyes, yet they can’t see the logs in their own eyes. Let me say that I agree with the Church’s position on abortion. The bishops should continue to be clear about the church’s teaching on abortion. I was shocked to hear Nancy Pelosi twist the church’s position. I think Tom Brokaw did a very good job correcting her “misstatement”. However I believe it’s important to remember that these politicians voted to allow individuals to choose whether or not they want to have an abortion. The choice is up to the women. Nobody is forcing anyone to abort a baby. I don’t think anyone is FOR abortion. Since most of these politicians are male, they haven’t had an abortion. We have no knowledge that they counseled or encouraged anyone to have an abortion. They were elected to represent all of their constituents, not just Catholics.

    Also, the American bishops need to face the role they played in the election of Bush the 43rd. They supported him because he agreed with them on gay marriage and abortion. I guess they forgot about all of the inmates that were executed in Texas on Gov. Bush’s watch. How about the thousands of innocent lives that have been snuffed out by his invasion of Iraq, under false pretenses? The last time I checked, Catholic teaching was also against the death penalty and unjust war.

    Finally, the American bishops need to stop using the Eucharist as a weapon. Would /did Jesus withhold his sacred body and blood from sinners? Or did he understand, through his own humanity, that we are all human, sinners. All the more reason for us to “do this in remembrance of me”.

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  4. Thank you to "Michael said" from anonymoous 12:40.
    Well said.

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  5. The Church -- to which Jesus gave the power "to bind and to loose" -- has proclaimed principles to guide a decision on worthiness to receive Holy Communion.

    Since they relate to the discussion (and the objections above), let's look at them:

    1. Presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion should be a conscious decision, based on a reasoned judgement regarding one’s worthiness to do so, according to the Church’s objective criteria, asking such questions as: "Am I in full communion with the Catholic Church? Am I guilty of grave sin? Have I incurred a penalty (e.g. excommunication, interdict) that forbids me to receive Holy Communion? Have I prepared myself by fasting for at least an hour?"

    2. The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin. The Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorise or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a "grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. [...]

    In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to ‘take part in a propoganda campaign in favor of such a law or vote for it’". Christians have a "grave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God’s law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. [...]

    This cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it".

    3. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion.

    While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment.

    There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.

    4. Apart from an individuals’s judgement about his worthiness to present himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone, such as in cases of a declared excommunication, a declared interdict, or an obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin.

    5. Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.

    6. When "these precautionary measures have not had their effect or in which they were not possible," and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, "the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it".

    This decision, properly speaking, is not a sanction or a penalty. Nor is the minister of Holy Communion passing judgement on the person’s subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person’s public unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin.

    The above was written by Pope Benedict XVI.

    END NOTE -- Note the distinction of "subjective" and "objective". The minister cannot know the state of conscience of the person in front of him. He can, however, know the facts surrounding the person’s actions and words. A politician might have had a conversion experience and, with great remorse, gone to confession or made a perfect act of contrition with the intention of going to confession, etc. But the manifest public actions and words are still in play, uncorrected. So, subjectively, the politician might be well-disposed, but the objective outward factors leave the minister no room.

    It is a red herring for a minister to state that he or she cannot judge the soul of the politician at the moment of Holy Communion. He doesn’t have to judge his soul! He must refer to the facts that everyone knows.

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  6. This is *not* about party politics, George Bush, Iraq or the death penalty. Those are *other* issues.

    This is about a very prominent political figure who has clearly misrepresented the teachings of the Catholic Church on a matter that the Church holds is an intrinsic evil. In a statement responding to the bishops, Pelosi has again misrepresented Catholic doctrine.

    Pelosi happens to be a Democrat. If a Republican were to say the same thing, he or she would be equally wrong -- and merit a public rebuke.

    Since the first days of the Church, Catholic Christians have endured martyrdom rather than deny their faith. Today, Catholics are jailed and tortured in China and in many other countries. Let's not put our own agendas and grievances ahead of our duty to proclaim the truth.

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  7. Michael said... "I don’t think anyone is FOR abortion. "

    Based on the following statistics I have to respectfully disagree.


    Abortion Statistics

    The following is a list of useful abortion statistics as well as some facts on abortifacients. All abortion numbers are derived from pro-abortion sources courtesy of The Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood's Family Planning Perspectives.

    Click here for the Guttmacher Institute's latest fact sheet on abortion.

    WORLDWIDE

    Number of abortions per year: Approximately 42 Million
    Number of abortions per day: Approximately 115,000

    Where abortions occur:
    83% of all abortions are obtained in developing countries and 17% occur in developed countries.

    © Copyright 1996-2008, The Alan Guttmacher Institute. (www.agi-usa.org)

    UNITED STATES

    Number of abortions per year: 1.37 Million (1996)
    Number of abortions per day: Approximately 3,700

    Abortion Statistics

    The following is a list of useful abortion statistics as well as some facts on abortifacients. All abortion numbers are derived from pro-abortion sources courtesy of The Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood's Family Planning Perspectives.

    Click here for the Guttmacher Institute's latest fact sheet on abortion.

    WORLDWIDE

    Number of abortions per year: Approximately 42 Million
    Number of abortions per day: Approximately 115,000

    Where abortions occur:
    83% of all abortions are obtained in developing countries and 17% occur in developed countries.

    © Copyright 1996-2008, The Alan Guttmacher Institute. (www.agi-usa.org)

    UNITED STATES

    Number of abortions per year: 1.37 Million (1996)
    Number of abortions per day: Approximately 3,700

    Who's having abortions (age)?
    52% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 32% of all abortions; Teenagers obtain 20% and girls under 15 account for 1.2%.

    Who's having abortions (race)?
    While white women obtain 60% of all abortions, their abortion rate is well below that of minority women. Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are roughly 2 times as likely.

    Who's having abortions (marital status)?
    64.4% of all abortions are performed on never-married women; Married women account for 18.4% of all abortions and divorced women obtain 9.4%.

    Who's having abortions (religion)?
    Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical".

    Who's having abortions (income)?
    Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%; Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%.

    Why women have abortions
    1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).

    At what gestational ages are abortions performed:
    52% of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen between the 9th & 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy.

    Likelihood of abortion:
    An estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.

    Abortion coverage:
    48% of all abortion facilities provide services after the 12th week of pregnancy. 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or provide limited coverage. About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state funds. 16 states (CA, CT, HI, ED, IL, MA , MD, MD, MN, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA and WV) pay for abortions for some poor women.

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  8. Michael, I thought your comments were excellent. Thank you.

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  9. Actually, the Chinese communist party is very much FOR abortion. All those cute little gymnasts, runners, swimmers -- how many siblings did they have? And you can read that the impact of this in China has been selective abortion of females, so that there is an increasing disparity in society.

    All bad fruits.

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