U.S. bishops to weigh communion rules that could rebuke Biden over abortion

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

BALTIMORE, Md. (Reuters) - U.S. Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday are expected to debate whether President Joe Biden's support for abortion rights should disqualify him from receiving communion, an issue that has deepened rifts in the church since the Democrat took office.

At their assembly in Baltimore, the bishops are scheduled to discuss a document clarifying the meaning of Holy Communion, a sacrament central to the faith. The bishops have been divided over how explicitly the document should define the eligibility of prominent Catholics like Biden to receive communion due to political stances that contradict church teaching.

-snip-

Some conservative bishops have argued the conference must rebuke politicians such as Biden who support abortion rights contrary to church teaching. That contingent has called for the document to set explicit standards of eligibility for receiving the sacrament.

-snip-

Biden met privately with Pope Francis at the Vatican last month and said afterward that the pope had told him he was a "good Catholic" who can receive communion.

Prior to that meeting, Pope Francis, whose liberal theology has ruffled many conservative Catholics since his election in 2013, appeared to criticize U.S. bishops for dealing with the issue in a political rather than a pastoral way.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-bishops-to-weigh-communion-rules-that-could-rebuke-biden-over-abortion/ar-AAQLtsw

[SheilaAnn]

1. I hope Pres. Joe tells them to pound salt. n/t

[TheBlackAdder]

18. I guess the Pope is not the highest human leader of the R. C. Church afterall.

[Tomconroy]

2. Joe's bishop in Delaware will protect him but a lot of these guys suck.

[vlyons]

3. Gee fellas, don't strain yourselves practicing compassion

and so the Catholic church has been forever. Label as heretics and run out of town all those, who don't obey their dogma.

[maxsolomon]

4. Il Papa told them to GTFO with this shit already.

Obviously, they want to create a crisis for the nation (and their collection plates).

[Moostache]

5. Hmm...let's role play this out...

Bishop #1: We seem to be losing active congregants at an alarming rate...

Bishop #2: I see that brother, the numbers are indeed troubling.

Bishop #3: Dammit...I thought we had finally begun to move past that thing with the altar boys and the pedophile priests and the cover ups and the pay outs...

Bishop #1: No brother, THAT issue is no longer the main thing people immediately think of us, we have gotten a little distance from that terrible past transgression.

Bishop #3: Well then why are we falling off a cliff in new membership and new converts to Christ?

Bishop #2: It appears that the residual effect is to have made priests essential the second least respected people today.

Bishop #3: Second worst huh?

Bishop #1: Yes, second worst.

Bishop #3: Well who is the least respected then?

Bishop #1 and 2 (simultaneously): Right Wing Politicians.

Bishop #3: You mean we're less popular than Democrats?

Bishop #1 and 2 (simultaneously): Let's Go Bishop!

Bishop #3: This is horrible. What are we going to do?

Bishop #1 and 2 (simultaneously): We're going to defy the Pope, cave to the Right Wing fools and marry our brand to theirs...can't lose!

Bishop #3: That sounds like a great plan!

[Ritabert]

6. Joe's welcome in the Episcopalian church

Time to call the Catholic hypocrite hierarchy out.

[Diamond_Dog]

7. I thought the Pope already said he should have it.

[Ritabert]

10. These bishops consider the Pope too liberal

...so this would be an act of defiance.

[Captain_New_York]

8. I call bullshit

As a practicing Catholics (please no attacks) each bishop is in charge of his own diocese. The counsel of bishops has no impact. Only the Pope can dictate policy for all diocese and he has spoken. Also the Bishops of Washington & Wilmington has spoken

This is the equivalent of a bunch of company commanders getting together at the officers club and bitching about the battalion leave policy after the Colonel has spoken

The corporate media creating bullshit

[Norbert]

9. But if he molested little boys that's okay. Got it.

[BeckyDem]

12. +1

[BeckyDem]

11. Did ANY of these bishops rebuke Trump for the insurrection?

For his policies of greed to benefit himself and his buddies while the poor struggled even more than before??

If they want to know why membership is down, they might want to consider their own shitty record of human rights abuses.

[janterry]

13. They issued many statements on Trumps policies that were quite negative

In 22 press releases on immigrants and another 13 on refugees, the bishops attacked the administration's policies as "misguided and untenable," "unacceptable," "appalling," "devastating," "very concerning," "heartbreaking," "unlawful and inhumane," "terrible," "callous," "disturbing" and "contrary to American and Christian values."

also

The bishops spoke out strongly and frequently in support of DACA

The bishops made more than 40 statements defending immigrants and refugees and opposing travel bans and family separation.

For example, the bishops were "very concerned" about the impact of the administration's changes in the "public charge" rule, making it easier to deport immigrants who tried to access government services.

The bishops also found fault with a new rule from the Department of Housing and Urban Development that would take away housing benefits from any household with an undocumented member.

They railed against the facilities used to detain immigrants.

"Reports of overcrowded and unsanitary conditions are appalling and unacceptable for any person in U.S. custody, but particularly for children, who are uniquely vulnerable," said the bishops. "Such conditions cannot be used as tools of deterrence. We can and must remain a country that provides refuge for children and families fleeing violence, persecution, and acute poverty."

They absolutely opposed the 'wall'

The treatment of asylum seekers at the border was also a major concern of the bishops in opposing new rules and regulations that "eviscerate our current asylum system."

They further noted that "the Catholic Church teaches us to look at the root causes of migration, poverty, violence, and corruption."

re: Iran: they called for "necessary diplomacy, courageous dialogue, and tireless efforts toward peace to resolve such global conflicts." They also stated that the unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement and the imposition of added economic sanctions have "exacerbated tensions with close allies and other world powers."

re: racism
"The killing of George Floyd was senseless and brutal, a sin that cries out to heaven for justice," said the president of the bishop's conference, José Horacio Gómez, the archbishop of Los Angeles. "We should all understand that the protests we are seeing in our cities reflect the justified frustration and anger of millions of our brothers and sisters who even today experience humiliation, indignity, and unequal opportunity only because of their race or the color of their skin."

There are many more. Clearly, the bishops are not in favor of abortion (that is central to church teachings). And most people here dislike the bishops, generally - and the church in particular. Perhaps for good reasons, that's not my concern. (I mean that, as I have said before - I have considered returning to the church - but atm I am a cultural catholic).

But it's not even close to true that they don't attend to issues of social justice in this country and around the world. Nor is it true that they thought Trump was a good man. They issued statement after statement about his policies.

[janterry]

14. oh, and here is a bishop speaking to just what

you refer to

Bishop McElroy

"We must be clear in identifying this moment as the logical trajectory of the last four years of President Trump's leadership of our country and stare in the face how we have stood by without giving greater witness to the terrible danger that leadership rooted in division brings to a democratic society."

"Today we see the face of insurrection in the United States in a way that we have never witnessed in the last hundred years," said McElroy. "It is ugly and calls us to action."

again, I know people have strong ideas about the catholic church. But it just isn't true that the Bishops ignored Trump

[BeckyDem]

22. I appreciate that, it is an important distinction.

However, they went out of their way to support bigotry when it mirrored their own.

I honestly do not know how much sway they have in elections, and I suspect going after Biden as they have is meant to be a signal, no Catholic will get their support on women's rights, gay rights etc.

Excerpt: Seven releases address freedom of conscience protection. They hailed measures allowing healthcare workers to opt out of performing or assisting with abortions or other procedures they see as immoral. They were also delighted by the Supreme Court's decision in favor of the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of nuns who opposed the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate.

Another dozen or so releases stood by the administration's positions on issues affecting LGBTQ persons. The bishops voiced opposition to the Equality Act, which would extend the discrimination protections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to gay and transgender people, and which passed the House in May. They were disappointed when the Supreme Court, in June's landmark decision in Bostock v. Clay County, Georgia, ruled that LGBTQ individuals were covered by the act.

The bishops also commended a proposed rule change that would allow faith-based adoption agencies to decline services to gay married couples without being excluded from federal aid as a result

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/signs-times/catholic-bishops-reprimand-trump-often-they-praise-him

[obamanut2012]

15. Their boss already said Biden can take the eucharist

The Pope beats a Bishop or Cardinal.

[janterry]

17. The short answer is that the Bishops can

draft an article that reinforces church teaching about communion. I'm not an expert in all of this. But when this came up last time, I looked it up - according to canonical law - they most certainly are in the right to do so.

The Pope isn't their boss, in that way.

[LiberalFighter]

24. If that is the case have to question the purpose a Pope.

[GoCubsGo]

19. I recall Biden's pastors saying he would continue giving it, as well.

Something tells me these bishops are setting themselves up to get some egg on their faces.

[Joinfortmill]

16. This is why people leave the Catholic Church. But don't get me started.

[spanone]

20. maybe these U.S. bishops should tend to their own flock

so to speak

[Norbert]

21. This action will backfire horribly.

The US Bishops think the lay Catholics are unified with them. Nothing could be further from the truth.

[LiberalFighter]

23. The bishops should be identified.

And labeled as anti-Catholics

[hunter]

25. The political polarization within the U.S.A. Catholic Church...

... reflects the political polarization of the U.S.A. at large. Liberal priests are sent to liberal places, conservative priests are sent to conservative places, and stupid priests are sent to stupid places, which overlap to some degree with the conservative places.

For a time my parents lived in a place where the fascist Catholics ruled. Attending Mass there was so frequently uncomfortable we quit trying. There were people in that parish still complaining bitterly about Vatican II.

My Catholic great uncle passed away there and the local priest basically told everyone my great uncle was going to hell. At the heart of the matter it was all about some feud that started between them on the golf course.

When this priest showed up for the wake, realizing he was among a family of social justice warrior Catholics, atheists, and other intellectuals, he sampled the whisky and fled within fifteen minutes. Everyone had a much better time without him.

My wife's family has always lived in fiercely intellectual liberal Catholic territory.