Divisive Bishops on the ‘Sacrament’ of Unity

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Catholic ministers of Holy Communion are trained not to say, "This is the Body of Christ" or "Receive the Body of Christ" because the Eucharist is more than just the consecrated bread and wine. There is a reason eucharistic ministers are taught to say, "The Body of Christ."

When the communicant responds, "Amen," to the minister's prompting, he is acknowledging more than just a belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. One's "amen" means he believes that: (1) the bread and wine, through the invocation of the Holy Spirit, have become the Body and Blood of Christ; (2) he is called to be the Body of Christ in word and deed; and (3) the community of worshippers with whom he has gathered is called to be "one body, one spirit in Christ." 

Unfortunately, too many people discuss the Eucharist simply from the perspective of whether or not the elements of bread and wine are purely symbolic or whether they actually become the Body and Blood of Christ.

No matter how much Catholic Church leaders teach about the Eucharist and the importance of Church membership (which, incidentally, has dropped from 76% in 2000 to 58% in 2020), many Catholics will have a difficult time believing that the Eucharist is important if it is administered to people who are contemptuous of fundamental Catholic beliefs.

A Catholic Vote poll found that 74% of regular Mass attendees believe Catholic politicians who disagree with official Church teachings on issues like abortion should not be admitted to Holy Communion. Consequently, even though some U.S. bishops argue that pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians should not be denied Communion, most practicing Catholics are scandalized by their sacrilegious communication owing to the faithful's understanding that Jesus Christ — whose life the recipient of Communion is called to emulate — would never support the killing of innocent unborn children.

One who receives the Eucharist declares not only his union with the Church's doctrine, but also with the Church's morals. While some ecclesial leaders invoke a spirit of mock unity by inviting wicked and contumacious politicians to the Eucharist, the truth is that errant politicians' actions rupture their communion with the Church. While grave evils like abortion are of indubitable political consequence, sin is first and foremost a moral issue, an issue that transcends politics. What phony Catholic leaders fail to recognize is that they are not being asked to weigh in on one political side or another, but to enforce the universal moral code.

Catholics of goodwill, those who believe, for example, in the sanctity of human life, cannot help but feel isolated from a Church that turns a blind eye toward those who use the Eucharist to cover for their disconnect from true Catholic morality.

A Church is not simply a social club that one joins to enjoy certain benefits like a funeral with the hope of being rewarded with eternal life. A person can now apparently carry a Rosary in his pocket and present himself for Holy Communion without truly being a Christian.

Those who receive the Eucharist unworthily should be reminded of the Prayer of Thanksgiving After Mass of St. Thomas Aquinas, which states, in relevant part: "I pray that this Holy Communion may not bring me condemnation and punishment but forgiveness." 

Thomas' prayer echoes the words of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 11:27–30) wherein he writes:

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. 

No teaching document promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will convince Catholics of the importance of the Eucharist as long as bishops, priests, deacons or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion give the Eucharist to people who engage in or publicly endorse practices that are contrary to the teachings of Christ and His Church.

Pro-LGBT prelates like Blase Cupich, Wilton Gregory, Robert McElroy and others who support giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion officials like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi reinforce the San Francisco Bay Times' belief that "LGBT rights and abortion rights are inseparable." However, in contrast to these ordinaries, the majority of practicing Catholics support the enforcement of canon 915 by having phony Catholic Democrats called out for "public apostasy, sacrilege and scandal."  

Archbishops Joseph Naumann, Salvatore Cordileone and other bishops also advocate banning Catholic public figures who promote abortion. Cordileone offered a superb response to 60 House Democrats who released a "Statement of Principles" in response to the U.S. bishops' discussion of "eucharistic coherence" and whether politicians explicitly and persistently advocating abortions have precluded themselves from fittingly receiving Holy Communion.

The U.S. bishops will have to choose if they want to fill their pews with people who support abortion and other immoral practices like euthanasia, or with those who believe in the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. The choice is theirs.

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