U.S. Catholics bishops will gather in June to discuss how to deal with Catholic politicians who support the killing of unborn babies through abortion. At issue, is whether such individuals should be denied Holy Communion.
The problem has come to a head with the election of President Joe Biden. While claiming to be a Catholic in good standing, he remains a hardline supporter of abortion on demand, including the use of taxpayer funds to underwrite abortions. Notwithstanding his ant-life position, the president continues to present himself for Communion. While some bishops acquiesce, other have stated that they will deny the president Communion.
Aside from the president, there are a number of other high-profile politicians, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who consider themselves Catholic while flouting the church’s longstanding teaching against abortion.
Alaska’s bishops have not publicly addressed the issue, but many bishops want clarity in dealing with politicians like Murkowski and Biden.
Murkowski grew up attending Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage and still presents herself for Communion in Alaska parishes despite her increasingly staunch support of abortion. She has refused to oppose taxpayer-funded abortion on demand and is a strong advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment, which both supporters and opponents admit will likely dismantle pro-life laws, while expanding LGBTQ rights and eroding religious liberties. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of abortion, considers Murkowski an ally.
While Alaska’s bishops have not publicly addressed the issue, many bishops across the nation have called for a uniform response in denying Communion to politicians like Murkowski and Biden.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is preparing a document that would clarify the church’s position when dealing with Catholic politicians who publicly support abortion but also wish to receive Holy Communion at Mass.
The matter will be discussed at the bishops’ June meeting. According to an April 28 report from the Associated Press, Archbishop Joseph Naumann who chairs the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said the bishops will vote on whether to allow work on the document to continue so that it can be released later this year.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
“Because President Biden is Catholic, it presents a unique problem for us,” Naumann told the Associated Press. “It can create confusion … How can he say he’s a devout Catholic and he’s doing these things that are contrary to the church’s teaching?”
Many leading bishops across the country have pointed out that Biden and other pro-abortion public figures must be denied Communion to both avoid public scandal and to bring the sinner into repentance for what the church teaches is a “grave moral sin.”
The Catholic Church maintains that abortion is the foremost public issue facing the culture. According to the U.S. Bishops’ most recent document regarding voting, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the “threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed.”
19 Comments
Those who promote Baby slaughter in the womb have a date with GOD for their evil along side those that murder through promotion of this sickening experimental vaccine. .This life is but a brief glimpse of eternity . Choices on how you affect other lives have ramifications and price tags we all have to pay.
1 MILLION FRAUDULENT VOTES BEING REPORTED OUT OF MARICOPA,,,, AUDITS PUT CRIMINAL POLITICIANS OUT OF BUSINESS,,,,, OATHBREAKERS ARE PISSIN THEMSELVES. THE GREAT AWAKENING…. GOD WINS!!!! SLEEP WELL YOU WHO SAID NOTHING TO FOREIGN INTERFERENCE,,,, DOMINION IS STICKY FLY PAPER…..
Only the godless satanic stand against GODS order of choose life, The Catholic Church for its hesitance in allowing these minions of death to the unborn is just as guilty by allowing Political leaders the banner of Catholic while they seek election… You tell me who is the lesser evil? Yes a few brave Priests have had the Moral conviction to deny these Whores of death but the Church Leadership is as Guilty as the demonic abortion Doctor who rips the heads off of Little Samuel and little Susie. It is time for the good in mankind to rise up and stand in defense of our most vulnerable ,,, These folks like Murkowski are demonic and void of GODS love and compassion toward their fellow men… Enough of allowing the satanic free reign over us,,, This evil must stop now, Murder in the womb,,,, how sick have we gotten? The Watchman must sound the Alarm and warn the people or the blood of the innocent will be on his hands.
A. M. E. N. !
I diubr theyll do anything. Too many woke bishops emboldened by the woke pope.
A priest in girdwood was allegedlly relocated by our “Masks over Morals” Bishop of the Anchorage diocese for refusing communion to Murky
Refuse Lisa, vote this baby killer out. sooner the better
For their public approval of abortion and for voting to give tax dollars to procure them, they are already excommunicate, so I really don’t know why the Bishops need a new document to deny them Holy Communion. They have placed themselves outside of the Church. It is simply a matter of acknowledging that and making it clear, as a teaching, which is the Bishop’s reasonability, and as a fact, which is the priest’s responsibility. We really don’t need a debate. Canon Law is clear.
On the one hand I think denying these baby killers communion is good, but ultimately I think this is something for God to handle. Anyone who partakes of holy communion does so knowing what this very sacred ceremony means. If politicians such as Murkowski and Biden choose to commit the sin of partaking in communion, while advocating murder, their punishment will come from God.
If not we then who will stand up for the commodity known as the unborn as the abortion industry has made trillions off the sale of dead babies?? I mean really this is where our generation has allowed acceptance? Those in the Legislature but one or two shun life saving options as it pertains to baby butchering yes human baby bleeding and gutting of sacrificed to satan little humans as an industry that rivals all industry… No our legislature squirms wriggles and hides in their I have arrived status and I cant rock the boat of all things to solve human slaughter,,,,They have much more important issues like Sophomoric leg wrestling Beer pong and probably Bong to attend. The Church has seen its Moral high ground, ground into dust on their running from the sanctity of life as they dodge inner scandal after inner scandal.. They are not who they seem… Saving humanity is up to we the people who have been fractured and ripped off by those in govt and the church… There is no rescue boats and we must look to each other to survive Look to GOD then look around. Its Just us.
The inner scandal is no different than any organization that has children. There are a number of organizations that made the same mistakes when it came to child predators. Just the anti-religious pro-communist entities that want to destroy our nation have up played the scandals exponentially higher than they would other organizations. The same entities that want to gain power by getting blacks and whites to hate each other are behind this effort for the same reasons.
Has the public school system lost its authority to teach since it has suffered even worse when it comes to the sexual assault of minors? You wouldn’t know it by watching leftist media but your child is at greater risk of being assaulted at a school than a church. Don’t get me wrong the church has its problems to fix. But they do not detract from its ability to tach morals.
Never forget that hidden in all of this evil is the KALERGI PLAN…. search engine it and see what these liars and thieves in govt actually have in store for us.
I wonder how long the church will stand by when they found out the elite pedo’s of this world including Biden are part of the ritualistic torture, mirder, eating, and raping of children. Wonder if they will sit back and prepare a document. Then again, the Catholic church has copious amounts of pederasts.
Withholding Communion, properly speaking, is not a sanction nor a penalty; It is to protect the recipient, not to punish him.
“For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.” 1 Cor 11:29 (Douay-Rheims)
If Holy Communion is just a little old-fashioned ritual, no big, but if it is receiving the body and blood of Our Lord, then it is a big deal, and damnation a commensurate punishment for abuse.
Amen
In true charity, I hope the USCCB presents a very clear statement which addresses the scandal of public figures who state that they are Catholic and at the same time trample over/ignore very clear teachings of the Church, and then present themselves to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. It is an act of charity to these politicians; the Church’s concern is primarily for the eternal salvation of every soul….and certainly preventing the scandal to the Faithful that occurs when very public and prominent figures can mock / disregard the teaching of the Church while at the same time proclaiming to be devout and practicing members of the Church without any correction on the part of the Bishops of the United States.
I write Lisa on most all national interest issues. I am also a Veteran and staunch Conservative. Not once have I received feedback from Lisa stating she agrees with my stance. She always disagrees and remains on the evil side of the issue.
Well said Punahele and Loren! Canon Law 915 is clear; those who persist in public manifest grave sin Must be denied Holy Communion for their good as well as the good of the faithful; to prevent both parties from scandal – being led into sin. The Church is not making a judgment of the Subjective state of soul of the public sinner, only that their objective support of abortion etc is an Objective mortal sin. Therefore refusal must take place even when counsel beforehand has not been possible. Furthermore it is not up to the local Bishop but to the “Priest in charge of the community” where the public sinner presents him or herself for Holy Communion to protect the sinner and the faithful by refusing Holy Communion, and this is an unchangeable Canon because it is based on Divine Law. These points were made crystal clear by then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, when the US Bishops asked for guidance from the Holy See when faced with the candidacy of pro-abortion John Kerry. (“Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion; General Principals” June 2004) The future Pope referred to the Declaration by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts: “Holy Communion and Divorced, Civilly Remarried Catholics” (2000, ewtn.com) which had already clarified Canon 915. It is ominous that the USCCB even had to ask what to do about pro-abortion politicians who present themselves for Holy Communion, and it was none other than now-laicized serial predator Theodore McCarrick , who as head of the USCCB, concealed the Church’s reply and substituted his own deceitful “summary.” That evil document is still a source of the on-going confusion around Canon 915; it contradicted every one of the principals of Divine Law codified in Canon 915. Thank God for Bishops and Priests who have the courage and charity to educate themselves and pastor their flocks in union with the Good Shepherd. We must pray hard for them, as well as for those who have become ‘watchdogs who will not bark.’
Also we must be judicious stewards. As best I can tell, to support a parish or archdiocese in which Canon 915 is disobeyed is not to support the Church at all; in fact it is to finance the particular scandalizing – leading into sin – of those in that pasture, and the general scandalizing of the entire Flock.
The genesis of abortion is artificial contraception. When will the Church speak out against that grave moral sin, so that finally there can be a leeway into a real chance at stopping abortion, cohabitation, fornication, adultery, homosexuality. Free se is license, not God’s Holy Will. Benjamin Franklin once, so aptly said, “If you should live at ease, do what you ought, not what you please.” The catholic bishops of America, have let us down. This topic was discussed years ago, without any effect. Please pray for our bishops.