Pete Vere: Consensus emerging in the deny-Communion-to-pro-abort-politicians debate
Canon lawyer Pete Vere has written an excellent article in The Washington Times about the debate over the denial of Communion to pro-choice Roman Catholic politicians, which was rekindled last month when Bishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, told Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to refrain from partaking in the sacrament. Vere's article gives the history of this debate as well as the consensus emerging among pastors and canonists.
An excerpt:
As Bishop Naumann joins the chorus of American bishops refusing Communion to wayward politicians, a new consensus is emerging among canon lawyers on the topic, which reached a boiling point four years ago surrounding Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Mrs. Sebelius, a Democrat, has been the subject of much speculation as a potential vice-presidential pick for Sen. Barack Obama.
"Eight or 10 years ago, when people first started advocating on this, they were voices crying in the wilderness," says the Rev. Francis G. Morrisey, a retired professor of canon law at St. Paul University and one of the most respected canon lawyers in North America. "What we're seeing is a consensus emerge; it's more of a discussion now than a debate."
Father Morrisey, who long had been among the most vocal opponents of denying Communion to politicians, admits that his thinking on the subject has shifted substantially, although he still does not think Communion should be denied in every case.
"It is very rare that truth is in the extremes," he says. "We have to look at the individual conscience of each politician, and just when a person has overstepped the line."
The church law in question is Canon 915, which states that those "who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion," but mostly it had been applied in cases of remarried or cohabiting Catholics.
This was not understood as applying to pro-choice politicians - partly because the Catholic Church is a famously slow-acting institution and abortion's current shape as a U.S. political issue dates back only to 1973, when the procedure was declared a constitutional right in Roe v. Wade.
Read the entire article.
An excerpt:
As Bishop Naumann joins the chorus of American bishops refusing Communion to wayward politicians, a new consensus is emerging among canon lawyers on the topic, which reached a boiling point four years ago surrounding Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Mrs. Sebelius, a Democrat, has been the subject of much speculation as a potential vice-presidential pick for Sen. Barack Obama.
"Eight or 10 years ago, when people first started advocating on this, they were voices crying in the wilderness," says the Rev. Francis G. Morrisey, a retired professor of canon law at St. Paul University and one of the most respected canon lawyers in North America. "What we're seeing is a consensus emerge; it's more of a discussion now than a debate."
Father Morrisey, who long had been among the most vocal opponents of denying Communion to politicians, admits that his thinking on the subject has shifted substantially, although he still does not think Communion should be denied in every case.
"It is very rare that truth is in the extremes," he says. "We have to look at the individual conscience of each politician, and just when a person has overstepped the line."
The church law in question is Canon 915, which states that those "who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion," but mostly it had been applied in cases of remarried or cohabiting Catholics.
This was not understood as applying to pro-choice politicians - partly because the Catholic Church is a famously slow-acting institution and abortion's current shape as a U.S. political issue dates back only to 1973, when the procedure was declared a constitutional right in Roe v. Wade.
Read the entire article.
"As Bishop Naumann joins the chorus of American bishops refusing Communion to wayward politicians"
ReplyDeleteActually the good bishop has not instructed anybody to refuse Communion to her. This could be a next step if she still tries to receive Communion.
Canon 915 notwithstanding, there's obviously nothing wrong with admitting pro-abortion Catholics to communion; otherwise those prominent pro-aborts like Kennedy, Pelosi, Kerry and Giuliani who were in attendance at papal masses this spring would have been denied communion. The Holy Father would have seen to it.
ReplyDeleteThe logical inference to draw is that there is no contradiction in support for abortion "rights" and reception of the Sacrament.
This is what scandal looks like.