“No matter how often a bishop or priest repeats the teaching of the church regarding procured abortion, if he stands by and does nothing to discipline a Catholic who publicly supports legislation permitting the gravest of injustices, and, at same time, presents himself to receive Holy Communion, then his teachings ring hollow,” Burke writes.Yay! A bishop who gets it!
However:
“The (archbishop’s) concern is not a political concern,” Neuhaus said. “The article is about, how does the church preserve the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist?”
But the article is ambiguous in some areas, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center.
If Burke is calling on communion ministers to disobey their bishops and deny communion to Catholic politicians, it would be “revolutionary” and “encourage anarchy,” Reese said.
“Most bishops do not want ministers of communion playing policeman at the communion rail,” he added. “This is a significant change in focus. Suddenly you’re going to have a few thousand decision-makers in parishes across the country.”
Yes, that's a bit of a problem. Maybe the solution is for less use of Eucharistic ministers. Or perhaps priests should instruct their eucharistic ministers.
But I suspect Burke is not calling on ministers to disobey the bishops. I have hunch that's not what is expeted.
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