Bishops approve Communion document without singling out politicians who back abortion rights
U.S. Catholic bishops Wednesday avoided an internal standoff, approving a statement about Communion that was launched as a way to chastise President Joe Biden over his support of abortion rights but after an outcry became a general restating of the sacrament’s centrality.
By a vote of 201 in favor, 17 opposed and five abstaining, hundreds of members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at their annual fall meeting passed their first statement on Communion in 15 years. It comes as church leaders are trying to reignite Catholics’ interest in the rite that their faith says is a real connection with Jesus. Bishops at the meeting announced plans for a massive national gathering in 2024 dedicated to the Eucharist, or Communion.
The text called the Eucharist the most profound way God accompanies Catholics and called people back to church, saying, “We miss you and we love you.” It also emphasized in the text the “special responsibility” of Catholic public figures to shape their own views based on “the Church’s faith and moral law.” It also said bishops are responsible “to work to remedy situations that involve public actions at variance with the visible communion of the Church and the moral law.”
But that’s as close as the document got to Biden, who on Wednesday was in Detroit to promote electric vehicles and his infrastructure bill.
The effort to craft the document started after Biden’s election, when the president of the USCCB launched a working group to deal with what he said was the “problem” of a churchgoing Catholic president who supports the current law on abortion access. While some bishops wanted the document to call out pro-choice Catholic politicians and abortion in particular, others said the sacrament was being politicized and damaged. The Vatican sent U.S. bishops a letter warning them that trying to pass a national policy about who receives communion could easily become a source of discord.
In the end, the document did not mention politicians who support abortion rights or single out abortion in particular.
“We saw initially a moment of different ideas of what the document should be about. Is it mostly about political responsibility? A Eucharistic revival? A teaching document? The document tried to nuance that,” said Bishop Daniel Flores, of Brownsville, Texas. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all. It’s not adjudicated by popular opinion. We have to be patient, and patient with one another. I think the bishops wanted to speak with patience with one another.”