I think The Pillar and other Catholic media, and the bishops, can advocate also for alternatives to the vaccines tested and /or produced with cells from aborted children. Why do we accept that benefitting from the murder of children is something we have to resign ourselves to? Especially when there are viable treatment alternatives that are not allowed even to be discussed objectively? Who in the Church and Catholic media is doing the deep research on anecdotal and peer- reviewed studies that show the efficacy and safety of alternative treatments? This is a matter of simple justice, it would seem.
Oh wow, that font. Synodality: oversimplification, infantilization, and (as usual for the Church) updating to tech standards already 20 years out of date? Le sigh.
JD, I always enjoy hearing about your family. As a priest I have at times wondered what it would be like having children of my own. Yes, I am “father” to many, but it’s not the same. I am reminded of this whenever I see a child asleep in its father’s arms or a dad and his kids playing in the yard or think of my own dad. Regardless, it’s all Grace.
You wrote, “It’s also possible bishops hesitate because they are not sure prohibiting a politician from Holy Communion would really “work” to change his mind. And in fact, it probably wouldn’t.”
So true. I often think the real reason Biden, Pelosi, and their ilk are so in favor of allowing the slaughter of unborn human beings is because their constituents are. As we have become more and more a culture of death these politicians say and do what those who will keep them in office want even when it’s not what God clearly wants. Their reason isn’t really what their constituents want but to maintain power and status, to be of the world. And we know that cannot end well.
Perhaps if the bishops put their focus on the electorate there could be real change. We are no longer a Christian society and we need mission and catechesis. Change the hearts of the electorate and the pols will quickly follow. Change the hearts of pols and they will be cancelled. Just a thought.
Asking because this was before my time, but with this talk about the bishops' "talk" with regard to pro-abortion Catholic politicians, I do want to ask this of anyone who may know:
We often hear about how Mario Cuomo's address at Notre Dame in 1984 is the playbook for the longstanding tradition of "I am personally opposed to abortion but don't want to impose my personal beliefs on others" (something JD and Ed discussed in last week's explainer and was also found in the Biden piece from Politico over the weekend... that cherrypicked the people it talked to). Is there any record of a response of bishops to Cuomo's address in the immediate aftermath of its delivery? I'd be very interested in reading what, if anything, bishops of that time said.
I would suggest the bishops need to do less inside baseball type strategic positioning in order to achieve the "right" outcome and instead focus on fidelity to Christ.
Is abortion a form a murder? Is murder, objectively speaking, a mortal sin? Have you informed the person in question they are advocating for and funding mortal sin? What did Saint Paul say about those in manifest grave sin receiving the Eucharist?
Talk of how to get pro-abortion politicians to change their tune by refusing access to the sacraments is, in the final analysis, using the Eucharist as a punishment. But this isn't about punishment. This is about fidelity to Christ.
In my view, pro-abortion politicians like Biden and Pelosi are most likely a lost cause. I'd love to be wrong about that - I mean that with my whole heart, but that simply can't be the focus here. A much more approachable problem is the general lack of faith in the Eucharist. Whether or not people formally go through the exercise I did above regarding mortal sin and the Eucharist, they certainly have a sense that our bishops simply don't treat the Eucharist as the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. This matters for that reason as much as any other.
Catholics claim the sanctity of life, yet sustain among them leaders who actively work against Catholic doctrine. This is the essence of institutional failure. Either Catholics support Life, or they are mere secularized hypocrites. Which is it?
I think The Pillar and other Catholic media, and the bishops, can advocate also for alternatives to the vaccines tested and /or produced with cells from aborted children. Why do we accept that benefitting from the murder of children is something we have to resign ourselves to? Especially when there are viable treatment alternatives that are not allowed even to be discussed objectively? Who in the Church and Catholic media is doing the deep research on anecdotal and peer- reviewed studies that show the efficacy and safety of alternative treatments? This is a matter of simple justice, it would seem.
Oh wow, that font. Synodality: oversimplification, infantilization, and (as usual for the Church) updating to tech standards already 20 years out of date? Le sigh.
JD, I always enjoy hearing about your family. As a priest I have at times wondered what it would be like having children of my own. Yes, I am “father” to many, but it’s not the same. I am reminded of this whenever I see a child asleep in its father’s arms or a dad and his kids playing in the yard or think of my own dad. Regardless, it’s all Grace.
You wrote, “It’s also possible bishops hesitate because they are not sure prohibiting a politician from Holy Communion would really “work” to change his mind. And in fact, it probably wouldn’t.”
So true. I often think the real reason Biden, Pelosi, and their ilk are so in favor of allowing the slaughter of unborn human beings is because their constituents are. As we have become more and more a culture of death these politicians say and do what those who will keep them in office want even when it’s not what God clearly wants. Their reason isn’t really what their constituents want but to maintain power and status, to be of the world. And we know that cannot end well.
Perhaps if the bishops put their focus on the electorate there could be real change. We are no longer a Christian society and we need mission and catechesis. Change the hearts of the electorate and the pols will quickly follow. Change the hearts of pols and they will be cancelled. Just a thought.
Asking because this was before my time, but with this talk about the bishops' "talk" with regard to pro-abortion Catholic politicians, I do want to ask this of anyone who may know:
We often hear about how Mario Cuomo's address at Notre Dame in 1984 is the playbook for the longstanding tradition of "I am personally opposed to abortion but don't want to impose my personal beliefs on others" (something JD and Ed discussed in last week's explainer and was also found in the Biden piece from Politico over the weekend... that cherrypicked the people it talked to). Is there any record of a response of bishops to Cuomo's address in the immediate aftermath of its delivery? I'd be very interested in reading what, if anything, bishops of that time said.
I would suggest the bishops need to do less inside baseball type strategic positioning in order to achieve the "right" outcome and instead focus on fidelity to Christ.
Is abortion a form a murder? Is murder, objectively speaking, a mortal sin? Have you informed the person in question they are advocating for and funding mortal sin? What did Saint Paul say about those in manifest grave sin receiving the Eucharist?
Talk of how to get pro-abortion politicians to change their tune by refusing access to the sacraments is, in the final analysis, using the Eucharist as a punishment. But this isn't about punishment. This is about fidelity to Christ.
In my view, pro-abortion politicians like Biden and Pelosi are most likely a lost cause. I'd love to be wrong about that - I mean that with my whole heart, but that simply can't be the focus here. A much more approachable problem is the general lack of faith in the Eucharist. Whether or not people formally go through the exercise I did above regarding mortal sin and the Eucharist, they certainly have a sense that our bishops simply don't treat the Eucharist as the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. This matters for that reason as much as any other.
You're kidding about the font, right JD?? Right???
Catholics claim the sanctity of life, yet sustain among them leaders who actively work against Catholic doctrine. This is the essence of institutional failure. Either Catholics support Life, or they are mere secularized hypocrites. Which is it?
I just need to put this on the record… I’m firmly on Team Ed re: Friday Night Lights. So. Much. Teen. Melodrama. 😖