I have purposely made the Eucharist the theme of this week’s blog as a way of explaining why I support the bishops who are brave enough to speak publicly about the Catholic politicians who continue to support abortion in this country and yet.
A few years back I was an enthusiastic debate board participate on the American Online debate boards. One of my opponents was a gentleman who claimed to be a Catholic Priest with the screen names of Owentagert and Father John L. A few of us brought up then (this has to be around 2000 or 2001) the question of why Senator Ted Kennedy was allowed to receive communion when he was such an outspoken supporter of abortion. The “Father” pastorally told me on the very public message board that I was a Pharisee for seeking to stick to the letter of the law and that I should stop “peeing” on his leg with such questions. I believe that particular post was pulled for being in such poor taste and as well as a full ad hominem attack.
Yet in retrospect it appears that I was simply a few years ahead of my time! In his enthusiasm to put me in my place, “Father” John failed in the same way that many of the bishops do now – the failure to protect the innocent faithful from the scandal. By innocent faithful I mean us everyday Jane and Joe Catholics who have tried our best to learn the faith, who attended those catechism classes or tried on our own to figure out the Catechism of the Catholic Church when it came out, the ones who were totally robbed of our chance to learn the faith as children in the Religion Classes and Catholic schools that our parents made efforts to get us to and paid for, sometimes out of great sacrifice to themselves. Those of us who despite the voices of the culture and sometimes of our own teachers that said the Catholic church was a simply a place to hold hands, sing pop tunes with religious themes, make burlap banners, and just “be nice,” decided to dig deeper to find out what it really meant to be a Catholic and what the Catholic church really taught and probably most importantly WHY It taught it. We’re the ones, who recognizing our ignorance, as adults knew we were going to have to do the hard work of catechizing ourselves when friends and family members left the church in droves and challenged us with questions about “the Whore of Babylon” and meaningless repetitive prayer, and why we call priests Father.
And it wasn’t just the theological questions that we sought to know, we sought to live better Catholic lives too. Re-learning those little Catholic customs that had been lost to us because they were considered too “old fashioned, or too pre-Vatican II.” Learning that being a good Catholic also meant putting some time into our neighborhoods, our parishes, or communities with some sweat equity as well as from sacrifices from our own pockets. We sought to understand these marriages that we had entered with somewhat less of a Catholic understanding and tapping into those graces of the sacrament, when friends and family, the culture itself screamed if it’s not making you happy just walk away. And of course the understanding that children weren’t something that were due us, or that we should have a couple and then move. It meant understanding that if Jesus was going to be Lord of our lives, that extended into all parts of our lives including the most intimate aspects of our family and marriage even if the thought of that was really challenging and scary.
What Father John L didn’t help me with was the very real fear that perhaps it was all for nothing. Maybe the whole thing was just a big lie. If it doesn’t really matter how hard you try, how hard you study, how hard you try to live a life that gives glory go God because, hey, everyone has a RIGHT to Jesus in the Eucharist, then maybe the whole thing is a phony and the “I’m OK, You’re OK” message is really what it’s all about.
Luckily a 2000 year history helped me to be a little more grounded than that, but the pain in the heart and the question in my mind wasn’t really soothed with a shut up and sit down answer.
It’s not all Father John’s fault I suppose. The bishops have been letting the catechesis in this country slide almost from the second the council was over. My generation was lost, and the one after that. The next one might be saved in part. I see signs of growth. St. Blogs is certainly an inspiration. But definitely a lot of time was lost and probably some souls with the indifference or indecision of the bishops now and in the past. Catholic text books are watered down and the NCCB is just now figuring this out? I knew it back in 1975.
So I see this new forthrightness from some of the bishops as a very positive move. It is what has to be done to compassionately yet firmly to shepherd the flock of believers.
There are a few points that I want to emphasize in the posts from this week.
1. The Eucharist is the center of Catholic life. It is the awesome gift of Jesus himself to his people. It is mysteriously the body, blood, soul and divinity, actually Jesus in every drop, every morsel in a way that our human senses can’t possibly comprehend. I don’t think many Catholics today believe this. I’m almost positive that the 48 politicians who whined in their letter last week don’t. They certainly don’t have the same comprehension as Blessed Imelda who obediently yearned and waited for her turn to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist and they definitely don’t have the same understanding as St. Tarciscius, who was willing to die rather than give up our Lord to unbelievers. I read plenty about how they felt hurt an insulted. I read nothing about their concern for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
2. The actions of these bishops is clearly within the boundaries of Canon Law and my previous posting of today reiterates and supports that.
3. Pro-abortion politicians are not being singled out. The Rainbow Gays were also admonished this week not to receive. This is what was supposed to have been happening all along.
The other part that bloggers and commenters who seem to support pro-abort polticians seem to be missing is that they are supporting probably the most important human rights violation ever – the right to life. If these same politicians supported the slaughter of minorities, or homosexuals, or women, or anyone over the age of 65, these same folks would most likely be the first to protest. I can only assume that they have been numbed to the culture that calls these tiny human beings, potential life, or not ensouled, or some other such nonsense. The unborn have been stripped of their humanity and so somehow their right to be born and live is secondary to a politician not looking foolish walking up to receive communion and being denied that priviledge.
Abortion is a terrible procedure. I imagine these same folks have come to think of it as a clean sterile thoroughly modern surgical or medical procedure. The truth is that these procedures include forcibly tearing little bodies apart, sucking them apart, burning them with saline solutions, or forcing their premature delivery so that their little bodies die of exposure and oxygen deprivation. What they tolerate inside the womb where it is hidden, they would not tolerate on any other group of people where it could be exposed.
These babies are created by God and they have a humanity to them. When my child was born still at 23 weeks, even that tiny he had a human expression on his face, and looked like he had been trying to comfort himself by the position of his little body. Raphael died a natural peaceful death hopefully knowing that he was loved and wanted, yet many children are aborted at his age perhaps in fear, definitely in pain and with no one to comfort and console.
I don’t know if the bishops challenge of denying the Eucharist will touch any of these pro-abortion politicians. It may be that their hearts have been heavily callused and calcified that their own interests can’t be knocked out of the number one spot there. But perhaps this action will renew an interest in the Eucharist and its importance and what it means to truly be Catholic and to live a Catholic life.
If they accomplish that much it is worth it.
Please feel free to leave a comment under the posting, or sign my Spiritbook (guestbook). You can chat with me on the tag board to the right!
