Teaching Opportunity on Communion

There are a lot of letters being sent to diocesan newspapers (I subscribe to two) with negative comments to the bishops building a document to educate the faithful (and others) on the Eucharist, to be entitled, “The Mystery of the Eucharist and Why it Matters. Some have complained that too many Catholics are one subject voters, focused on abortion and its promotion by the Biden administration. The Compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine, article 155, states, “The first right presented in this list is the right to life, from conception to its natural end, which is the condition for the exercise of all other rights and, …, implies the illicitness of … procured abortion and of euthanasia.” A later article points out that politicians may vote for laws placing limits on abortion but that the representative’s vote cannot be interpreted as support of an unjust law but only as a contribution to reducing its negative consequences, the responsibility for which lies entirely with those who have brought it into being. (Article 570) (Emphasis added) Our president has been, since his inauguration, the person bringing such policies into being and, as such, should be refused communion.  The same goes for the 60 so-called Catholic politicians who penned a letter called “Statement of Principles” trying to defend their stance against Church doctrine. This is not a political issue; it is a teaching moment for the president and those representatives and a chance for reconciliation and conversion. Their action constitutes the willful and persistent rejection of a main article of faith of the Church (the definition of heresy). A review of Church history shows that heretics were not permitted to receive communion.  For example, St. Ambrose took the Roman Emperor to task who, in a fit of rage, massacred 70,000 Thessalonians refusing him communion until he publicly repented outside the church for several months.  Refusing communion for public figures who act in such an atrocious manner is not new in Catholic history, it is just that our bishops today have not had the courage to accomplish it.