If we are honest with ourselves, all Catholics should approach the Eucharist in fear and trembling. It is like the words "Thy will be done" in the Lord's Prayer: We say them sometimes without thinking of their dreadful meaning, when we should always ponder the crucified Christ when we utter those words. But we also should approach the Eucharist in hope and confidence. However great our sins, God's mercy is yet greater.
That goes for President Joe Biden too.
I do not know what goes through Mr. Biden's mind when he stands in line for Holy Communion. I suspect that the responsibilities of his office awaken in him a humility that is quite astounding, as he carries burdens most of us can only imagine and that he cannot really share with anyone. If he turns to the Mass for solace or comfort or inspiration or grace, thanks be to God.
In truth, we do not even know how frequently he takes Holy Communion because the press pool is not allowed in the church. On the morning of Biden's inauguration, cameras were permitted at the very beginning of the Mass, to show the assembled political leaders, but the photographers were then escorted out before the Eucharistic canon. The Catholic Mass is never private — the angels are always present! — but Biden has never sought to exploit his attendance for politics. He discusses his religion the way he discusses his parents or his wife, as a necessary part of any effort to explain himself to others.
I do know this: Whatever is going through his mind is a matter for him and his pastor, and his pastor is not Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, who was quoted in last week's AP story explaining why the U.S. bishops' conference should draft a document that makes it clear Biden should not present himself for Communion.
Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver, who was also quoted advocating for the conference to adopt a national policy on the matter, and clearly favoring denial of the sacrament, is not Biden's pastor either. Nor is San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who issued a pastoral letter on the subject Saturday, a document that exiles important qualifications and elides important facts in its relentless effort to reach the narrowest moral analysis possible.
What is going on? Naumann, Cordileone, Aquila and Olmsted are not stupid men. They know that a bishops' conference has no role in this matter, that Biden is a baptized Catholic, subject to canon law, and that canon law leaves this issue entirely to Biden and his pastor. They know, too, that persisting in this effort will further divide their own organization, pitting bishop against bishop on a highly public issue that is emotionally fraught and involving issues that are easily misunderstood and even more easily enflamed to affect emotional manipulation. They also know that a teaching document requires a two-thirds majority vote, and it is highly doubtful they would achieve that, and such a document requires the approbation of the Holy See, which is even less likely.
IIIt seems obvious to me that this rush to draft a document is the ecclesial equivalent of the effort by Republican officials to cast doubt on results of the 2020 election, an effort to delegitimize Biden in the public's mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment