The bishops of the United States recently voted to approve a document on the Eucharist. The genesis of this document was partially in response to the fact that President Joseph Biden professes to be a faithful Catholic while aggressively supporting abortion rights. However, the final statement completely avoided this controversy. Like many Catholics, I am disappointed with the silence of our nation’s bishops on this scandal. I agree with the commentary of Phil Lawler, that this silence is harmful to the Body of Christ.

Below is a homily I preached on September 6th, 2020, which explains some of the issue involved.

All Are Welcome?

“All are welcome.”  The Church is inclusive.  Well, this is partially true, of course.  Jesus reached out to sinners and to Gentiles as part of God’s plan to gather the entire human race into one family in Christ.  But Jesus speaks in other places about exclusion, even ultimate exclusion.  For example, he says that those who call him Lord and do miracles in his name will go to hell if they do not do the will of the Father.  This will hear Jesus say to them in the end, “Depart from me you evildoers.  I never knew you.” (Matthew, 7:23) 

Today, Jesus speaks about a process of excluding someone from the community of disciples. This process is known as fraternal correction.  He talks about a brother who is sinning.  First, you discuss the fault with him in order to help him repent.  If that doesn’t work, you bring a couple of people with you to talk to him.  If that doesn’t work, you bring the issue to the Church.  If he refuses to listen to the Church, “treat him as you would a Gentile or tax collector,” (Matthew 18:17) which is to say, an outsider. 

This passage and others are the basis for the Church’s discipline of excommunication.  Another important passage is 1st Corinthians, chapter 5, in which St. Paul addresses the situation of a man living with his father’s wife who was still included in the church community.  St. Paul writes that “The one who did this did should be expelled from your midst.” (v. 2)  “You are to deliver this man to the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.” (v. 5)  Paul anticipates that this man’s exclusion would lead to suffering which would help him to repent and be saved for eternity. 

Excommunication is medicinal.  Someone who persists in grave sin while externally going through the motions of a being a member of the Church, being accepted and welcomed by the Church, is likely to harden in their sin.  Their conscience will become dulled.  Excommunication, which follows attempts to explain and reconcile, is designed as a wake-up call. 

It is also for the health of the Church community as a whole.  When others see someone who is living in public and serious contradiction to the Gospel, and see this person welcomed and treated as a member in good standing, they are liable to conclude that the sin which the person commits is not really a sin at all, that the church doesn’t regard it as such.  This may make it more likely for them to fall into sin.  This is what is known as scandal, becoming an obstacle to other’s salvation. 

Excommunication is still on the books.  It bars someone from receiving sacraments and participating in church ministry.  It is not a judgment of person’s soul, but of his words and actions.  It does not mean a person is damned and will go to hell.  Joan of Arc was excommunicated by a bishop; but we know that condemnation was unjust, and later Joan of Arc was vindicated.  Formal excommunication involves due process for the accused in a court of canon law.  Sometimes, certain acts incur an automatic excommunication because they are judged to be so serious.  Abortion is one those sins.  A Catholic who performs, obtains, or is an accessory to an abortion is excommunicated if they are 18 years old, aware of the canonical penalty, and not acting from grave fear.  Later, if they are sorry for their abortion and repent of it, a priest can remove the penalty of excommunication along with giving them absolution.  Interestingly, there is no automatic excommunication for murder generally, perhaps because abortion is by far the most common form of murder (about 1 million a year in our country alone) and society has accepted it. 

Canon 915 applies beyond those who have been formally excommunicated or incurred an automatic excommunication.  It forbids the administration of Holy Communion to those who persevere in manifest grave sin.  For decades, there has been a divide among American bishops as to whether this should apply to Catholic government officials who advocate and vote for legal abortion.  

In 2004, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who became Pope Benedict XVI) wrote a letter to the American bishops stating that politicians who consistently campaign and vote for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws do fall under the purview of canon 915.  About a year ago, Joe Biden, a self-professed practicing Catholic, went to Mass in South Carolina, and the pastor recognized him and refused to give him Holy Communion due to Biden’s support of legal abortion. The Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, addressed the controversy, saying he would not refuse someone communion, but rather would talk to them privately and if they do not change their support of abortion, tell them not to present themselves for communion.  I am on the side of the priest from South Carolina, and I would refuse to give Biden communion if he showed up at our parish.  Cardinal Dolan does have a point.  It’s best if the pastors of the pro-abortion politicians try to correct them privately.  But if they continue in their manifest grave sin, the minister is obligated to refuse to give them communion.        

Exclusion can be an act of love for the offender and for others who can be led astray by the offender’s example.  In the 1940s, the schools in Missouri were segregated, blacks and whites attending different schools.  In theory, segregation was supposed to treat everyone equally, but in fact, schools for blacks were not as well funded as schools for whites, and the system of segregation was one that promoted the false and wicked notion of the superiority of whites.  Sadly, the Catholic schools also practiced segregation.  That changed through the courageous actions of the Archbishop of St. Louis, Joseph Ritter.  In 1947, he desegregated the schools of his diocese, which accounted for 25% of all school children in St. Louis.  A group of pro-segregationist Catholics threatened to sue him, saying his actions violated the segregation laws of the state. He wrote a letter saying that any Catholic who sued the bishop to stop integration would be excommunicated.  No threatened civil suits materialized, and Rome backed the Archbishop in his decision to integrate Catholic schools.

A threat of excommunication meant something back then, even to racist Catholics.  Cardinal Dolan says that excommunicating pro-abortion politicians would only make them more popular and able to play the victim card.  Perhaps.  But I think we would all benefit from drawing lines more clearly.  We are playing let’s pretend too much.  You can’t be a faithful Catholic and support abortion.  In our first reading, God appoints Ezekiel a watchman, who must warn the wicked to repent; failing to do so meant that he would share their punishment.  It is better for the Church to treat those who persist in their support of abortion as Gentiles and tax collectors (which, by the way, are still the object of the Church’s love and solicitude), than for them to experience eternal exclusion.  It is better for them to hear from the Church, “Sorry, you can’t receive communion until you repent,” than for them to hear Jesus say “Depart from me, you evil doers.”