On Wednesday 17 November, during the morning session of the US bishops’ meeting, with 222 votes in favour and 8 against (3 abstentions), the document The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church (downloadable here) to relaunch the preciousness and centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church was finally approved.

Just the day before, certainly not coincidental timing, Vatican News published an interview with one of the most controversial American bishops, Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles.  Mahony is well known by American Catholics in pro-life circles for his staunch opposition to withholding Communion from politicians in favor of abortion or other grave public sins.

While Mahony has never wanted to offend the powerful; the Cardinal, does not hesitate to show his zeal when it comes to trampling the humble. As occurred with Mother Angelica, the heroic founding sister of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), guilty of having openly criticised the Archbishop of Los Angeles for some of his liturgical “inspirations”. Mahony strove to ensure that the poor nun suffered ecclesiastical censures; he even went so far as to threaten her with being unable to receive the sacraments if she did not make amends with a public apology.

This is the same person who threatens to withhold the Eucharist because of his touchiness, but is open to dialogue with the supporters of the extermination of innocents, and who was chosen by Vatican News to try to influence the American bishops. A hypocritical appeal to grasp the “outstretched hand” of sixty Catholic members of Congress, obviously Democrats, who, according to Mahony, would like to “collaborate with us in many ways and they gave a whole list of ways we could collaborate beginning with reducing as much as possible the need for abortion and the occurrence of abortion”….

The above comes from a Nov. 22 story in the Daily Compass.