The head of the Southern Baptist office in Washington D.C. once said to me during St. John Paul II’s papacy, “You’ve got a pope there who really knows how to pope.” (Despite Baptist differences with Rome, he meant it as a deep compliment.) You might say something similar about San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone: There’s an archbishop who knows how to archbishop.
Any Catholic paying attention is aware by now that, last week, Cordileone barred Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from receiving Communion in his archdiocese (full text here). And that courageous act – the willingness to go first – has gotten a handful of other American bishops [including neighbor bishops Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa and Michael Barber of Oakland] to announce their support as well (see list here). More will be coming.
That support by fellow bishops is important, not only for the current public controversies as we wait for the Supreme Court to hand down the Dobbs decision. There are troubling clashes within the Church itself over this question. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual June meeting this year will be worth watching carefully.
And, doubtless, efforts are already underway in Rome, by the usual suspects, to get Pope Francis to try to squash such bans. He’s been silent about the Dobbs leak. The standard Vatican stance these days is talking tough about the evil of abortion (i.e., “like hiring a hitman to solve a problem”) without any follow-up.
In a way, Archbishop Cordileone – who has been a forceful shepherd in various ways, especially in trying to reform Catholic schools in his archdiocese – couldn’t ignore Pelosi’s challenge. As he says in barring her from Communion, he’s tried several times to meet with her – again – on abortion, but has gotten no response. And since the leak of the Alito draft decision on Dobbs, the Speaker has gone into high gear about “codifying” Roe v. Wade, i.e., securing a federal right to abortion through Congressional legislation.
Actually, Pelosi has more than once answered questions from journalists about Cordileone’s and others’ criticisms of her support, as a Catholic, for abortion – with a terse, “Whatever.” And she often repeats what she apparently learned at Trinity College in the 1960s from wayward Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur that, for her, abortion and the right of women to choose is “sacred ground….”
The above comes from a May 23 posting by Robert Royal on The Catholic Thing. Royal added the following preface to the story:
Note: After decades of seeming stagnation, the abortion question has entered a new era. The Supreme Court seems poised to overturn Roe. The midterm elections in November are likely to result in a pro-life Congress. And now some American bishops – SF Archbishop Cordileone in the lead – have shown they mean business with “pro-abortion Catholics.” We’re going to see new dynamics in American politics, the American Church, and – not least – in the Vatican. The Catholic Thing will not only be reporting on all this, we’ll be in the boiling middle of things trying to shape outcomes. This next year will offer opportunities that we have all been hoping and praying for. We’ve made good progress, but we can’t stop now. If you want to play a part in all this, please, do the right thing. Help support us to take advantage of this promising moment. – RR
I already know my bishop won’t. He’s publicly stated he’s against using the eucharist as a weapon.
my bishop — do you mean San Diego?
SD — that is my assumption. too…
ncregister.com/commentaries/a-response-to-bishop-mcelroy-on-reception-of-communion
“I do not see how depriving the president or other political leaders of Eucharist based on their public policy stance can be interpreted in our society as anything other than the weaponization of Eucharist.” Bishop McElroy said.
How is the Eucharist used as a weapon?
What does that even mean?
Should non-Catholics, even non-Christians, be able to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord?
Should we invite (before they embrace the fulness of the Catholic Faith) Elon Musk, Ted Cruz, Candace Owens, Jordan Peterson and Donald Trump to Holy Communion?
It’s not a matter of following Archbishop Cordileone. It’s a matter of following Christ and the teachings of the Scriptures and the Church.
This isn’t Burger King.
Meanwhile, in San Diego…
Archbishops who Archbishop don’t take pastoral action in public. They do it as privately as they possibly can. He’s made a public show of it all, doing INTERVIEWS about it, so that you all can cheer him on and pat him on the back. Who wants their pastors doing public interviews about their concerns with your spiritual life?
Oh look YFC is upset that the Moloch Queen has been called out for liar that she is. YFC the Moloch Queen constantly shouts publicly she is Faithful Catholic, and the world has been reminded by her Archbishop that she is not.
Please, calm down. Newt Gingrich forced his wife to sign divorce papers on her deathbed then became Catholic when he married his Catholic mistress. He receives communion.
Your Highness, Gingrich repented and became Catholic, including going to Confession. Also, you shouldn’t bear false witness about what happened in 1980. FactCheck and the liberal Washington Post note the myth surrounding what happened then. Jackie Battley lived until 2013 and “the couple was already in divorce proceedings at the time of the 1980 hospital visit. But she was recovering from surgery to remove a tumor, and the former House speaker admits that they ‘got into an argument.’”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/aspects-of-gingrich-divorce-story-distorted/2011/11/17/gIQA8iY4YN_story.html
Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Biden are currently promoting abortion, receiving Holy Communion and have not (yet, at least) repented.
There’s a huge difference. Conversion, forgiveness and reconciliation with Christ and the Church are always, by the grace of God, possible. Those two, and our governor, have not yet availed themselves of that, Mr. Gingrich has. Pray for them.
HALLELUJAH! A clear, concise and CORRECT explanation of Archbishop Cordileone’s discharge of his DUTY to Mrs. Pelosi in light of her repeated and dismissive refusal to meet with him. May God reward the Archbishop and Bishop Vasa for putting into practice what canon law seems to clearly demand in this case. [I am a canon lawyer and graduate of the Greg in Rome] And may other bishops likewise find the courage to speak in defense of truth in these Alice-in-Wonderland and WOKE times.
Relevance to the question discussed in the article: NONE! Might have as well mentioned that “Lizzie Borden took an axe and have her mother forty whacks”.
The archbishop spoke with and wrote to the Speaker privately and attempted to continue private dialogue over a number of years. She became only more pro-abortion. She made the issue public by touting what a devout Catholic grandmother she is, appearing at press conferences with ashes on her forehead, etc. The good archbishop is only responding to her making the issue of being a Catholic and killing babies as compatible a public issue. It’s her publicity stunt, not his. Where is he going to go, he isn’t elected?
YFC: if he did it with more privacy, you would say he was not transparent and covering it up. It needs to be public because the sin is public and causes scandal. Protecting the Eucharist is vital for all Catholics. Nan is a sorry excuse for what she calls “a devote Catholic” Please! We are grateful to Archbishop Cordileone for tell all of us not to follow her example or our souls will be in jeopardy. God Bless this good bishop.
Joyce I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t put words in my mouth.
Every time Canon 915 is disobeyed, the act is grave matter. A mortal sin. Because on every such occasion, the act teaches everyone that the communicant’s public sin is not a sin.
In their document “Catholics in Political Life,” the bishops have voted themselves permission to commit this precise mortal sin. I am not making this up.
Bergoglio will remain silent because the crowning achievement of his antipapacy is authorizing and encouraging the reception of Holy Communion while involved in manifest grave sin. If Bergoglio utters a word of support for Cordileone, he must, logically, repudiate Amoris Laetitia.
She didn’t learn that at Trinity. Trinity was solid then. It’s a cesspool now, but it was a great, truly Catholic school when Nancy went there.
Er… me!
let us not forget that this is about protecting the Risen Lord from abuse. It is called sacrilege, offense againt the living God. He is present in fhe sacred species and is abused by those who come before him full of darkness. It is possible that the Speaker is possessed. The outrage that we
see in the Speaker contemptuously warning about ” foisting” s described by exorcists well. A flaming sword protects the tree of life. The archbishop has wielded that sword in persona Christi. He protects the Eucharist, the unborn and the teachings. The Prophets spoke with parrhesia unflinchingly.
Pretty sure Jesus can take care of himself.
Won’t Happen in Boston– NYC — NJ — DC — Chicago
Santa Fe — San Diego — Delaware — Plus too many others.
Did anyone see the video Tweet from a parishioner, Mary Margaret Olohan — @MaryMargOlohan
of Nancy Pelosi receiving Holy Communion at the 9am Mass on Sunday, 5/22, from a Eucharistic Minister, at notoriously liberal Holy Trinity Church, in Georgetown, in Washington, D.C.? Wonder what Abp. Cordileone– and the USCCB– plan to do??
Why did the person record video at that sacred moment instead of praying? Politicizing the Mass? Stop it.
Mary Margaret Olohan, the lady who made the Twitter video, is actually a reporter for a news agency. She also is a young, recent graduate of the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C.. Regardless of making a brazen video at a sacred moment (which I agree is wrong) the question remains, what will Nancy’s Archbishop do, regarding her refusal to obey him? Catholics are also telling Cardinal Gregory, in Wsshington, D.C., that he should join Abp. Cordileone’s prohibition of Communion for Rep. Pelosi.
This kind of liturgical abuse is only one of the reasons why pastoral action belongs in the private sphere.
We have gotten used to televised mass. While I am thankful that so many parishes have adapted to the sad realities of the pandemic, I always cringe when the videos show the parishioners communicating. We could use some best practices in this regard.
YFC, I agree with you.
Another one who wants to continue the lockdowns,
FYI bohemond I do not favor continuing the lockdowns.I do favor reaching out to people with the Good News, and live-streamed mass is a good way to start that.
Oh, so in other words this chick trying to make a name for herself scouted out the parish where she thought Pelosi was likely to attend Mass, probably attended several Masses to catch her, and recorded Pelosi receiving Communion as a way to make a splash. “Oooh, I got my big exclusive expose,” she probably thought. Shame on Mary Margaret Olohan. Shame.
Jesus warned his followers to remove the log in their own eye instead of being concerned about the speck in someone else’s.
“Shame on Mary Margaret Olohan. Shame.” Dear Shame, you impute motives to M. Olahan when you have no knowledge of her motives. That is the sin of rash judgment and it is a pitiful thing to have to read among these posts.
The ultimate hubris from Pelosi, who says:
“that she knows the Catholic faith better than her archbishop, saying his actions are “not consistent with the Gospel of Matthew.”
We have McElroy down here in San Diego. He has open hostility to the prolife movement. He only takes stands against global warming. He’s such a weak loser. Three cheers for Archbishop Cordileone.
Bearing false witness is a sin
My own comment is that Abp Cordileone is protecting the Speaker from her own shortsightedness. She is set herself against the Church, and then wonders why a true bishop would censure her? She may see it as a punishment, but it is an opportunity for her. I agree that Jesus does not need protection, but we sinners do. Thank you Archbishop.