Maybe the Catholic Church Should Worry Less About Joe Biden and More About the Abuse of Children
Oh, for the love of Christ, you should pardon the expression, are we going to go through this again? From the Florence Morning News:
Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church confirmed Monday afternoon that he had denied the presidential candidate Holy Communion because of his stance on abortion. Biden, a lifelong Catholic, had attended the church’s 9 a.m. Mass...
“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” Morey told the Morning News via email. “Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”
Morey said that as a priest, it is his responsibility to minister to those souls entrusted to his care and that he must do so in even the most difficult situations. “I will keep Mr. Biden in my prayers,” Morey added.
I'd like to commend Father Morey for the discretion with which he conducted his holy office, making sure that the local newspaper was informed of his act of public piety. Well done, Father. I expect we will soon be seeing commercials on the television advertising your services like one of those personal-injury law firms. This was a political act and, as such, with a clear sin of pride, profaned the sacrament worse than any vote Joe Biden ever cast.
Every time a Catholic runs for president, we get this. It's exactly what people thought would sink Jack Kennedy in 1960. Today, though, we have the backdrop of an institutional church that configured itself—and continues to configure itself—as an international conspiracy to obstruct justice. For example, at the moment, the leading bishop in the state is caught in the now-customary clerical litigation. From the Post and Courier:
The bishop, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic official in South Carolina, denies the allegation, which was part of a flurry of lawsuits filed in New York after the state extended its statute of limitations in sexual abuse cases. At the time, Guglielmone was serving as a priest at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Amityville, N.Y., in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston stated.
Last April, this very bishop released lists of 42 priests against whom credible abuse complaints had been made in South Carolina, or who had served there but were accused elsewhere in the country. Frankly, the institutional Roman Catholic Church should stay away from this kind of performative political piety for, oh, I don't know, maybe a century or so.
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