The debate over whether Catholic priests should give the elements to politicians who openly advocate the murder of the unborn reminds me of the German Catholic priests who willing stood by Hitler’s side in the 1940’s. The latest episode of this despicable debate concerns the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi’s open defense of Roe V. Wade has some in the Catholic Church wondering what will Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver do? Will he refuse to give her the cup as she comes up? Or will he follow canon 915, which prohibits the giving of the sacraments to unrepentant sinners? As Pope Benedict XVI, said without ambiguity:
“The minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it” when warning and counsel given to the manifest sinner “have not had their effect.”
In her insightful article Barbara Kralis rebukes the archbishop of Denver for refusing to follow canon 915. She poses the following scenario:
Let’s ask this question of the Archbishop – if you were distributing Holy Communion and in front of you stood a known serial killer with a severed bloody head in one hand and a bloody machete in the other hand, would you give him the Eucharist? And after you denied the serial killer you next had standing before you the known pro-abortion politician Nancy Pelosi. Would you also deny her? Murder is murder, isn’t it Archbishop?
Instead of using this situation as “a momentous teaching moment,” the archbishop is once again bowing before the politics of fear.
