June 14, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Americans Catholics will gather in seven cities to call on bishops “to stand firm on Catholic teaching on the issue of pro-abortion politicians receiving Holy Communion.”
Pro-life organization Students for Life of America plans to hold rallies at noon local time on June 16 at the Cathedrals in New York, Los Angeles, Tyler, Texas, Kansas City, Kansas, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, ahead of the virtual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Kristi Hamrick, the Chief Media and Policy Strategist for Students for Life, told LifeSiteNews that the rallies seek “to call on local Catholic bishops to take faithful action at their upcoming USCCB gathering on the scandal of pro-abortion politicians receiving Holy Communion.”
She noted that the rallies are open to all, including non-Catholics. However, the effort is being led by the Catholic team members of the organization.
From June 16-18, the USCCB will meet for their spring general assembly to discuss, among other things, the distribution of Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians.
The Catholic Church clearly teaches (Code of Canon Law, can. 915) that Catholics who are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.” According to a recent report by the Catholic League, pro-abortion President Biden has violated fundamental Catholic teaching at least 32 times.
“Church leaders have the obligation to convey the gravity of abortion and hold public figures who claim to be Christian accountable to the faith they profess,” Students for Life’s Hamrick said. “Christians are rising up to call for President Biden to be held accountable by his Catholic Church leaders.”
She further explained that a number of bishops are working to remove “any discussion on the reception of Holy Communion from the USCCB’s upcoming meeting agenda.”
“We want to hold those bishops, including Blase Cardinal Cupich of Chicago and Wilton Cardinal Gregory of DC, accountable for defending the faith and the lives of the most innocent in their dioceses,” Hamrick continued.
Similarly, she expressed thanks to the bishops who uphold the Catholic Church’s teaching, including Archbishops Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, and Jose Gomez of Los Angeles (who is also president of the USCCB), as well as Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.
Recently, Bishop Strickland said that the U.S. bishops’ discussion on the Eucharist for pro-abortion politicians technically “doesn’t need to happen,” since canon law clearly states that those who openly promote anti-Catholic ideas must be denied Holy Communion.
Catholic news website The Pillar last week published the list of bishops who signed a May 13 letter asking USCCB president Gomez to drop the issue of Holy Communion for pro-abortion self-identified Catholics from the annual meeting.
The letter reveals that these 68 American cardinals and bishops want to delay any discussion of “Eucharistic worthiness.”
“[W]e respectfully urge that all Conference wide discussion and committee work on the topic of Eucharistic worthiness and other issues raised by the Holy See be postponed until the full body of bishops is able to meet in person,” they wrote. “The serious nature of these issues — especially the imperative to forge substantial unity — makes it impossible to address them productively in the fractured and isolated setting of a distance meeting.”
Gomez subsequently suggested that he has not dropped preparations for a vote on a document about “Eucharistic coherence.” He reported that a doctrine committee had met to develop “a brief outline” to propose to the USCCB members in June. The USCCB president emphasized that they would not be voting on the document, but on whether or not drafting of such a document could begin.
“If approved, the Doctrine Committee will develop a text,” Gomez wrote in his May 22 letter to all the bishops. “From there, the Conference’s usual process of consultation, modification, and amendment will take place as the document is presented for consideration at a future Plenary Assembly.”
The archbishop included in his letter the “action item” to be voted on by the members of the USCCB at their meeting: “Does the body of bishops approve the request of the Committee on Doctrine to proceed with the drafting of a formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church?”