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ANALYSIS

June 15, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The U.S. bishops will vote this week on whether to begin to formally address giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians and other pro-abortion Catholics in America — but not without pushback.

The vote comes as prelates across the country raise renewed concerns about “Eucharistic coherence” following the inauguration of dissident President Joe Biden, the self-stylized “second Catholic president” of the United States. The long-overdue move to address the scandal of churchgoers who advance mass murder of the unborn nevertheless will occur against the opposition of more than 60 bishops who lobbied the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) last month.

In a letter dated May 13, 68 prelates told USCCB president Archbishop José H. Gomez that any vote should “be postponed until the full body of bishops is able to meet in person.” They cited a recent letter from the Vatican that has been taken as an attempt to tamp down on discussion about the Eucharist and fretted over the “high standard of consensus among ourselves.”

The May 13 letter, obtained by The Pillar, features heads of a few dozen of America’s roughly 200 dioceses. Upon examination, it appears to be a project of a handful of prominent, pro-LGBT, often abuser-connected bishops. Nearly half of the signatures come from just eight liberal prelates and their auxiliaries, for instance.

Principal authors of the memo include Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, on whose letterhead it was sent, and Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, according to The Pillar. At least one reported signer, Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, has said that he was added without his knowledge, and at least two others have withdrawn their signature, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

The signatories have several commonalities, from attacks on faithful priests to the dissident promotion of homosexuality and downplaying of abortion, as well as closeness to Pope Francis, Fr. James Martin, and disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Here’s a closer look at the key players working to protect abortion promoters from accountability.

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago

Perhaps America’s most scandalous prelate, Blase Cupich has been uniquely implicated in the clerical sex abuse crisis, while espousing dissidence on core Church teaching for years. For example, Cupich

  • waited weeks to remove a seminary rector caught with child pornography, giving him time to discard evidence

  • knew about homosexual predators at a seminary in his diocese and did not report them

  • with other Illinois bishops, withheld names of at least 500 accused priests

  • supports Communion and Catholic funerals for unrepentant homosexuals

  • permits Communion for illicitly remarried Catholics

  • has said that people who identify as “LGBT” “should be called the way that they want to be called”

  • removed a Chicago priest after he burned a homosexual “pride” flag

  • gave the keynote address at the 2019 annual conference of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP), a group that supports female ordination and homosexuality

  • instructed priests not to pray outside abortion clinics

  • locked Catholics out of church on Good Friday in protest of the traditional Mass

  • slammed the USCCB in January for rebuking Joe Biden’s rebellion on life, gender, and sexuality

All of eight of Cupich’s auxiliary bishops signed the May 13 letter to Archbishop Gomez that Cupich helped orchestrate. Five were appointed by Pope Francis.

Francis also named both Cardinal Cupich and a major ally, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, to the Congregation for Bishops, which helps select new bishops. The two prelates, both of whom were elevated to the cardinalate by the Argentinian pontiff, met with Cardinal Luis Ladaria, head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican in April. Days later, Ladaria sent his letter to the USCCB appearing to urge a halt of this week’s vote on Eucharistic policy.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey

Cardinal Tobin, archbishop of Newark and former superior general of the Redemptorist Fathers, is a natural partner of Cupich, having

All four of Tobin’s auxiliary bishops, most of them again named by Pope Francis, were signatories to the May letter.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C.

Another scandal-plagued cardinal of Francis, Wilton Gregory has a background checkered with sex abuse connections and years of pro-homosexual advocacy.

Cardinal Gregory has been particularly close to serial sexual abuser Theodore McCarrick, a defrocked predecessor of Gregory in Washington. As head of the USCCB in 2004, Gregory, along with McCarrick, suppressed a Vatican memo stating that pro-abortion politicians should be denied Communion. And in 2002, Gregory authorized the Dallas Charter policy, written with McCarrick, that did not include sanctions for abuser bishops. Among other issues, Gregory

Cardinals Cupich, Gregory, and Tobin all have endorsed the activism of Fr. James Martin, a dissident pro-LGBT Jesuit priest who promotes homosexual acts and same-sex “marriage,” and has publicly blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. As with Cupich and Tobin, both of Gregory’s auxiliary bishops, including USCCB migration committee chairman Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, signed the May 13 letter to Archbishop Gomez.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston

Though less immediately scandalous than the aforementioned cardinals, Boston’s Cardinal O’Malley has been a consistent compromiser on pro-life issues. O’Malley supports giving Communion to abortion promoters and has rejected calls to ban pro-abortion politicians from receiving the Blessed Sacrament since at least 2004.

Cardinal O’Malley is also yet another prelate entangled in clerical abuse scandals. He remained close to Theodore McCarrick long after the Vatican pushed McCarrick into semi-retirement amid abuse rumors. Three months after O’Malley’s office received a letter from a priest detailing accusations against McCarrick in 2015, O’Malley fundraised with the prolific sexual predator and joined him on a trip to Cuba that he blogged about. O’Malley has not directly denied knowing of allegations against McCarrick at that time.

Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe

Long before adding his name to the May 13 letter, Archbishop John Wester, a dedicated homosexualist with close ties to the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, previously had come to the defense of pro-abortion public figures. In 2016, he rebuked a New Mexico priest who encouraged parishioners not to vote for political candidates who support abortion. Abortion is one of “many considerations that must be weighed” when considering “the sanctity of life,” Wester said.

Suppression of outspoken, orthodox priests is a recurring theme among signatories of the May 13 letter. Like Archbishop Wester, Archbishop Andrew Bellisario of Juneau-Anchorage, Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio, Bishop Timothy Doherty of Lafayette, Indiana, and Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski of St. Louis have recently penalized priests who have gone against them, often in support of Catholic teaching.

In 2019, Bellisario punished a priest who denied Communion to pro-abortion Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), transferring him to a distant church. San Antonio’s Garcia-Siller, former auxiliary bishop of Chicago, has attacked multiple faithful priests and forced a group of traditional nuns out of his diocese. Bishop Doherty of Lafayette last year suspended a priest who criticized the pro-LGBT, Marxist Black Lives Matter organization. And in St. Louis, Archbishop Rozanski made a priest leave his parish after he beautified his church and celebrated Mass without adhering to certain COVID-19 protocols.

Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle, another signatory, also takes a more stringent approach to Catholics who dissent from COVID guidelines than those who ignore key Church teaching. Etienne threatened to ban public masses in a rural parish after some communicants refused to wear masks, including for health reasons. He flouted Vatican guidelines last year as well, purporting to bar reception of Communion in his diocese for Catholics who choose to kneel.

Shamelessly pro-LGBT Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego similarly has cracked down on at least one faithful priest who forcefully condemned abortion and left-wing policies. An avid supporter of Joe Biden, McElroy unsurprisingly added his name to the letter to Archbishop Gomez. The Jesuit bishop and appointee of Pope Francis has criticized prelates who deny Communion to pro-abortion lawmakers, and among other things

contested theory of “climate change” could be a higher priority

Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, a frequent collaborator with Archbishop McElroy, has a comparable record. Stowe has issued “pride” “prayer cards,” explicitly permitted dissident pro-LGBT messaging in his diocese, and backed top homosexualist “Catholic groups.”

Along with Bishop Stowe, Bishop McElroy, Archbishop Wester, and Cardinal Tobin, five other bishops who signed the May 13 letter to Archbishop Gomez about Eucharist policy have joined a recent statement drafted by LGBT activists. The letter, aimed at young people, tells homosexual and transgender individuals that “God is on your side,” with no mention of the gravely sinful nature or destructive health consequences of LGBT lifestyles.

Signatories of that statement include: Bishop McElroy’s auxiliary Bishop John Dolan, Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona, Bishop Steven Biegler of Cheyenne, Wyoming, Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz of Jackson, Mississippi, and Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Other noteworthy prelates who endorsed a pause on discussions of Eucharistic coherence include bishops at the center of Pennsylvania’s sexual abuse crisis. Bishop Frank Caggiano, the chairman of the board of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the charity arm of the USCCB that promotes contraception and pro-abortion organizations, is an additional signatory.