What the bishops did this week
Purple Catholic Saturday Post
Good morning and happy Saturday. This week, the bishops of the United States (except for Hawaii) met for their annual fall meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. At these meeting, the bishops discuss priorities for the upcoming year, approve investigative phases for causes of canonization, approve budgets, etc.
In addition this week, the bishops had to discuss how they will work with a second Trump administration. As reported below, the bishops are reiterating their focus on human dignitiy (both on pro-life and migration fronts).
Archbishop Timothy Broglio (Archdiocese of Military Services, USA) said this:
We must insist on the dignity of the human person from womb to tomb, be unstinting in our commitment … to see Christ in those who are most in need, to defend and lift up the poor, and to encourage immigration reform, while we continue to care for those in need who cross our borders
The other political issue the bishops will have to deal with is the incoming Catholic Vice President JD Vance. Similar to the questions raised about President Joe Biden’s reception of the Eucharist while manifestly supporting abortion, questions have been raisded about Vance. Now, I don’t have any evidence that the bishops discussed this topic this week, but I want to offer some thoughts.
Vance has in the past described himself as “100% pro-life.” But during the presidential campaign, he told Margaret Brenan on CBS News’ Face the Nation that his views matched that of Donald Trumps: leave it up to the states. He also said he supports access to mifepristone and federal subsidization of in vitero fertilization.
Now, I want to be clear that there is certainly a difference between overt support for abortion and support of voters making the decisions about abortion laws. But we must consider and discern where the line is when it comes to materially supporting abortion’s continuation.
There are two things to consider. Fistly, it is important to remember that the President and Vice President do have roles to play when it comes to the continuation of abortion. They (or perhaps more accurately, the people they appoint) make decisions about whether or not abortions will be made available to members of the military or its potential coverage by Medicaid. If Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary, they could take a look at the saftey of mifepristone. Additionally, if the Congress manages to pass bills restricting or protecting abortion, the President will have the opportunity to adopt or veto it.
Secondly, as the bishops have reiterated over the years, the protection of human life and end to abortion is the pre-eminent political priority of Catholics. In the event Vance has to be a tiebreaking vote in the Senate on abortion, I would make the argument that his faith would obligate him to vote in favor of restricting abortion, even if his political agenda would leave it up to the states. Voting against a restriction in favor of federalism would make him complicit in the continuation of the procedure in this country.
Before I get tweets and emails about canon law automatically excommunicating him if he were to support abortion, I want to remind readers that the law does not say that. Canon 1397§2 does say: “A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication” (emphasis my own). “Actually” changes the interpretation to someone who directly pays for an abortion, driving someone to an abortion clinic to obtain an abortion, or people involved in the procedure. So excommunication is out. Even Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (San Francisco, California) did not excommunicate former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi over her support for abortion.
I have no doubt that incoming Vice President Vance does not want to be part of a debate about “Eucharistic coherence;” I don’t know of any Catholic that would. I do hope that the bishops will be consistent on the issue and think back to their own document published several years ago, The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church.
This means it is going to be up to bishops to be pastoral, to guide parishoners (including those in politics) along the straight and narrow path on this issue. It may mean uncomfortable conversations. But isn’t eternal life worth it?
Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
This week we are entering the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time. This Sunday we will hear readings from Daniel 12:1-3; Psalm 16; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; and Mark 13:24-32.
Here are some resources to help you prep for the readings this Sunday:
In the Liturgy of the Hours, we are in Psalter Week I. In the Office of Readings we are reading from the books of the prophets Joel and Zechariah.
The US bishops met this week for their annual fall meeting in Baltimore, Maryland and on the docket was the approval of a new New American Bible (story linked below). This is part of the long running project to establish a new and consistent lectionary and a re-translated Liturgy of the Hours. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll see both in my lifetime.
Here is a calendar for the rest of the week:
Monday, 18 November - Memorial of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, virgin (optional)* or Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul, apostles (optional)
Thursday, 21 November - Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Friday, 22 November - Memorial of St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr
Saturday, 23 November - Memorial of Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, priest and martyr (optional) or Memorial of St. Columban, abbot (optional) or Memorial of St. Clement I, pope and martyr (optional)
*In Diocese of the United States
[Watch] at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man.
Luke 21:36
In the news:
USCCB Fall Plenary Meeting
A layman’s case for restoring the Friday meat fast - Matthew Becklo in Catholic World Report
Why the USCCB will vote on a new Bible - The Pillar
On presidential election result, American bishops emphasize longtime pastoral priorities - Crux
The USCCB’s JD Vance problem - JD Flynn in the Pillar
Did Bishop Joseph Strickland (Emeritus of Tyler, Texas) do a schism? - The Pillar
The United States
Restored to life: Seminary’s century-old auditorium undergoing a major facelift - Detroit Catholic
The Vatican
Pope asks the Church of Rome to help address housing crisis - Vatican News
Convicted Cardinal Angleo Becciu responds to L’Osservatore Romano editorial - Naitonal Catholic Register
The World
Mexican bishops urge new president to address violence, defend life - Catholic News Agency
Italian parish defies blowback to welcome migrants - Crux
Have a good weekend,
Matthew
I’d want to know which bishops have given what kind of consideration, or taken what kind of action, against the likes of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and our local Kathy Houcul in NY, before I would feel comfortable believing that any bishops (or any other Catholics for that matter) who are raising questions about JD Vance’s pro-life stance, in relation to his suitability to receive communion, are asking these questions for anything other than political and perhaps retaliatory reasons. It’s outrageous to suggest that Vance may not be pro-life enough to receive communion when near half the nation’s Catholics seem to be still pro-abortion and by and large the Catholic Church in USA leaves it up to fringe, lay pro-life groups to try to move the needle on helping the church and the culture to deepen our conviction that abortion is a serious plague on our nation. In other words, I would see it as extremely hypocritical if many US Bishops are suspicious or accusatory of Vance. That to me would be more of a sign that perhaps the Bishops in question are willing to stall and attack the progress of the pro-life movement. No matter what his recent campaign rhetoric, Trump did more in his first 4 years than the church hierarchy here has done in the last 50 to oppose and change institutional abortion rights in this country. Read past the rhetoric, JD is a sure pro-life choice by Trump and a sure threat to anyone siding with the progressive agenda, that perhaps some of our bishops have grown too comfortable siding up to in this nation. In fact, I take it as another good sign if it turns out to be some of the left leaning bishops in our country who feel threatened by Vance. Come Holy Spirit, work in mysterious ways, break the bondage our country has been under for far too long! Amen!