When a Priest Was Asked "Since the Church does nothing about Joe Biden's promotion of abortion and gay marriage, what commandments do I have to follow

[puer.dei]

so two of them are hardly any kind of representative sample

And if I recall correctly, neither was his bishop.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The Scranton bishop some years ago was not “his bishop”, but was relatively close to the action since Biden was from Scranton, announced that fact regularly, and at the time probably still had family living there. I note that that bishop has retired and been replaced in the ensuing years, and I do not know the current bishop’s position on Biden, if indeed he even has one.

 

[pnewton]

I think the article gives a good oversight of the pros and cons of excommunication without going into what should be done here.

One note though, it begs the question that Joe Biden would even be eligible of excommunication. He is not. Even the rather opinionated Cardinal Burke only said he should not receive communion because of scandal, not heresy. To my knowledge, there is no heresy involved.

 

[upant]

And if I recall correctly, neither was his bishop

do you think Joe should be allowed communion?

 

[Raxus]

Looking from the outside it seems likely to me that President Biden’s continued and open practice of his faith will encourage some (not sure of quantity) Catholics who share his views but have become non-practising to return.

Practicing only part of his faith can’t logically be called practicing.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

do you think Joe should be allowed communion?

I think this decision is for his bishop to make. I do not police or judge the Communion habits of other Catholics unless I were to see someone physically abusing the Eucharist or stuffing it in their pocket, etc.

 

[pnewton]

Practicing only part of his faith can’t logically be called practicing.

Yes. It can. I would rather say the opposite is true. It is illogical to say one is not a practicing Catholic unless he is perfect, that is practicing 100% of his faith 100% of the time. Remember before we are to make perfection the goal of salvation, God said that we will be judged by the measure with which we judge others.

 

[upant]

I think this decision is for his bishop to make. I do not police or judge the Communion habits of other Catholics unless I were to see someone physically abusing the Eucharist or stuffing it in their pocket, etc.

I am asking you about his behavior and if said behavior is proper enough to present oneself for communion.

We know what his bishop should do because other bishops have told us by presenting the proper cannon law. The question is, why is there different policies in different dioceses?

Biden is nationally disagreeing with Catholic teachings, this is a national scandal and should apply across the country, it affects every diocese and he should not be allowed to receive in some and not others. It makes the bishops look political.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I am asking you about his behavior and if said behavior is proper enough to present oneself for communion.

Again, I think this decision is for his bishop to make.

I also do not follow him around to see what he does every day, when he goes to confession, what he says in confession. He could commit 10 grave sins on the public street on Friday, and confess and be absolved of them all on Saturday, and receive Communion on Sunday. How would I know? I don’t listen to his confession or watch to see when he goes.

It’s one thing if you want to be judgmental, but please stop trying to force me or others to join you. I believe it’s a sin to judge people and I don’t want to have to be mentioning in my own confession that I judged Joe Biden or anyone else. I simply pray for Joe Biden. I also pray for Trump.

 

[upant]

It’s one thing if you want to be judgmental, but please stop trying to force me or others to join you.

Judgmental? His words, actions and support for intrinsic evils are all over the news. It isn’t judgmental when you point out what a person says and does that is anti-Catholic to people who defend him or act like his scandal isn’t happening

 

[Feanor2]

I can imagine that Father Z was a Trump supporter. . .

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I can imagine that Father Z was a Trump supporter. . .

Of course he is. He’s buddies with Fr. Heilman and the whole pro-Trump celebrity priest crowd.
I do not mind them supporting Trump, I know a lot of priests who quietly supported Trump because he was pro-life.
However, the increasingly bizarre statements coming out of that contingent involving all kinds of prophecies and discussion of demonic this n’ that are getting a bit odd.

 

[Raxus]

Yes. It can. I would rather say the opposite is true. It is illogical to say one is not a practicing Catholic unless he is perfect, that is practicing 100% of his faith 100% of the time.

Note that I didn’t say he needed to be perfect, and that it feels a little like you’re putting words in my mouth. I think Biden can do better than he is currently, and that’s not a hard position to come to, honestly.

Remember before we are to make perfection the goal of salvation, God said that we will be judged by the measure with which we judge others.

I judge that his support for killing babies in the womb makes him, at least in part, a bad man, whether maliciously so or not. I don’t think a lot of people who recognize babies in the womb as babies would disagree.

 

[otjm]

One could perhaps draw the conclusion (despite there being 144 active diocesan bishops and 36 active archbishops in the United States, so two of them are hardly any kind of representative sample).

Bishops have a say over what goes on in their diocese/archdiocese. Given that Biden is not coming to Oregon, neither Archbishop Sample nor Bishop Cary are going to wade into a matter which does not exist in their area of responsibility.

Further, should the matter come up - and it is likely it has come up elsewhere - it is entirely possible that bishops have spoken with pastors, for example, where Biden might appear for Mass while he was passing through the state, and instructed the pastors most likely to have the issue (a very small number) as to how to proceed. Not all of such matters reach the public.

In short, bishops are not going to ban Biden from Communion when there is no issue of him ever presenting himself for it.

 

[Maximian]

The asker was drawing attention to the logic of those who say Biden should be treated as a Catholic in good standing. If he is in good standing despite facilitating infanticide and gay marriage, what else does one have to do to get refused communion?

It’s a very fair point.

 

[StudentMI]

It’s a very fair point.

It is a good point.

The changes in Church teaching have been troubling to me, personally. From the issue of the divorced and remarried receiving communion, to the issue of gay marriage and civil unions, an archdiocese being okay with a transgender student, etc.

It’s more the fact that teachings are changing that troubles me, though I know some will dismiss that as ‘judging’ others. So be it. Lose another member of the faith if you want.

It just seems like when I ended a relationship to become Catholic there was a point to it. Now it seems like I made a mistake.

Though I didn’t agree with most of what he wrote, the part near the end of Infiltration by Taylor Marshall about why remain Catholic hit home to me, and I found the reason to be an atheist more convincing than his reason not to be.

 

[pnewton]

I judge that his support for killing babies in the womb makes him, at least in part, a bad man,

Sin is a bad thing, but I am taking a wait an see on how far he is willing to go on this. So, yes, sin is bad in everyone, yet the grace of God works good in all of us. I just keep getting the feeling that Joe Biden is being held to a standard that no one holds themselves to. He has never said that abortion was not sinful. He has voted against abortion and for it being available at different times. This is contrary to Catholic teaching, but not contrary to an Catholic dogma. And, this keeps getting lost, he has not voted on anything in a long while.

How many have also not support the Catholic teaching on exercising the death penalty, but that does not make them bad. I know I have not always supported Catholic teaching in everything, including the death penalty. There are a couple of other areas I have had issues with.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

In short, bishops are not going to ban Biden from Communion when there is no issue of him ever presenting himself for it.

Yes, and as I have said before, my guess is Biden does not want this to become a public issue that would distract from or otherwise impact his presidency, so he is likely to make some arrangements for Mass outside of the public eye, with priests he knows are “friendly”.

 

[Victoria33]

Judgmental? His words, actions and support for intrinsic evils are all over the news. It isn’t judgmental when you point out what a person says and does that is anti-Catholic to people who defend him or act like his scandal isn’t happening

It may well be wrong to not address what Biden’s views and actions are.

I’ve read Ted Kennedy reflected on his position towards the end of his life.

Potentially, one’s soul could be at stake. Are we not called to admonish as well?

 

[otjm]

How many have also not support the Catholic teaching on exercising the death penalty,

The teaching on the death penalty is prudential, not doctrinal.

The teaching on abortion is doctrinal.

“Thou shalt not kill an innocent person” goes back far before the birth of Christ.