Raised Heel

When Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, he said to them: "Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me. 

From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." (John 13:16-20)

I and all deacons in the Diocese of Fall River (perhaps priests as well) received a publication with an accompanying letter from the Catholic Action For Faith and Family.  The booklet called “Deny Holy Communion” was written by Cardinal Raymond Burke.  It is outrageously non-pastoral but expected because Cardinal Burke has been and continues to be an outspoken and oft-sought-after speaker in defense of denying holy communion to, as Catholic Action’s president Thomas McKenna has stated, “obstinate, public sinners.”  

Burke’s 64 page perspective is interesting and counter to Pope Francis.  In my opinion the Cardinal has raised his heel against Pope Francis in a very disrespectful manner reminiscent of Jesus’ treatment by the chief priests and pharisees. In a way, Burke focuses on the “Law” while Francis stresses mercy, compassion, and on loving God and our neighbors.  

Pope Francis insists the Eucharist must not be “weaponized.”  Burke asks: “Is it ‘weaponizing’ the Eucharist to deny Communion to those who publicly and notoriously contradict the Church’s definitive teachings?”  

According to Mark O’Shea (2022 St. Anthony Messenger): (begin) Many Catholics see the move [denying Eucharist] as an attempt to politicize and even weaponize the Eucharist on behalf of a shortsighted political agenda that does not deal with the enormous social, political, theological, and moral complexities of the American Church.

Among this latter group would appear to be the pope himself. In a recent interview, when he was asked about “bishops who want to deny Communion to the president and others who hold office,” Pope Francis flatly declared: “I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone, to anyone. I don’t know if anyone in that condition came, but I never, never refused the Eucharist. As a priest, that is. Never.” Pope Francis then added: “The problem is not the theological problem—that is simple—the problem is the pastoral problem: How do we bishops deal with this principle pastorally?... 

And if we look at the history of the Church, we will see that every time the bishops have dealt with a problem not as pastors, they have taken a political stance on a political problem…What must the pastor do? Be a pastor. Be a pastor and don’t go around condemning…But if he goes out of the pastoral dimension of the Church, he immediately becomes a politician: You see this in all the accusations, in all the non-pastoral condemnations the Church makes.”

Furthermore, we have this article (excerpts) from Michael Sean Winters of the National Catholic Reporter (May 2021):

“…We know a lot about the sacraments, about the action of grace, but we do not know all. Of course, incoherence is a bad thing, not a good thing. But arguing that we can ascertain the state of a politician's soul based solely on their public policy stances requires knowledge we cannot possess.

The sacraments, by definition, bring the Mystery of our faith into our mundane world, but the effects of that Mystery on the human soul are hidden as clearly as the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is hidden from our eyes. It looks like bread.

Biden is a sinner because we all are sinners, but to assess the state of his soul when he approaches the altar requires seeing what it is difficult to detect in ourselves, let alone in another person. God knows the state of Joe Biden's soul. God has, in his mercy, provided Biden a pastor in the person of Cardinal Wilton Gregory. We must all pray that God's grace is at work in the president's soul — and invite him, a fellow Catholic, to pray the same for us.

The U.S. bishops' conference has no canonical or practical role to play in this matter. Some of them have drunk their own Kool-Aid and can't bring themselves to accept that Biden is a legitimate president and a more observant Catholic than most. In fact, it drives them crazy, so crazy they will themselves into a profound misunderstanding of basic issues of theology and canon law. By cloaking their essentially political objective in religious garb, these bishops are undermining the faith in ways Joe Biden never will. That is the scandal here.” (end)

With Cardinal Burke as well.

Deacon David Pierce