Pelosi, Abortion, and the Archbishop
A Realist's Guide to fighting back
The ultra-conservative Archbishop of San Fransisco ordered that no priest in the diocese could give communion to Speaker Nancy Pelosi1. It made the news and was not especially startling.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone had previously threatened to deny Joe Biden communion — which would require the president a) attend mass in the diocese, and b) go to the altar to receive communion. I have had Joe Biden as a law school professor, attended mass with him in Wilmington (when he was a Senator), and know a thing or two about the Canons of Catholicism. Biden is the wrong guy to engage is that particular intellectual discussion — he’s smart, very devout, and behind his pearly white smile is a shark just waiting to attack.
Like most Catholic boys who grew up in the 1970s, I was asked to consider if I might have a vocation for the priesthood. Joe Biden likely had a similar experience in the 1950s. A priest or sometimes a bishop asks you to think, pray, and give thought to considering entering the priesthood. My path went on for months and months before I concluded I did not have a vocation — after a lot of reading and study and prayer.
Cordileone needs to reread Canons 915, 843, and 912. Kind of a lot.
"Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them". That’s Canon 843.
Can a priest deny communion? Canon 912 says"any baptized person not prohibited by law can and must be admitted to holy communion". But it is not a hard “No”.
Canon 915 requires the denial of communion to the excommunicated and those interdicted. Those require a canonical process take place or that an expressed violation has occured2.
Of course, Archbishop Cordileone could declare that Nancy Pelosi has committed a grave sin persistently — which he did. However, it only binds priests employed by the diocese and Cordileone’s letter on this subject is a rather weak argument3 regardless. Grave sins are self-proving and unattennuated.
Speaker Pelosi has not had abortions, advocated abortions for anyone, and quite frankly has not voted for abortions per se. Abortion policy, federally, is largely a matter of funding. No one is making getting an abortion a legal requirement, forcing women to get abortions against their will, or whatever bizarre machinations the anti-abortion zealots think the government does.
So, there is actual no grave sin to connect to Nancy Pelosi or any pro-choice Catholic politican. Plus, telling Catholic politicians to impose Catholic theological beliefs on their non-Catholic constituents is a bad move — that’s the kind of crap white evangelicals do.
The announcement that Speaker Pelosi could not get communion in San Fransisco is nothing more than political theater. And that’s nothing new for Archbishop Cordileone. Whether it has been same-sex marriage4, LGBT rights5, anti-vaccination nonsense6, or teacher morality7, Cordileone has been front page stuff on conservative viewpoints.
So, what should Nancy do? A idealist would tell her to hammer away at Canons 843 and 912. A pragmatist would try to figure out a way around that “grave sin”/Canon 915 dynamic.
A couple of thoughts.
Speaker should attack by reminding Cordileone and other right leaning Catholic leaders of the poor record that “pro-life” Catholic politicians have on matters of Catholic teaching and theology for starters. The late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) not withstanding, most “pro-life” politicians have terrible records on things help new born infants and children. Things like WIC, parental leave, Head Start, and most recently easing the baby formula shortage8 do not fit in with the GOP philosophy.
A majority of Catholics are pro-choice (56% according to a recent poll)9. The end of Roe has radicalized American women. It’s in the Democrats interest to connect as much public policy to what is ultimately a healthcare decision as they can. Pointing out the hypocrisy of Cordileone et al. on post-birth “pro-life” public policy issues can only help in that effort.
And, she might also tell Catholic women to skip communion and filling one of these out until Cordileone backs down.
It’s funny how putting a price on a poor decision leads to realist outcomes. Stop giving weekly offerings and taking communion until Cordileone and similarly inclined Catholic leaders cease measuring Catholic politicians on just one issue.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/us/politics/pelosi-communion-abortion.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latae_sententiae_and_ferendae_sententiae#Excommunications
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251315/read-the-letter-from-pelosi-s-archbishop-barring-her-from-communion
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/salvatore-cordileone-gay-marriage_n_1712224
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/07/19/anti-gay-archbishop-homophobia-isnt-truly-unjust-because-sexual-behaviour-is-a-choice/
https://www.ncronline.org/news/coronavirus/san-franciscos-cordileone-unvaccinated-celebrate-public-mass-nyc
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/sf-san-francisco-archbishop-catholic-church/
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/republicans-formula-bills-note-votes
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/20/8-key-findings-about-catholics-and-abortion/