LifeNews relays a report that "Michael Sheridan, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs, says pro-abortion Vice President Joe Biden shouldn???t receive communion form the Catholic Church ??? at least in his diocese."
In an interview with his hometown Colorado Springs Gazette, the Bishop explained, "It???s clear to me that the Code of Canon Law, Canon 915, says that a Catholic politician who publicly espouses positions that are contrary, not just to any teachings of the Church, but to serious moral teachings, should not receive Holy Communion until they recant those positions publicly."
He went on to address the dilemma faced by Catholic voters who favor liberal policies: "Voters needs a little bit more nuance, because there the question is, are we voting for those politicians precisely because of their positions on those non-negotiable issues? Here is what I would say: It would be very difficult for me to understand how, if there are two candidates quite far apart in their positions on these matters, I could vote for the one who consistently opposes these Church teachings, simply because he might be in favor of a few good things."
In Bishop Sheridan's view, ObamaCare's contraceptive mandates should "absolutely" be added to the list of non-negotiable offenses against religious liberty and Catholic teaching.
Turbulent waters will always be found where religion brushes up against politics. People with both liberal and conservative inclinations believe their faith illuminates their secular policy preferences. Reconciling faith with the demands of earthly law is often challenging... particularly when the power of secular government grows to infiltrate every corner of life. It most certainly was not the Catholic Church that picked this fight over contraceptive mandates.
Allowing someone like Joe Biden, who has far more reach and influence than a typical church-goer, to retain good standing while contradicting, and even re-writing, important Church doctrine carries a significant cost. Biden should have been formally asked to choose between his loyalty to Democrat extremism and Catholicism a long time ago, and he's not the only one.
But he wasn't, and that might have factored into Obama's calculations that the Church would not stand up to bullying from ObamaCare. Morality is all about making tough choices. People fight for the things that define them. Conversely, if you're not willing to insist on something, perhaps it doesn't really define you after all. In the great moral conflict between Democrat politics and the Catholic Church, one side is clearly more interested in bending the other to its will.
