‘We cannot stay silent’: <\/strong>Texas valedictorian goes off script in graduation speech to protest new abortion law<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere is danger to one\u2019s soul if he or she receives the body and blood of our Lord in an unworthy manner,\u201d Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver, one of those advocating for action, asserted recently. He targeted his warning at \u201cthose in prominent positions who reject fundamental teachings of the Church and insist that they be allowed to receive Communion.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet among the 273 active bishops in the U.S., there are scores who oppose any swift or aggressive action on the issue.<\/p>\n Nearly 70 of them, including several cardinals, last month signed a letter to USCCB president and Los Angeles Archbishop Jos\u00e9 Gomez urging him to delay the discussion until the bishops may convene in person. Citing an\u00a0appeal from the Vatican\u00a0to proceed carefully and collegially, the letter said bishops should first hold discussions in regional gatherings.<\/p>\n In this Sunday, June 7, 2020 file photo, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez holds a Communion wafer as he celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, a Mass with churchgoers present at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. Despite calls from some of its members for a delay, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops plans to devote part of its national meeting in June 2021 to the sensitive issue of which Catholics are worthy of receiving Communion. (Photo: Damian Dovarganes, AP)<\/span><\/p>\n However, Gomez confirmed in a memo May 22 that the topic would be on the national meeting’s agenda.<\/p>\n The bishops requesting a delay included Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, who has made clear that Biden is welcome to receive Communion at his archdiocese\u2019s churches. Even bishops pushing for a sternly worded document say they\u2019re not seeking to overrule the authority of individual bishops to set their own policies on Communion.<\/p>\n But the broader divide has fueled heated remarks from both sides of the issue. San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy has warned against what he called the \u201cweaponization of the Eucharist,” while San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has accused opponents of seeking to derail the Communion discussion with \u201cbehind-closed-doors maneuvers.\u201d<\/p>\n In this Sunday, April 12, 2020 file photo, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, left, celebrates Communion during Easter Mass, which was live-streamed, at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco. Cordileone hopes his fellow bishops, at their upcoming national meeting in June 2021, will agree to send a strong message of disapproval to Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion rights. (Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP)<\/span><\/p>\n Thomas Groome, a professor at Boston College\u2019s School of Theology and Ministry, said some conservative bishops seem to be using Communion to score points even if they can\u2019t impose a new national policy.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re trying to embarrass President Biden, and the only person who benefits from that is Donald Trump,\u201d Groome said. \u201cThey will contribute nothing to the faith life of their own Catholic people.\u201d<\/p>\n In theory any bishop could make a motion Wednesday to remove the Communion item from the agenda, and a simple majority of votes would suffice for it to pass. But there\u2019s been no public indication yet that such a tactic will be tried.<\/p>\n \u201cAll signs are the bishops won\u2019t even pause,\u201d said Steven Millies, associate professor of public theology at Catholic Theological Union, who views the upcoming meeting as a crossroads for the U.S. church.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly the votes are there to proceed with drafting a document,\u201d he said via email. \u201cEven the cautions of a (Vatican) congregation with authority over church discipline and doctrine will not stop the bishops who prefer a culture war over Pope Francis\u2019s leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n Charles Camosy, a professor of theological and social ethics at Fordham University, empathized with the desire of some bishops to clarify Catholic teaching on Communion.<\/p>\n \u201cIf one persists in mortal sin, without confession, then one is not sufficiently united to the Church in order to take the sacrament,\u201d Camosy said via email. He predicted that any eventual USCCB document would encourage local pastors and bishops to enforce this rule, but not seek to make it mandatory.<\/p>\n He also suggested some bishops might want to expand the discussion beyond abortion \u2014 for example, citing acts of racism as possible grounds for exclusion from Communion.<\/p>\n Ohio abortion ban: <\/strong>Inspired by ‘God’s agenda,’ written in Texas, defended by Trump lawyer<\/span><\/p>\n The debate is overshadowing the rest of this week’s agenda, which has been criticized by some Catholic commentators for failing to address such issues as racism, economic inequality, voting rights and climate change.<\/p>\n One item up for consideration is adoption of a pastoral framework for youth and young adult ministry \u2014 a timely topic given the U.S. church\u2019s struggles to ease a priest shortage by drawing more young men into seminary.<\/p>\n \u201cThis should seem like the most important thing in a church that has visibly lost its grip on the imaginations of most Americans, most Catholics, and practically all young people,\u201d Millies wrote. \u201cBut the U.S. bishops seem determined to keep abortion and partisan divisions front-and-center, inevitably squelching any focus on ways the church can appeal more broadly to young people.\u201d<\/p>\n The bishops will also vote on supporting possible sainthood for two Americans admired for wartime heroism.<\/p>\n Joseph Verbis Lafleur, a priest from Louisiana who served as a military chaplain during World War II, became a war prisoner and died saving fellow service members on a Japanese ship torpedoed near the Philippines.<\/p>\n And U.S. Merchant Marine Capt. Leonard LaRue was the commander of a ship that saved thousands of Korean refugees fleeing Chinese and North Korean forces as the Korean War began in 1950.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/06\/14\/USAT\/d339558c-26ad-4a37-b182-e3dbe05ddee4-AP_Catholic_Bishops_Communion_and_Politics.jpg?width=540&height=&fit=bounds&auto=webp\")
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