June 16, 2022 11:40 AM UTC

Catholic Lawmakers Push Back Against "Weaponizing" Communion

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• by: Colorado Pols

Last week, several Catholic bishops along the Front Range issued a controversial opinion that Catholic Colorado lawmakers who support the Reproductive Health Equity Act, this year’s codification of abortion rights into state statute ahead of the anticipated repeal of Roe v. Wade, should not take part in the sacrament of Communion–an extremely harsh penalty only a step short of excommunication.

Since last week’s dramatic announcement, there’s been little local follow-up press, but as Kathryn Post at the Religious News Service reports, Colorado’s Catholic Democrats are pushing back hard against the local bishops, rejecting meddling by the clergy in their work making laws to protect everyone:

But Rep. David Ortiz, one of the Catholic lawmakers in question, said the bishops were confusing spirituality and politics. “Writing this open letter is a very political statement,” said Ortiz. “It is not stewarding people’s souls, it’s being a politician. If they want to be politicians, they should run for office.”

Some of the lawmakers say they will comply and stay away from the Communion rail, while others say the letter, signed by four Catholic bishops, including the Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, the archbishop of Denver, will not deter them from receiving the sacrament…

Rep. Monica Duran, who is Catholic, said she supported the legislation because lack of access to abortion care disproportionately impacts vulnerable communities and people of color. She rejected the bishops’ letter, saying “it sends the wrong message” to practicing Catholics.

What could be the real problem for Denver’s politically active Archbishop Samuel Aquila and his fellow Front Range Bishops is that Pope Francis, whose apostolic authority (we’re pretty sure that’s what you call it) trumps that of a mere bishop, has already taken a dim view of the similar call last year for President Joe Biden to be refused Communion over his support for abortion rights:

State Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, who was raised Catholic but no longer considers herself a member of the church, told Religion News Service she was shocked to hear of the bishops’ letter, especially in light of the Vatican’s instruction to U.S. bishops to tread carefully when they considered withholding Communion from President Joe Biden over his support for abortion rights last fall.

Pope Francis told reporters at the time that “every time the bishops have not managed a problem as pastors, they have taken a political stance on a political problem.” [Pols emphasis]

Last October, President Biden was told by the Pope to keep receiving Communion despite a call by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (which includes Denver’s Archbishop Aquila) for politicians who support abortion rights to abstain. There’s an unresolved conflict at work here between American bishops who want to impose religious penalties on politicians and the supposedly infallible head of the Catholic Church who seems to want to steer the Church clear of overheated American politics.

Perhaps it will be necessary for the Holy Father to lay down the law in Colorado’s case, too.