Withholding Communion: Compassion, Not Punishment By Sylvia M. Olberding for American Thinker
Recently, Steven Colbert talked about the U.S. Catholic bishops denying communion to Catholic politicians as “punishment.” Many recent headlines use the word “denying” in reference to the U.S. Catholic Bishops, communion, and Catholic politicians supporting issues that go against Church teachings, namely abortion rights. Perhaps a better word is “withholding.” Withholding communion is a most compassionate act and showers these politicians with the utmost pastoral care and provides them the opportunity to model exemplary leadership. Likewise, withholding communion demonstrates true pastoral concern on the part of pastors, priests, and bishops.
As Christians, we are called to live out our faith in every facet of our lives. We are also called to go and make disciples of all nations; that is, we are called to evangelize no matter what our state or position in life. Regular prayer and reflection help us to root out those areas where we are not allowing our faith to permeate. Our pastors, priests, and bishops accompany and guide us on that journey.
We have politicians who publicly profess their Catholic faith and at the same time, publicly profess their support for abortion rights because they don’t want to “impose” their faith on others. As public leaders, the message they communicate to their fellow believers as well as all their constituents is that our faith and convictions must be kept to ourselves, that these are not to inform our public decisions for the good of society. These same politicians then go to Mass, receive Communion, and all is well, except, it’s not.
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Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, states “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.” (1 Corinthians 11: 28-29). It seems that pastors, priests, and bishops have been turning a blind eye for too long and allowing these men and women to receive judgement on their souls and influence others to do the same, thereby also reflecting poorly on them. “If anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe in me, to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18: 6).
