Washington D.C., Oct 31, 2019 / 04:58 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York has responded to questions about the denial of Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden last Sunday.
On an Oct. 31 interview with Fox News, Dolan said that he thought the incident was a good teaching moment about the Eucharist and the seriousness of denying Church teaching, but that he would not himself deny anyone reception of the Eucharist.
“So whether that prudential judgment was wise, I don’t want to judge him either,” Dolan said of Fr. Robert Morey, who denied Holy Communion to Biden. “I wouldn’t do it.”
“Sometimes a public figure will come and talk to me about it. And I would advise them, and I think that priest (Morey) had a good point, you are publicly at odds with an issue of substance, critical substance, we’re talking about life and death and the Church,” Dolan said.
Receiving the Eucharist “implies that you’re in union with all the Church believes and stands for. If you know you’re not, well, integrity would say, ‘uh oh, I better not approach Holy Communion.’ That’s always preferable than to make a split-second decision and denying somebody,” Dolan added.
Last Sunday, Morey denied Eucharistic communion to 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden at Mass at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina, because of the politician’s public support of abortion.
“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” Morey, who is the pastor of St. Anthony’s, explained in a statement sent to CNA.
“Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that,” Morey added. “Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”
In denying Biden communion, Morey was following a diocesan policy set forth in a 2004 decree signed jointly by the bishops of Atlanta, Charleston, and Charlotte. The decree states that supporting pro-abortion legislation is “gravely sinful” and that public figures who do so must be denied communion until they repent.
Joseph Zwilling, director of communications in the Archdiocese of New York, told CNA that the archdiocese does not have such a policy.
Dolan told Fox & Friends he agreed with what Morey said, though he would not personally deny a public figure the Eucharist.
“I think what he said was very to the point, I thought that was a good teaching moment,” Dolan said.
The cardinal said the issue has never come up for him personally – he has never seen a public figure in his Communion line who he knew was publicly advocating for policies that violate Church teaching.
“I’ve never had what you might call the opportunity, or I’ve never said ‘Uh oh, should I give him or her Holy Communion’, it’s never come up. Sure could,” Dolan said.
Dolan faced heavy criticism in January from Catholics who felt that he should have explicitly barred from communion New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had signed into law an expansive abortion bill.
On his radio show Jan. 29, Dolan said that sacramental disciplinary measures against the governor “would be completely counterproductive, right?”
“Especially if you have a governor who enjoys this and wants to represent himself as a kind of martyr to the cause, doing what is right. He is proud to dissent from the essentials of the faith. He’s proud with these positions.”
“For me to punish him for it? He would just say, ‘Look at the suffering this prophet has to undergo,’ the cardinal added.
Dolan said Oct. 31 that he frequently sees public figures at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, and that he “admires” them when they do not approach the Eucharist out of their own awareness of their sin and separation from the Church.
“They seem to know – ‘I shouldn’t do that. That could be hypocritical at this moment,’” Dolan said.
“On the other hand, we also remember Pope Francis. We…I personally can never judge the state of a person’s soul. So it’s difficult, that’s what I’m saying. I’m not up there as a tribunal, as a judge, distributing Holy Communion, I’m there as a pastor, as a doctor of souls,” Dolan said.
“So it’s difficult to make a judgment on the state of a person’s soul. My job is to help people make, with clear Church teaching, make a decision on the state of their soul and the repercussions of that.”
When asked if priests could refusing other people communion because of their sins, Dolan said that communion is intended for sinners.
“If only saints could receive Holy Communion, we wouldn’t have anybody at Mass, including myself, alright?” Dolan said.
“So sinners are who Holy Communion is for, it’s medicine for the soul, it’s an act of mercy, so it’s intended for sinners…but sinners who want to, who are sorry and want to repent. Then anybody’s welcome, come on up,” he added.
Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law states that “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
Edward Peters, who teaches canon law at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit wrote in The Hill this week that “however the decision to withhold holy communion from Biden made headlines, it was unquestionably the pastor’s decision to make and he made it, in my view, correctly.”
“While there are relatively few examples of pastors withholding holy communion from Catholic politicians who support abortion, the refusal that Biden experienced should not have come as a surprise. He had been warned about approaching for holy communion in 2008 by Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, who told Biden that, because of his support for abortion, he would be refused holy communion if he approached that prelate, and by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput (then of Denver, now of Philadelphia), who implied likewise,” Peters wrote.
While not addressing Dolan’s remarks Peters addressed a point Dolan made during his interview, which Peters called the “reddest herring” in defense of Biden.
Specifically, he criticized the argument “which implies that withholding holy communion requires a minister to peer into the soul of a would-be recipient and judge it unworthy. Nonsense. To confuse the private examination of one’s conscience as envisioned by Canon 916 with the recognition that some public acts warrant public consequences under Canon 915 is to show either ignorance of or indifference to well-established Catholic pastoral and sacramental practice.”
In a memorandum to the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2004, explaining the application of Canon Law 915, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said “the minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone, such as in cases of a declared excommunication, a declared interdict, or an obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin.”
The case of a “Catholic politician” who is “consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws” would constitute “formal cooperation” in grave sin that is “manifest,” the letter added.
Biden has declined to comment on the communion incident telling reporters that it was “just my personal life.”
“I’m a practicing Catholic. I practice my faith, but I’ve never let my religious beliefs…to impose that view on other people,” Biden said this week.
While Biden served in the Senate, he largely supported the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision that found a legal right to abortion, Roe v. Wade. He called his position “middle-of-the-road,” in that he supported Roe but opposed late-term abortions and federal funding of abortions.
Since then, he has supported taxpayer funding of abortions via the repeal of the Hyde Amendment and Mexico City Policy in his 2020 platform and has called for the codification of Roe v. Wade as federal law. Biden also favors reinstating taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
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A reminder:
It was the sociopath sex abuser McCarrick who led US Bishops in deceitfully disobeying Canon 915. It is well known that in the early 2000s, McCarrick withheld a letter written to US Bishops, from then-head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger, stating that it was their duty as Bishops not to admit to Holy Communion politicians who persisted in publicly promoting grave evils like abortion. It is well known that McCarrick publicly lied to the Bishops, reading only selected parts of the letter, and then outright lying that the letter advised Bishops not to obey and enforce Canon 915.
“His Eminence” Cardinal Dolan is not doing what Jesus would have his apostles do…he is doing the will of McCarrick.
As are all bishops who behave and speak like Cardinal Dolan. Father Morey is a holy father and a good shepherd who imitates
Jesus, The Good Shepherd.
Cardinal Dolan and Bishops like him are bad shepherds, and do not imitate Jesus…they imitate McCarrick.
God bless Fr. Morey…and strengthen him and the priests and bishops like him…our good shepherds.
Refusing communion to a known sinner was / is a way to teach them that their conduct is not acceptable.
Letting a sinner receive communion mocks GOD’s laws. The commandments are from GOD , not from man.
I wonder how GOD is going to judge those who look the other way.
biden is very public about his support for abortion so we know he could not be in a state of grace to receive communion.very hypocritical of him to try.he is just showing off
Is it being judgmental to refuse giving Our Lord to a well known person known to have made statement(s) contra fide in a serious matter?
absolutely
That certain politician has caused greater scandal by publicly stating the highest ranking cleric gives him Communion— and thus, this cleric follows the same as sociopath sex abuser McCarrick.
Why does anyone care what Dolan thinks? He’s as spineless as they come.
100% Correct.
We all know that he wouldn’t do it – the border between “accompanying” (where and for what purpose?) and mere sycophancy is lost on Cardinal Dolan. He loves the proximity to,power – pity for him and for the Church
Somehow, Dolan’s reluctance to withhold communion under any circumstance and instead rely solely upon the conscience of the individual, doesn’t surprise me. He seems like a fun, jovial and comfortable guy to be around, and very self aware of it. What is church attendance like around him? How are religious vocations like around him? Would be interesting to know. Every action we take has consequences and error imbedded within it, and avoiding difficult choices doesn’t avoid this dilemma. The pastoral discernment on this issue must also weigh the souls of the believers of Fr Morey’s Parish, which in my opinion take priority over an out of town charlatan who mocks our Faith. I’ll bet Mass attendance will increase at St Francis now.
Cardinal Dolan tutors us that: “If only saints could receive Holy Communion, we wouldn’t have anybody at Mass, including myself, alright?”
USED TO BE that refraining from Communion for good reason was not branded as “punishment,” but was a heartfelt interior recognition and respect for the Real Presence.
USED TO BE that there was such a thing as sacrilege (and that there was a midnight fast before communion so that non-braindead folks could always attend a later Mass and simply say they had eaten breakfast).
USED TO BE that there was such a thing as a prayer of “spiritual communion” rather than some cardinal spouting off the hyperbole that there would be no reason to come to Mass at all.
USED TO BE that there was such a thing as public scandal if one notoriously promoted, what, vivisection of unborn children.
But, late-term abortion (rather than the Eucharist?) now is the “sacred ground” announced a pseudo-Catholic senator from California. . . Still, in 2015 a proposed state law would have at least exposed the nature of this practice: “. . . with the purpose of causing the death of an unborn child, purposely to dismember a living unborn child and extract him or her one piece at a time from the uterus through the use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors, or similar instruments that, through the convergence of two rigid levers, slice, crush, or grasp a portion of the unborn child’s body to cut or rip it off” (Missouri proposed House Bill 920).
USED TO BE that there was a difference between a red hat and the master-of-ceremonies headdress atop some Aztec sacrificial pyramid.
USED TO BE a repentant abortionist who revealed what was actually going on. The very successful former abortion czar, Bernard Nathanson (like Dolan, from New York) with 65,000 abortions under his belt (so to speak), disclosed that the original abortion agenda was very much about discrediting the Church. Now, what Church?
Nathanson revealed that the: “[. . .] anti-Catholic warp was a central strategy, a keystone of the abortion movement. . . . The more vigorously the church opposed, the stronger the appeal of the anti-Catholic line became to the liberal media, to the northeastern political establishment, to the leftist elements of the Protestant Church, and to Catholic intellectuals themselves” (The Abortion Papers, 1983).
What about Nathanson’s final witness to the USED TO BE 65,000 (and the used-to-be 65 million nationwide)? Nathanson: an eyes-open convert to Catholicism and to the elementary Natural Law, rather than a nose-ring convert from.
Of course we know that Cardinal Dolan would have given Biden Communion. Since when has he shown any willingness to defend the truths of the faith against secular “Catholic”” politicians?
The photo of Dolan swilling away at the wine bar says it all . I believe there is a passage in the Bible which refers to those who have made their bellies their god ….Dolan really should really read up on the traditional Church teaching on fasting and prayer.
And when Christ comes again, will He find faith in New York?
Touché Ed!
Of course he wouldn’t do it. That is a given like most of the US bishops. Don’t want to risk the money flow. That is why we have so many “catholic” public figures whose souls are in jeopardy because the shepherds do not believe in the Truth anymore they believe in themselves. Pray everyday for the bent to be converted and the Faithful to be sustained.
I am shocked at Cardinal Dolan’s comment about this matter. SHOCKED! and agitated. Certainly, he does not seem to have wisdom, understanding, counsel, and fortitude. Catholics can not approach Holy Communion with mortal sins. Did Mr. Biden even go to confession first and promise to sin no more? I agree with Professor Edward Peters. And of course Pope Benedict who was very clear on the issue. Cardinal Dolan’s explanation for not barring Mr. Cuomo from the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, was and is lame. Who cares if Cuomo claims to being martyred? People would just have laughed at him. Cardinal Dolan, stop being a politician and brave up!
Cardinal Dolan’s main concern is his team won’t win elections if he takes them to task for their support of evil.
““I wouldn’t do it.””
Yeah, that’s kind of the problem. On the other hand, Cardinal Dolan was perfectly okay with that disgraceful and blasphemous spectacle at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last year.
Touché Leslie!
We are all sinners.
So, it is a free ride for all ! .Do whatever you want !.
No sin.
No repentance. No doctrine. No confession. Who am I to judge ?.
Thanks Cardinal Dolan for your help !. This is finally democracy in action in the new Relativist Roman Catholic Church ! ( RRCCH ).
Now at last, I don’t have to go to confession, I don’t need to ever be the only one in the church who sits in the pew when everyone else is going up to receive the body and blood of Christ at the altar. Thank you, Cardinal Dolan!!! (Sarcasm, in case anyone thinks I am serious.)
Whew!
What Cardinal Dolan seems to overlook is that by denying Mr. Biden communion, Father Morey gave Mr. Biden the chance to repent of his sin and to be reconciled to God. We are all going to die and we will all be judged for our actions on earth and no one is excepted from this, even if they were once VP of the United States. After seeing all the clergy who either abused children and teenagers or looked the other way, after hearing a bishop announce with pride that he never baptized anyone in his 34 years in the priesthood and now seeing Cardinal Dolan state his limitations on saving souls, we ought not be surprised when people are leaving the Church in droves. We have too many false shepherds driving away the sheep. I pray that Mr. Biden will repent before it is too late and I pray that Father Morey will continue to be a courageous priest.
Chum upon the waters of life
Indeed…. I do not want to nor mean to be crass, yet
I pause to ponder about the young children lost and my heartaches for them and their families. Millions pour out their sympathy. Collectively like a Tsunami wave of grieving and prayers being lifted up. The hoopla, counseling, and urgent considerations that have begun due to the loss of their innocent lives have blanketed an entire town.
Indeed, yet I also pray for all the children, innocent as they were, about 9 years ago, who were also conceived around the same time as these recent victims, but whose lives and freedoms were also shredded by abortion. Their cries were never heard; there were no HEROES, no FIRST RESPONDERS, nor news media pounding out every possible witness, nor public outcry for justice. No, they were silently discarded with no half-staff flags, nor glowing candles, nor flowers, nor piles of toys. No, just cast away like fish bait chum upon the waters of life.
Such sorrow was expressed in the media about the 900 other Americans whom have died due to gun shots in an average month, and the urgent need for reforms and bi- lateral non-partisan passing of new laws to protect everybody, so that it may prevent something like this happening to even just one more child. Then what about the millions of younger citizens disposed literally by the bucket-loads since Rowe vs Wade?
We Americans are allowing a genocide closely approaching the magnitude of HIROSHIMA and all the CONSENTRATION CAMPS combined with hardly a whimper, and no remedy in sight.
Most all of us abhor news of “Friendly Fire” and “Collateral Damages”, yet this news has become commonplace and just accepted.
Since 1973 we could have potentially saved one of our larger cities. It would by now be inhabited with many of its older citizens turning the BIG 40 by now. Nope, not for them, their liberty, justice, and rights to life were legislated away. They never became of age. They only became dead.
I see the animal rights advocates cry out for funding and empathy on TV commercial spots showing sad neglected soiled puppies and cats, yet is there any of their humane efforts going towards all these other young innocent human lives being lost each and every day. Its like we complain of all the noise, then pick up a hammer and keep pounding.
Often it seems, that we Americans are our own worst enemy, and yet we exclaim and the end of so many events, “GOD BLESS AMERICA”…
It is hard to imagine that our nation brings GOD much JOY of late, and I pray for His mercy.
I’m a concerned citizen just being a loud cry from the wilderness and remain hopeful and grateful, and pray we find our way back to the right road.
Amen Michael
Dolan has always been all talk and no action. He poses with orthodoxy when it suits him but caves when it’s strategic to do so.
Dolan has mentioned all the classical excuses, for not doing the right thing. That we are not all saints is lame. It is selfish not to act.. in acting you correct the sinner and the many he may harm. If the priest or bishop doesn’ t correct them no one will. Too many clerics may be just that, too self-centered to have the guts to do the right thing. When Dolan failed to excommunicate a massive and horrid abortionist, I lost all trust in him. So Andrew isn’t a saint like the rest of us.. how many of us make it law that surviving aborted babies must die!? Dolan, you’re weak.
I’m afraid that Cardinal Dolan’s point of view, sensitive and all as it is, is precisely the reason why Catholics believe they can hold points of view at complete variance with the values of the Church and still consider themselves “in good standing”. Imagine a German Catholic in 1939 saying he supported the Nazi position on Jews or a Catholic politician in 1943 supporting the Final Solution. What’s the difference??
Poor Dolan, blinded by the $$$$$. Seems that all the big cities are so socialistic there is no room for religion. Those are the places we need real strong faithful leaders, not figures in Roman garb who ‘admire’ anti-Catholic Catholics. Years of teaching right from wrong in Religious Ed wiped out in a single article. Thank you Dolan.
Sorry but Cardinal Dolan straddles the fence. Biden is participating, by condoning in a very PUBLIC way, the grave sin of abortion. His eminence is a Shepherd of the Church responsible for the doctrinal faith of his flock. Sadly, all he seems capable of is catering to the political winds of politicians in a time when Catholics need him to set the example of how we should be serving the God who created us!
Proving once again that Dolan doesn’t have the foggiest grasp of basic Christianity. On the contrary, Dolan, only sanctified Christians who have been shriven of their sins may participate in Holy Communion. No one else. How did you get to be a bishop without knowing this?
“If only Saints could receive Holy Communion we wouldn’t have anybody at Mass, including myself.”
1) Cute
2) Clever
3) Headline-grabbing, IOW – designed for the secular press
4) Completely misleading and TOTALLY beside the point.
BINGO. It’s called “grooming the faithful.”
An astute interviewer might have then asked Cardinal Dolan, “Is there anyone under any circumstances to whom you would not give Holy Communion?”
They probably rehearsed that one ahead of the presser and decided to avoid it…
Not only is what this brave priest did supported by Canon 915, but also by an authentic interpretation of the Council for the Interpretation of Canon Law which goes into more details, including ordering the deacons or Extraordinary Ministers not to give such people Holy Communion. Dolan is dead wrong.
..and as a Eucharistic Ministrr I would be loathe to deny someone communion if that person came up to the alter-I
rely on Gods judgment in that respect, not mine (kindly spare the judgement on me regarding my own worthiness to serve as EU-
and also reserve that judgment for God). Amen
I see. So, if someone came up for Communion, wearing a t-shirt that says “ABORTION IS A HUMAN RIGHT!” and you knew for a fact that that person was an abortionist, you would just hand him the Eucharist, thus participating in the sacrilege he would be committing?
Of course, lay people are not “Eucharistic Ministers”; the correct and quite different title is “Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion,” meaning that the role is not more-or-less Eucharistic/priestly, but rather is confined to the distinctly different role of supportive distribution of Communion, and this only when the need is extraordinary.
Another ratchet toward muddled, irreversible and ambiguous confusion.
Just curious what constitutes “extraordinary”…is it when the Communion line down the main aisle takes 15 minutes instead of 10 (?)–and perhaps as compared to other less trivializing times and places in history when communicants walked several miles to receive the Real Presence (CCC 1374) once or twice a year.
..and as a Eucharistic Ministrr(sic) I would be loathe to deny someone communion if that person came up to the alter(sic)-I
Diane, you have absolutely no business serving as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion since 1) you have no understanding that only a validly ordained Priest may be referred to as a Eucharistic Minister and 2) you don’t know how to correctly spell altar.
To fix this broken Church we must start at the bottom – the laypeople who have had enough. And it will take brave priests like Fr. Morey. May he be but the first.
Cardinal Dolan is right. Who are we to judge? Joe Biden is visibly well known, how about the average Joe who follows behind in the communion line?
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.
“Cardinal Dolan is right.”
That’s a judgment on your part. Who are you to judge?
Perfect answer. Touché! Thank you Mr. Olson.
Do you even Canon? Because it’s pretty clear. Crystal even.
If the “average Joe” behind him in the line publicly supporting abortion and doing his best to make sure that it was funded, then, yes, he, too should be denied Communion. What part of “manifest” do you not understand?
Cardinal Dolan is right. Who are we to judge?
Did you get that out of your corrupted version of Scripture that includes the modified Lord’s Prayer, morgan?
“And why even of yourselves, do you not judge that which is just?” Jesus Christ, Luke 12:57
Of course Dolan “wouldn’t do it,” even though Canon Law 915 requires it. That is because he has always been more concerned to live the life of a “bon vivant” than that of a Christian. He is the the archetypical American bishop, flattering and rubbing elbows with his Democratic handlers. If you seek causes for the collapse of catholicism in America, look no further than Dolan and Co.
No, Mr. Callaghan, the Church does not have ONE SINGLE ISSUE bigger than addressing sin, blasphemy, sacrilege… That is what causes suffering, hardship and sorrow in the world. That is why we have a Church in the first place. What the Church does NOT need to be is the massive “social justice” apparatus that it has become.
Is the condemnation of sinners the reason we have a church in the first place?
To be totally pastoral, which, duh!, clergy should be, Cardinal Dolan should have blessed Biden while suggesting that the blessing would give Biden the grace to come to confession ASAP before ever thinking of receiving the Holy Eucharist in the state of mortal sin.
It appears Cardinal Dolan has come to represent the vast majority of Catholic Bishops, Cardinals and Priest, spineless and fearful Politically Correct followers who have forgotten what it means to lead. These Bishops and Cardinals are are supposed to be the Shepards of the Church, taking care of their flocks and leading them in the way of our Lord Jesus. Instead, they are more concerned with bing popular and invited to celebrate dinners.
When it comes to controversy they shy away. When President Obama trampled on our 1st Amendment Rights, what did they do? Nothing, absolutely nothing. They should have called for all faithful Catholics to meet on the Supreme Court Steps and the Steps of every Federal Court House to pray. We should have been praying the Rosary and other prayers letting the justices know, without question, we were absolutely against being forced to accept contraceptives as part of our medical care and being forced to pay for them. We were absolutely against including the morning after pill and paying for it. And we definitely were against allowing the Morning After Pill to be sold over the counter. But instead, we did nothing!
Is this what Jesus would have done with the Pharisees?
Their priests fell by the sword and their widows made no lament (Ps 78:64). This is our shame. The expiation of our offenses is to face the sword wherever and whomever wields it.
Cardinal Dolan is shirking his Apostolic duty. He should read Ezekiel 3:17-21:
*
17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you will have saved your life. 20 Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you will have saved your life.”
*
These verses of Ezekiel speak to the responsibility of the prophets to their office. Admonishing the sinner is one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy.
I’ll say a word because I knew the Cardinal casually as he was a frequent gracious visitor to the Casa Santa Maria NAC house of graduate studies always warm friendly handclasping [even backslapping]. Besides he enjoyed Macanudos and always brought a box. And a scotch. I guess conviviality in a dark antagonistic world is welcome. Although refusing communion to someone suspect or known in the community as an abortion advocate/compromiser is not a good policy in agreement with Canonist Edward Peters we never know their state nonetheless someone who is publicly notorious morally digressive defying gravely serious Catholic doctrine on abortion is a completely different matter. A variance in moral posture and a jovial prelate could be saint and needed witness among his confounding complacent peers.
“Holier than thou”? Here, according to the more perceptive novelist Georges Bernanos, is one of the “bigger problems [the Church has] to deal with”:
“The modern world will shortly no longer possess sufficient spiritual reserves to commit genuine evil. Already . . . we can witness a lethal slackening of men’s conscience that is attacking not only their moral life, but also their very heart and mind, altering and decomposing even their imagination . . . The menacing crisis is one of infantilism.”
The infantile Cardinal is “100 percent Left (not ‘right’).”
Once again Cardinal Dolan has demonstrated a lack of fortitude as a leader of the Church. Kudos to Father Morey for denying the Eucharist to Candidate Biden, who has demonstrated time and time again that he does not practice his faith. I only wish more priests and Bishops had the same courage and fortitude as Father Morey.
Human niceness disguising itself as Divine Mercy – just another form of idolatry of the self.
My faith is so inspired by so many faithful Catholics who made comments here. Our priests and bishops are under such attack. The Blessed Virgin, St Paul, and St John Paul II would ask us to pray and sacrifice for them. Remember some demons are only loose “by prayer and fasting”. Our Lady and St Michael the Archangel asked for penance, penance, and penance. Hope you all will do the 1st Saturday devotion tomorrow. I know you are all going to mass today since it’s All Saints, and no coincidence it’s also the 1st Friday of the month and the day we honor Christ’s most Sacred Heart. I am honored to be part of Body of Christ with the faithful.
I pray Joe reads Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians before he approaches to receive God. He cannot pretend he has not been warned of the consequences of receiving the Lord in such a state. We aren’t talking about gluttony and eating a couple extra cookies here. The Aztecs are no more due to these kinds of mass killings.
Joe doesn’t appear to eat extra cookies. He does appear to lack clarity in thought. He’s troubled by age, and he’s near the end of both natural life and political utility. May God have mercy on his soul, such as it may be as it will be before our Lord.
“holier-than-thou “ people- Catholic or otherwise – who pass judgment on others just might keep in mind Jesus’s proclamation , ”Let those who have no sin cast the first stone”. I state my point .
I didn’t notice that anybody suggested stoning Mr. Biden.
By your logic (to use the term in a laughably loose sense), I cannot judge that someone who cheers on a man who murders someone in public – or even the murderer – is doing evil, because that is “passing judgment on others.”
You might want to keep in mind another one of Jesus’ proclamations, Diane:
“And why even of yourselves, do you not judge that which is just?” Jesus Christ, Luke 12:57
You obviously have failed to discern the difference between the obligation to judge behavior and the Almighty’s judgment of the soul upon death. You’ve missed that point.
I’ve read 4/5 of the above posts, and I agree. Dolan is the man after PF’s heart. Both need prayers, fasts, and sacrifice.
“If only saints could receive Holy Communion, we wouldn’t have anybody at Mass, including myself, alright?” Dolan said.
That is the problem, Mr. Dolan. All right?
If, according to Dolan, the Eucharist is for sinners, why do we have to be” free from mortal sin” to receive the Body of Christ? Lets change the rules?
Touché Fred.
Some comments accuse those critical of Cardinal Dolan of making judgments, saying that we should not judge others. But it is not really a case of making judgments.
In reality, critics of the Cardinal are expressing a truth about our faith, and the validity of such expression depends on the guidance of the Holy Spirit Who leads us to the whole truth. We know these truths if we live a life of faith guided by the Holy Spirit through the magisterial teaching of the Church. This is not quite the same as making a judgment based on a philosophical manner.
I suppose this could be described as an example of the sensus fidei fidelium – all of the faithful know the truth in this way without being judgmental or experts in theology or in philosophy. On this basis, it is reasonable to be critical of the Cardinal and a sufficient justification to say that he has got it badly wrong. It is perhaps better to argue in this way rather than each disputant in the debate accusing the other side of being judgmental – that will go nowhere.
What Cardinal Dolan lacks in compunction and courage, he makes up for in ingratiation technique and doctrinal equivocation. Imagine where the Church would be if we had strong leaders? Men like Dolan should relinquish their red hats if they cannot live up to the martyr’s blood they (the hats) represent. I pray the Cardinal reads these comments and steps away from his seemingly desperate need for worldly comforts.
I agree. Let the man have communion. Think of all the sinning priests who consecrate. It is still valid according to the Church. If a sinner can consecrate ….. then let the sinner partake.
You really hate the sinner, don’t you, to want him commit the grievous sin of receiving communion unworthily.
Both the wicked and the good
Eat of this celestial Food:
But with ends how opposite!
Here ’tis life: and there ’tis death:
The same, yet issuing to each
In a difference infinite.
The problem is also that allowing Mr. Biden to receive Communion in effect aids and abets his imperiling his soul by committing mortal sin. Try to think of it this way: Would you bear some responsibility if you gave a mass murderer his weapon, knowing full well what he would do with it? Biden made the choice to commit the sin, and Dolan would aid and abet him.
Is this comment from Dolan’s former auxiliary in Milwaukee?
Where is it that he advocates for abortion? If in the Fathers eyes Vice President Biden advocates abortion does the Father advocate Priest abusing children?
Joe Biden himself testifies that he promotes and believes in abortion, and he has moved further and further in promoting abortion to the point of just this year doing an about face and publicly abandoning any limit on it whatsoever, to win more votes in his political party.
And since you brought up the subject of sex abuse, and since the sex abuser par excellence Theodore McCarrick is the creator of “the policy” of not caring about giving Holy Communion to the leaders of the political abortion lobby, the very policy Cardinal Dolan promotes now, we can, using the nexus you suggest between these 2 topics, and applying the commutative property of vice and mediocrity, conclude that in the same manner that Dolan imitates McCarrick on Holy Communion, that Dolan advocates that we need more priests like McCarrick abusing children.
So you see, there is no escaping the imprisonment of your comment.
Cardinal Dolan has no internal convictions about anything. He is in New York through the “friendship” of his pal, Cardinal James Harvey. Cardinal Harvey is another “person of interest.” He would have been at the side of Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict and for a while, Pope Francis, I believe, all the while Cardinal McCarrick was bringing his millions to the Vatican. This hypocrisy is one of the main reasons so many people I know have left the Catholic Church. They all see through Cardinal Dolan.
We know Dolan wouldn’t do it. He is as of the world as you can get.
The abortionist was running late.
The consecration of the Eucharist had passed and Holy Communion was being administered.
He approached the priest and held out his hand. The Host was placed in a red-tinged palm.
For a moment, their eyes met…
Cardinal Dolan is absolutely WRONG! The Church is going through a very different time! Do we believe what we teach and are willing to stand by Christ or do we not and are we not? Either we DO or we DON’T! Period
“I’ve never had what you might call the opportunity, or I’ve never said ‘Uh oh, should I give him or her Holy Communion’, it’s never come up. Sure could,” Dolan said.”
In NYC? Oh, please. He’s either delusional or something worse.
Carl, you should not have chimed in. Would you also recommend giving Speaker Pelosi of California Jesus; one not only pro abortion, but who stated that we no longer needed God, because we have the Democratic party! Must be all that smoke fogging up your perception of evil.
Sorry, Carl. I misjudged you didn’t i.
Biden at the beginning of his career expressed reservations about abortion, was ambivalent about Roe v Wade, supported banning partial birth abortions, and opposed federal funding for abortion. He has reversed all those positions in an attempt to ingratiate himself to his party’s far left (and pro-death) wing. He walked a tightrope for decades between his faith and the ideology of his party, and ultimately he has chosen ideology over faith.
If there was doubt before on whether or not Biden should be denied communion, that doubt has now been removed.
therein lies the problem. Prelates unwilling to enforce the Church’s law. Where has that theme reared its ugly head before???
While Dolan’s point is well-taken that the priest cares for souls and is not the Church’s policeman, he overlooks the obvious point that THE PREVENTION OF SCANDAL IS CARING FOR SOULS. That is true for the one giving he scandal and those influenced by it.
The Cardinal unwittingly lumps Biden in with the whole corpus of sinful souls as if all are equally notorious. Clearly, the priest in no policeman–nor should he be. People ought to be properly instructed (e.g. those divorced and remarried, and the typical sinful souls) and then left to act on their own conscience to act. An example would be a case like Dennis and Georgean. They both abstain. But there are others who do not, so I offer good reminders and to help in any way I’m able (i.e. regularize the situation). And of course, you know a situation or two yourself.
But Biden and his ilk are of an entirely different order. He is a public, notorious defector from Church teaching on a matter as grave as abortion, so he publicly chooses to disconnect himself from the holy communion that is the Church and therefore should abstain from the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
What Dolan also overlooks is that the priest is not only entrusted to care for souls, but he is charged to care for the Sacraments and safeguard them.
Regarding biden and communion: most priests do not ask and would say leave it to your own conscience and the judgment of Jesus Christ. But when you are a public figure and publicly deny the teachings of the Church, specifically on abortion, you place the priest in the position of being a hypocrite and a knowing participant in a mortal sin. Isn’t it a sin to knowing cause another to sin and giving communion to the likes of biden and pelosi whose public policies defy the teaching of the Church may cause others to sin. I will join this priest in a prayer that biden and pelosi both publicly recants their opposition to the teaching of the Church and comes back to a sanctified communion with our Lord Jesus Christ. My new moto, “I refuse to be confused.”
Regarding biden and communion: most priests do not ask and would say leave it to your own conscience and the judgment of Jesus Christ. But when you are a public figure and publicly deny the teachings of the Church, specifically on abortion, you place the priest in the position of being a hypocrite and a knowingly participant in a mortal sin. Isn’t it a sin to knowing cause another to sin and giving communion to the likes of biden and pelosi whose public policies defy the teaching of the Church may cause others to sin. I will join this priest in a prayer that biden and pelosi both publicly recants their opposition to the teaching of the Church and comes back to a sanctified communion with our Lord Jesus Christ. My new moto, “I refuse to be confused.”
What would Jesus do in this situation? We know exactly what Jesus did on the first Eucharist. Jesus shared his body and blood with Judas who he knew had already betrayed Him. Jesus did not withhold His Most Holy Communion. Maybe a priest who withholds Communion thinks he is holier and better able to judge than Jesus.
“Jesus shared his body and blood with Judas who he knew had already betrayed Him.”
Jesus allowed Judas, and also allows Biden et al, to receive unworthily and thus bring judgment upon themselves, as St. Paul teaches. Almighty God allows everyone to fashion a noose out of the rope He gives us. However, that does not negate the Priest’s responsibility as explained in Canon 915.
Can. 915 Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion.(emphasis added)
Probably…not.
Forgetting something, aren’t you?
Only Christ knew of Judas and his action. It was not public and known by the other apostles and followers.
The sin of scandal – leading others to sin – did
not apply to Judas at that time.
Steven:
The Lasr Supper is not analogous at all, since Judas’ betrayal was a secret, unknown to the apostles (the other communicants).
Biden’s betrayal is publicly known. Canon 915 is about publicly known grave offenses.
Cardinal Dolan is committing a very big error and is very wrong about Holy Communion.
It was McCarrick himself, in league with Wilton Gregory and Donald Wuerl, who in 2004 deceitfully crafted the position declared by Cardinal Dolan. This is a published fact exposed in 2004.
Cardinal Dolan is imprisoned by “the mind of McCarrick.”
St. Paul replies that “we have the mind of Christ.”
And St. Paul says that what Cardinal Dolan suggests we allow him and other like-minded Bishops to ignore is “profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 11: 26-27.
St. Paul and Father Morey are good shepherds.
Cardinal Dolan is, wittingly or unwittingly, doing the bidding of the sociopath sex abuser and fraud McCarrick. There is no escaping that.
It’s a big deal, and Cardinal Dolan wants the easy way out. Jesus counsels Him, and all of us instead: “try to enter by the narrow door. Because the way is wide and the path is easy that leads to destruction.”
The following is the instruction Cardinal McCarrick refused to honestly convey to the U.S. bishops:
Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion
General Principles
by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
1. Presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion should be a conscious decision, based on a reasoned judgment regarding one’s worthiness to do so, according to the Church’s objective criteria, asking such questions as: “Am I in full communion with the Catholic Church? Am I guilty of grave sin? Have I incurred a penalty (e.g. excommunication, interdict) that forbids me to receive Holy Communion? Have I prepared myself by fasting for at least an hour?” The practice of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion, merely as a consequence of being present at Mass, is an abuse that must be corrected (cf. Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” nos. 81, 83).
2. The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin. The Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorize or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a “grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. […] In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to ‘take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law or vote for it’” (no. 73). Christians have a “grave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God’s law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. […] This cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it” (no. 74).
3. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
4. Apart from an individual’s judgment about his worthiness to present himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone, such as in cases of a declared excommunication, a declared interdict, or an obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin (cf. can. 915).
5. Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.
6. When “these precautionary measures have not had their effect or in which they were not possible,” and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, “the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it” (cf. Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts Declaration “Holy Communion and Divorced, Civilly Remarried Catholics” [2002], nos. 3-4). This decision, properly speaking, is not a sanction or a penalty. Nor is the minister of Holy Communion passing judgment on the person’s subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person’s public unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin.
[N.B. A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.]
To the contrary, your Eminence, denying Communion to Cuomo would hardly be “punishing him.” It is merely giving him what he asked for. He has declared utter contempt for the Catholic Church, its doctrine and the morality it espouses. Denying him Communion is enabling him to be morally consistent and exhibit integrity. A good thing and welcome change from his perspective.
The man never fails to disappoint. The one of the poster children for the decomposition of American Catholicism.
So much more could be written.
” Hail fellow well met”. That old English expression perfectly describes Dolan. He has very few core values except ambition.
Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion
General Principles,
by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
Cardinal Dolan,
You are by now familiar with the above document in spite of the fact that that enemy of the Church and of the human race, Cardinal McCarrick, attempted to suppress it. It seems that you and many other bishops are still operating according to the spin McCarrick put on it instead of according to the clearly set forth instructions for the U.S. bishops in this CDF document.
According to these instructions, Biden’s “Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.” Surely this has already happened at some point in Biden’s long, public advocacy of “legal” baby murder. So what excuse is there for allowing him to receive communion when the CDF’s instructions informed the U.S. bishops that he should then be denied it if he persists in his “objective situation of sin,” which he most certainly has?
There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever, yet you say you wouldn’t deny Biden communion.
The instructions state that “The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin” and in the nota bene the instructions also state that “A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia.”
If a Catholic is “unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion” if he votes for a candidate because the candidate favors “legal” baby murder then doing so is a mortal sin. Are the U.S. bishops going to inform the laity that it is a mortal sin to vote for the Democrat presidential candidate if they do so because he/she favors “legal” abortion?
If a Catholic “votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.” If there are no proportionate reasons then it is gravely sinful to vote a pro-abortion candidate. Period.
Are there proportionate reasons considering the following?
— Tolerating “legal” baby-murder in a democracy with a government of, by and for the people places the ultimate responsibility for the mass murder continuing squarely on the citizens. For Christians with the freedom to use peaceful political means to end it, failing to do so is rendering unto Caesar authority over innocent humanity that belongs to God alone. That is idolatry.
— Worldwide, two-billion innocent human beings have been murdered through “legal” abortion in the last fifty years. That is more people than the entire human population of planet Earth at the beginning of the 20th century. What could be more urgent than ending the greatest holocaust of innocent human beings in the history of the world?
— Tolerating the disposal of innocent humanity by the billions like so much garbage undermines, and in fact renders meaningleless and unbelievable, Catholic Social Teaching based on the inherent dignity and God-given, inviolable rights of humanity, which is ALL of CST. Not to mention the fact that it is abandoning Christ in the least of His brethren, for which Christ made clear we would burn in Hell for doing.
In light of the above, there are no proportionate reasons for voting for the Democrat presidential candidate, which is why Archbishop Emeritus of La Plata, Argentina, Hector Aguer, declared that
If the U.S. bishops do not make this clear to the laity before the 2020 elections, they place their eternal salvation in jeopardy.
“We’re talking about life and death and the Church” – Cardinal Dolan
We are also talking about the most visible ‘Catholic’ in the country – of whom it is entirely reasonable to expect that at least he might defend the Church’s values, especially in this matter – openly defying for years the Church’s positions on abortion and same-sex marriage, causing scandal.
I decided to repost one of my replies here from back in September 2018 when Dolan was addressing that investigation, “Leave no stone unturned.” It applies here. It always applies IMO, just like the same photo (used in this article above as in other articles) that photo that gets recycled here of Dolan raising his eyebrows, making a point, finger pointed, lips “precise,” about to speak:
There is no better bad actor than Dolan. That’s his greatest strength in that he is able to wield phoniness of the order of he knows that you know that he knows that you know. He hits you with this, his awareness of your awareness, and you can easily mistake that “truth” for some actual, specific truth or “his” truthfulness.
BTW I wish I had a dollar for every homily I have heard or for every statement made by Church leadership (including Bergoglio) with zero understanding only perversion and evasion of the Scriptural meaning of “being judgmental” and “Do not judge.”
The next time you hear some twisted example, cringe-worthy analogy regarding “being judgmental” at your local parish… say something…with your mouth to the priest-homilist and if necessary with your donations.
It is no wonder that New York is in such moral decay…they have no true shepherd leading them. The comments made by Cardinal Dolan are disgraceful.
Cardinal Dolan is such a terrible Cardinal. He goes on like a sports commentator trying to make excuses for his failures. In this case he even says denying communion in a snap decision would be wrong. If a situation is serious enough that a Priest knows someone is unworthy its not a snap decision. Dolan KNOWS Biden’s history and the horror behind abortion yet he would stand there an give the body and blood of Jesus to someone that does not follow his teaching and who supports killing babies for power and profit. Dolan is willing to lead souls to hell for his personal fame and fortune (take a look at his residence(s) and his lifestyle among the rich.
Wow, most of the comments I’ve read here are judging – judging Cardinal Dolan and those who commented in his favor.
First the person who stated Luke 12: 57 – do you realize that verse is about judging yourself not others. There are plenty of verses that warn us of the sin of judging others.
The “person” offering communion is not our judge – God is. I commend the priest for his public acknowledgement that Biden sinned but as Dolan said everyone who walks up to the communion table has sinned. It’s between you and God. If you take communion without repentance and then continue to commit that sin only God will judge you on that final day. I believe to deny offering communion and so judging that person’s heart denies that person the opportunity of getting right with God.
Voters decide whether or not a politician gains the power to do evil and if Biden or any other candidate continues to support abortion I pray that righteous people will vote him out.
My first mandate for a candidate is that he or she is pro-life. Is that how you vote?
Beverly—so now are we to opt for NON-JUDGMENTAL JUDGMENTALISM? Maybe the issue doesn’t rise to the level of judgmentalism, and isn’t about the spiritual stature of individual persons at all. Maybe it’s as simple as whether an adolescent in the driver’s seat “gets it” about, say, a curfew…
Except in this case it’s about whether a captive-audience parish or diocese should be willy-nilly scandalized sacramentally by a public-person given to NOTORIOUS infractions of the moral law. For this person and all of us to “get it” about abortion we can simply think of the Israelite’s notorious sacrificing of their own children to Baal.
So, thinking at a level MORE BASIC than judgmentalism, in the ecclesial world acquiescent silence might be called “fraternal collegiality.” In the corporate world, systemic self-insulation is disguised and excused as “plausible deniability.” And in post-Christian culture as a whole, the universal solvent is the non-judgmental “whatever” mentality (or non-mentality).
The universal term for such INATTENTION—more elementary than any “judgmentalism”—surely merits its own vocabulary. Something analogous to “bovine spongiform encephalopathy” (BSE), that is, “mad cow disease.” Mad cow disease was a nation-wide fright only a few decades back. Authorities (judgmentally?) cleared all the supermarket meat shelves.
Mad cow disease is a transmissible, progressive, degenerative, and fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of adult cattle AND infected human populations. It alters and dissolves nervous system tissue itself, disabling the brain and spinal cord. . . and backbone.
SILENCE: no capacity at all for any action (or alleged judgmentalism). SO, as for Cardinal Dolan and the routine BSE-analogous option, “I wouldn’t do it.”
“the communion table ”
It’s an altar, not a table.
“I commend the priest for his public acknowledgement that Biden sinned but as Dolan said everyone who walks up to the communion table has sinned.”
Not everyone who walks up to the altar is formally cooperating in manifest grave sin. People who are are doing so should not be walking up to the altar to receive the Body of Christ.
“It’s between you and God.”
If you are formally cooperating with manifest grave sin, it’s not just between you and God.
“If you take communion without repentance and then continue to commit that sin only God will judge you on that final day.”
Meanwhile, the priest who knows that you are publicly sinning is protecting you from committing the sin of sacrilege, and possibly giving your conscience a jolt that it desperately needs.
“I believe to deny offering communion and so judging that person’s heart denies that person the opportunity of getting right with God.”
You believe wrongly. Receiving Communion unworthily is not “getting right with God,” it’s committing yet another sin.
How does the Magisterium expect the laity to have respect for its members and further expect them to follow Church teaching especially on abortion when you have unfaithful members like Archbishop Wilton Gregory and Cardinal Dolan who give communion to people who cause grievous scandal like Joe Biden. Giving scandal to the faithful doesn’t get much worse than the supposed future president of the US.