Baltimore, Md., Nov 20, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco sat down with CNA for an interview during a break in the proceedings of the U.S. bishops’ fall meeting in Baltimore last week.
Cordileone, a staunch advocate for the unborn, spoke out against Proposition 1, a ballot initiative to add the “right to abortion” to California’s constitution, which received over 66% of the vote in the 2022 midterm elections. One week later, the archbishop shared his thoughts on what is next for the pro-life movement, his hopes for the bishops’ Eucharistic revival initiative, and how to address a lack of trust that priests have for their bishops. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
The pro-life movement suffered a defeat in California with the passage of Proposition 1. What advice do you have for opponents of abortion in this post-Dobbs political climate?
We have to keep doing what we have been doing. I think the key is this “Walking with Moms in Need” [the U.S. bishops’ nationwide initiative to assist pregnant and parenting women]. We have to continue holding up what is real compassion for a woman in that situation, who’s scared, isolated, full of anxiety, under all kinds of pressure, and feeling lonely. She needs to be surrounded with love and support.
The answer is not violence. The answer is not killing. The answer is love and support. And we need to hold up, and I would hope – but I see a growing resistance to it – that even those who favor keeping abortion legal would favor giving women the full range of options. If she’s given information about what’s going on inside of her, if she’s given information about what her options are, and is given love and support and we walk with her, she will opt for life. I know this from crisis pregnancy clinics, that when they’re given that information, and they’re given love and support, 95% opt for life. So what we really need is for women to have real choice.
Unfortunately, women who are in the lower income [brackets] don’t really have choice. So we need to give them real choice. I think that’s the way we build the culture of life. Laws are important, and political advocacy is important. Our pro-life manifestations are important to help raise consciousness about it. But in a bitterly polarized society, we need to support the women in these situations and show where true love and compassion is.
That’s why I’m horrified at the hostility toward crisis pregnancy clinics. That’s all about love and support, and even beyond the birth of the child, making sure she and her baby are OK. This is the most worrying sign to me — the attacks on the crisis pregnancy clinics. And our leaders are not speaking out against it and being active in protecting them, and in fact, are denigrating them.
Considering how Proposition 1 succeeded, how can you move the needle on this issue? Do you put more money into Walking with Mothers in Need? Or do you put your efforts into doing a better job on communications?
Well, it’s all of the above. That’s a good question, “Where do we put the emphasis?” We do need better communication about it. Because we’re up against a lot with that, especially with the false narratives that are being perpetrated about these clinics. And I think the best thing is for women to tell their stories, women who have gone through this experience. We need women to tell their stories and let it get out there because it’s the personal story that touches hearts. And that’s what begins to change the conversation.
How do you reach young women who support abortion because they think it may be necessary for their personal success?
Yes. I think they need to be walked with, as well. Why would it get in the way of their career or their education? Why can’t she continue with her education, or begin her career and bring the baby to term, and if she wants to, put the child up for adoption? We need to emphasize adoption a lot more. Are universities prepared to support their women students in giving birth? Are the health care services offered? Do they have that prenatal care available? What if she has to absent herself from class? Can she do online instruction during the time she has to be away? Even something as simple as diaper changing stations? So do they have all of that? And if not, then where’s the equality? The man doesn’t have to worry about that. We can just walk away and continue, but the woman can’t. She’s facing very hard choices. Why aren’t they giving her the support? Where’s the equality in that?
In your view, what is the most troubling issue of our day?
The most urgent crisis today is the attack on life in the womb, and the lack of support for women who are in need to be able to make a choice for life. I’d say, the celebration of abortion as a good. You know, it was originally something that people said was a necessary evil, then it became a choice. And then it became health care. Now they’re calling it reproductive freedom, which can mean all kinds of things. And now it’s celebrated as a good. So I’d say that’s the most, most urgent and critical issue we need to react to.
What are your hopes for the Eucharistic revival? Are you seeing enthusiasm for it, and do you think the initiative will bear fruit?
We’re having these processions with the Blessed Sacrament from the four parts of the country. And the one from the West Coast, as it turns out – I didn’t suggest it – but it’s starting from our cathedral. So as plans start coming together it’s starting to generate some excitement. So I’d say that it has a lot of potential, but it’s always the takeaway: What’s going to change afterwards? It can’t be just a happy memory. It has to change the way we treat the Eucharist, the way we regard it, the way we prepare for Mass, and the way Mass is celebrated and carried out. All of that has to change – the quality of preaching, the frequency of confession, all these. There has to be some change. That’s the takeaway, but I’m hoping that this three-year Eucharistic revival will be a catalyst for that.
What in particular about the Mass needs to change?
How the Blessed Sacrament is handled and how people prepare to receive Communion respectfully. There’s a lot of goodwill out there. I think people just need better formation and awareness about it. So I do think there’s a lot to work on.
Some Catholics think the only way to properly and respectfully receive Communion is on the tongue. Could this be an idea that could resonate with most people or even many bishops?
I wonder the same thing. That’s a good example of the casualness with which a lot of people treat the Eucharist. It’s very easy to be casual when receiving in the hand. It’s a lot more challenging to preserve reverence for the Eucharist when it’s given in the hands. If we are going to do it, we have to be very intentional about it. When I was a pastor, I would regularly instruct people about how to receive Communion properly. Actually at Sunday Mass for the homily, I would demonstrate how to receive on the tongue as well as in the hand. I’d see it happen, and the priests on Monday would find hosts on the floor, under the pews, or in the pages of a missalette. So I had the ushers at the Communion station to make sure people did not walk off with the host.
You know, [Catholics] used to have to fast from midnight [the night before Mass], and be on their knees, and receive only on the tongue. We need to have some kind of practical measures in place, reminders to people of who they are receiving when they are receiving communion. Never has communion been treated so casually, In any of the apostolic churches, in any of the Eastern Rites, or in the West. So this is a new thing we’re trying to grapple with.
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No wonder Pelosi is scared of this man, and I would wager that Biden is too.
Things I’d love to see but I know I never will – Cordileone & Chaput ‘dialoguing’ with Pelosi and Biden.
I would love to see him talking sense to the, charitably speaking, ignorant man sitting in the Chair of Peter.
Removing prayer from the public schools, the abuses of the documents of Vatican II, and the legalization of abortion have been the evil triad from hell twisting and maiming the soul of America. Handling the Host during Holy Communion shows the decline of the fear, reverence, and love of our King, Jesus Christ. God bless you Archbishop. You are a beacon of light in the midst of evil.
Archbishop Cordileone definitely stands out from most of his fellow bishops. And, Walking with Moms is a very worthwhile endeavor. I will point out that crisis pregnancy centers have existed for a long time, and have been primarily an initiative of the laity.
We do hear frequently that both the mother and the unborn baby are victims. This is not always the case. Planned Parenthood’s own statistics say that 40% of those seeking abortion are repeats – 2nd, 3rd, etc., abortions. They are using it as birth control. They also say that 86% of women seeking abortion are single. The immorality of cohabiting, of adultery, of fornication needs to be preached. I do not see it or hear it.
I am grateful for the Dobbs decision. But, it did not represent a change in anyone’s views on abortion. It represented a change in personnel on the Supreme Court (thanks to Trump). In 1865 our country declared that no state had the right to vote to enslave anyone. The Dobbs decision declared that states had the right to vote to murder unborn babies. Seems like a step back in that regard.
I question the Bishops decision to walk with “mothers in need” and not “parents in need” or “families in need.”
With whom are you walking? Just a question, b/c it is so easy to criticize, is it not? What are you doing to help the tragedy of abortion? Anything?
I taught NFP; I wrote letters opposing contraception and fornication. I tried reaching out to pastors with information on NFP. No easy task, especially when one’s bishop publicly stated that the contraception issue is full of nuance and one cannot make generalizations.
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There is a very, very serious problem of men and women engaging in fornication and the consequences that follow. Monica Miller has noted it and would appear to want us to have that discussion:
“Sadly, health care experts, social workers, educators and clergy are simply unwilling to discuss, much less even admit, the true causes of Detroit’s staggering abortion rate.
After 35 years of helping inner-city women in crisis pregnancy, I can say with confidence that the abortion cocktail is mixed with two lethal ingredients: sexual activity without marriage and the irresponsibility of men who beget children and do not father them.” (CWR, End Roe, and then fight the primary cause of abortion, June 8, 2022)
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Never hesitate to stand up to anyone for Christ. If a bishop is a fool, tell him precisely that. Tell him he is a coward for taking refuge in a meaningless euphamism like “nuance.” You never disrespect an office when you demand that one one occupying respect his.
Said Bishop has passed away many years ago
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Perhaps the main thing missing from his reflections on the Eucharist is the regular instruction to his clergy. Take hours to prepare inspiring homilies that make a difference for a lay person. Read the Gospels and pray the Eucharistic Prayer with a proper pace. Treat people with reverence. Take time distributing Communion and reject making it an assembly line. Irreverent priests have always outnumbered Communion stuck between hymnal pages.
I meant to mention that the archbishop brings up an important point in alluding to how we receive communion today has resulted in a lack of belief in the real presence.
He can’t quite bring himself to recommend returning to the previous practice of having a communion rail, kneeling, and receiving on the tongue. Instead he says we need “reminders to people of who they are receiving.
Strangely enough the Church still lists communion on the tongue as the ordinary way to receive, and communion in the hand as the extraordinary way to receive. Of course in practice, it is just the opposite. I don’t expect any change because too many people in high places are too invested in the changes to remove alter rails, distribute in the hand, etc. It would be hard for them to admit that they made a mistake.
“That’s why I’m horrified at the hostility toward crisis pregnancy clinics”, Cordileone not surprised, rather horrified. Why?
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone likely senses the hatred. Hate for unnecessary life. Humans created in God’s image expendable. Most haters of innocence in the womb, as most others observe are all in with transex and the entire horrifying gamut of sexual perversity – including indoctrination of the survivors of abortion our children. We’re an obstruction to their image of life created in their own terms for secular social justice, elimination of hardship, practicality, comfort and pleasure perverse or otherwise inspired by the Evil One.
As Archbishop Cordileone advocates, we must continue to address with conviction and love [rather than the violence secular social justice advocates inflict on us and the innocent in the womb.
Our own Church reflects the vacuum of moral leadership throuhout a world that rejects self-sacrifice. The pervasive spirit of moral theology for more than half a century has been to generate sophistries that treat life’s natural and ennobling hardships as experiences to be avoided, including a troubled conscience. And for the same period of time the scandal has gone largely unchallenged. Good prelates have only wispered when depraved theologians have voiced their evil. How I miss the late Monsignor William Smith who used to never hesitate to call out idiotic voices within the Church for what they were, loudly, on public media. We need such a groudswell.
It seems a simple thing to bring back the altar rail and have people on their knees again. More would receive on the tongue as we would be still and looking up!. We need to proclaim it more to our Bishops.