LifeSiteNews.com recently reported that one so-called Catholic pro-abortion Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), has been feeling “uncomfortable” over potentially being denied Holy Communion by bishops and priests in America.
Good. It’s about time.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has made headlines in recent months as they’ve been looking to establish policy for dealing with public figures who flout Church teaching, yet still expect to receive the sacrament. Durbin, who has been barred from receiving the Body of Christ in Communion at his home parish for nearly 20 years, is feeling a newfound sense of unease over the issue.
Durbin is pro-abortion, a political position that flies in the face of Church teaching that states abortion is a grave evil, meaning that to promote the child-killing procedure means Durbin is in a state of sin. According to additional Church teaching, individuals who are in a state of grave sin should not be receiving communion, as it’s a sacrilege and constitutes another grave sin.
Durbin had previously come to terms with being barred from receiving communion in his home diocese in Springfield, Illinois since 2004 and had since found a diocese that would overlook his sacrilege – the Archdiocese of Chicago. But in June, the USCCB voted to draft a document that would explore establishing policy in dealing with politicians who promote abortion. This recent vote, Durbin says, has made things “complicated” for him.
“I found another Catholic venue, the Archdiocese of Chicago, and a church where they were willing to let me in and allowed my wife to join me. So it’s become my new faith home,” he recently told liberal Catholic rag America Magazine.
But because of the USCCB decision, he added, “now that’s been complicated again.”
Oh no. Sounds like someone fears some accountability.
Durbin expressed the discomfort he has previously felt over that kind of pressure, trying to convey what he could end up going through again.
“But it is uncomfortable," he said. "I am careful when I go to a church that I have never been to before for any kind of occasion. You just don’t quite know what kind of reaction you’re going to get from local clergy.”
The Senator also mentioned that he’s worried about the judgment from the congregation as well.
“And it may not be just the priest, it could be members of the congregation. I’ve had occasions where they’ve written letters and showed up to protest and such," he went on, adding that he now tries to keep a “low-profile” at Church.
Yeah, we understand. It’s hard to look good while being a flagrant hypocrite.
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In the interview, Durbin seemed to think that his appeal to respecting pro-life Catholics means he should get cut some slack, saying he does “respect those who disagree with me on the issue of abortion” but decried that many in the church have made abortion “the one take-it-or-leave-it issue for participating in Communion.”
First of all, Senator, Church teaching on the issue is not democratic. It isn’t a free-for-all. Abortion is a grave sin, and as LifeSiteNews reminded us, the church has been against it since the “first century A.D.” You should not receive Christ Himself in Communion if you are promoting grave sin. That’s church teaching, even if it hurts your feelings.
Second, it’s not the Church's “one take-it-or-leave-it,” issue, so much as it’s an obvious issue and flagrant display of hypocrisy. There’s a real issue with many Dems insisting they’re Catholics while supporting the destruction of human life through abortion. Look at “Devout Catholic” Biden, for example.
It’s about the Church taking a stance on obvious abuse that is being whitewashed by the media. If our nation’s leaders get away with insisting they're godly men while destroying His human children, what example does it set for confused faithful if the Church says nothing?