non serviam

By Diogenes ( articles ) | May 01, 2004

BISHOP SAYS HE WON'T SERVE COMMUNION TO N.J. GOVERNOR

Thus the AP headlines a story on Bishop Galante of Camden and New Jersey's pro-abort governor James McGreevey. To speak of "serving" Communion betrays ignorance of Catholic teaching, obviously, but the mistake is a telling one. It indicates that, for many educated people, in administering the Eucharist the Church is acting the role of a hostess passing out appetizers to her party guests. Refusing a nibble on a Triscuit to non-Catholics at a wedding Mass or to doctrinal defectors in an election year comes across as a kind of ill-mannered petulance, a snub.

The Communion-as-Canapé Fallacy is given a boost by many Catholics, such as the Australian Bishop David Walker, who believes the Church is called to "Eucharistic Hospitality" by sharing her snacks with other boys and girls. Kumbaya Ecumenism has contributed, not to a greater appreciation of different traditions, but to increased resentment when the Church exercises authority over her patrimony: "She served Jason and Melinda but not me!"