Creating wiggle room

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Nov 18, 2004

Cardinal McCarrick has reported to his brother bishops on the thorny question of denying Communion to people who support the unrestricted, government-subsidized, slaughter of the innocent.

There isn't much news, really. The status quo is holding. The bishops will continue to talk things over. And then, this:

The Committee on Doctrine, with assistance from the Committee on Pastoral Practices, has agreed to take up the matter of Church teaching on the proper disposition to receive Holy Communion, not only for politicians, but for all of us.

This new study by a committee of US bishops is deemed necessary, you see, because the Catechism, the Code of Canon Law, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Redemptionis Sacramentum, Cardinal Ratzinger's letter to Cardinal McCarrick. and the Vatican's Doctrinal note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life-- which all cover the same subject, and say the same thing-- have left the American hierarchy with one nagging question:

"How do we squirrel our way out of this?"