Archbishop criticizes bishops who opposed Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame

August 28, 2009

Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa Fe has criticized the dozens of bishops who publicly opposed President Barack Obama’s appearance at the University of Notre Dame.

Claiming that the majority of bishops agree with him, Archbishop Sheehan told the National Catholic Reporter that “the bishops don’t want to have a battle in public with each other, but I think the majority of bishops in the country didn’t join in with that, would not be in agreement with that approach. It’s well intentioned, but we don’t lose our dignity by being strong in the belief that we have but also talking to others that don’t have our belief ... We’d be like the Amish, you know, kind of isolated from society, if we kept pulling back because of a single issue”

Withholding Holy Communion from pro-abortion politicians, the archbishop added, is a "hysterical" reaction-- despite Canon 915’s clear provision that priests have the obligation to withhold Holy Communion from those who “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin.”

 

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Further information:

• Bishop decries 'combative tactics' of a minority of U.S. bishops (National Catholic Reporter)
• Pontifical Council For Legislative Texts, Declaration on Canon 915 (Concerning The Admission To Holy Communion Of Faithful Who Are Divorced And Remarried)