Catholics for Choice Denounces U.S. Bishops for Weaponizing the Eucharist Against Pro-Choice Catholics
WASHINGTON – Catholics for Choice, which uplifts and amplifies the voices of the majority of Catholics who believe in reproductive freedom, denounced the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) today for voting to create a document about the Eucharist that they intend to use to deny Communion to supporters of abortion rights, most notably Joe Biden, the nation’s first pro-choice Catholic president.
Catholics for Choice President Jamie L. Manson said:
“We are profoundly saddened that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has chosen to continue its unholy crusade against President Biden and other pro-choice Catholics, despite the objections of many of their own members, the Vatican, and the overwhelming majority of the people in the pews. To use the Eucharist – the Body of Christ and the central unifying ritual of our church – as a weapon of punishment is a grotesque and reprehensible betrayal of the power of the Sacraments.
“For all of the pain of this moment, we are heartened by a core minority of bishops who bravely spoke out against this move. It is rare to see members of the hierarchy break ranks in such a public way. It offers a glimmer of hope that, perhaps someday, church leaders will be open to dialogue about the moral complexities of all issues related to sexuality and reproduction.
“In a country and church already riven with tension and division, today the bishops chose to be partisan instead of pastoral, cruel rather than Christ-like. They have chosen to disobey Jesus’s command to ‘feed one another,’ but everyday U.S. Catholics – 67 percent of whom oppose withholding Communion and other Sacraments from supporters of abortion rights – will continue to know better and do better.”
Catholics for Choice shapes and advances sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflect a commitment to a person’s well-being and respect, and affirm the capacity of all people to make moral decisions about their lives.