It is ironic that Cardinal Dolan should have the gall to speak publicly on Church policy related to giving Communion (or not) to public figures who visibly disdain the Body and Blood of Christ. This is even a debate? Yes, unfortunately, and for all the wrong reasons. The South Carolina priest, Fr. Robert Morey, is receiving kudos from various faithful opinion leaders for having refused Communion to the prior VP of the US, Joe Biden, due to his very visible support of abortion. Dolan should have done the same thing himself, a long time ago. How many babies would have survived had he been willing to face up to his responsibility with the Joe Bidens and Andrew Cuomos of the world?
But Cardinal Dolan is more concerned, NOT about supporting a priest who meets his obligations, but about spending Diocesan funds to advertise on the New York Yankees games, to applaud gay activists marching into St. Francis Xavier Church in NYS, and to pave the way for LGBT marchers in the iconic NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade, often posing as a chortling media caricature. And with his loudly expressed judgment against a faithful priest of another diocese, how much encouragement can we expect the priests of the NYC Diocese to receive to ‘do the right thing?’
Matters are well-summarized in a Church Militant Transcript here: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/dolan-refuses-to-bar-pro-aborts-from-holy-communion
Cardinal Dolan seems incapable of taking the ‘heads up’ position of spiritual responsibility. In the picture we ran several years ago, he even has his back to then-VP Joe Biden, and can claim that he didn’t ‘know’ the controversial politician was present! And in the Transcript he brags that he has never had the need to deny anyone Communion. Yeah, right! St. Paul could not be clearer about the sacrilege of receiving Communion unworthily. What we have is a failure to teach, through example as well as words, the fullness of Christ’s Church. What we have is not ignorance, but willful disobedience. We have a Prince of the Church witnessing the actual commission of a serious sin and, by ignoring it, he is posing as more merciful or righteous than the Son of God?
Cardinal Dolan has chosen to call ‘tails’ in the coin-flip, as when an animal in the wild turns tail and runs away from danger. Tails is the wrong call. But here is what he might consider doing to protect souls and reflect his duty. His Eminence should consider making a very clear, unwaffled announcement that, to the extent his refusal to stop someone from clearly and unworthily receiving Communion causes a serious sin to be laid upon that person’s soul, the Cardinal beseeches God to hold that sin and ALL such sins of his negligence to his own account. Then I might believe he is acting for the good of souls and not out of his own fear of unpopularity.
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Followup: Nov 1st
Today Cardinal Dolan again got to try to explain his opinion re Communion for pro-abortion politicians; this time on FOX News. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/asked-about-denying-pro-abortion-joe-biden-communion-cdl-dolan-says-i-wouldnt-do-it
Where the Cardinal fails to make the appropriate point, in my opinion, is in considering the politician as repenting separate from any public renouncement of the immoral position. Politicians who immorally influence voters and legislation and then privately “repent” leave the damage done to souls and the scandal created against the Church unaddressed. It is not just a matter of “not knowing the state of a person’s soul” but rather a matter of knowing exactly how the Church and other souls are continuing to be damaged and are entitled to be relieved.