Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Springfield Diocese recently issued a public decree prohibiting all Illinois Catholic lawmakers who voted for the state’s new Reproductive Health Act, which legalized taxpayer funding of abortions, from receiving Holy Communion in his diocese.
According to this decree, these Catholic lawmakers are being punished “because they have obstinately persisted in promoting the abominable crime and very grave sin of abortion.” Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both Democrats and Catholics, voted for the legislation and have both defended their stand against the extreme measures of Bishop Paprocki.
This decree is ill-advised, unhelpful and will be counterproductive. It also puts the Roman Catholic Church in a bad light. Contemporary Catholicism has long left behind the era when church officials used draconian and punitive measures and threats of hellfire to compel the minds and hearts of Catholics. This decree should be rescinded because it is not an appropriate and effective means of engaging Catholic politicians in their public role as representatives of all citizens.
Denial of sacraments or threats of excommunication from Catholic bishops against Catholic politicians for supporting abortion rights is not unusual in the United States. For over a decade, Bishop Paprocki has denied Sen Dick Durbin, D-Ill., communion for his stance favoring abortion rights. The Associated Press also reported that some Vatican officials have said that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be denied the Eucharist for her support of abortion rights. However, none of these prohibitions has changed the position of those Catholic politicians. These bans also have not shifted the perception of the church’s teaching on abortion, either in the general public or among Catholics who favor abortion rights.
According to a Pew Research Center survey from September 2018, U.S. Catholics are divided along party lines when it comes to abortion. Among Catholic Republicans and GOP leaners, 55% say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, identical to the share among all Republicans. At the same time, 64% of Catholic Democrats and Democratic leaners say abortion should be legal in all or most cases — slightly lower than the share for Democrats overall (76%). According to this report, on balance, Catholic Democrats are more likely to favor legal abortion than to oppose it.
What this means is that if most bishops in the U.S followed the lead of the Catholic bishop of Springfield, the Catholic Church would ban a third of its members from Holy Communion. This approach is a throwback from the past and should be discouraged. Most Catholics in Illinois who are opposed to abortion — including this writer — agree with Bishop Paprocki and Cardinal Blase Cupich that the passing of the Reproductive Health Act in its present form contradicts fundamental beliefs and teaching of the Catholic Church. However, many disagree with Bishop Paprocki’s extreme and punitive approach.
The Catholic Church needs to reengage with the government and all stakeholders in Illinois and the rest of the country in pushing forward its own moral argument. At the same time, U.S. Catholic bishops and pro-life exponents like me must respect and accept those who do not agree with the church’s official teaching.
It is important to note, however, that this decree applies only in the diocese of Springfield. The rest of the Catholic bishops in Illinois do not support this extreme measure adopted by Bishop Paprocki. The most senior Catholic cleric not only in Illinois but in the United States, Cardinal Cupich of Chicago, in a mild reprimand to his junior colleague of Springfield, strongly disapproved of Bishop Paprocki’s stern approach. In his first public statement on this, Cardinal Cupich argued that the emphasis is on providing sound teaching on what the church believes about the issues of the day, such as abortion, “all the while maintaining an unshakable confidence that the Eucharist is an opportunity of grace and conversion to bring people to the truth.”
The position of Cardinal Cupich is consistent with the teaching of Pope Francis that Holy Communion is not “a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” Jesus did not intend the Eucharist to be a food for saints and perfect people; otherwise he would not institute it for sinners here on earth.
Church leaders such as Bishop Paprocki who turn the sacred table of the Eucharist into a tool for fighting ideological cultural wars between conservatives and liberals weaken the effectiveness of the Catholic Church in reaching those who are opposed to its moral teaching.
Such a grandstanding undermines the spirit of dialogue needed in the divisive political climate of our times. Above all, it fails to address the pains, anguish and moral dilemma of many women who, because of circumstances beyond their control, must make the choice for or against abortion on a daily basis.
The Rev. Stan Chu Ilo is an associate professor in the Catholic Studies Department at DePaul University.