Whose Table Bishops?

                                               photo courtesy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston / flikr

"Hunger in the midnight, hunger at the stroke of noon

Hunger in the mansion, hunger in the rented room

Hunger on the TV, hunger on the printed page

And there's a God-sized hunger

underneath the laughter and the rage."

  --Jackson Brown

I have been thinking a lot lately about the Catholic Bishops that will be voting soon on if the Catholic President of the United States will be turned away from Holy Communion. Because of the President’s stand on abortion and a woman’s right to choose the American church may well deny him the Holy Sacrament.

Senator John Kerry years ago was denied access to the Table for his stand on abortion. Conservative BIshops even criticized the Massachusetts’  Archbishop for presiding over former Ted Kennedy’s funeral mass. 

When I first read where a Priest in Florence, South Carolina denied former Vice-President Joe Biden the Sacrament I was horrified. The Priest said, “Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside the church’s teaching” As the Catholic bishops meet they will probably agree with the Priest in South Carolina. They may turn away all those who break the abortion and homosexual rules of the church. 

I wondered if the Princes of the church think standing for a woman’s right to choose is the unpardonable sin. And I wondered about all those other sins. Divorce, except for the well-heeled who had gotten an annulment after years of being married. The church's public stance against homosexuality. Many Bishops have turned their eyes away from the pedophile priests that helped destroy the lives of so many children. And then some of these same Bishops have shuffled these sick priests to yet another parish. Some of these sick Priests hold up the Sacrament weekly as if they themselves were innocent.

My complaint is not to bash the Catholic church. There are many dark chapters in their history.  But we Protestants have our own shadow sides. But let us not forget all those Priests through the centuries who kept the faith and help change the lives of so many. Pope John Paul II. Thomas Merton. Dorothy Day. Mother Teresa. Richard Rohr. Pope John XXIII. Cardinal Newman. G.K. Chesterton. Pope Francis. These are just a few that helped their church live up to its name. Let us not forget out there serving in nameless places are faithful Priests seeking to bring acceptance and affirmation. Not only to desperate women but all those frightened and burdened by many things. They come down the aisle and kneel reaching out for hope in the broken body of the crucified.

Whose Table is it, priests? Pope Francis understands this when he said: “communion is not the reward of saints but the bread sinners.” He reminds us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 

I wonder what goes through the mind of President Biden if he is turned away from the Table that has given him sustenance all these years. And what could all those others say that read this painful saga and know deep in their hearts they too are unworthy.

This is not a political matter. Everything is not politics. But it is the bed-rock essence of the gospel. Those nail-scarred hands reach out to all and say, “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” No qualification.

Bishops this is not your table and not your church. We ordained ones must remember the faith that has carried so many through the centuries. It is not about doctrines or rules. The church is still to be a lighthouse for those in peril on the seas—which includes us all.

                                              photo by Michael Swan / flikr

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com