Here’s a good thing. The priest at this parish rightly denied Holy Communion to former VP Joe Biden according to can. 915. By can. 916 he should not have presented himself for Communion.
FLORENCE, S.C. (WPDE) — The pastor and priest of St. Anthony Catholic Church in Florence refused to give communion this past Sunday to Former Vice President and Presidential Hopeful Joe Biden.
Biden attended the church’s early services during his campaign stop in the Pee Dee.
The church’s pastor, Rev. Robert E. Morey, released the following statement on the matter:
“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to Former Vice President Joe Biden. Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching. As a priest, it is my responsibility to minister to those souls entrusted to my care, and I must do so even in the most difficult situations. I will keep Mr. Biden in my prayers.”
The Biden campaign declined to comment, citing the incident as a private matter.
Fr Z kudos to Fr. Morey!
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“The Biden campaign declined to comment, citing the incident as a private matter.”
Is it?
Will this good priest’s bishop support him once the backlash begins to surface? Or will he be reprimanded or made to apologise or be sent to the missions in South America?
I’ve been to this church before on the way to Myrtle Beach. I stopped in for the Saturday 9AM TLM. The Pastor is an older gentleman, and it was easy to see that he had taken great pains to learn the TLM in his older age. I get the impression, from my experience there, that he is the type of Priest that won’t care if someone doesn’t like what he did. Needless to say, I find what he did to be rather “pastoral”, reminding the former Vice President what it means to be a Catholic, and that he is accountable to a higher power.
Amen! A BZ to this good, Holy Priest!
Christus Vincit
I hope and pray that former VP Biden may find this an opportune time to reconsider is previous support, and to make the appropriate moves toward saving his immortal soul.
I don’t at all disagree with the priest withholding Holy Communion, but why would he make it public with a statement? That doesn’t seem quite right.
I met him years ago before he was ordained. He was briefly with the Fathers of Mercy.
He has an interesting background–a civil lawyer in private practice, then working for the federal government
Let us pray for this holy priest as he is about to come under heavy fire, if not from his immediate superiors, then from their superiors.
Kudos for Fr Morey for upholding church discipline on the Eucharist!
amulack: As to why the statement was made, I would guess Fr Morey wanted to get out in front of any controversy, and make it a teaching moment for his flock (and of course to Biden himself).
I hope his bishop backs him up.
I hope Fr. Morey’s bishop is a Catholic and not a Modernist.
Watching FOX and Friends reporting on this story this morning eased my aching soul from the apostasy of the last week in Rome. But then Host Brian Kilmeade, a supposed Catholic, started on a rant stating that if Catholics followed all the rules there would only be 2 people in the Communion line. That this was judgmental and wrong.
I video taped the segment and will show it to my priest and the parish RCIA leader so they can see what a poorly catechized “catholic” sounds like.
I called St. Anthony Church office and left a message of support to Father Morey. Offering prayers and Rosaries for him.
Finally. The first question that comes to mind is has Biden’s bishop already had the conversation with him and Biden has simply chosen to ignore it ? Second question is if not, why not?
We were watching Fox and Friends this morning when this story was discussed.Brian Kilmead went on a anti Catholic screed regarding this instance. He was incensed that the priest was so judgemental and even stated that if preventing members of the Church who disagree with it’s rules from receiving Communion then there would only be 2 or 3 people who would receive. Such animus.
woo hoo! Finally a priest who takes Communion seriously! (side from you, Father, natch! :)
Hopefully this will be a teaching moment for Mr. Kilmeade. He is poorly catechized if he thinks there was anything wrong with what Fr. Morey did. Priests are tasked with helping their flocks get to Heaven, and soft peddling the Truth saves no one. Mr. Kilmeade’s reaction basically supported Biden’s position (hopefully it was unintentional), and that is itself a sin. Mr. Kilmeade should be so lucky to have a good Pastor who would help him understand how he is putting his own immortal soul in jeopardy.
Kilmeade confuses sinfulness with heresy I think. Biden’s stance on abortion is anti-Catholic, and let’s not forget he “officiated” a “gay wedding” in the White House and was proud as punch about it. He really needs our prayers and fraternal correction.
IF ONLY our bishops of Alaska would do this for “Catholic” Lisa Murkowski, whose slavishly pro-abortion record goes back into her days in the state legislature … before her Gov/Daddy appointed her to his seat. Now the Anchorage Chancery has refused permission for prolife presentations in an area parish because it is “too political” … it would compromise their 501 (c) 3 status! And the three Alaska bishops held 2 press conferences recently to criticize Trump’s immigration policies. Blatantly hypocrisy reigns supreme in the Church.
Fr Morey’s actions and words showed authentic charity.
It would have been a much less troublesome to play the politics,smile, and distribute to Sleepy Joe.
Father was able to look beyond all that nonsense, keeping Biden’s eternal salvation paramount.
1. Why make a statement? Because people were able to notice what happened, either parishioners or campaign workers. Presumably reporters were following Biden around as well, and maybe they asked the priest about it. (I mean, I presume some reporters still have curiosity and a nose for news.) Making the matter clear to Biden himself would also be important, as would preventing any impression or rumor that Biden had been scandalous in other ways.
2. If Mr. Kilmeade thinks other Catholics are all committing mortal sins and heresies every day, he should be promoting better catechesis and more use of Confession before Communion, not claiming that catechesis should be abandoned lest Communion lines go empty. I can’t decide whether he’s feeling more guilty or self-righteous.
3. The priest did the right thing. Biden is old enough to know better than to present himself for Communion. If his pastors in Delaware and DC aren’t administering his medicinal remedy, I guess he has to get help from strangers.
“Sadly,[he regrets that it is necessary, but it is, so…] this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to Former Vice President Joe Biden. Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church[He teaches what even Biden would have to accept here.] . Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching[I think he means “at odds with” rather than “outside” How does one place oneself “outside” Church teaching?] . As a priest, it is my responsibility to minister to those souls entrusted to my care, and I must do so even in the most difficult situations. I will keep Mr. Biden in my prayers.”
Thanks be to God!
If you want to support this priest, send a note.
If you really want to support him, include a check.
amulak said:
> I don’t at all disagree with the priest withholding Holy Communion, but why would he make it public with a statement? That doesn’t seem quite right.
>
Despite Biden’s staff claiming this was a “private matter,” this wasn’t some private mass in a private chapel. His actions, both his support of abortion and same-sex marriage as well as presenting himself for communion, were public acts. Thus, a public announcement should be made. Perhaps this was the thought process.
If you vote in parliament against your party, you are exercising your freedom of choice. But expulsion from the party is the result. Why do commentators find this so easy to follow, but blow hot under the collar when Catholics vote against the Church ?
Let’s hope the good Father’s actions are a catalyst for any other Priest who might be hesitant on taking the same course of action.
To get ahead of the spin the media would put on it.
And right on cue, James Martin SJ comes out in defence of Mr Biden.
@carndt
Good point.
Bishop Guglielmone was a Benedict appointee, so there’s at least a decent chance he’ll have the priest’s back on this.
That is good news, I hope more priests and bishops start to do the same. It is no longer these politicians voting to make abortion legal. They are now actively promoting abortions. This is the latest from New York :
“Democratic state lawmakers want New Yorkers to have the option of donating to an “abortion access fund” when they’re filing their taxes. Legislation introduced this year from Sen. Alessandra Biaggi and Assemblywoman Karines Reyes is designed to make it easier for women to access abortion care in New York, according to the legislative memorandum. Donations would be made possible from state tax forms and the funding would be distributed to “not-for-profit entities that provide support to individuals in need of abortion services,” according to the bill text.
I think Morey was using “outside Church teaching” in analogy to “outside the law.” In other words, just as illegal acts can make one an “outlaw” who cannot justly be given certain kinds of assistance without abetting him, Biden is acting outside the range of things which can be justified by different valid interpretations of Church teaching.
“Outside Church teaching” has been used in multiple US archdiocesan statements about people who should not present themselves for Communion until they change their talk and advocacy, ministries which cannot be considered Catholic, and theologians who can no longer be employed by Catholic universities until they change their own teaching.
Biden is in fact presenting his opinions about proper public behavior as being justifiably inside the range of Church teaching, so it seems reasonable to use this already-established phrasing.
What a brave and beautiful priest. And it needed to be made public for the sake of souls. Maybe the prayers of others as well will move mr. Biden to repent.
I love the clear, concise and charitable way Father explained the problem and the consequence.
Please , Father, correct me if I am wrong:
A priest who gives the Eucharist to a person whom he knows with certainty is in a state of mortal sin partakes in a sacrilege.
[It is hard to imagine how a priest can know with certainty the state of the soul of another. Unless the person is in the act of committing a grave sin while he is standing there for Communion… I don’t know. However, can. 915 does not pertain precisely to the state of soul of the person. It has to do with what is manifest and it has to do with scandal. If a person has manifestly been committing sins, in public (a politician who actively promotes abortion) then there is an open, public manifest problem that must be openly and manifestly corrected before he can receive Communion. He publicly committed scandal and that scandal must be redressed. A priest doesn’t have to know the state of soul of the public person in front of him. If he knows that that public person, well known, has been doing very bad things without any move to correct the harm he caused, the priest, by can. 915, must deny him Communion. On the other hand, there is can. 916 which pertains not to the priest but to the communicant. Any person who knows himself to be in the state of sin is admonished by the Church not to present himself for Communion in the first place. So, can. 915 pertains to the minister of Communion and can. 916 pertains to the communicant. The priest judges open, public actions at the time of Communion. The communicant judges his own state of soul, which is invisible to others. I hope that clears it up.]
Biden’s Catholic? Couldn’t tell by his political beliefs…
amulack says: 29 October 2019 at 7:16 AM
but why would he make it public with a statement?
Father Morey responded in an email to a question posed to him by the Florence Morning News. The reporter made the statement public not Father Morey.
I’m a parishioner of this parish. I’m happy to report that Fr. Morey does have the bishop’s approval. In fact, Father was encouraged to make a statement. That’s all I know. Sadly, I was out of town that Sunday morning and didn’t get to see Father in action!
I wish he was my pastor!
“if preventing members of the Church who disagree with it’s rules from receiving Communion then there would only be 2 or 3 people who would receive. ”
For the average “church of nice” parish with 1000 families of whom 2 or 3 show up for the regularly scheduled “reconciliation” from 3 – 3:15 pm on Saturday, this might in fact be the case if Catholics were actually following the precepts of the Church.
Send him a Canon 915 mug!
Gaetano- Excellent point about sending a letter…and including a check to emphasize our support of Father Morey’s sound pastoral decision.
Kilmeade was incorrect to believe that the priest’s actions were judgemental. They were compassionate towards the man who presented himself for reception of the Eucharist . Further the priests I’ve known who would make such a decision feel a profound responsibility for every minute portion of the Body of Our Lord and understand that not only is it a mortal sin for the person to receive unworthily, it that there are also consequences for the priest who wittingly gives the Eucharist to someone who is outside of Communion with the Church as Presidential hopeful Joe Biden is known to be. It would behoove Mr. Kilmead to get a copy of the CCC and sit down and read it from cover to cover, before he makes more comments about Church teaching.
So…letters, checks and prayers…and it wouldn’t hurt to join father Morey in prayers for Joe
Biden’s conversion back to the Catholic faith.