Weaponizing Faith
Author’s Note: I know many readers are not religious, but this story has its roots in religion since the story itself involves the practice of it. The statements made are statements of my own faith and are not meant as anything beyond that. If anyone is offended by the profession of faith I humbly apologize.
John Pavlovitz was introduced to me over a year ago by a friend and I’m glad he did. His columns are very similar to these to the point where it could seem that one inspires the other. He said what I was about to say yesterday. He put it in such a way that I couldn’t and yet a part of me was upset that I was being upstaged.
Yet, it is another concept I took from him that I borrow today. God’s nature is infinite and mysterious, so having a father, son, and spirit makes perfect sense. At different points in our lives we relate to one more than the others and that reliance can change depending on what we need in that moment.
Numerous folks are responding to the story of Nancy Pelosi being denied communion. Ultimately, that’s what we are talking about here and what John was talking about above. The communion is a sacred mystery and at the very center of our faith. We believe deeply that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. So, in denying communion, the archbishop isn’t merely denying her rights to attend a ceremony. He is denying her access to Jesus himself.
As John eloquently points out in his post, Jesus would have never done that to anyone no matter who they were or what they had done. He never would have denied himself to a sinner. That not only flies in the face of the central event of our faith (death and resurrection) but also every story we encounter in the gospels. “Whatever you do to these least of these you do unto me.”
Of course, the church’s stance on these things has always troubled me. I’ve watched my mother sit in the pews for over 40 years of my life and over 50 years of hers while the rest of us partook of Jesus. She was not welcome. She had not fully converted to Catholicism. She had attended mass more regularly than most Catholics and yet she was not welcome. Of course, most people would say why not just convert, but is that really the point? Can we imagine this Jesus (or any other Jesus) saying you can’t have me unless you have this special document that says you can?
It is a terrible contrast of having a gift that was given freely and completely that is as infinite as it was selfless. Yet, you have someone that can arbitrarily and publicly deny that gift to one or multiple individuals based not on what they have done, but what they have said and believe. It is impossible to reconcile these two. Moreover, it is mind-boggling to take something that is symbol of sacrifice, selflessness, and purity and debase it like that. It makes Jesus small. It makes our faith small. It makes us all somehow smaller.
God did not become human, humble himself, and sacrifice himself to become weaponized like this. God did this so he can be given freely to all that would accept him and seek him. God did this as an example of what we were supposed to be in this world. God did this knowing full well that all of us need love and yet none of us truly deserve it. For one to deny that to someone else is a sin. It might be the greatest of sins. None of us has a right to do that because it was a gift given freely to all of us. We can deny it to ourselves. We can’t keep it from anyone else.
This is why I’m a Quaker after growing up Methodist. No one can get between me and the Light.
I’ve always had a problem with the idea of clergy. When they weaponize their power like this, doubly so.
1Over the past few days I’ve repeatedly remarked about the fact that this appears to be a move which is motivated by politics, not by faith. Were the archbishop to act in an evenhanded manner, he would have also acted to deny Holy Communion to those who just recently voted to deny food to hungry children (funding for importation of infant formula), those who have voted in favor of the death penalty, etc. Yet he didn’t — even though he must surely recognize that others will see the blatant hypocrisy of his position.
The Roman Catholic Church has had fundamental problems — problems ranging from systemically supporting child abuse to financial scandals. Active membership has plummeted, churches are closing, the average ages of priests & nuns is astonishingly high, and the majority of its members disagree with (and purposefully ignore) the Church’s positions on matters such as birth control, abortion, gay marriage, and so forth.
2A comment I made on dailykos last week:
3I was completely finished with the Catholic church when they refused to baptize our new baby because we did not donate enough. I didn’t care but my grandmother in law was a staunch Catholic and wanted her granddaughter to be saved if something happened. When I told her about the refusal, she took the baby into the back yard, poured holy water from the Vatican over her head, said some hammanna hammanna and declared her baptized. It worked for us!
I left the Catholic church 10 years ago. Over 50 years a Catholic and 12 years of Cat holiday school.
I was a Lay Minister
I have no regrets.
I feel the Catholic church left me.
I am old enough to remember the shunning of Catholics who divorced.
Of those who used birth control.
This is a political move of epic proportions.
4And control of women.
Once a month, for 40 years, I would conduct a morning prayer service at a local nursing home. For about 20 of those years I was aided by a long-term resident patient of that nursing home, who happened to be Jewish, never converted to Christianity, but who found the service comforting. One Sunday a year she would get someone to transport her to our church [Episcopal] for the Sunday morning communion service. Both the priest and I knew she was Jewish, but we never denied her communion, under the concept that Jesus would never deny anyone from coming to his table. Of course we never told the Bishop of what we were doing.
5Are you talking about God, Jesus, Holy Ghost who made and control the universe of millions if not billions of galaxies, not stars, and the subatomic quantum mechanics, bizarro world? If so, are you confining or defining what Jesus can and can not do by your statement “So, in denying communion, the archbishop isn’t merely denying her rights to attend a ceremony. He is denying her access to Jesus himself.”?d
6Further does this not presume, then, that God, et al, could do something about this indiscretion (for lack of a better word)? Again, if so, why not?
How many denominations along with their sub-denominations are there; eg, conservative vs liberal and everything in between within each denomination? And your mother’s example of not following what you are stating as fully converted to Catholicism? Where does Jesus lay down protocols for all the rituals and dress codes for the various churches?
One reason I left the church was the rampant hypocrisy – hiding priests who assaulted children (they were allowed to take communion!!) supporting politicians who demonized strangers (the whole border fiasco), I could go on and on. I know in my heart and soul that Christ would not prevent someone from coming to him, even a sinner.
7So Nancy Pelosi is denied communion but the church knew about its child abuse “problem” for years and did nothing about it.
In the late 1980’s I was a dental hygienist at a small practice in Calaveras County. One of my patients was Father Oliver O’Grady (Google him) who had been transferred to that small parish from a larger one. It was only years later that it came to light that he had been abusing children for decades and had been moved around repeatedly to avoid acknowledgement of his sins by the church. They knew and did nothing.
8I saw this a day or so ago. John Pavlovitz is a treasure. I follow him regularly and am always inspired by the things he says.
9My parents married in 1945 in the vestry of a Catholic church in New York City, because my father was Protestant and would have sullied the actual church. His best man was Jewish and the priest had to be talked into letting him sign the register. That’s how it was until Vatican II in the 1960s. It looks like the bad old days are returning. I’m glad I walked away long ago.
Mom and Dad stayed married for almost sixty years.
10No doubt I could make a long and reasoned argument for… well, somethingerother concerning religion, yeah, nah! I don’t really have it in me.
But, this very question seems to be pretty much right in the center of the entire religion thing. Who in hell makes the rules?! There’s 3000±(?!) or so religions in the world? Each of them has multiple sub religions and many of them have multiple sub religions, it’s pretty much turtles all the way down. How in hell does/do some group of meatheads think that they are the ones to make the rules. Somebody has to be making stuff up.
It’s obvious this Pelosi thing is political! What else is new? The only surprising thing about it is that mitch and tfg (and a multitude the of other hypocrits) haven’t jumped in there to show us what great effing catholics they are! Piss on the whole god damn bunch of’em! Every god damned one of you/us, be effing civilized!
11The Catholic Church has lost many good people over the years due to its intransigence on so many issues.
Stance on ordination of women
Stance on birth control
Stance on abortion
Stance on gender identity and sexual expression
Covering up pedophilia
Financial corruption
I attended Catholic School for 12 years but left Catholicism behind during my sophomore year in high school.
My distaste for the Church was reinforced when my mother passed and no eulogy was permitted. WTF? I thought a funeral was as much a celebration of life and acknowledgement of loss for the living as it was about the soul of the departed.
I also note that communion is being denied to Nancy Pelosi – a woman – and not denied to any pro-choice men! WTF?
12Didn’t the Pope suggest a shot of tequila the other day for aches and pains? Pelosi’s bishop sounds like a holy pain-in-the.
Pour a glass. Call it communion.
13The reality, in all likelihood, is that Nancy Pelosi would never show up at a service where the archbishop was the priest consecrating communion. Another reality, in all likelihood, is the priests at the parishes Pelosi DOES go to won’t obey the current archbishop of San Francisco.
14Being an agnostic (on good days), I do not believe in the power of Communion, or any other religious ceremony–but Nancy Pelosi does. For some Archbishop to deny it to her strikes me as mean-spirited, political, and utterly wrong. I hope that Pope Francis recalls the Archbishop to the Vatican for a long, serious talk, then exiles him to a monastery in the middle of nowhere to reconsider the virtue of charity. I also hope that Speaker Pelosi finds a more Christ-like priest to provide her with Communion.
15My Lutheran brother-in-law married his Catholic wife in her church back in the early 80’s. During the rehearsal, the priest ran through the order of service including communion. My brother-in-law asked the question: “Are all Christians welcome to the Lord’s table?” The answer was of course no, only Catholics. I do admire his chutzpah.
16This fracas is the epitome of the reason why JFK was such a fraught selection for POTUS in 1960.
The Separation of Church and State is paramount.
17What is *communion* when the Invisible Being does not say anything ?
18Though raised in the Episcopal church, I’m an atheist. I came across John Pavlovitz’s site a while ago, and his sensible and cogent remarks make me respect a true Christian viewpoint. Sadly, those are very rare lately.
19My wife was raised Lutheran – Missouri Synod Lutheran. We were married in her church without a communion service.
20I served communion in my church every Sunday for about 5 years until COVID.
When we visit her cousins in Nebraska, they said we cannot take communion in their Missouri Synod “church” because we aren’t members.
Did Jesus EVER deny anyone any help or service? NO!
Diane,
21I’m old enough to remember the pastor standing on the church steps and refusing entry to women who dared wear slacks.
Notice how the same archbishop did not publicly call out former Attorney General Bill Barr when he pushed for and got the orgy of death penalty warrants in the final days of the Trump Maladministration.
I could never be a Christian (I’ve read the Bible), but my understanding of the Catholic Catechism is it condemns the death penalty.
This stunt is entirely political, just as it was when Catholic bishops were calling to deny President Biden communion. If this was about the made-up crime of sin, then they would be privately telling their parishioners Biden and Pelosi what they think, not blasting it out in press releases.
But then this is the same church that gave forgiveness to the Italian mob in New York and ran rat lines for Nazis after WW2, so I don’t expect much more from them than I do from any other church.
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