When this dad first laid eyes on his daughter's fancy first Communion shoes, he found himself reflecting on the shoes worn by saints throughout the ages — and what they might teach us about following the path of Jesus.
After the election of Joe Biden as the second Catholic president of the United States, U.S. bishops planned a document broadly seen as an attempt to deny Communion to the pro-choice politician. The resulting document "endeavors to explain the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the church."
Commentary: With people tentatively returning to church after months of separation, a rancorous disagreement among the U.S. bishops over something called "eucharistic coherence" is jarringly disconcerting.
Commentary: Even if some Catholics are drawn to traditionalist parishes, others are leaving them. But those interviewed by NCR say it's not that they fell out of love with the liturgy. They withdrew due to the bigotry and toxicity in traditional parishes.
NCR Connections: We know 168 U.S. bishops voted in favor, 55 against and six abstained on the proposal to draft a document on the Eucharist. But who voted which way? My answer probably isn't the one you're looking for.
Commentary: I believe that my grandfather's peace lay in knowing the difference between the politicized mandates of institutional Catholicism, and his own morality guided by the small "c" catholic church, meaning "universal."
Following a meeting at which a majority voted to advance a divisive document on the Eucharist, the U.S. bishops' conference is seeking to clear up its own mixed messaging and is insisting the document will no longer target Catholic politicians.
