In the early 1950's one of the first things I learned about receiving communion was not to judge anyone else's worthiness to receive the sacrament. Being a priest or bishop does not make one better able to discern the worthiness of another. Another early lesson from Catholicism was that we couldn't even be sure if Judas was in hell because he may have turned to God while he was committing suicide. Being non judgemental is something all of us owe to our brothers and sisters in the faith.
Denying communion to politicians only illustrates the mean spiritedness of the cleric who does so. It is also an abuse of authority. In this country respect is not given based on one's position. Leaders must earn respect based on appropriate behavior.
I commend to you the article distributed by Religion News Service (which came to my attention in the Baltimore Sun). It was written by theologians from Holy Cross and Boston College, and is titled "Don't Play Politics with Communion". The salient point is the need and obligation to challenge clerics who make the mistake of denying communion to a member of the faithful. I repeat my contention in an earlier blog entry that as long as we remain silent we allow Church leaders to believe they have unfettered authority to say and do anything they choose. Unfortunately, too many of them seem disposed to do just that. Remember, these are the same leaders who ignored and deceived throughout the sex abuse scandal. These leaders deserve to be followed when they act as true representatives of Christ, they deserve to be challenged when they do not.
Lest one might question why the denial of communion is not a legitimate exercise of authority I will discuss that in a future blog entry. Suffice it to say here that the document on religious liberty from Vatican II requires that each individual, including Catholics, follow the dictates of his or her own conscience. One must tread very lightly in denying communion based on assumptions about the status of that person's conscience.
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EXCELLENT post. I think our society in general has become extraordinarily judgmental in the past decade; people and organizations seem so sure of themselves and their ideas.
While I find extreme judgmentalism frustrating when I encounter it in society at large, I find it confusing and very disappointing when confronted by it within the context of Christianity. I hesitate to quote the Bible since it is very easy to cherry pick quotes to support just about any idea or belief and I don't want to start a philosophical discussion about what constitutes "judgment," but I think Jesus was reasonably consistent in his ministry on this point: judgment is the purview of God, not man. This does not mean that man is not allowed to exercise judgment about what is right and wrong, but I think it does mean, at the very least, that Christian faith is meant to err on the side of inclusion rather than exclusion.
So I whole heartedly agree with this post. Being non-judgmental is not simply about letting he who is without sin cast the first stone. Being non-judgmental is about recognizing that you don't know another man's conscience; you don't know another man's relationship with the Lord. Being non-judgmental is about admitting that you don't have all the facts.
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