The Divide Between the Bishops and the Faithful, by Eric Sammons

By Eric Sammons, Crisis Magazine, Oct. 1, 2021

Eric Sammons is the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine. His most recent book Deadly Indifference (May 2021) examines the rise of religious indifference and how it has led the Church to lose her missionary zeal.

Over the past few months, a number of Catholics have expressed their exasperation with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone—one of our best American bishops, by all accounts—for admitting on the Crisis Point podcast that he wasn’t ready to deny Nancy Pelosi Holy Communion for her rabid and long-time pro-abortion advocacy. If even one of our strongest bishops won’t act in an obvious case of “Eucharistic incoherence,” then what hope do we have in the episcopate?

These Communion Wars highlights the great divide that exists between the bishops and the lay faithful today. Bishops are unconvincing in their arguments for doing nothing, and the laity have gotten nowhere in trying to push the hierarchy to a more robust stand. It’s as if the two groups are not speaking the same language—because they’re not. …