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Supports communion for pro-choice Catholic politicians
The election of Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020, the country's second Catholic president and a proponent of abortion access, only fueled the debate about political figures like Biden receiving the Holy Eucharist despite their position directly contradicting church teaching.
In May 2021, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone released a pastoral letter addressing whether Catholics in public life who help advance abortion legislation should receive communion. The archbishop noted that public figures help "shape the mores of society," and their advocacy for abortion "definitely leads others to do evil."
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As Crux reported in May 2021, McElroy expressed opposition to denying communion to pro-choice Catholic politicians, calling the action "very destructive."
"I do not see how depriving the President of other political leaders of Eucharist based on their public policy stance can be interpreted in our society as anything other than the weaponization of the Eucharist," he argued.
In a May 2021 op-ed for America, a Jesuit publication, McElroy argued that the "proposal to exclude pro-choice Catholic political leaders from the Eucharist is the wrong step." He argued that barring certain politicians from communion would "bring tremendously destructive consequences."
McElroy cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church to highlight the sacredness of the Eucharist, which Catholics believe is the real presence of Jesus Christ. To receive communion, one must be in a state of grace, and their beliefs must be in union with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
According to McElroy, excluding Catholic leaders who contradict the Church's teachings on abortion weaponizes the Eucharist, using it as a "tool in political warfare."
"This must not happen," he wrote.
"A national policy of excluding pro-choice political leaders from the Eucharist will constitute an assault on that unity, on that charity," McElroy added. "Fully half the Catholics in the United States will see this action as partisan in nature, and it will bring the terrible partisan divisions that have plagued our nation into the very act of worship that is intended by God to cause and signify our oneness."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
