The Bishops, Donatism, and President Biden

In an article first posted at Commonweal and republished on July 7 in La Croix International, Professor John Thiel of Fairfield University, while criticizing the U.S. bishops' decision to prepare a teaching document on Eucharistic coherence and integrity in the Church, performed the not-inconsiderable feat of striking out four times (swinging). The first whiff: "In the judgment of the bishops, Biden's sin seems to be that, as a Catholic politician, he has not taken a public, political stand against abortion." Wrong. What the bishops (and Catholics serious about human rights) object to is that the Biden Administration is bending every effort to increase the incidence of abortions at home and abroad. Moreover, the administration, by eliminating from its recent budget request the Hyde Amendment and its prohibition on using tax dollars for abortion "services," is threatening to implicate conscientious pro-life Americans in its misguided policies. The objection here is not to a missing statement -- "The president isn't taking the right public stand" -- but to specific actions: Led by President Biden, the administration is promoting and facilitating a grave moral evil -- the killing of innocents.