What the Bishops Really Said at Baltimore

After the bishops of the United States adopted "The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church" on November 17, it took the Washington Post less than an hour to misrepresent what the document taught, as Post’s online story was headlined, "U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approves Communion document without singling out politicians who support abortion rights." The Wall Street Journal, having had all day to ponder the bishops' statement, got things completely wrong, too, when its day-after headline read, "Bishops Avoid Abortion Issue in Guidelines on Communion." If I may borrow from a heathen, Jeremy Bentham, that is all nonsense on stilts.