Therefore, “do everything in your power to protect the Eucharist from every irreverence” 1

By Barbara Kralis

If every cardinal, bishop, priest, and layman submitted to the authority of the Pope, as they are obligated to do, the Catholic church would not be suffering its current great infirmity…we might even say, its schismata. 2

I refer to the reality that the Pope cannot make his cardinals and bishops obey; the cardinals and bishops cannot make their priests obey; the priests cannot make their laymen obey. Too bad the Pope doesn’t have prisons.

Of all of the many liturgical abuses attacking the Church today, none compare in gravity with the untold numbers of sacrilegious receptions of Holy Communion committed by manifest (known, public), obstinate, persistent sinners and freely allowed by our negligent U.S. Cardinals and Bishops each year

Due to the recent promulgation of a new liturgical document that deals specifically with Eucharistic abuses, the world is now watching for any signs of life from U.S. Cardinals and Bishops. Let’s hold a mirror up to their noses to see if they’re breathing! If they’re not, they need some CPR – Catholic Pulmonary Resuscitation.

Here’s substantiation on the new document proscribing liturgical Eucharistic abuse.

On April 23, 2004, Francis Cardinal Arinze, Prefect of The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, promulgated a long awaited 70-page liturgical norm or ‘Instruction’ entitled, 'Redemptionis Sacramentum...On certain matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist' (or 'The Sacrament of Redemption), heretofore referred to as 'RS.'

In this clearly written Instruction, we are firmly directed: “let everyone do all that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all abuses be thoroughly corrected.” 3

The Pope said it is the duty of all Catholic clergy and laity to adhere to church teachings:

"The judgment of one's state of grace obviously belongs only to the person involved, since it is a question of examining one's conscience. However, in cases of outward conduct which is seriously, clearly and steadfastly contrary to the moral norm, the Church, in her pastoral concern for the good order of the community and out of respect for the sacrament, cannot fail to feel directly involved. The Code of Canon Law [915] refers to this situation of a manifest lack of proper moral disposition when it states that those who “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin” are not to be admitted to Eucharistic Communion.” 4

Because there are no Papal prisons to incarcerate disobedient cardinals, bishops, priests and laity, each of us must do all that is in our power to protect the Eucharist. This can take different forms of apostolate.

Some lay faithful are withholding money to any bishop’s ‘second collections’ in their parishes. Coupons are being dropped in the bishop’s collection (not the ‘first’ parish collection which is the duty of all laity to support) that read, “No dogma, no dollars.”

In addition, many faithful laity have been lobbying the U.S. hierarchy, imploring them to obey the Pope and impose canonical sanctions upon the hundreds of manifest, obstinate, persistent pro abortion Catholic politicians who receive sacrilegious Communions each week.

In fact, it is widely reported that U.S. bishops are coming under "tremendous pressure from ordinary Catholics to do something about politicians who are exploiting their Catholic credentials and trying to ingratiate themselves with Catholic voters . . . when their voting record is completely inconsistent with the principles of the Catholic Church." 5

Incredibly, within 36 hours after the world release of the Instruction that said politicians who support abortion rights should be denied the Eucharist, pro abortion Senator John Kerry took Holy Communion during the 6 p.m. mass at Boston's ‘anything goes’ Paulist Center. Kerry’s misguided priest, Fr. Ciccone, said:

"We're following the directive of our Archdiocese. They said we should give Senator Kerry communion." 6

John Kerry delivered an unabashed defense of abortion rights on Friday, April 23rd, just hours after Cardinal Arinze said that priests must deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights. 7

Several other Catholic politicians said they, too, had no intention of altering the way they practice their religion or their politics. 8

Sen. Edward Kennedy, ...