culture / Elections / News

Warrior for Life

The Portly Politico13 Comments

Per yesterday’s post, my intent was to share a spooky ghost story with readers today.  However, some major news broke locally that has important national and spiritual implications.

Father Robert E. Morey, the priest at Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina, denied former Vice President Joe Biden Communion at the 9 AM Sunday Mass.  Father Morey wrote that “Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”

Talk about a bold move.  Father Bob, as the local Catholics call him, is a very meek, gentle spirit.  I’ve heard his homilies (that’s like sermons to us Protestants, but a lot shorter) before, and they’re very good.  His style of delivery is like an agreeable grandfather earnestly teaching about Christ’s Love while handing you a Werther’s Original—what Joe Biden wants to be.

But is also exceptionally brave, and on fire for the pro-life movement.  He came to the priesthood through the movement, in fact; according to one homily I attended, he told the congregation that he was working the EPA in the Reagan Administration when he first got involved.  If you become a priest because of or for something, you sure do believe it.

That’s all to say Father Bob was not grandstanding, or trying to grab headlines—he’s the polar opposite of some of these celebrity priests that like to say or write incendiary or unorthodox statements in order to get in the papers.  He acted on his conviction and the teachings of the Church, and faithfully executed them in his position as a priest.

It might not seem like much, but that takes guts.  One reason progressives have been so effective in the culture wars is that we’re afraid to uphold our values lest we appear rude.  I honestly believe this spurs more conservatives and Christians to inaction than the fear of mockery (although that does play a role).  We know what’s right, but we’d rather go along to get along, lest we offend.

Believe me, Father Bob took no joy in denying a former Vice President and current major presidential candidate Communion, especially one for a political party with an active paramilitary wing and the full brunt of the media on its side (even the Florence Morning-News writes that Biden’s “position on abortion is unclear”—poppycock!).  As a Christian, he sincerely wants Biden to abandon his support for abortion and come back to the Church.

As an evangelical Protestant, I’m often flummoxed that more Catholic priests don’t take similar steps—although, as I’ve just written, I suspect it’s partially out of a universal desire to be polite and not cause a scene.  But my thinking is, as Catholics, you have unique institutional and spiritual tools for addressing such wicked apostasy.  When New York signed that egregious abortion bill into law, I was dying for some hardcore, old-school bishop to excommunicate Governor Cuomo.

Father Bob made the right call here, tough as it was.  Cultural Catholics like Biden in the Democratic Party have been skating for years, enjoying the benefits of assuming a mantle of religiosity while not making any of the sacrifices necessary to be in a community of saints—to believe, actually and truly, the teachings of Christ.  It’s the same issue with “feel-good” Christianity among hip Protestants and neo-evangelicals.

I’m afraid the situation for the good padre is going to get unpleasant, especially if this story breaks nationally.  As such, please keep him in your prayers.  He’s doing thankless yeoman’s work for the Lord, and for the unborn.

That said, I don’t think Father Bob will be too phased by any of it.

13 thoughts on “Warrior for Life”

    • Yes, I was driving home last night and a colleague (who is a recent and eager convert to Catholicism) sent me the news. I just about drove off the Interstate, ha! Pretty bold. Brace yourself for a thousand think-pieces from every Leftie outlet in the country denouncing Father Bob.

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  2. That’s what a priest should be. Good for Fr Bob. So should my Lutheran pastors, but I think your diagnosis is spot on. This morning I was on an English blog where a commenter wondered why the Archbishop of Canterbury now wasn’t more like St Thomas a Becket. Fr Bob is going to find out why, and like Becket, he’ll handle it well. Although I do pray it’ll be a lot less physical.

    And there is this, there are a lot of Catholics and Protestants that will support him, as well. We just don’t have as big a megaphone.

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  3. Tyler, if only there were a thousand priests like Father Morey. If only the present Pope were more like Father Morey. We all need to be courageous in our own small ways. But I think we are seeing a gradual awakening going on. I’m encouraged.

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    • Amen to that. I get nervous to the pit of my stomach these days when even engaging with a Leftist online, much less in person. Thank God—literally!—for men like Father Bob. I’m encouraged that “a gradual awakening” is occurring, too, thanks in part to your analysis.

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  11. […] Recapturing the Court from progressives has been a conservative fantasy since at least Roe v. Wade, and really even earlier.  It’s taken anywhere from fifty to eighty years for conservatives to hold a decisive majority on the Court—easily a lifetime of patient political campaigning and faithful prayer. […]

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