Bread Not Stones: A Media Conference with Catholic Renewal Groups Opposed to the Weaponization of Holy Communion
Media Alert
Seven lay-led Catholic renewal groups, opposed to the weaponization of Holy Communion by a faction of the United States Conference for Catholic Bishops, will host a video conference for the media on Tuesday June 15 at 11 a. m. EDT, in advance of the USCCB’s upcoming meeting virutally, June 16-18.
The conference, hosted on Zoom, will focus on numerous occasions when Catholic people—especially women and LGBTQI people—have asked the bishops for bread, only to be given stones (Matthew 7:9).
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l4G1HS57Qz6TEzN_6P_fAA
Participants in the conference will speak to the movement among some U. S. Catholic bishops to deny Holy Communion to President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians. For a preview, read the oped “Catholics are asking for bread. Their bishops are giving stones,” just published by Religion News Service. Speakers include:
Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, mother of two adopted children, on Fulton v. the City of Philadelphia, and the USCCB’s drive to secure taxpayer-funded contracts for adoption and foster care agencies committed to discriminating against LGBTQI couples and denying LGBTQI children families that would support their gender identities and expressions.
Jamie Manson, MDiv., president of Catholics for Choice, on the bishops’ opposition to reproductive health care and recently-conducted research on the political priorities and expenditures of the U. S. Catholic bishops on the state and federal level. Manson is the author of a recent New York Times oped “The Catholic Church’s Reproductive Fight is About Controlling Women’s Freedom.”
Glenn Northern, domestic program director of Catholics for Choice, on how the bishops’ opposition to key social policy measures disproportionately impacts People of Color, their failure to speak out about racial justice, and on Catholic involvement in limiting voting rights.
Deborah Rose-Milavec, co-director of FutureChurch and Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference on the USCCB’s opposition to the creation of a federally-funded suicide hotline and the bishops’ opposition to the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
Other participants will include: Francis DeBernardo and Robert Shine of New Ways Ministry, Linda Pinto of CORPUS and John Marchese of the Quixote Center.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l4G1HS57Qz6TEzN_6P_fAA