The purpose of this research is to examine two articles on the subject of the Roman Catholic clergy's denial of the Catholic sacrament of Communion to politicians who articulate a policy stance that the Church has historically characterized as pro-abortion. The plan of the research will be to set forth the context of discourse in which these articles have appeared and then to analyze the language used to discuss the issue and the use of facts and premises in each article.
The Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion has persisted in the United States even though since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision women in the US have had a constitutionally protected right to elective abortion. The always controversial issue gained heightened visibility in 2004 with the publication of a statement by Bishop Rene Gracida, emeritus, of Corpus Christi, Texas, stating that "there is no excuse [for priests] to not deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians" (Bishop). The report of Gracida's statement cites information about his personally seeing to it that a Texas politician who had "strayed" from the Church's anti-abortion stance was formally denied access to the sacraments of Communion and Anointing of the sick (Gracida). Two aspects of Catholic doctrine regarding Communion are relevant: 1) that it is necessary for the faithful to receive it under all but extraordinary circumstances in order to achieve salvation, and 2) that it is closed to both non-Catholics and to Catholics who are, according to the Church, not "worthy" to receive it (Pohle).
The language used to describe Gracida's exclusion of some Catholics from the sacrament focuses on their views of abortion. He is reported as referring to them as "pro-abortion Catholics" and to priests and bishops who do not refuse Communion to any Catholics as "relativizers of the objectively established precepts" of the Church (Bishop); however, the article does not merely report Gracid...