Ping
“The fourth reason is moral. For a priest to make use, essentially for political reasons only, of a rite of which he internally disapproves and which he will find in practice disedifying and distressing, is a true example of “politicizing the Eucharist,” making of the holiest and highest mystery of the Church a punchcard, a token, a litmus test. (Needless to say, the greater guilt for this abuse would be that of the bishop who demanded it contra legem as a new law, like a Pharisee multiplying observances while neglecting larger matters of justice.)”
__________
Excellent, dispassionate reasoning.
Reminds me of the whole Caesar/incense hullabaloo.
(from Church Militant, take it FWIW:)
In the ancient days of the Church, early Christians had to make a potentially life-altering decision: Do I participate in the idolatry of Caesar in Rome by burning incense to him as though he were divine?
In its time, this was the true measure of political correctness and groupthink. To stay in the good graces of Roman culture, you acquiesced and you lived. If you didn’t, you would be imprisoned and likely martyred, eventually.