Thread by @mboorstein

There has been little clarity about exactly what the Catholic bishops who want a communion document want. Something addressing Biden? A national policy? A general theological statement? We got a little more clarity today but it’s still not crystal 1/x

The awesome @FrancisXRocca asked Bishop Rhoades, who runs the doctrine committee that would be writing the document: What’s the deal? The next few tweets are the text of his answer verbatim: 2/x

“Back in March when I made the proposal to the administrative committee of the USCCB, really it was a broader document. It would present church teaching, its centrality and importance of eucharistic consistency, coherence. 3/x

We mentioned including a proposed national policy for 915 AND 916 based on the theology and doctrine of those canons. By national policy we meant national guidance. We weren’t talking about creating norms but kind of giving guidance. 4/x

In light of the letter from (head of the Vatican’s doctrine arm Ladaria) and several points he made, it seemed they were thinking more of national policy more as “norms,” and he was saying: We had to do a lot of steps before we’d issue norms. But that was never our intention. 5/x

Actually, the whole idea of a national policy didn’t come from us, it came from (the Vatican’s doctrine arm) during our visits because they saw the differences of opinions among (US) bishops about who should receive communion. That’s where we got the idea from. 6/x

When Cardinal Ladaria sent the letter, it led us to think: ‘We don’t have the competence or authority to create norms.’ We didn’t have that idea. What was central from the start is to look at the doctrine and theology behind the discipline of the church. 7/x

We haven’t begun to work on the document, I'd need to hear more of what the bishops say tomorrow, the committee itself, our consultants. I can’t anticipate what end result will be. 8/x

Bottom line as I see it: It’s not clear what the bishops who want a document on communion are aiming for. There definitely seems to be room in their vision for a national norm or something like that about pols like Biden. 9/x

Bishop Burbidge (of Va): "What we’ll be saying isn’t anything new. It’s what the Church has always taught. Why not dust them off a little but present them in a refreshing and new way. At this moment, especially, where there is a concern" 10/10