What Were the Bishops Doing?

I’m guessing that the Catholic bishops were surprised by the public reaction to their plan to excommunicate the President of the United States. I say that because they’ve been making a lot of huffy statements that they never meant any such thing. 

The new truth, according to some of the bishops, is that all they were doing was putting together a document on the Eucharist that would reaffirm its significance and meaning in Church life. They never, nohow, no way, ever, were aiming at Joe Biden. Further, they’ve been misunderstood, lied about, and are victims of misreporting. 

I find this interesting, but not confusing. 

One time, years ago, a couple of my family members overheard a particularly troublesome relative on the phone, trashing their daughter with what amounted to a bunch of lies. They confronted the family member. This person promptly and brazenly denied they had ever said any of the things the others had heard. When confronted with the fact that they heard this person say it, the individual angrily replied “Who are you going to believe, me or your ears?”

That’s kind of like what we’ve got going with the bishops. Who are we going to believe, the bishops … or the bishops? Their contentious debate over this document certainly seemed that it was all about excommunicating the president. The Vatican thought their aim was to excommunicate the president. The comments coming from a number of bishops, in particular Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco, sure sounded like it was all about excommunicating politicians. 

But now, the bishops are saying that all they ever wanted to do was write a beautiful document that would bring the faithful back to a full understanding of the Eucharist. 

Interesting. Confusing.

And it leaves us with the question: What were the bishops doing?