ROME — The Michigan Catholic Bishops’ Conference has protested Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s mockery of the sacrament of the Eucharist, calling the blasphemous stunt “offensive.”
A video posted on Instagram Thursday featured Gov. Gretchen Whitmer placing a Dorito chip on the extended tongue of a kneeling woman, in a gesture readily recognizable as the Catholic practice of Holy Communion.
After giving Canadian feminist Liz Plank (@feministabulous) “communion,” Whitmer — wearing a Harris-Walz hat — then stares expressionless into the camera:
The skit specifically imitates “the posture and gestures of Catholics receiving the Holy Eucharist, in which we believe that Jesus Christ is truly present,” said Paul A. Long, president of the Michigan Catholic Conference.
“It is not just distasteful or ‘strange;’ it is an all-too-familiar example of an elected official mocking religious persons and their practices,” Long said on behalf of the bishops, adding that “whether or not insulting Catholics and the Eucharist was the intent, it has had an offensive impact.”
“People of this state and across the country have grown tired of and continue to express their alarm at the bar of civility and respect toward people of faith lowering by the day,” he continued.
“Michigan is a religiously diverse state and includes thriving communities of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim believers,” he concluded. “The time is now for those in public office, their handlers, and strategists to return a level of respect, civility, and appreciation for those who have found peace and fulfillment in life by worshiping God and serving their neighbor.”
On Friday, Catholic League President Bill Donohue excoriated Whitmer, insisting that she had “insulted Catholics nationwide when she intentionally ridiculed the Eucharist in a video.”
“There is no way to understand this stunt other than as an expression of vintage anti-Catholic bigotry,” Donohue wrote.
The Whitmer team is lying when they say she is merely “mimicking a popular trend on social media where people are shown feeding each other,” he stated, and it is “easy to disprove.”
The typical TikTok videos show one person sitting at a table, often in a restaurant, being fed—usually with a fork or spoon—by a friend.
“None of them are kneeling. None of them are receiving food on the tongue,” Donohue noted.
“What Whitmer did was to deride Holy Communion. There is no wiggle room for her to deny the obvious,” he added.
WATCH — Harris-Walz Co-Chair: I’ve Called for Calming Rhetoric, Trump Has ‘Stoked It’, Can’t ‘Only Call It Out When It Turns on You’