Free Republic

Bishop-elect knocks politiciansBy Matt O'Brien  mobrien@sentinelandenterprise.comPROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The bishop-elect of the Worcester Diocese wants to make certain every priest, parishioner, and Catholic politician in the county understands precisely what it means to be a Catholic. "Rejecting that teaching can have certain spiritual consequences," said Bishop Robert J. McManus, who views his new role as a way to help solidify authentic Catholic identity.McManus said he also wants local Catholic politicians to know when they stray from church teaching, especially on issues that have the highest "moral valence.""The most fundamental human right is the right to life, and it is most...

Lucy Killea and John Kerry have much in common. Like Kerry, Killea's a Democratic politician – or used to be. Like Kerry, Killea's also a Roman Catholic. And like Kerry, Killea supports abortion rights. But while the debate continues among Catholic hierarchy over whether Kerry and others like him should be allowed to take Holy Communion, it was a done deal for Killea. In 1989, the late San Diego Bishop Leo Maher barred her from participating in Communion in local parishes. She had spoken out for abortion rights in a television campaign ad for a state Senate race, taking a...

McCarrickAbortion Foes Target Cardinal McCarrick Abortion Foes Target Cardinal McCarrick Friday May 07, 2004 3:16pm  Washington (AP) - The Archbishop of Washington is under attack from an anti-abortion group. American Life League is upset that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is reluctant to deny Communion to Roman Catholic politicians who support abortion rights. So they've taken out ads which read, "You can't be both Catholic and pro-abortion!" The Stafford, Virginia-based group ran the ad in Thursday's Washington Times, and plans to put it in a Catholic weekly. McCarrick is the spiritual leader of more than half-million Catholics in D.C. and suburban Maryland....

Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark is the latest Church leader to address the growing controversy about Catholic lawmakers who favor and promote abortion. In a carefully worded pastoral letter dated May 5, 2004, the Archbishop outlined the Church's position: “Catholics who publicly dissent from the Church’s teaching on the right to life of all unborn children should recognize that they have freely chosen by their own actions to separate themselves from what the Church believes and teaches. They have also separated themselves in a significant way from the Catholic community. “The Church cannot force such people to change their...

Should Kerry be denied communion? I am in favor of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, with one exception. Nobody should be permitted to say flat-out that “the government should stay out of the bedrooms of America.” What if a civil-rights hate act was being conducted in the bedroom? For that matter, what if Daddy was forcing his way with a 10-year-old girl? Or Mom was starving her 10-month-old boy? The phrase is an idiotic invocation of a taboo whose single purpose, in current usage, is to illegitimize concern about sexual activity. Said John Kerry, “Abortion should be rare,...

Kerry reaffirms rights Saturday, April 24, 2004 By NANCY BENAC ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry delivered an unabashed defense of abortion rights on Friday, just hours after a top Vatican cardinal said that priests must deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.Several other Catholic politicians said they, too, had no intention of altering the way they practice their religion or their politics.With hundreds of Catholic politicians in the United States supporting abortion rights, the trans-Atlantic counterpoint was only the latest sign that the issue promises to be a recurrent one on the U.S. campaign...

April 11, 2004 Kerry Ignores Reproaches of Some BishopsBy KATHARINE Q. SEELYE OSTON, April 11 — Rejecting the admonitions of several national Roman Catholic leaders, Senator John Kerry received communion at Easter services today at the Paulist Center here, a kind of New Age church that describes itself as "a worship community of Christians in the Roman Catholic tradition" and that attracts people drawn to its dedication to "family religious education and social justice."Mr. Kerry's decision to receive communion represented a challenge to several prominent Catholic bishops, who have become increasingly exasperated with politicians who are Catholic but who deviate...

  Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJohn Kerry with the Rev. Michael J. Chaback after attending Sunday service in Bethlehem, Pa., on March 14, before a day of campaigning Kerry, Candidate and Catholic, Creates Uneasiness for ChurchBy LAURIE GOODSTEINPublished: April 2, 2004 enator John Kerry's support for abortion rights and stem cell research has prompted discussions among Roman Catholic bishops and Vatican officials over how to respond to a presidential candidate who professes Catholicism while taking stands contrary to church teaching.The issue has been a topic in the Vatican this week as bishops from Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina...

BOSTON -- As millions of Catholics prepare for the traditional midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, the Boston Archdiocese is making an unusual plea to parishioners. NewsCenter 5's Jorge Quiroga reported that church leaders are asking anyone with cold or flu symptoms to take certain precautions and avoid some rituals. The announcement comes days after two elderly men on Cape Cod died of flu complications. But public health officials warn against overreactions saying the cases are not unusual considering the ages of the victims, 89 and 90. Parishioners attending Christmas Mass are urged not to shake hands as a sign of...

To put it bluntly, I have a few reservations about canon 1398. “A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication,” the canon states. Please do not mistake my reservations as support for abortion. In no way do I condone this intrinsically evil act, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches “is gravely contrary to the moral law” as well as an “abominable crime” (2271). Yet my experience in ministry has taught me that most women who abort their child act under some sort of emotional, mental and/or psychological duress. Despite what many feminists claim, I...