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"They're not going to let him be embarrassed, as Al Gore was embarrassed in 2000

Or like the funeral for John Cardinal O'Connor ...

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Cardinal John O'Connor gets last word at his own funeral

For those who missed it, the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston preached at the funeral of his close friend John O'Connor, the Cardinal Archbishop of New York. O'Connor was a bold and fierce preacher on the subject closest to his heart: the sanctity of human life.

The funeral, broadcast live nationwide, was attended by the president and vice president, their wives and numerous dignitaries including the mayor of New York City.

At one point in the sermon, O'Connor's hand picked homilist said, "What a great legacy he has left us in his constant reminder that the Church must always be unambiguously pro- life."

There was a beat and then applause broke out. It grew louder, increasing as the cameras fixed on the Clinton-Gore party showing them on screens throughout the cathedral. Cardinal Law attempted to quiet the crowd with his hand, when suddenly the congregation began to stand up, applauding in a wave that moved from the back of the church to the front. If it hadn't been a funeral they would have cheered. It was a defiant, pivotal moment.

Then the bishops and cardinals in the sanctuary stood up. The elder George Bush stood up applauding, as did his son somewhere off camera. The camera panned back to the Clinton- Gore party who looked bemused and bewildered.

Having no water glasses to reach for as they did in 1994 when Mother Teresa received a thunderous ovation for telling the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington that there could be no peace as long as a mother could kill the child in her womb, Clinton leaned back and started whispering in Hillary's ear. Gore's face was as blank, flat and white as a sheet of paper. Behind them another abortion "rights" supporter, Rudy Giuliani, began to applaud, albeit weakly, and stood. And lest they be the only ones left seated, the Clintons and Gores lamely stood up but refrained from applauding.

It was not Cardinal Law's intent to embarrass anyone. He was merely doing his job and honoring his friend. The vehement applause came from the people.

When the applause subsided, Law quipped, "I see he hasn't left the pulpit."

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Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

What's ironic is that this is NOT a "separation of Church and State" issue. The issue is not whether abortion laws be changed for other non-Catholic Americans to be subject to Catholic doctrine. The issue is whether JOHN KERRY IS A CATHOLIC IN GOOD STANDING or not. He's not.

The Church has the right to define who is or who is not a member of the Catholic Church. If John Kerry wants to be a Catholic, he cannot promote abortion and the culture of death as part of his career. The Church teaches that certain moral issues, such as those of the right to life, are so important and so clearly involve grave matter regarding souls that Catholics have a moral duty and civic responsibility to support the morally sound position and to reject immoral positions. Catholics have a moral responsibility as Catholics to oppose the erosion of the right to life by such things as abortion, euthanasia, fetal tissue harvesting, the use of stem cells from abortions, and the destruction of human embryonic cells in questionable reproductive research or in cloning experiments. This is the clearly stated teaching of the Catholic Church. If John Kerry does not agree with this teaching, he is no longer a Catholic in good standing and may not present himself for Communion.

If he does not understand this, he's a moron. Another casualty of a liberal secular humanist "Ivy League" education. His secret society memberships also raise serious questions of a Catholic moral order.

Someone in high authority in the church needs to point this out to him in very clear terms. Preferably...in public with some admonishing gravity.