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2 hours, 26 minutes ago
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By Patricia Wilson
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites), a Catholic whose support of abortion rights has prompted some in the Church hierarchy to say they would deny him Communion, will receive the sacrament if he attends Easter Sunday services at Boston's Paulist Center.
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As the first Catholic at the top of a major party ticket since John F. Kennedy in 1960, Kerry has opened a new debate over religion and politics.
Frequent visits to Protestant churches have led some to question if he was sidestepping the Communion issue, but aides said the Massachusetts senator would celebrate Easter at a Catholic church, probably the Paulist Center in Boston.
In Kennedy's day, voters were afraid that another senator from Massachusetts might follow papal doctrine too strictly. Now, conservative Catholics are attacking Kerry for not adhering to it closely enough.
His position on abortion reflects that of many of America's 65 million Catholics, most of whom are concentrated in big states with the most electoral votes like California and New York. But they have aroused ire among some influential Church leaders.
A practicing Catholic and a former altar boy, Kerry also supports stem cell research and civil unions -- issues he calls matters of conscience.
"I fully intend to practice my religion separately from what I do with respect to my public life and that's the way it ought to be in America," he told reporters in Ohio this week. "There is a separation of Church and State in America and we have prided ourselves about that all of my lifetime, all of our history."
In February, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St Louis advised Kerry not to "present himself for communion" at any church in the city.
In a speech earlier this week, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said the "great scandal" of the Democratic Party " is that there's no pro-life caucus."
"A party that historically has been concerned about the weakest among us...doesn't permit any freedom of speech around the question of abortion," he said. "One can say, as I have, that the Democratic party has lost its soul."
The leader of Kerry's Boston diocese, Archbishop Sean O'Malley has urged Catholic elected officials -- without mentioning any by name -- who support abortion rights to abstain from Communion, but has not asked priests to stop offering it.
"Archbishop O'Malley has no public statement as to the questions regarding Sen. Kerry and his Catholicism," said Rev. Christopher Coyne, a spokesman for the archdiocese. "The matter has been brought to his attention and I do not know when or if he will make a public statement on this matter."
Kerry and his wife Teresa are regular worshipers at the Paulist Center not far from their Boston townhouse.
The Paulists are a Catholic religious order like the Jesuits or Dominicans. A mission statement posted on their Web site says: "We are a Catholic community that welcomes all, liberates the voice of each and goes forth to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Coyne said the Paulists were, for the most part, autonomous, but still had to abide by some governance of the archbishop. "For example, he has full authority over them as they administer the sacraments and preach within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston," he said.
Rev. John Ardis, director of the Paulist Center, said the Kerrys had received Communion there and were always welcome to do so. Asked if he had been instructed not to offer Kerry Communion Ardis said: "No. Definitely not. I got a call from them (the archdiocese) an hour ago ... They wanted me to know that the archbishop has not taken a stand and he is free to receive the Eucharist." (Additional reporting by Greg Frost in Boston)