Posted on 05/08/2004 4:38:54 PM PDT by narses
Bowing to pressure from New Jersey's increasingly outspoken Roman Catholic bishops, Gov. James E. McGreevey said Wednesday that he would no longer receive holy communion during Mass because his support for abortion rights and other social causes contradicts church doctrine.
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During the past month, bishops of Camden and Trenton have stepped forward to declare that Mr. McGreevey, a former altar boy who attends services at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Princeton, is not a devout Catholic because of his stance on several political causes that are opposed by the church, including domestic partnership for gay couples, abortion rights and the use of human stem cells in medical research. The Camden bishop said he would refuse to give Mr. McGreevey communion.
The dispute reached new intensity on Wednesday when Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark released a five-page pastoral statement, published in this week's issue of the archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Advocate. It said elected officials who support abortion rights should spare the church "scandal" by opting not to seek communion when they attend Mass.
Speaking to reporters after an appearance on the steps of the State House, Mr. McGreevey said he would comply with the bishops' wishes. But he sharply disagreed with what he called their effort to force Catholic elected officials to choose between their political beliefs and their faith, invoking the names of both St. Thomas Aquinas and John F. Kennedy, the nation's only Roman Catholic president.
The governor also used the occasion to reaffirm his support for abortion rights, winning several ovations from the group of community leaders and environmentalists who had gathered to hear him promote an environmental initiative.
"I believe it's a false choice in America between one's faith and constitutional obligation," Mr. McGreevey said. "In America we have a longstanding policy of separation between church and state."
Mr. McGreevey did not rule out receiving communion at private services or in other dioceses, like New York, where bishops have not sought to deny the sacrament to elected officials who support abortion rights.
The clash between the bishops and the governor comes as Catholic opponents of abortion rights have been pushing the Vatican and church leaders in the United States to take a more public stand against elected officials who defy church doctrine.
Last month, a high-ranking cardinal at the Vatican said during a news conference that a Catholic politician who did not embrace the church's anti-abortion position was "not fit" to receive communion. That statement prompted the archbishop of St. Louis to declare that Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, should be denied the sacrament because he supports abortion rights, and has led to speculation that Mr. Kerry might not be invited to the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a charity fund-raiser sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York each October.
In New Jersey, the criticism of Mr. McGreevey began last month, when Bishop John Smith of Trenton said the governor was "not a devout Catholic" because he, like may Catholic politicians, says that he is personally opposed to abortion but feels compelled to support abortion rights in his public life.
Last week, the new head of the Diocese of Camden, Bishop Joseph A. Galante, said he would not let the governor receive communion at his installation service because Mr. McGreevey, who is divorced, did not receive an annulment before remarrying. The governor did not attend the service, and has declined to discuss whether he was granted an annulment.
Church officials said that Wednesday's pastoral statement by Archbishop Myers was released simply to offer moral guidance to members of the diocese and remind them that the church's anti-abortion position is unequivocal. "With abortion, there can be no legitimate diversity of opinion," the archbishop wrote. "The direct killing of the innocent is always a grave injustice."
Frances Kissling, president of the Washington-based group Catholics for a Free Choice, said conservative Catholic leaders were trying to keep the issue of abortion in the public eye this presidential election year.
"They want George W. Bush to get re-elected," Ms. Kissling said. "We all know that there are several wedge constituencies in our very evenly divided electorate, and one of those is the Catholic voters."
New Jersey is such a liberal state, however - more than 60 percent of voters support abortion rights in most polls - that many elected officials and political analysts anticipate that the dispute over abortion might actually help Mr. McGreevey, a Democrat. Cliff Zukin, director of the Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers Poll, said that voters in the state, especially older voters, were wary of religious leaders dictating public policy.
"Older people are more likely to believe in the separation of church and state, and older people also make up a disproportionately high number of the voters," Mr. Zukin said. "So I think that this kind of issue would be to Jim McGreevey's advantage."
"Older people are more likely to believe in the separation of church and state, and older people also make up a disproportionately high number of the voters," Mr. Zukin said. "So I think that this kind of issue would be to Jim McGreevey's advantage."
Translation - younger people are rejecting the false and unCatholic "separation of church and state".
For a journalist or statistical scientist this guy's reasoning skills are poor. The Church is not dictating public policy, the Church is dictating Church policy. These politicians are free to seek whatever political agenda they desire; but if they want to participate in Church sacraments, they have to satisfy the requirements of the Church
Kerry and the libs are also using this false argument. And the media and others are buying it. Kerry knows better, he was on the debate team in college.
Like your constitutional obligation not to deprive anyone of life without due process?
That is it in a nutshell. The talk of (the non-existing) separation of church and state is just another red herring used by the pharisees.
FMCDH
I find the opposite to be true.
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