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McGreevey, Kerry and the Church
Townhall.com ^ | 8/13/2004 | Dr. Paul Kengor

Posted on 08/14/2004 6:23:17 AM PDT by Horatio Gates

The recent news of a homosexual affair by Democratic Governor James McGreevey of New Jersey is a stunning revelation. We are not accustomed to this kind of thing in America. The British find it quite familiar. Indeed, in Britain, when a story breaks of a sexual scandal involving a male MP, the first question often asked is: was it with another man? That’s not a standard assumption in American politics.

Though he clearly has his failings, there’s something impressive about McGreevey: He has the integrity to discipline himself for moral misconduct; in this case, he is resigning. Yet, one of the more impressive displays by McGreevey took place weeks ago, and went almost unreported outside New Jersey, possibly because sympathetic journalists in the national media feared its repercussions on John F. Kerry:

Governor McGreevey is a pro-choice Catholic, in stark opposition to Church teaching. In June, Archbishop John J. Myers of the Newark diocese released a five-page statement titled, “A Time for Honesty,” in which he wrote that Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should not seek communion. In response, New Jersey’s pro-choice governor said he would respect the archbishop’s request and not seek the Eucharist at Mass. Oddly, McGreevey said he would accept communion in private (whatever that means) but not in public, even though Myers made no distinction. Still, unlike most pro-choice politicians, he was willing to accept Church authority, on an issue the Church understands as a matter of literal life and death.

McGreevey’s response begged the question, or at least should have begged the question, if anyone at CBS Evening News or the New York Times cared to ask: Would John F. Kerry do the same?

Kerry, also a Catholic, is not just passively pro-choice; he is a champion of the cause. At the 2003 NARAL Pro-Choice America Dinner, where he described pro-lifers as “the forces of intolerance,” Kerry boasted that his maiden speech as a freshman senator had been in support of Roe v. Wade. On the floor of the U.S. Senate on August 2, 1994, he staked a frightening position: “The right thing to do is to treat abortions as exactly what they are—a medical procedure that any doctor is free to provide and any pregnant woman free to obtain. Consequently, abortions should not have to be performed in tightly guarded clinics on the edge of town; they should be performed and obtained in the same locations as any other medical procedure…. [A]bortions need to be moved out of the fringes of medicine and into the mainstream of medical practice.”

Like Al Gore, John Kerry is one of those shameless (mostly Democrat) politicians who says he is personally against abortion and that abortion should be rare but legal, all the while doing absolutely nothing to make it rare—quite the contrary. Perhaps we could take these assurances more seriously if these men gave just one hour or one dollar to a crisis pregnancy center or devoted a single speech to alternatives to abortion.

In Kerry, Democrats are nominating the most fiercely pro-choice individual ever to receive a major party nomination for president. This greatly disturbs the Catholic Church, which has worked as steadfastly to slow abortion as any institution. To the Church, nothing would be more aggravating than to watch its progress on abortion reversed by no less than a Catholic president.

Support of “abortion rights” is a family affair for the Kerrys. Despite agreeing with her husband that abortion ends the “process of life” (as she put it), Teresa Heinz Kerry (also a Catholic) likewise remains pro-choice, recently telling Newsweek: “I ask myself, if I had a 13-year-old daughter who got drunk one night and got pregnant, what would I do. Christ, I’d go nuts.” Kerry’s daughter Vanessa and two sisters joined him at the April “March for Women’s Lives” in Washington, DC, where he gave the keynote speech.

Ironically, as Kerry addressed the rally, Cardinal Francis Arinze, speaking from the Holy See, presented Redemptionis Sacramentum, a Vatican declaration stating that priests must deny communion to unrepentant pro-choice Catholic politicians. Arinze said that “unambiguously pro-abortion” Catholic politicians are “not fit” to receive the sacred elements—the bread and wine that Catholics consider the body and blood of Christ.

A number of Catholic archbishops have suggested or stated that if John Kerry presents himself for communion in their diocese he will be turned away. These include Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of St. Louis, Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans, and even Archbishop Sean O’Malley of Boston—Kerry’s home diocese. Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs went further, issuing a stern pastoral letter saying that Catholics who vote for politicians who advocate legal abortion should be denied communion.

That brings us full circle to McGreevey. Around the same time as Sheridan’s bold letter, Archbishop Myers of Newark released, “A Time for Honesty,” to which McGreevey complied. And that again begs the question:

Could just one person in the national media ask John F. Kerry if he will follow McGreevey’s example? At the very least, it’s an interesting question that seems newsworthy—surely, worth a single headline. Please? Someone?


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: catholicpoliticians; catholics; kerry; mcgreevey
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Could just one person in the national media ask John F. Kerry if he will follow McGreevey’s example?
If worded properly it would make for an interesting inquiry of Kerry when the deabates get underway.
1 posted on 08/14/2004 6:23:17 AM PDT by Horatio Gates
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To: shotokan

neither man should go near communion.......


2 posted on 08/14/2004 6:26:37 AM PDT by tioga (Flush the johns in '04!)
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To: shotokan
Kerry already has a workaround for his Eucharist "problem."

O'Malley won't offer blessing; Paulist priest to deliver invocation , July 26, 2004

The Kerry campaign said last night it is seeking to have the Rev. John B. Ardis, director of the Paulist Center, deliver an invocation at the convention. The Paulist Center is on Beacon Hill, where Kerry lives, and the senator and his wife have often worshiped at the chapel there[snip]

Ardis is a member of the Paulist Fathers, an order of Catholic priests dedicated to the evangelization of America. The Paulist Center, which he heads, is particularly popular among liberal Catholics, many of them disaffected from neighborhood parishes.


3 posted on 08/14/2004 6:32:44 AM PDT by syriacus (Benedict Arnold REALLY was a hero ----- before he was a traitor.)
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To: tioga
neither man should go near communion....

Bingo. In McGreevey's case, his abortion stance, and his adulterous affair which apparently went on for years should have made reception of the Eucharist a no-no.

To the author, Dr. Kengor, I would say,I'm not impressed by this man's behavior, public or private.

4 posted on 08/14/2004 6:37:33 AM PDT by sockmonkey
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To: syriacus
Kerry's Beacon Hill Paulist Center has it's finger on the pulse of the community it serves

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2003/7/prweb73570.htm

Boston yoga teacher, Carmela Cattuti, will be teaching threee [sic] 45 minute lunch time yoga classes at the Paulist Center in downtown Boston

5 posted on 08/14/2004 6:37:48 AM PDT by syriacus (Benedict Arnold REALLY was a hero ----- before he was a traitor.)
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To: shotokan
Kerry's Church Known For Liberalism, Apr 25, 2004,
The sanctuary where Sen. John Kerry regularly receives Communion attracts Catholics uncomfortable with some of the Vatican's orthodox teachings or who otherwise feel alienated from the Roman Catholic Church.

The Paulist Center's congregation includes gay couples, whose adopted children are baptized there, unlike in some other Boston parishes. In November, its leaders refused to read aloud during Mass from a letter opposing gay marriage, as requested by the Massachusetts bishops.


6 posted on 08/14/2004 6:42:00 AM PDT by syriacus (Benedict Arnold REALLY was a hero ----- before he was a traitor.)
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To: tioga

They should be excommunicated. This debate is getting much mileage at my parish.


7 posted on 08/14/2004 6:45:30 AM PDT by Horatio Gates
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To: syriacus
From the current bulletin of Kerry's church of choice, the Paulist Center:

Book Discussion Groups Meets Monday, August 23

to discuss Michael Moore’s best seller, Stupid White Men.

8 posted on 08/14/2004 6:56:44 AM PDT by syriacus (Benedict Arnold REALLY was a hero ----- before he was a traitor.)
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To: syriacus

A reading from a letter of St. Michael Moore to the ignorant...and I thought things were bad here in the Seattle area! I saw something called FREP on the newsletter. Caught my attention real quick, thought it said FREEP


9 posted on 08/14/2004 7:19:43 AM PDT by Horatio Gates
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To: shotokan

He has the integrity to discipline himself for moral misconduct ???

Hardly, the homosexual perversions would have elevated him to greater heights in the eyes of the dnc.

He is resigning before all the charges of corruption, theft, and other illegal activities catch up to him.


10 posted on 08/14/2004 7:21:17 AM PDT by steplock
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: syriacus

Also from the bulletin is this item (given what we know about this place, I sort of wonder if it is really the "Heller Award", but they use the term "Hecker" in a veiled attempt not to offend - I am sure it is only given to those who actively undermine Church dogma):

2005 Hecker Award Nominations

Just two months left. Beat the rush! Submit your entry now! Flyers with guidelines are available in the racks.


12 posted on 08/14/2004 7:27:25 AM PDT by Notwithstanding (Fides et Ratio)
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To: syriacus

For a list of past Hecker award winners (many on the list are heretics):

http://www.paulist.org/boston/information/hecker/awards.htm


13 posted on 08/14/2004 7:29:35 AM PDT by Notwithstanding (Fides et Ratio)
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To: shotokan
FYI... Kerry's first address to the Senate was about the women's right to abortion.

First one... numero uno... the 'crux-of-the-biscuit', the one you wanna state something in that distinguishes you from the rest of the fat, pompous solons.

14 posted on 08/14/2004 7:39:49 AM PDT by johnny7 (“You know... my 40 ft. Hinckley is named ''The Scaramouch'!” -Jawn Fawbs Karrie)
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To: shotokan
McGreevey hasn't "resigned" until he is actually gone. All he has done so far is "said" that he will leave at some time in the distant future, 11/15/04.

He is a lying corrupt dem crapweasels and they do not leave a power base when there is more to be stolen no matter how much shame and scandal they bring on themselves. Willie stayed. Every other dem criminal has stayed in office seeking to "put this behind us and move on." The only one to resign was Torricelli but that was simply a tactical move because he knew he couldn't win in the election.

And, NO, no one in the ultra-left wing media would dare ask Kerry to resign because it would be too painful for all of them if he said "yes." They have a lot invested in Kerry.

KERRY: RESIGN AND APOLOGIZE!!!

15 posted on 08/14/2004 7:45:09 AM PDT by Tacis
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: shotokan
Oddly, McGreevey said he would accept communion in private (whatever that means) but not in public, even though Myers made no distinction.

For what its worth...

What this means is that he would continue to receive communion in instances where he was not causing public scandal. That's as acceptable for him as it would be for any other anonymous pro-choice Catholic (which is to say it's a sin, but most priests won't stop you).

18 posted on 08/14/2004 8:03:17 AM PDT by Snuffington
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To: Notwithstanding
list of past Hecker award winners

Thanks for the link.

19 posted on 08/14/2004 8:16:45 AM PDT by syriacus (Benedict Arnold REALLY was a hero ----- before he was a traitor.)
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To: syriacus

I admit - only half of the time does the award go to those who actively undermine Church dogma.

I guess these "progressive Catholics" (puke) try to be fair and balanced when it comes to discussion of dogma - I mean, why would Catholics be biased toward their own dogma?


20 posted on 08/14/2004 8:34:11 AM PDT by Notwithstanding (Fides et Ratio)
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