Posted on 10/19/2004 3:39:48 AM PDT by Blogger
Letter Supports Anti-Kerry Bid Over Abortion By PAM BELLUCK
Published: October 19, 2004
OSTON, Oct. 18 - A canon lawyer seeking to have Senator John Kerry excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church because of his support for abortion rights said on Monday that he had ammunition in the form of a letter issued at the request of a senior Vatican official.
The lawyer, Marc Balestrieri of Los Angeles, who heads a conservative Catholic nonprofit organization called De Fide, also said that, based on the letter, he would now seek to have four other Catholic politicians excommunicated: Senators Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Susan Collins of Maine, and Mario M. Cuomo, the former governor of New York.
"Senator Kerry, and all pro-choice Catholic politicians, who publicly call themselves Catholic yet who blatantly violate canon law by continuing to profess heresy and receive Holy Communion, must publicly reject their abortion advocacy for the sake of their own souls, and the others they have scandalized," Mr. Balestrieri said in a statement. "They have been excommunicated."
Only Ms. Collins is not a Democrat.
The letter to Mr. Balestrieri, written by another American canon lawyer at the request of a Vatican official, says that "if a Catholic publicly and obstinately supports the civil right to abortion, knowing that the church teaches officially against that legislation, he or she commits that heresy" and is "automatically excommunicated."
The letter, first reported on Friday by Eternal Word Television Network, a Catholic station in Alabama, was written last month after Mr. Balestrieri met with an official at the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In June, Mr. Balestrieri filed a complaint accusing Mr. Kerry of heresy and seeking to have him excommunicated. The complaint was filed with the Archdiocese of Boston, where Mr. Kerry lives. The archdiocese, which declined to comment Monday, can decide whether Mr. Kerry should be excommunicated because he supports abortion rights.
Mr. Balestrieri said that when he was in Rome, he did not disclose to the Vatican that he had filed the petition against Mr. Kerry. He said he merely asked whether someone who publicly supports abortion rights was guilty of heresy.
Experts in canon law say Vatican officials frequently receive questions about matters of church doctrine. They can choose to answer those questions officially, giving their answers the weight of church law, or they can choose to answer them unofficially, delegating the matter to a canon lawyer not affiliated with the Vatican.
In Mr. Balestrieri's case, the undersecretary of the office, the Very Rev. Augustine di Noia, asked a friend, the Rev. Basil Cole, an associate professor at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, to write an "unofficial" response to Mr. Balestrieri's question, Father Cole said in an interview.
A spokesman for Mr. Kerry, Michael Meehan, would say only: "Kerry's a Catholic who attends Mass regularly and receives communion. That explains his standing in the church."
A spokesman for Mr. Kennedy declined to comment. Mr. Harkin, Ms. Collins and Mr. Cuomo could not be reached.
Swimmer Kennedy should have been excommunicated & put in prison years ago!
be sure and include that crowd of sorry kennedy grandchildren in the "ex-" .. what a trashy bunch the lot of them.....
And from the NY Slimes as well
WHO are all the pro-abortion Catholics you can name? Isn't Rudy Giuliani one?
Sheesh! Just because you attend Mass regularly and receive Holy Communion does not make you a member of the Church in good standing.
Gee, I wonder if Kerry's going to go to Mass on November 2, All Souls Day. It's a holy day of obligation for Catholics. If he doesn't go, he's committed a mortal sin and not a "member in good standing." Do ya think he can find time on Election Day to go? It would be intersting to see just how devout he really is.
Yep, and so are Arnie and little Tommy Daschle. Also, Dicky Durbin.
It is not possible to support the mass murder of innocent children and remain a Catholic.
Kerry, Kennedy and the rest should know that.
If they don't know that, Church authorities should tell them.
Could the Times have come up with a more confusing headline intended to hide the real story: Letter Supports Notion Kerry has been Ex-Communicated
He'd go to church early on election day, making sure he is followed by a camera. There are still people that are going out to vote and he will make sure it is known he took time out, even on election day, to attend mass. Such a devout man.
I think the credibility of the Catholic church is at stake here. You can't have the pope saying that abortion is evil and yet leave Catholics who support it left unpunished.
The credibility of the Church was at stake 30+ years ago... now it has nothing left to wager with.
As someone who has put his name forward as part of the petition to have Kerry excommunicated, I see this as a plus. however, never, never trust the old grey senile old lady (NYT) for your news.
Does he claim to be a Catholic in good standing? If he's done any showboating about it, I missed it.
bump for later
I don't think he has done showboating, but I do believe he is a Catholic and believes he is one in good standing. He is divorced, so I'm not sure on that account.
Pataki, Schwarzenegger, Daschle, Leahy
It's not the Church's credibility that's at stake but some of the bishops'. Can't think of a more prominent matter of morals.
I dress up as the President everyday. That explains my standing in this country.
Giuliani's pro-choice. His first marriage has not been anulled, so he is certainly not in good standing, and certainly cannot receive Communion.
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