Battling the Bishops (Is Kerry Catholic enough?)

Time Inc. ^ | June 13, 2004 | Karen Tumulty

[NYer]

"Orthodox Catholics are really motivated," says Deal Hudson, a conservative Catholic activist who publishes the magazine Crisis and who is close to the White House. "There's huge energy at the grass roots against Kerry."

Several U.S. bishops have recently voiced their opposition and ersatz reasoning why no one should be denied the Eucharist according to Code of Canon Law n. 915.

Those in the pews are perplexed. Which bishop is correct? Why would some bishops teach that the laws are binding and other bishops teach that they are not? [i]

Quizzically, people are asking ten questions:

Ten questions regarding the denial of the Eucharist.

[NYer]

Aides say it makes Kerry uncomfortable to find his faith on public display. "For Kerry, his faith, obviously, as with most Catholics, is a private thing," says one. "For this to suddenly become an election issue is something that someone of his instinct for reserve and privacy backs away from."

Puhlease!!

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[TonyInOhio]

Thanks for the post.

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[Pyro7480]

Aides say it makes Kerry uncomfortable to find his faith on public display. "For Kerry, his faith, obviously, as with most Catholics, is a private thing," says one. "For this to suddenly become an election issue is something that someone of his instinct for reserve and privacy backs away from."

The following headline says it all: Kerry`s Religion Outreach Director Reinforces His Weakness Among Religious Voters

His hiring of this left-wing activist who has affiliated herself with vile anti-Catholic homosexual activist groups is another slap in the face to true Catholics everywhere. The worst offense, however, is his sacrilege of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, of Jesus Christ, present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

[alisasny]

The Catholic French/Irish man who served in Vietman?

[maryz]

"For this to suddenly become an election issue is something that someone of his instinct for reserve and privacy backs away from."

As someone once said of John Kennedy, "His faith is so private he won't even impose it on himself."

[Romulus]

He recently declined to give the eulogy at a close friend's funeral for fear that his presence on the altar with the local bishop would create an embarrassing scene.

Well that's your problem right there. Eulogies don't belong at a Catholic funeral Mass.

[steplock]

The question itself show its left-wing radical roots!

Is kerry Catholic enough? as if there can be anything but either you are a Catholic (or a Baptist, a Presbyterian, etc) and you follow the teachings of the Church - or you are NOT.

There are no grey areas. only the left-wing radical extremists that want to destroy us wish to change all religion into their secular filth.

[RobbyS]

Notice that TIME is shlling for this guy by deliberately clouding the issue. Largely owing to the slackness of the bishops, Catholic politicians have taken on themselves the right to act as though abortion on demand were no big deal. Ditto homosexuality; ditto stem cell research using harvested embryos. The comparison with the pre-civil war debate on slavery is perfect. We had politicians like Daniel Webster who said they were "personally" opposed to slavery but then voted for its expansion.

[AZConcervative]

Life is life from the moment of conception. Therefor, taking that life is murder. I cannot believe how society has actually convinced itself of anything other than this. These people are all in for a very rude awakening come time for their judgement. Does John Kerry really think that the Lord will look at him and say, "Hey, I know that you supported the murder of my flock, but you protected a woman's right to choose, come on in..."

[Rhetorical pi2]

This controversy is not complex. John Kerry (and other politicians) see it clearly.

The church has standards of belief and practice that one adhers to if one believes the teachings of the church. In this case the teachings, beliefs and practices of the church are that abortion is the taking of an infant human's life.

One cannot be completely commited to the church's principles if one believes otherwise, and should leave the church.

The Democrat Party has standards of belief and practices to which one must adhere to become a leader of the party.

A principle that is central to the Democrat Party's beliefs is that one must support the taking of an infant's life in order to participate in the the rituals of the party.

If one does not believe in abortion, they are forbidden to run for office as a Democrat, or be appointed to important positions in government.

This is their way of denying "communion" within the Party...and the Party is their religion. Therefore (just as with the Catholic Church) anyone with beliefs that conflict with the Democrat religion should leave the Democrat church.

[EsclavoDeCristo]

Well, there is a huge difference between flat out refusing the Eucharist and telling people in deep mortal sin that they shouldn't receive the Eucharist before repenting and making a sacramental confession. It is our duty as Catholic/Christians to correct in a compassionate and caring way. For those who recieve the Eucharist and are well disposed, It will become a fount of holiness and strength. Those who are not properly disposed will "will eat and drink judgement on themself".

I don't know if we should go as far as telling someone no as they approach for Communion. We need to be firm and uncompromising with our faith, yet be compassionate enough to where we can attract the most amount of people to the Truth of the Church.

[GraceCoolidge]

"For most Catholic voters, his appeal—and the campaign's appeal—is around issues that are of importance to the Catholic faith: social justice, the death penalty, taking care of the poor," says Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill.

And abortion is just a minor point, right? As for the other "issues" that she cites... I didn't realize President Bush was running on an anti-social justice and abandon the poor platform. And if the Catholic bishops would speak out against abortion with half the vigor they use to speak out against the death penalty, it would be a refreshing change.

And some say there is even a double standard at work. For all the attention that has been given Kerry's problems with the clergy of his church, "there have not been an equal number of stories about the way Bush has ignored his own faith group, the United Methodist Church, by declining to accept a delegation of bishops that wanted to talk to him about the war," says Philip Amerson, president of the Claremont School of Theology, a United Methodist seminary in Claremont, Calif.

I don't know what the Methodist equivalent of a catechism or church law would be, but I'm guessing that a prerequisite of the faith isn't agreeing to any meeting(s) with "a delegation of bishops that [want] to talk... about the war." So if a Catholic priest or group of priests calls Kerry up and says they want to meet with him to discuss abortion, and Kerry declines the meeting, that also would be "ignoring his faith"? I'll believe that when I see it. Time magazine clearly grasps the issues here, don't they?

[COBOL2Java]

A handful of other church leaders have since echoed Archbishop Raymond Burke's declaration that Catholic politicians who vote against church teachings are unfit for the sacrament that more than any other symbolizes a Catholic's ongoing connection to the faith.

This statement take a rather broad brush. A Catholic politician can vote for capital punishment even though the Church is against it, because capital punishment is not intrinsically evil. Ditto the war in Iraq. It is only a vote in support of things like abortion on demand, which the Church has declared intrinsically evil, which makes a politician as for Communion.

[COBOL2Java]

which makes a politician as for Communion = which makes a politician unfit for Communion.

[hobbes1]

Aides say it makes Kerry uncomfortable to find his faith on public display. "For Kerry, his faith, obviously, as with most Catholics, is a private thing," says one

Kinda hard to reconcile that quote, with this one isn't it?

Indeed, one of the more striking findings of the TIME poll is that fully a third of Americans know Kerry's religion...

[Alberta's Child]

He recently declined to give the eulogy at a close friend's funeral for fear that his presence on the altar with the local bishop would create an embarrassing scene.

A lay person is not permitted to give a eulogy at a funeral under any circumstances, despite the popularity of these things in the post-V2 era.

[xsmommy]

ping

[Stagerite]

It's one thing for a bishop to tell Catholic politicians to refrain from taking Communion but quite a different thing when the church hierarchy begins to bring that pressure to all Catholics

In other words, it is one thing to publicly disgrace the sacrament; but quite a different thing to privately disgrace the sacrament.

[steplock]

Compassion? Yes!

Compromise? Never!

Jesus never compromised his ethics and beliefs - why should we?