April 2, 2004
HE'S NOT ONE:
Kerry, Candidate and Catholic, Creates Uneasiness for Church: Roman Catholic bishops are wondering how to respond to a presidential candidate who professes Catholicism while taking stands contrary to church teaching. (LAURIE GOODSTEIN, 4/02/04, NY Times)
Senator John Kerry's support for abortion rights and stem cell research has prompted discussions among Roman Catholic bishops and Vatican officials over how to respond to a presidential candidate who professes Catholicism while taking stands contrary to church teaching.The issue has been a topic in the Vatican this week as bishops from Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina hold long-scheduled meetings with the pope and Vatican officials on a variety of issues.
"They are basically struggling with this, as we are," said one visiting American, Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, the chairman of a task force expected to produce guidelines for American bishops on relations with Catholic politicians.
Most recently, Bishop Ricard said, the bishops were troubled by Mr. Kerry's vote against a bill that makes it a crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman. President Bush signed the legislation on Thursday, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops immediately issued a news release applauding him.
Bishop Ricard said in Rome: "Of course we were disappointed with Kerry's voting against it. We were disappointed with others who voted against it, but as Catholic lawmakers we hold them to a higher standard." [...]
"Kennedy settled the problem that a Catholic couldn't become president," said the Rev. Robert F. Drinan, a Catholic priest and former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts.
"That's not an issue now," said Father Drinan, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, who described Mr. Kerry as a friend and a strong Catholic. "The issue with Kerry will be, is he good enough as a Catholic."
JFK settled the political question--people will elect a Catholic to be president. Mr. Kerry raises a political question: can you place Democratic ideology over the doctrine of the Church? The obvious answer is that if you do so you have chosen to be a Democrat rather than a Catholic. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 2, 2004 9:31 AM
Fathe Drinan. Geez, he may be a Jesuit but is he still a Catholic?* He went out of his way to congratulate President Clinton for using a veto against a federal partial birth abortion ban in 1996.
* I'm being sarcastic.
The standard Democratic reply to this as of now seems to be "What about the pedophile priests? Why doesn't the church worry about that?" as if so long as there are any abusive priests left out there, it's OK for Catholic politicians to support abortions.
Posted by: John at April 2, 2004 9:50 AMFatrher Drinan actually chose the Church over the Party--Kerry has a similar choice in front of him.
Posted by: oj at April 2, 2004 9:54 AMWait for the staged photo-op where some priest refuses communion to Kerry. That'll be the time he appears in a church wearing something other than a ski-suit.
To Raoul's point I've seen pundits saying a priest refusing Kerry would help Kerry by allowing him to run against the "unpopular" Catholic church. Also that Kerry is ok with most Catholics who are more liberal on abortion, gay marriage, etc than the official church policy. I believe this would be a negative for Kerry but it could go the other way.
Posted by: AWW at April 2, 2004 1:15 PMTom Daschle and Gray Davis ran into the same wall last year. Guess which choice both men made.
Posted by: Ed Driscoll at April 2, 2004 1:25 PM