RENDER UNTO GOD OR TRY TO BE CAESAR?:

Does Biden Have a Catholic Problem? (Amy Sullivan, Sep. 12, 2008, TIME)

When Barack Obama announced that he had chosen Joe Biden as his running mate, Catholic Democrats knew some kind of religious rumble was inevitable.

They had spent the 2004 campaign watching John Kerry pummeled by charges that he was not a good Catholic and by warnings that he could be denied communion because of his support for abortion rights. Already this year they had seen pro-choice Catholic Kathleen Sebelius knocked out of vice presidential contention after her archbishop imposed a "pastoral action" on her, demanding she no longer receive the Eucharist. [...]

On Wednesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops publically called out Biden for comments he made about abortion on NBCs Meet the Press. Even Kerry, whose support for abortion rights is much stronger than Biden's and who was running at the top of the ticket, never generated attention from more than a handful of the most extreme bishops. The involvement of the bishops conference is a clear signal that the communion wars are not over. And it has Catholics Democrats worriedly asking themselves: Can one of their own ever again win national office?

Which is exactly the wrong question, focused as it is on mere temporal political power rather than their eternal souls. They should be asking themselves whether they can be Catholic. Which is more important to them: election returns or human dignity?

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 13, 2008 8:03 AM