Kerry’s Dirty Deeds (How, pray tell, do they comport with religious belief?)

The American Prowler ^ | 3/30/2004 | George Neumayr

[nickcarraway]

John F. Kerry is a more checkered Catholic than the first JFK. Unlike Kennedy who had some residual sense of respect for the Church, Kerry uses his Catholicism as a campaign prop while sabotaging its teachings. The irony of Kerry's Sunday sermon on George Bush's faith -- visiting a Baptist Church Kerry used scripture to suggest Bush has "faith but has no deeds" -- is that the verse describes the spin Kerry usually places on his own religion. He claims the Catholic faith but insists it should not influence his public deeds.

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?" said Kerry, citing James 2:14. It is a question Kerry has yet to answer: What good is a politician who makes a show of his Catholic faith while casting votes in favor of the abortion of unborn children?

Kerry is an advocate of empty faith. He justifies the blatant contradiction between his Catholicism and his voting record on the grounds that his faith should not drive his deeds.

Kerry rebuked Pope John Paul II last year for urging Catholic politicians to produce public deeds worthy of the moral teachings of their Church. Kerry said he would disregard the Pope's statement. "I believe in the Church and care about it enormously," he said. "But I think that it's important to not have the Church instructing politicians. That is an inappropriate crossing of the line in America. President Kennedy drew that line very clearly in 1960 and I believe we need to stand up for that line today."

Kerry stands up for the "line" between religion and public life, then crosses it himself when he sees a chance to use Catholicism for political purposes. The third line of the biography on his campaign website reads, "John Kerry was raised in the Catholic faith and continues to be an active member of the Catholic Church." On Ash Wednesday Kerry made sure to emerge from a Catholic Church with ash on his head while photographers snapped their cameras. Last week The American Spectator's Washington Prowler reported that Kerry, outfitted outrageously in ski gear, barged into a Catholic Church to receive communion for another photo-op.

Kerry also uses Catholicism -- that is, a twisted semblance of Catholicism -- to advance his liberal agenda. On abortion, Kerry says that his faith is irrelevant. On left-wing economic issues, however, his liberal understanding of his faith suddenly becomes very public. Kerry says the Pope shouldn't instruct politicians, yet in the 1980s he inserted into the Congressional Record the American Catholic bishops' ill-advised pastoral letter against Reaganomics. Kerry called the quasi-socialist U.S. bishops' pastoral letter on the economy "an important document which should be read by Catholics and non-Catholics alike."

When Kerry sponsored the federal Gay & Lesbian Civil Rights Bill in the 1980s, he noted that the "National Federation of Priests' Councils" supported the "inclusion of the term 'sexual orientation' in existing civil rights laws."

Kerry doesn't mind if heretical prelates influence politics. Kerry even urges them to get into politics. Early in his political career Kerry passed up a congressional seat out of deference to Robert Drinan, the Jesuit congressman who supported Roe v. Wade. And then there was Kerry's campaigning for "Father Aristide." In 1994 he helped the defrocked priest return to power in Haiti, calling him "Father Aristide" in an attempt to gin up U.S. sympathy for the Marxist thug. Aristide was no priest -- the Vatican took his collar away after he descended into violent activism -- but that didn't stop Kerry from casting him as a benign "Father."

A product of Jesuit Boston College law school, Kerry absorbed the modern Jesuit enthusiasm for "liberation theology." This is evident in his apologetics work for "Father Aristide." Kerry bitterly accuses Republicans of persecuting Aristide for his "liberation theology." For this reason he rushed to Aristide's defense -- "Father Aristide may not be perfect (what elected leader is?)," he has written -- despite knowing that the cashiered priest is an inciter of "necklacing," the practice of throwing flaming tires around his opponents' heads.

There has been much talk about the dereliction of the Boston archdiocese. But it goes beyond abuse cases. It also shows itself in the relative silence from the chancery about the Kennedys and Kerrys who use their Catholic faith in elections then traduce it after winning them. Boston's Archbishop Sean O'Malley, the highly regarded successor to Cardinal Law, could stop Kerry's charade, and the candidate himself has just given him an opening. The bishop could turn Kerry's questioning of Bush's hollow faith on Kerry.

[nickcarraway]

George Neumayr Ping

[A CA Guy]

Excommunicate the SOB please!!!

[GulliverSwift]

I think that real believers can see through Kerry's charade. He isn't fooling anyone who doesn't want to be.

[maryz]

Kerry is utterly without shame! Even Kennedy (and it's hard to come up with extenuating comments on him!) doesn't throw himself into such brazen photo-op religiosity.

The war hero (just when do we get to see those military records anyway?) makes a brave show of standing up to the Pope. Boy, that takes nerve -- telling the Boston Globe (or "Glop") the Pope can't tell him what to do. Just once I'd like to see him make a really brave show of standing up to the gay lobby or the teachers' unions or [fill in the blank]!

[Shery]

"The war hero (just when do we get to see those military records anyway?) makes a brave show of standing up to the Pope. Boy, that takes nerve -- telling the Boston Globe (or "Glop") the Pope can't tell him what to do. Just once I'd like to see him make a really brave show of standing up to the gay lobby or the teachers' unions or [fill in the blank]!"

I hope you're not holding your breath on this one!

[alpha-8-25-02]

good morning,
i am often on the religion side of FR.
here is my comment;
this individual would like the goats to think he has affiliation with religion,however at the same time he throws papal authority out with the bath water.
some less-learned individuals may liken him to the great reformers,however it was the corruption of the church that calvin and luther where against.
just as the indulgences where sold this individual is being given sacrements for photo ops.
no real catholic or protestant would have any affiliation with him.
sadly there will be the wolves in sheep's clothing that will vote despite thier so-called religious affiliation.

[GailA]

Better yet file a complaint with the IRS over the church campaigning...it's illegal.

[anoldafvet]

Not for a RAT it isn't. Just ask Je$$ie Jack$on or the Rev Al. By the way, what ever happened to Je$$ie?

[Just mythoughts]

Kerry wants to win an election, his deeds and words tell what and whom he has faith in.

JFKerry is a socialist, that is a religion "we are gods", under their "STATE" system, their church. His church, is a "system" - "government" run by "gods" that have the power and authority to give and take "rights", through whatever means necessary.

JFKerry is a "god" in his mind, his arrogance and condescending manner tells his religion.

[NHResident]

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Cardinal O'Malley's taking any action over the behavior or statements of either a Kennedy or a Kerry or even such a joker as Menino(Boston's Mayor).

[Just mythoughts]

"I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Cardinal O'Malley's taking any action over the behavior or statements of either a Kennedy or a Kerry or even such a joker as Menino(Boston's Mayor)."


I long ago gave up believing, the powers that be within the "church" to hold liberals to any standards.

Chris Matthews and Orielly have been the best at explaining what many must believe. "No controlling "church" authority". There is an appearance that being "elected" to high political office makes one untouchable by the church powers that be. I cannot find written many things that are taught and allowed in this "church".

[GraceCoolidge]

The connection with the "faith but no deeds" passage is perfect... what a great observation! I hadn't read this analysis before and it makes perfect sense. Maybe I've gotten so attuned to Kerry's hypocrisy that it is starting to just slide by me.

[trebb]

But I think that it's important to not have the Church instructing politicians.

Interpretation: "What does God have over me? Don't you realize who i am? Why, I'm John F'ing Kerry for crying out loud."

(Small "i" intentional) ;-}

[NYer]

Great article!

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[ride the whirlwind]

Kerry strikes me to be one who wears his church connection like an accessory, taking it out of one of his huge walk-in closets only when it will compliment his image d'jour.

[freeangel]

"how do they comport with religious beliefs?"

They don't and he isn't.

[Unam Sanctam]

Liberation theology is pure marxism with a few Catholic sounding words thrown in as a thin veneer. I can't believe Kerry is defending it.

[Coleus]

  Teresa on the Stump, Teresa Heinz Kerry, from Mozambique, PRO-ABORTION Catholic, UN Employee, etc.

Teresa Heinz Kerry, Drummond Pike and the Communist TIDES FOUNDATION

The Bible and homosexuality [Kerry thinks the bible is for homosexuality]

 

John Kerry and Unborn Victims

Catholic Pro-Abortion, Pro-Homosexual

Catholic and 100% Pro Abortion

Catholics Kerry and Kennedy have a 100% Pro-homosexual Record with the Human Rights Campaign! Page 10,11

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
DOCTRINAL NOTE
on some questions regarding
The Participation of Catholics in Political Life

Living the Gospel of Life:
A Challenge to American Catholics
A Statement by the Catholic Bishops of the United States

Faithful Citizenship:
Civic Responsibility for a New Millennium

An Old Testament, Litany of Life
Canon Law and Abortion
Sign Petition: To Excommunicate
The Gospel of Life--Evangelium Vitae
Herod's Heroes, Sign Petition

[Coleus]

`

[A CA Guy]

No way, I think Kerry was talking here at the invitation of the church. I don't think that has ever been yet the reason to pull a status of a church with the IRS.

For heaven's sake, here in California we have the "CHURCH OF MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" which is a group of men who watch football monday night religiously and take IRS deductions.
True old story.

[Mr. Silverback]

ProLife Ping! If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[lainde]

bttt