Silence won't work any longer [Hugh Hewitt on high-stakes moment for Church, Kerry, the unborn]

www.worldnetdaily.com ^ | March 31, 2004 | Hugh Hewitt

[RonDog]

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Silence won't work any longer

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Posted: March 31, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

"People in Rome are becoming more and more aware there's a problem with John Kerry," a Vatican official – an American – told Time Magazine this week, "and a potential scandal with his apparent profession of his Catholic faith and some of his stances, particularly abortion."

When John Kerry attended Mass during his skiing-snowboarding-upbraiding-the secret-service-agent-falling-down-repeatedly vacation, and then jetted off to make a rare appearance in the United States Senate to vote against a bill defining an unborn child as, well, an unborn child, devout Catholics across the country noticed. Now we learn from Time magazine that Kerry's avowed Catholicism is eliciting rebukes from Catholic officials, and not just those in faraway Italy. "When Kerry campaigned in Missouri in February," Time also reported, "St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke publicly warned him 'not to present himself for Communion' – an ostracism that Canon Law 915 reserves for 'those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin.'"

Time speculates that the Church's problems may not hurt him much among Catholics because "[t]hose who are most strongly anti-abortion are probably already in Bush's camp. But many Catholics are, like Kerry, struggling with contradictions between the church's teachings and what they practice."

I suspect that Time is confusing the number of Catholics who disagree with the Church's position on birth control with the number who disagree with the Church on abortion. The former group is undeniably large, and would not be particularly concerned with Kerry's opposition to Church teaching on contraception.

But the Catholic faithful are pretty uniform on the issue of protecting unborn children, and Kerry's an abortion-rights absolutist, even on the dreadful issue of partial-birth abortion. As these voters learn of Kerry's hard left position on abortion rights and the Church's condemnation of it, don't expect them to give him a pass, especially in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

Especially not against the anti-Catholic antics displayed by senators who filibustered the nomination of Alabama Attorney General William Pryor to become a federal judge. Pryor, a devout Catholic, was scorned by Democrats because, as Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York put it, "of his deeply held beliefs." Catholics know the code for anti-Catholicism, and the Knights of Columbus condemned the blockade of Pryor.

Time also noted that the pressure is on Boston Bishop Sean O'Malley to make his views known on Kerry's continued receipt of Holy Communion. The magazine quotes O'Malley as saying that Catholic politicians who vote against Church teachings "shouldn't dare come to Communion."

Having made such a statement, O'Malley will squander much needed credibility if he instructs his priests to refuse Kerry Holy Communion. But if he doesn't, the public gets the very clear message that the Church isn't serious about its sacraments, its teachings on life, or anything for that matter. When a clear breach of Church law is on display for the world to see and Bishop O'Malley and the rest of the hierarchy stand by without acting to use their authority, then the Church suffers another devastating blow to its credibility. If it doesn't take itself seriously, then why should anyone put stock in its teachings anyway?

This is a high-stakes moment for the Church and for Kerry. And for the unborn. If the Church truly does care for children inside the womb, it cannot be silent on John Kerry's participation in Church life.

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Hugh Hewitt is an author, television commentator and syndicated talk-show host of the Salem Radio Network's Hugh Hewitt Show, heard in over 40 markets around the country.

[RonDog]

ping

[rhema]

BUMP

[RonDog]

"When Kerry campaigned in Missouri in February," Time also reported,
"St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke publicly warned him 'not to present himself for Communion' –
an ostracism that Canon Law 915 reserves for 'those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin.'" - Hugh Hewitt

Wow.

It appears that SOME people take their faith SERIOUSLY...

www.HughHewitt.com
PING!

If you listen to Hugh Hewitt,
or read his WorldNetDaily articles,
or his commentary at the Weekly Standard,
then this PING list is for YOU!
Please post your comments, and BUMP!

(If you want OFF - or ON - my "Hugh Hewitt PING list" - please let me know)

[Uncle Miltie]

BTTT.

Kerry is vulnerable here. Write letters to the editor quoting the Catholic Family Association rating of Kerry in which he voted against life 30 out of 31 times. (See link below).

This record impeaches his credibility on any religious or moral issue. As a Catholic, Kerry rejects key principles of his church.

As President, will Kerry reject key principles of America?

http://www.cathfam.org/polrec/KerryVote.html

[AMDG&BVMH]

"St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke publicly warned him 'not to present himself for Communion' – "

Yes, wonderful, is it not? Have been praying for a long time, that the Pope, Bishops, priests, and religious be strong and holy. At least we have a couple now with moral courage . . .

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

Defenders of the Faith Ping!!!

Let's hope O'Malley does what Burke did.

[Iron Matron]

But many Catholics are, like Kerry, struggling with contradictions between the church's teachings and what they practice."


Sounds like these "many catholics" and certainly John Kerry - Believe they are smarter than GOD HIMSELF.

[uncbob]

Time speculates that the Church's problems may not hurt him much among Catholics because "[t]hose who are most strongly anti-abortion are probably already in Bush's camp.

I agree
It ain't hurt Teddy enough among so called Catholics to keep him out of the senate

He is one of the most powerful democrat senators and we can thank too many of those Irish Catholics in MASS for inflicting this left wing bloated creep on the nation

[FairWitness]

But many Catholics are, like Kerry, struggling with contradictions between the church's teachings and what they practice."

What evidence is there that Kerry is "struggling" with anything other than his usual of trying to have it both ways.

[yoe]

As President, will Kerry reject key principles of America?

Hasn't he already shown his Americanisms are long gone? Kerry is about as anti-American as you can get - his hypocritical stance on "jobs" for this country fall flat when you count the number of plants he and his wife have overseas, regardless of the vegetable argument, they could do the same thing here in FL, CA and AZ. In short, Kerry has no principals, integrity or honesty. He favors the United Nations over the United States.

[Piquaboy]

Kerry should not be the only one. How about Teddy Kennedy?

[RonDog]

Hugh is RED HOT today. :o)

See also, from www.hughhewitt.com:

March 31, 2004

Posted at 5:25 AM, Pacific

The Washington Post's Dan Balz reports on the Kerry crumple, but does so gently, focusing on the erosion in his support among "registered voters," while overlooking Kerry's collapse among "likely voters." ( As noted yesterday and Monday, Kerry has plummeted 16 points in 40 days in the Gallup/CNN/USAToday head-to-head poll against Bush among likely voters.)  There is much brave talk in the Balz article from Kerry advisers and enthusiasts, suggesting that the negative ads have done their worse, and that this was to be expected after a $20 million dollar buy of such things.  Balz did not ask why Bush's numbers rose --during a bad news week featuring Richard Clarke, no less-- even as the much reported upon MoveOn.org's and Harold Ickes' 527 committees bought air time against Bush in the same proportion as Bush Cheney 2004 did against Kerry.

It isn't about the ads.  Its about the candidates.  Kerry is an aboslutely unlikeable guy, and when people get a look at him outside the context of a Democratic primary featuring Dean, Kucinich and Sharpton, they decide, surprize, not to like him.  And that's not going to change.

In fact, it is going to get worse, as the president goes about his disciplined, methodical campaign throughout the country and especially through the battleground states.  The Boston Globe's Scott Laidlaw filed an interesting report on Bush's swing through Wisconisn yesterday, where unemployement is down to 5.2%.  Blue-state-to-red-state-alert.

Another blue-state-to-red-state-alert from Keystone State: "Bush now leads Kerry in Pennsylvania Poll."   I didn't think that Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell had much of a chance at being lifted to the veep slot, but Kerry must have the Quaker State, and Big Ed's a bruiser who will pretty much say anything, so add him to the real short list of Iowa Gov Tom Vilsack and reliable old Dick Gephardt.  ("But Ed's got a checkered past.," said Mary Beth.  "Do you want to stay in the game or don't you," thundered Schrum back at her.) (NOTE: Pennsylvania has two nicknames --"Keystone State" and "Quaker State," making it easy on sportwriters and political pundits.  What other states have two easily identifiable monikers?  Elder, put the dictionary down. " Moniker" means nickname, as in "Gopher State.")

Meanwhile, Tom Daschle has a big problem named John Thune, and now a new, second big problem named Tim Giago, an Indian activist now pledged to run as an independent in the fall.  There's even a blog devoted exclusively to this race, which is a pretty interesting development.  Bookmark Daschle v. Thune for updates on the marquee race of 2004.

Finally George Will does what George Will does best, a column-length takedown of Richard Clarke.  Sample: "By the eighth day Clarke was telling Tim Russert that the difference is that Clinton did 'something' whereas Bush did 'nothing.'  Nothing except, among other things, authorizing a quadrupling of spenidng for covert action against al Qaeda."  Read it all.

Since you aren't George Will and can't write a response to Clarke, consider giving a response to Clarke in the form of a contribution to John Thune, whose opponent Tom Daschle has done more to politicize national security and imperil the 9/11 Commission's work even as that trend encourages glory and headline-seekers like Clarke to time books to make money on national tragedy.  Kerry's loss in November will be laid at Kerry's feet, but the exile of Daschle would send a huge message that not even the most vicious partisan of the left could miss concerning the morphing of the Dems into an adjunct of the MoveOn.org crowd.  So give to Thune early and often.

March 30, 2004

Posted at 6:00 PM, Pacific

FirefightersforBush.com.  Great stuff.  And if you missed this post from Mark Roberts, go read it now.

Posted at 8:30 AM, Pacific

Just the man to instill fear in the hearts of our enemies.

When you recover  from that picture, consider the article below detailing al Qaeda's surprise at the American response to 9/11.  I have been thinking on this for most of the last three hours.  They really thought that Bush would respond like Clinton.  Now they hate Bush.  They must be hoping for a Kerry win in November because they have to assume that Kerry will indeed revert to Clinton form when it comes to terrorism: meetings, caucuses, conferences, minutes, high-level consultations, late-night phone calls to Kofi, walks in the twilight at Camp David, more meetings and conferences, more furrowed brows, and many, many plans and indictments.  And every four years a barrage of cruise missiles at a site abandoned hours, days or weeks earlier.

How they must miss Clinton.  How they must long for Kerry, along with Hugo Chavez, Kim Jong Il, and the retired nut prime minister of Malaysia.

A yellow flower zipper pull says a lot.  Especially to our enemies.

[doug from upland]

MEMORIALIZED IN SONG HERE

[rhema]

I sent the link on to friends; we'll all get the word out.

[no more apples]

Thank you for your post. Because of past scandals, the Bishop in this country need to be very strong and consistant with the teachings of the Church. To allow politicians to openly flout the Church's teachings and at the same time claim to be Catholic and receive Holy Communion is to discredit the entire Church and Her teachings. Many are waiting for Bishop Sean to drop the "excommunication" label on him as PUBLICALLY as Kerry has received Holy Communion.

[RonDog]

A yellow flower zipper pull says a lot. Especially to our enemies.

See also, from www.powerlineblog.com:

March 29, 2004

A Ray of Hope

My main reason for optimism, vis a vis the November election, is John Kerry. You probably remember his snowboarding vacation, which we posted a photo or two of last week. But Mrs. Rocket called my attention to this picture, which I hadn't seen:

Mrs. Rocket pointed out a detail which had escaped my fashion-oblivious notice, namely, the yellow flower-power zipper pull. The whole look, of course, is appalling: the vest, the gloves, the botox. It is Mrs. Rocket's opinion that the American people will not elect as President a man who wears a vest with a flower power zipper pull.

I think she may be right.

UPDATE: A reader adds: "Thanks for posting that picture of Kerry today. Right now the French are pursing their lips and narrowing their eyes in shrewd appraisal: 'Daisy zipper pull, snowboard with mural graphics, sunglasses hanging from fleece shirt, thin vest-like outer garment. Yes. Clearly this man is the true Alpha Weenie.'''

MORE: A reader from Kentucky writes: "I think I shall be ill. My niece has a flower just like that one. She's seven."

HUGH HEWITT writes: "Just the man to instill fear in the hearts of our enemies."

STILL MORE: Another reader thinks the photo is very funny, but wonders whether the daisy might have been Photoshopped into it. Fear not; the photo is straight from the Associated Press. Her question, though, did cause me to run a search for all photos of Kerry with his snowboard. And it appears that this picture is the only one that shows the flower-power zipper pull. I infer from this that shortly after the photo was taken, a horrified aide noticed the flower and removed it from Kerry's get-up. Leaving only the sunglasses, the vest, the gloves, the board itself and the botox as evidence of Kerry's Alpha Weenie status.

Posted by Hindrocket at 11:01 PM

[Tax-chick]

O'Malley will squander much needed credibility if he instructs his priests to refuse Kerry Holy Communion. (...) When a clear breach of Church law is on display for the world to see and Bishop O'Malley and the rest of the hierarchy stand by without acting to use their authority, then the Church suffers another devastating blow to its credibility.

This is weird. He's saying O'Malley loses "credibility" if he withholds the Eucharist from Kerry, and loses "credibility" if he doesn't.

Maybe the problem is with the concept of "credibility," which is basically a marketing issue, as opposed to "truth," which the Archbishop must teach, whether it is popular or not.

[Solson]

Hugh is once again right on the money. Catholics would be the largest voting bloc if we all voted in concert. However, I know of many good Catholics who vote Democratic because of their alleged support of the poor. However, I've seen it really starting to shift. Both at the lectern and in the pew, more and more Catholics are starting to become active in their opposition to the watering down of Catholic teaching.

While I would love the Catholic vote to codify into a strong political force, I don't believe, as least for the near future, that will happen. However, if we can inch that force, little by little, in the direction of actively supporting Catholic teaching, Conservatives will gain much support.

I only hope the Bishops, including the liberal USCCB, continues to hold the line on Catholic teaching.

[Solson]

The Pope has done a tremendous job of installing good Bishops into places where prior Bishops were wishy-washy at best. Denver, Milwaukee, Chicago, Boston, etc. have all seen a dramatic turn around in the support of Church teaching by their Bishops. I applaud it and sincerely thank the Pope.