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Kerry Ignores Reproaches of Some Bishops
NYT via Drudge ^ | 04.11.04

Posted on 04/11/2004 9:13:49 PM PDT by Coleus

April 11, 2004

Kerry Ignores Reproaches of Some Bishops

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

BOSTON, April 11 — Rejecting the admonitions of several national Roman Catholic leaders, Senator John Kerry received communion at Easter services today at the Paulist Center here, a kind of New Age church that describes itself as "a worship community of Christians in the Roman Catholic tradition" and that attracts people drawn to its dedication to "family religious education and social justice."

Mr. Kerry's decision to receive communion represented a challenge to several prominent Catholic bishops, who have become increasingly exasperated with politicians who are Catholic but who deviate from Catholic teaching.

Mr. Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, supports abortion rights and stem cell research, both of which are contrary to church teaching. He and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, are regular worshipers at the Paulist Center, which is near their home on Beacon Hill.

Last November, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops organized a task force headed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington to study how the church should treat Catholic politicians like Mr. Kerry, who say they are personally opposed to abortion, for example, but support abortion rights legislatively. There has been a long line of such politicians, including Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York, and Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1984.

The task force has not issued any specific recommendations, but some members have discussed a range of penalties, from withholding communion to excommunication.

In a television interview today, Cardinal McCarrick indicated that depriving a Catholic of communion would be a last resort that he, for one, would be reluctant to take.

"I think there are many of us who would feel that there are certain restrictions that we might put on people" he said on the "Fox News Sunday" program. "But I think many of us would not like to use the Eucharist as part of the sanctions."

In February, the archbishop of St. Louis, Raymond Burke, warned Mr. Kerry before the Missouri primary that he would not give him communion because the senator was defying church teaching.

Archbishop Sean O'Malley of Boston has not explicitly said that Mr. Kerry may not receive communion, but he has suggested that Catholic politicians whose political views contradict Catholic teaching should voluntarily abstain, saying they "shouldn't dare come to communion."

There were no protesters at today's services, and it was not clear whether Mr. Kerry's receiving communion would bring a response from the church or affect his campaign as he seeks to become only the second Roman Catholic president of the United States, after John F. Kennedy.

"It was a wonderful service," Mr. Kerry told reporters afterward. As he emerged from the church, he received a sustained ovation. He shook hands with several people and posed for pictures, then ducked back into the vestibule to thank the priest.

Mr. Kerry heads to New Hampshire on Monday and expects to have several Democratic colleagues around the country join in a coordinated attack on President Bush's handling of the economy.

In an ongoing effort to make the economy the central issue in the presidential campaign, Mr. Kerry's campaign issued a so-called "misery index" today that purports to show that under Mr. Bush, the economic power of middle-class families has deteriorated at record levels.

The misery index is based on median family income, private-sector job growth, the rate of home ownership, the increase in the number of personal bankruptcies and the cost of college tuition, health care and gasoline cost.

The Kerry campaign has computed that the "misery index" in the last three years under Mr. Bush has been the worst in in three decades, with the biggest problems being the rise in college tuition (up 13 percent from 2002 to 2003), the loss of private-sector jobs, the rise in health premiums and the decline in family income.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Philosophy; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: abortionlist; cafeteriacatholic; catholic; catholiclist; cino; communion; holycommunion; kerry; newage; paulist; paulistcenter; prolife
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To: Coleus
Mr. Kerry's decision to receive communion represented a challenge to several prominent Catholic bishops, who have become increasingly exasperated with politicians who are Catholic but who deviate from Catholic teaching.

The Church has taken the position that capital punishment is wrong. Will they refuse communion to those politicians who support it?

The Church has also taken the position that divorce is wrong. Will they also refuse communion to those politicians who support laws providing tax incentives for divorce or laws making divorce easily obtained?

41 posted on 04/12/2004 4:44:33 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Jefferson Davis - the first 'selected, not elected' president.)
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To: Arthur McGowan; Sgt_Schultze
independent of the state of mind of anyone present.

(The priest has to have the proper intention.)

Rules on Receiving the Eucharist

42 posted on 04/12/2004 4:47:59 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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To: xsmommy
Maybe he should try the Unitarians. They have a similar approach.
43 posted on 04/12/2004 4:49:43 AM PDT by secret garden (Go Predators! Go Spurs!)
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To: Aquinasfan
John Kerry has always been a wise guy and a faker. A smart Alec. Disrespectful. He's just messing around with the Cath Church same as he has done to others.
44 posted on 04/12/2004 4:51:03 AM PDT by dennisw (“We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way.” - Toby Keith)
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To: Non-Sequitur
I think Post 22 clarifies this point.
45 posted on 04/12/2004 4:51:41 AM PDT by GraceCoolidge
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To: Non-Sequitur
Civil divorce laws and laws regarding capital punishment are matters of prudential judgement. Issues like abortion, homosexual marriage and experimentation on human embryos are intrinsic evils, the legalization of which is inexcusable under any circumstances.
46 posted on 04/12/2004 4:53:00 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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To: Coleus
"I think there are many of us who would feel that there are certain restrictions that we might put on people" he said on the "Fox News Sunday" program. "But I think many of us would not like to use the Eucharist as part of the sanctions."

You should if they're in mortal sin, and a lot of them are definitely in mortal sin. You're a wuss.

47 posted on 04/12/2004 4:54:44 AM PDT by BlessedBeGod ('I went to Vietnam, yada yada yada, I want to be President...")
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To: dennisw
He's just messing around with the Cath Church same as he has done to others.

So is Ted Kennedy, and a raft of others. I'm more angry with the bishops. Their silence must end.

48 posted on 04/12/2004 4:55:07 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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To: Aquinasfan
So is Ted Kennedy, and a raft of others. I'm more angry with the bishops. Their silence must end.

Amusing how Kerry tried to do a Kennedy by getting his marriage annulled. He was turned down flat and married Theresa anyway. Both are Catholic. I have no idea if theirs was a Catholic wedding.

Kennedy family has had enough juice to get a few marriages annulled but Kerry was denied! LOL!

49 posted on 04/12/2004 5:04:33 AM PDT by dennisw (“We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way.” - Toby Keith)
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To: Aquinasfan
thanks for posting the rules, very enlightening. Our priest yesterday specifically mentioned that only those Catholics properly disposed should present themselves for communion. no pro-abort Dem politicians present, but i have every faith that Father O'brien would have no problem refusing one of them, had they presented themselves.
50 posted on 04/12/2004 5:06:20 AM PDT by xsmommy
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To: Coleus
The article said: "In a television interview today, Cardinal McCarrick indicated that depriving a Catholic of communion would be a last resort that he, for one, would be reluctant to take."

What a load of crap! The Church forbids me from taking communion because my wife and I were married in a civil ceremony, not in a Church ceremony. It was the first and only mariage for either of us. We have been married 21 years. But because we were not married in the Church we are considered adulterers, and thus cannot receive the Eucharistic sacrament. But Kerry can support abortion, partial birth abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia; he can take the sacraments of non-Catholic faiths, and who knows what else; and the Cardinal basically says it's okay for Kerry to receive communion? Am I missing something?
51 posted on 04/12/2004 5:09:15 AM PDT by ought-six
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To: Aquinasfan
… disgusted, heretical bump for later e-mail.
52 posted on 04/12/2004 5:15:21 AM PDT by Mr. Thorne ("But iron, cold iron, shall be master of them all..." Kipling)
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To: LasVegasMac
Eventually, I understood that there was no shaking my Mother from her political beliefs. Total Democrat. Blind vote. Every time.

I've run into folks like this at my parish as well. They tend to be in their 60's and voted democratic all their adult lives. They are also devout!!! The excuse they use is that the media is lying. They simply will not listen.

53 posted on 04/12/2004 5:18:46 AM PDT by Diva
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To: Sgt_Schultze

You are wrong on Martin Luther's and the Bible's teaching of the Sacrament of the Altar. Luther and Lutherans believe that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Jesus because He said so: "Take eat. This IS My body...Take drink. This IS My blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins." This is the doctrine of the Real Presence and differentiates Lutherans from the Protestants who consider the bread and wine (usually grapejuice) as symbolic of His body and blood. The minister does not change bread and wine into the body and blood (transubstantiation), but Jesus declaring that it IS makes it so. And because it IS His body and blood, we must be penitent partakers because receiving it unworthily can damn instead of forgive.
54 posted on 04/12/2004 5:18:53 AM PDT by kittymyrib
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To: GraceCoolidge
I think Post 22 clarifies this point.

So who came up with those 5 non-negotiable issues? The Pope? Biblical references? What?

55 posted on 04/12/2004 5:44:43 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Jefferson Davis - the first 'selected, not elected' president.)
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To: Aquinasfan
Civil divorce laws and laws regarding capital punishment are matters of prudential judgement. Issues like abortion, homosexual marriage and experimentation on human embryos are intrinsic evils, the legalization of which is inexcusable under any circumstances.

Jesus Christ specifically condemned divorce and it's merely 'a matter of prudential judgment.' He didn't say anything about abortion or homosexuality and you decide those are 'inexcusable under any circumstances'. So I guess you know more than Him? Or does the Gospel according to Aquinasfan take precedence over the Gospel of Mark?

56 posted on 04/12/2004 5:52:49 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Jefferson Davis - the first 'selected, not elected' president.)
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To: ought-six
Am I missing something?

Yeah. If your marriage was your first and only, you can get married in the church. You don't need to have the big ceremony, but you can still get married in the church. I've known people who've done it. Any priest who told you otherwise is lying, as I understand it. If there were objections to the vows of the marriage covenant, THAT would be a problem.
57 posted on 04/12/2004 5:58:28 AM PDT by Desdemona (Proverbs 18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.)
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To: Non-Sequitur
The laws regarding these issues are a matter of prudential judgement. For example, Aquinas said that in determining whether a vice should be criminalized, the amount of societal vice resulting from criminalization should be less than the original vice itself. Consider the matter of illegal drugs. Clearly, intoxication is a serious sin. But it can be argued that the criminalization of the possession of drugs can lead to a greater amount of vice in society (gang warfare, robberies to support an expensive habit, corruption of law enforcement, etc.)

Jesus condemned divorce. But laws regarding divorce beg the question of what determines a valid marriage. Civil marriage is not sacramental marriage, and is outside the strict jurisdiction of the Church. However, the Church has an interest in the health of society, and can therefore advise the State regarding the structure of family law. Law regarding homosexuals in general is analogous to the situation regarding drug laws.

58 posted on 04/12/2004 6:11:29 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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To: LasVegasMac
I cannot imagine my life without these two gifts from God. And I thank God, many times every day, that their biological mothers did not choose to commit the most horrific act I can think of.

Adoptive mother bump. I have Democrats in my family who refuse to hear the truth as well, and some of them are "devout" Catholics. I can't look at my three children and be anything but grateful to their birthmothers who made such a courageous choice. God bless you and your family.

59 posted on 04/12/2004 6:19:03 AM PDT by lsucat
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To: kittymyrib
The minister does not change bread and wine into the body and blood (transubstantiation), but Jesus declaring that it IS makes it so.

Just so there's no misunderstanding, Catholics believe that it is Christ, acting through the priest, who effects transubstantiation. This is true for all of the Sacraments,except for Holy Matrimony, where the couple effects the Sacrament.

60 posted on 04/12/2004 6:19:18 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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