Church should leave Kerry alone

NY Newsday ^ | April 15, 2004 | DICK RYAN

[presidio9]

If members of the American Catholic hierarchy are as politically astute as they pretend, they will abort their current efforts to torpedo the presidential campaign of John Kerry, a practicing Roman Catholic, because of his pro-choice position on the issue of abortion.

They will also drop all the shrill rhetoric about him not taking Communion, as is currently being voiced by St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley. Nobody likes bullies, especially a group of men who were invisible and timidly inarticulate at the height of the worst scandal in the history of their church.

When John F. Kennedy won the presidency in 1960, his victory erased the issue of a Catholic's religion as a serious factor in the election of a president. And his all-too-brief tenure as one of the most popular presidents in the history of the country destroyed the bigoted old belief that a Catholic president would sell Oklahoma to the Vatican and place statues of the Virgin Mary in every public school classroom.

(Click the link & Read the entire articl -It's quite obnoxious)

[Prime Choice]

Why should the Church leave Kerry alone for not following the core principles of his professed faith?

I can guarantee you that if Kerry claimed he was a vegetarian and then was photographed eating a hamburger and a side of bacon, neither PETA nor the vegans would let him live it down.

What's with this double-standard when it comes to matters of morality??

[OpusatFR]

"Otherwise, they confirm the belief in the minds of many Catholics that a few feverishly arrogant old men in today's hierarchy truly epitomize a dying medieval culture much closer to the dinosaur than to the divine and are hanging on, by their fingernails, to a power and prestige that is all but lost."

Ain't it grand. Opinions are things that we can listen to and nod sagely, or just give the raspberry.

This guy gets a humongeous big Pffftttttt...tttttffff..

Besides, Kerry is the one who started his holier than thou nonsense and used his religion as a credential. Blech....

[madprof98]

If members of the American Catholic hierarchy are as politically astute as they pretend, they will abort their current efforts to torpedo the presidential campaign of John Kerry, a practicing Roman Catholic . . .

HORSESH!t! Kerry has goaded the hierarchy, flagrantly defying the most basic moral teaching of the Church, and insisted that he is representative of American Catholics. He has demanded that the bishops act. No doubt he figures this will win him votes among the Satanic set, who are (it seems) about half the population.

[freeangel]

Hmmmm. Did Kennedy stump for abortion and same sex marriage?

[HJH207]

I am a Catholic and I have been raising cain with my priest and have called the bishop. If Kerry wants to say he is a Catholic and receive the sacraments of the church he must be a Catholic. No hall pass for John Kerry. If he does not agree with the church the only thing holding him back on leaving the Church are millions of Catholic voters. FLIP FLOP FLIP FLOP..............

[mgstarr]

Hey Dick...... Kerry isn't a practicing Roman Catholic. If he were, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

[alloysteel]

John Kerry may have gone through all the rituals and ceremonies that are recorded in the parish archives, but none of this makes him a "practicing Catholic". He does not make the teachings of the Church into his heart and intellect, he only hauls out the credentials of having attended some functions as "proof" he is a good person.

But it is not in the walls, or the vestments, or the chants, that human beings are truly part of the Church. That comes from the inside, and shines out into the world. One may not fake piety, any more than one can fake sincerity. If you know it to be a sham, then the Lord shall know it also.

But perhaps the Lord is just a myth, and all the pomp and glory of the processional is just posturing. Then, of course, it would not matter WHAT John Kerry does in this world.

[atomicpossum]

Newsday to Catholic Church: 'Stop taking this religion stuff so seriously.'

Apparently, to some people, liberalism takes precedence...

[Unam Sanctam]

Actually it is Kerry who should leave the Church alone. He has no right to tell the Church what to believe and what to say in public statements, or what practices to enjoin on its members. The Church has a human and a Constitutional right to say what it wants in public, and to freely practice its religion as it sees fit.

[bitt]

No Catholic is proud that their Church was infiltrated by homosexual predators that then protected each other.

We now INSIST that the Bishops and Cardinals INSIST that the precepts of the Church be followed.

[i_dont_chat]

I think I've heard this before!

Why doesn't the Church leave those poor priests alone -- you know, the priests who keep getting in trouble with little boys?

Yep, this sounds familiar.

[Jim Noble]

If he receives communion with the explicit approval of the ordinary of Boston, who is in communion himself with the Holy See, in what way is he not a practicing Roman Catholic?

[broadsword]

Church should leave Kerry alone...

OK. I'm fine with that. The Church sould leave the jerk completely alone, as in excommunication.

[Califelephant]

It seems that the only sacrament which is of any importance to the author of this article is the liberal sacrament of ABORTION.

[mgstarr]

Can't decide whether to actually take your question seriously or not.

Kerry's views, words and actions are not in communion with the tenents of the Roman Catholic faith and the Holy See. To say he is a "practicing" Roman Catholic is a non sequitur. Whether the ordinary of Boston gives his approval is irrelevant.

[Dutch Boy]

Kerry is yet another in a long line trying to make God in his own image. Mankind has a habit of changing Gods law into whatever is convienient for themselves. When the Bible calls something an abomination that leaves little wiggle room an alternate meaning. The left can't defeat religion so they pervert it.

[Jim Noble]

Can't decide whether to actually take your question seriously or not.

Well, I meant it seriously.

I'm not a Catholic, but I'm married to one and my daughters are in CCD (or going).

It is very confusing, all the assertions that Kerry is not a Catholic.

If the Pope and his bishop say he's Catholic (which they do through communion), who are you to say he isn't?

[wattsup]

Why should the Catholic Church want to upset such a pillar of the community. The same church that turns it back to people that abuse its children, in the womb or out. Why should they want to upset the people like Kerry that pay their legal bills

[pbear8]

Kerry isn't a practicing Roman Catholic

He's as Catholic as his favorite Pope - Pious XIII.