First conservative Catholic interest groups attacked Joe Biden for being insufficiently Catholic on the abortion question. That was the first parallel to John Kerry’s experience as a Catholic candidate in 2004.
Religion News Service reports that at least one Catholic archbishop is joining the fray:
…shortly after Biden was picked, Archbishop Charles Chaput [pictured] of Denver told The Associated Press: “I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion, if he supports a false `right’ to abortion.”
That’s the second parallel to Kerry’s experience as a Catholic in ’04, as RNS notes:
Chaput is one of a handful of Catholic prelates who entered the political fray in 2004, telling Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, who supports abortion rights, that he should not receive Communion.
So far, Chaput appears to be sole Catholic bishop taking aim at Biden, though RNS recounts some friction between the Deleware senator and his hometown bishop in the not-too-distant past:
In Delaware, the outgoing bishop of Biden’s home diocese, Bishop Michael Saltarelli, issued a statement in 2004 saying “it would be more spiritually beneficial” for Catholic public officials supporting abortion to refrain from Communion.
Saltarelli also said, “our Catholic institutions will not honor Catholic politicians who take pro-abortion legislative positions.”
Following those statements, Archmere Academy, the Catholic prep school in Claymont, Del., that Biden attended, dropped plans to name a new student center after him.
Wilmington diocesan spokesman Bob Krebs said Saltarelli had not issued new comments about Biden and stands by his previous statement.
Now the question is if and how Biden responds. If he declines to, and generally avoids Catholic settings during the campaign in an attempt to side step the controversy, that will be a third parallel to Kerry’s 04 experience. But Biden was hired to bring Catholics over to Obama; following Kerry’s example won’t help him do that.
7
posted August 26, 2008 at 1:06 am
As an ex-Catholic, I just wonder if the Church is in any moral position at all to take a stand against pro-choice Catholic politicians. The decades long institutional support of child molest (either priest engaging in it or the Church hiding it and protecting molesting priest) makes the moral ground beneath their feet very tenuous. I, for one, think it is time for the Church to take a break from the moral pronouncement business and right their own ship. By the way, kicking out gay priest does not solve the problem but only creates more suffering. The issue is the sexual attraction to children, not sexual attraction to members of the same sex.
posted August 26, 2008 at 2:18 pm
The CHURCH is a great moral compass. It SHOULD take a stand against pro-choice. And pro-choice politicians. And anything else pro-choice.
Are there people who have done wrong in the Church, including its priests? Absolutely. Should it work on cleaning up the bad situations? Absolutely. But there is no correlation between your two statements.
For some reason known only to God, God choose to leave humans, weak and imperfect as we are, in charge of his church. As such, things will never be perfect. Indeed, a vast minority, though still too many, have behave in manners quite contrary to the church’s teaching. Some of these individuals have done grave, horrific things. That does not mean that the church should not strive for perfection or at least, constant improvement.
posted August 26, 2008 at 9:02 pm
“The CHURCH is a great moral compass. It SHOULD take a stand against pro-choice. And pro-choice politicians. And anything else pro-choice.”
No, Grace. The Catholic Church, as an institution, violated it’s sacred duties towards the young people in its care. It covered up, enabled, and in many cases made covenant with predators, molesters of the most vile kind.
The leadership made accommodations for these monsters.
The laity told the victims to be quiet, lest they destroy a “man of God.”
The Church has surrendered it’s right to speak to ANY moral issue until it has done penance…penance proper and appropriate for the sin committed. Until that happens, the voices from the Church concerning pro-life issues ring hollow, like those in a whitewashed sepulchre.
posted August 29, 2008 at 7:43 am
Senator Joe Biden and any other human being that want to partake in the Lord’s table and his sacrament of body and blood is more than welcome at other churches. Beliefnet shows us that there are many denominations that do not have regulations that require any to believe one way or the other on abortion. All are the children of God and all are loved by God. We are not to judge, God will judge all.
Wouldn’t it be great if our churches all over the world that claims Christ would show the same love and respect for all that Christ showed! Sure there were the money changers that he ejected from the temple and he wasn’t a dear lover of the pharisees. Then when you think further on the matter he did eat with sinners and tax collectors.
It seems to me that the current church with all of it’s holier than thou rhetoric is setting itself up as the pharisees of this day! I wonder how Jesus Christ would be treated by the church if he were alive and walking the Earth as one of us today? That question goes out to every denomination.