Get ready for another episode of, Is He a Bad Catholic?
For a couple of decades now, Democrats who thought they would win over the Catholic vote by nominating Catholic politicians have been disappointed to learn that the Church views pro-choice Catholics as far worse than pro-choice Protestants. (See: Ferraro, Geraldine; Cuomo, Mario; Kerry, John, among others). .
John Kerry lost the Catholic vote, after being accused of violating church teachings on abortion.
Will Joe Biden meet the same fate? The conservative group Fidelis hopes so, declaring already that Biden’s choice “re-opened a wound” and is a “slap in the face of American Catholics.” Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver told Associated Press Saturday that Biden should refrain from taking communion.
David Gibson over at Progressive Revival reports that the Bishop of Delaware had resisted pressure to punish Biden, but a new Bishop takes over September 9.
It’s worth noting: there are a few key differences between Biden’s and Kerry’s Catholicism.
Biden has broken with pro-choice orthodoxy more than Kerry did. He supported a ban on partial birth abortion and opposes government funding of abortions.
Though both came of age in the Vatican II era, and thereby were influenced more liberal elements within the church, Biden has followed a more traditional Catholic path. He went to Holy Rosary day school and a Catholic High School called Archemere, while Kerry went to a Swiss boarding school and an Episcopal boarding school. Biden attends mass weekly and carries a rosary.
Biden is a bit more combative in defending his faith practice. While Kerry would respectfully disagree with those who challenged his religious bona fides, Biden told the Cincinatti Enquirer in 2005 : “The next Republican that tells me I’m not religious, I’m going to shove my rosary beads down their throat.”
Finally, being Catholic in America is only partly about theology (in fact most Catholics don’t even follow church teachings on abortion or contraception). It’s also a cultural designation. Biden has the full Irish Catholic Catholic package — working class roots, Catholic schooling, a “scrappy” drive to make government help the Working Man. He may therefore do better with Catholics than the preppy Kerry even if he is criticized by the Bishops just as much.
So there really are two questions: will the Bishops be as tough on Biden as they were on Kerry?
Second, if they do, will it hurt with Catholic voters – or does Biden’s cultural Catholicism give him teflon?
Beliefnet
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posted August 25, 2008 at 8:01 am
It is heretical for a Catholic-Christian to insist that one life is more valuable than another. Jesus insists that we look at reality as God does, who “lets the rain fall on the good and the bad and the sun shine on the just and the unjust.”
The life of the preborn is no more or less valuable in the eyes of God than the life of a woman on death row in Texas or the life of an enemy combatant. In the eyes of God there is no “innocent” or “guilty.” God loves what God has made.
If the Church can justify war and capital punishment (and support politicians who do), and at the same time use abortion as a litmus test for fidelity, then it is the Church that stands in opposition to the Gospel.
posted August 25, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Thank you, Tony. You said that just as I wish that I could have. Pro Life is about all life, not just the unborn. I’m anti-war, anti-abortion and anti-capital punishment. That means that no political party or mainstream politician speaks for me.
Having said that, Senator Obama comes closest, and picking Senator Biden as his running mate was a bold, not-for-political-gain move. I’m excited.
Franklee
Ex-Republican for Obama
posted August 26, 2008 at 2:25 am
Tony, what about ectopic pregnancy? If there is no abortion, the child dies and the mother dies. If there is an abortion, the mother lives, the child dies, and there is possibility to bring another life into the world. Is it always heresy to choose one life over another?
posted August 26, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Steve,
Don’t you think that the answer is obvious? Most reasoning people don’t have overwhelming problems with ending a pregnancy to save a mother’s life. It’s abortion as birth control that gives many of us a very big heartache.
I can’t truly speak for Tony, but my guess is that he would agree. Then again, I’m a bad guesser…
posted September 25, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I can’t believe Sen. Biden carries a Rosary!! I do to everywhere I go. I’m a dem and I don’t like the dem’s stance on abortion. I can see with Sen. Biden that I can and will vote for Obama.
posted September 30, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Sadly no party completely embodies the culture of life. However, the USCCB and the Vatican have made it clear that we have an obligation to vote for the candidate and the party that will do the most to defend life. Obama promotes a more liberal abortion policy than we currently have. If he’s unwilling to stand up for life in the womb, what makes us think he’ll defend it anywhere else? I disagree with McCain on a number of issues (death penalty included) but those are issues I’ll take up with my governor.
posted October 24, 2008 at 12:26 am
It is all about choice,,, It is your choice to support abortion rights, it is your choice to be Catholic or not. America is the Buffet line of churches,, Pick one,, just do not pick being Catholic, because your not.
Canon law was revised in 1917 and 1983 to refer simply to “the fetus.” The church penalty for abortions at any stage of pregnancy was, and remains, excommunication.
Bidden chooses to be Catholic not in name, but in a fashion to get votes. It is his choice to go against the Churches core belief.