Friday, April 02, 2004
A few political thoughts
Various bloggers have decried the Kerry campaign's seeming attempt to bait a bishop or priest to deny the candidate Communion. I'm not pleased about much of anything I've heard in connection with this story.
- It is reprehensible for a person to "use" the sacraments for such a purpose.
- If however, a divorced-and-remarried Catholic were of a mind to challenge Church teaching on honorable grounds, that would be another matter.
- If the story has leaked that the Kerry campaign is trying to goad the Church into a public stand, does it do any good to play into the campaign's hopes?
- I don't think it does the Pro Life movement much good to make the senator a poster boy for Bad Catholics, Inc.
I would leave the abortion issue off the table in any public statements about Mr. Kerry. I wonder if the best course of action would be to confront the candidate only on his spiritual intentions for attending Mass and receiving the sacraments. After all, it's no longer a secret that the party is looking for a confrontation to energize voters.
I certainly wouldn't reserve a few front-rows in my parish for a political entourage. And if the Church's homilists wish to continue to hammer away at abortion, they should certainly do so, but with perhaps a particular emphasis on what can be done outside a voting booth to get movement on the issue. Neither major party seems displeased with the current status quo on abortion. And while some Republicans talk a good anti-abortion talk, I cannot see them splitting their party over an issue they've managed so far to pay enough lip service on to satisfy pro-life people at a minimum while not doing any economic or political damage to themselves or their supporters.
