are not in favor of bringing their problems right up to the Communion rail,' Bishop Boland said. The Kansas City bishop has said that he thinks bishops generally want to keep apart the politics of their laity and practice of faith. That is an oxymoron,' said Tom Gugger, a 48-year-old Blue Springs, Missouri, grain trader.

'You can't be pro-abortion and Catholic at the same time. Joseph to join with four other bishops in withholding Communion from Kerry should he ever request it in the Kansas City area. In Kansas City protesters recently pleaded for Bishop Raymond J. The remaining possibility, however, that a bishop can deny Communion based on political positions leaves open a chance not that government will intrude on political freedom, but that clergy will impose their powers over those in government.Īnd that's sparked deeply committed anti-abortion forces, for instance, to use the church as a way to pressure candidates on the issue and embarrass those they oppose. 'The polarizing tendencies of election-year politics can lead to circumstances in which Catholic teaching and sacramental practice can be misused for political ends,' the bishops said in a statement. Yet the bishops also seemed to caution against the tactic. The bishops concluded that politicians who regularly back abortion rights or euthanasia are 'cooperating in evil,' but left to individual bishops whether lawmakers should be denied Holy Communion as a result.

In Missouri, though, a key battleground state in presidential elections, Catholics sided with Bush over Gore 55 percent to 44 percent, according to an ABC News exit poll.ĭemonstrators have staged vigils across the country, including in Denver, where 250 U.S. In 2000, Catholics voted for Al Gore over George W. As a group, Catholics once tended to vote Democratic, but the partisan divide within the faith has narrowed significantly compared with 30 years ago. How the nation's 64 million Catholics see the controversy could be a factor in a tight presidential race. 'I am not a spokesperson for the church, and the church is not a spokesperson for the United States of America,' Kerry said in June. And in fact, other clergy question the propriety of using a sacrament as a political sanction. Senator Kerry, who regards his faith as private, told reporters that he will not be pressured by religious leaders. This time a handful of Catholic clergy have pitted private loyalty to church against political philosophy and public policy. Kennedy got near a lease on the White House, some voters fretted that the country's first-ever Catholic president would be more beholden to his church. 'They don't think the church should be involved.' 'For many Americans, this crosses a line,' said Karlyn Bowman, who studies public opinion at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colorado, has said that Catholics who even vote for a pro-choice politician should remain seated during Communion. Among their concerns are Kerry's stands on abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia, and gay marriage-all of which, they say, run contrary to church teachings. Louis, have said that the staunchly pro-choice Democratic candidate for president, a practicing Catholic, should not take Holy Communion in their dioceses. 'We have to cut some slack to Catholic politicians, or we won't have any Catholic politicians.'Īt least four Catholic bishops, including Archbishop Raymond Burke of St.

'That is not the way we function as Catholics,' Kennedy said. So he's aghast to hear talk from bishops-a small but bold minority-that lawmakers such as presidential candidate John Kerry should be refused the Eucharist. Not once, said the man who would grow up to become a priest and confidant to the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, does he remember his church denying those murderous thugs Communion. Eugene Kennedy recalls the New York parish of his childhood, a place where men well-known as gangland bosses walked the streets.

Bishop knight checkmate