Wonderful

John Kerry is Catholic?

"One wonders at the candid conversation Mrs. Heinz Kerry might have had with Rebecca Porter, Florida director of Operation Outcry Silent No More, who recently attended a Kerry campaign event in Tampa, Fla. Porter quietly held a sign that read, "My abortion hurt me." Candidate John Kerry stared at Porter's sign while working a handshake line, but did not address her. Instead, a Kerry campaign staffer grabbed the sign and tore it to pieces."

What ever happened to the Democratic party? FDR once called his party the "big tent" party, but obviousely this does not hold anymore. When a woman's sign is ripped up because it doesn't pass the campaign minders then I have a serious problem with party of my family.

This is, in essence, what finally turned me from Democratic party. When I began high school, I was considered one of the more "progressive" students at the school. No longer. I will never vote for a candidate who supports such a brutal and offensive act against human life.


I am being perfectly honest when I say this, how can "liberal" Catholics (whatever that means) remain in a party that will not concede one iota of ground on the abortion debate?

Furthermore, what should the Bishop's do about this? Is it prudent to act or not to act, considering we are all sinners? Would it do anything? According to canon law, the politician must be a public sinner, and it is up to the individual Bishop to decide whether or not to give communion to the layman. This is a tough sell as it is tantamount to excommunicating a public official. Perhaps the best argument is that once you do it for this, then you have to do it for other dissenters.

I am not so sure. Abortion is a special issue. The Pope has, at the chair of Saint Peter, claimed infallibility in his arguments against abortion. Thus, there is no "natural reason" wiggly room like there is on capital punishment or contraception. If you are Catholic, this is a command from God and it demands your assent as a practicing Catholic.

So I return to my original question, what should the Bishops do? It doesn't seem like they have much of choice here anymore.

Side note: Perhaps this is just more modernism run amok.

In the Good ole days, one could say "X is wrong."
Now, it is "If you are not tolerant of X, you are wrong"

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.