| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Home Front: Politix | |
| Kerry Takes Communion | |
| 2004-04-25 | |
| He was probably disappointed. He's been maneuvering to get turned down for a couple months... Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry received communion from a Catholic priest Saturday, one day after a top Vatican cardinal said politicians who support abortion rights shoould be denied the Eucharist. Someone didn’t get the email.... Kerry took communion during the 6 p.m. mass at Boston’s Paulist Center, where campaign spokesman David Wade said the candidate regularly worships. before he un-worships by supporting abortion The church is close to the Beacon Hill home Kerry shares with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. "We’re following the directive of our archdiocese," said Father Joe Ciccone, who gave Kerry the Eucharist. "They have said we should give him communion." The Paulist Center attracts Catholics uncomfortable with some of the Vatican’s orthodox teachings or who otherwise feel alienated from the Roman Catholic Church. Translation: Plastic Catholics The congregation includes gay couples, whose adopted children are baptized there, unlike in some other Boston parishes. In November, its leaders refused to read aloud during Mass from a letter opposing gay marriage, as requested by the Massachusetts bishops. The congregation is not geographical, but ideological, drawing people from as far as away as New Hampshire, said Drew Deskur, the center’s music director and a parishioner for 25 years. "It’s not St. Around-the-Corner," Deskur said. "It’s an intentional community that draws people from all over Boston. It tries to make sure that everyone feels welcome and that everyone participates in the liturgy." And nobody has to take any sort of a stand or standard -- how very Kerry.... The Archdiocese of Boston "does not hold to the practice of publicly refusing Communion to anyone," said archdiocese spokesman Rev. Christopher Coyne. He said it was up to the individual to decide whether to receive Communion.
Just another Photo-Op for Kerry. There is even a photo of him taking communion at the link.... (And yes, that pisses me off! And I am not even Catholic....) Founded in 1970, the church is located within the Archdiocese of Boston and operates with the permission of the bishop. The center, however, is financially independent and has a history of reaching out to marginalized Catholics. The Paulist Center began a support group for divorced Catholics that has since been replicated in churches across the country. The center also hosts a group for bisexual, gay and lesbian Catholics, as well as a program for lapsed Catholics who are considering a return to the flock. The center helped launch the Walk for Hunger, a now annual fund-raiser for soup kitchens across the region, and has held funeral Masses for homeless people who die without family or loved ones. | |
| Posted by:CrazyFool |
| #11 Now, paradoxically, they seek to use him as a fundamentalist foil as Kerry courts the relativist vote. Pretty cynical. Like I've mentioned before, these people seem to seriously get off on cognitive dissonance. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-04-25 11:31:15 PM |
| #10 If Kerry forces a priest to stiff him, he also forces every Catholic Bishop address the issue from the pulpit and through the Catholic press. And it would be about damn time. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-04-25 11:27:01 PM |
| #9 The transi crowd used the Pope as a symbol of peace to try to block Bush during the run up to the Iraq War. Now, paradoxically, they seek to use him as a fundamentalist foil as Kerry courts the relativist vote. Pretty cynical. It may play in some parts of California and New York, but he stands to lose a lot in the Midwest. I think Wisconsin, Indiana and possibly Illinois have large Catholic blocks. If Kerry forces a priest to stiff him, he also forces every Catholic Bishop address the issue from the pulpit and through the Catholic press. In my experience Catholic papers and bulletins are read and heeded in the Midwest to an extent that would surprise a Boston Catholic. For Kerry, the Dukakis helmet may be a thin wafer. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-25 11:02:31 PM |
| #8 Kerry, in case nobody's figured it out, is a narssacisstic asshole who does what's best for him. He fits right in with the hip, with-it, Paulist center and their cool, with-it congregation of confused, beautiful people Catholics. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-04-25 8:43:33 PM |
| #7 Lurch better be careful. Given the way the world is today--at war, highly visible American election, and a Pope who pays attention to world events especially in this country, Skeery may find himself on the wrong end of a Papal Edict direct from Rome. And also taking that Pro-Abortion March in Washington today into consideration, anyone who backs abortion openly who is Catholic may be asking for it, as well. Good thing, too, and Amen! (And it's not just abortion, but eusthanasia and gay marriage.) Skeery isn't going to be able to duck the Church (or God) forever by going to the more apostate Paulist Church and I don't think he's fooling the real Catholics anyway! |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-04-25 8:23:58 PM |
| #6 Kerry's hoping for a Sistah Souljah moment against his professed church. I'm a somewhat lapsed Catholic, and having been divorced, wouldn't get remarried in my church without an anullment. The fact that he so publicly violates their principles and publicly stated opposition to many causes he supports, means the communion hosts he receives are just unleavened bread, no further punishment is necessary. Shame on him, however for using his Catholicism and purported (falsely so) Irish roots for political gain |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-25 8:14:50 PM |
| #5 These people are directly disobeying a directive from the Vatican and a words from their own Archbishop. They are deliberately giving communion, the central Mystery of the Church, in contravention to the Magisterum of the Church. They can no longer consider themselves Catholic - and should be treated as such. Drop them from the church, let them form their own protestant sect. Any other actions by these people is hypocrasy, and apostacy. Specifically, "apostasy inobedientiæ". Simple: if they do not wish to obey the teaching authority of the Church and its doctrines, they should be truthful and declare themselves to be seperated from the Church. They have called the Archbishop of Boston's bluff. Given that he is a Franciscan Capuchin (OFM, Cap), I doubt that the current Archbishop will stand for this sort of thing. There are whole pile of Priests and Deacons in the "Paulist" center about to be disciplined if they do not obey as they are bound to do by their oaths. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-04-25 6:40:17 PM |
| #4 I've since posted about this subject here. |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2004-04-25 5:29:08 PM |
| #3 Ditto, Barbara Skolaut. I turned against the Paulists after watching one's production, Judas ... ick! (It was rushed to ABC as a "Passion cash-in" - and it floundered, even as a telemovie.) And Anonymous? The Atlantic Monthly carried a report by older, around-during-Vatican II, liberal priests who were in a hysterical uproar over new priests being orthodox and conservative ... |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2004-04-25 5:28:38 PM |
| #2 Well, even in Kerry's childhood, the Catholic Church was equated in some parts as much with political power and "social machine" as religion. But that control over (especially) the Catholics of Boston was shattered during the late 1960s, both nationally, and somewhat later internationally, and never recovered. Its final demise has been recent, due to the pedophilia scandal. Bizarre remnants remain, however, for example in Boston, the use of abortion as birth control in the belief, literally, that abortion is less "sinful", because you only do it once; but birth control pills are worse, because you take them daily! But if Kerry thinks that he will make major inroads in popularity among the rest of America just by catering to Catholics of this mentality...he is ruined. Their numbers are tiny, especially compared to Catholics born after 1970 and the non-Catholics who look at him taking communion which, to them, just looks like he is trying to piss the Catholic Church off; or that he is totally cynical to religious beliefs of any kind. The overall effect is making him a Teflon candidate, starting with the soles of his running shoes. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-04-25 4:30:33 PM |
#1 The Paulist Center attracts Catholics uncomfortable with some of the Vatican’s orthodox teachings or who otherwise feel alienated from the Roman Catholic ChurchSomebody's got to say it: If these people are "uncomfortable with some of the Vatican's orthodox teachings" and "feel alienated from the Roman Catholic Church," then THEY'RE NO LONGER CATHOLICS, are they? Why don't they admit it and move on? I hear some branches of the Episcopal Church would fit them perfectly. Or they could start their own religion. Seems to me that pretending they're believers of a particular religion, while refusing to follow the teachings of that religion, might not set so well with that religion's God. And most religions' Gods have looooong memories. (No, I'm not Catholic myself - I just detest hypocrites.) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-04-25 2:09:39 PM |