Rhode Island's top Roman Catholic leader has asked Rep. Patrick Kennedy to stop taking Communion over his support for abortion rights, the diocese said Sunday.
In a statement issued Sunday, Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin said he told Kennedy in February 2007 that it would be "inappropriate" for him to continue receiving the fundamental Catholic sacrament, "and I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so."
Kennedy, son of the late Ted Kennedy, is both a practicing Catholic and an unabashed supporter of abortion rights. These two simultaneous positions are, of course, in total contradiction with each other.
Politicians that have supported abortion have been less than convincing when asked to explain that position and the subsequent religious positions. Candidate Obama famously said that it was "above my pay grade"when life began. Nancy Pelosi tried to claim that the Catholic church had, until recently, struggled with the issue of abortion. Of course, it hadn't. The Catholic church has always considered inception the beginning of life. Period. Joe Biden did manage to say that he believes that life indeed does begin at conception but that he didn't want to legislate his beliefs. That, despite the fact, that if you take him at his word Biden is stipulating that he legislates murder.
Now, the top Catholic bishop in Rhode Island is again challenging such pro choice religious politicians. It's not the first time such a move has been made. In fact, both Biden and John Kerry were both threatened with this by their respective bishops.
Pro choice politicians who also claim to be practicing Catholics of course have a totally inexplicable dichotomy. If your faith tells you that life begins at conception, then abortion is murder. Period. None have every answered this dichotomy and that's because they can't.
Issues like abortion have taken a back seat with the economy, Iran, and the GWOT in general in the forefront. Yet, to the Catholic church, they are always a frontburner issue. Any politician that supports abortion policy contributes immensely to the nearly 40 million abortions that have occurred since Roe V Wade. We'll see how this will play out but pols like Kennedy simply have an untennable dual position. So, when challenged, they come up with such statements like "it's above my pay grade". If Kennedy is similarly challenged in this case, we can expect a similarly curious stand.
1 comment:
"That, despite the fact, that if you take him at his word Biden is stipulating that he legislates murder."
Politicians legislate murder all the time with people no less innocent than a child who doesn't exist yet. You could almost say its part of the job description.
As far as the Catholic Church, its always been more of a political than a religious entity. That they oppose abortion and contraception is purely a political calculation designed to flood the world with more Catholics.
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