Abortion, Catholic Sex Scandals, the Bishop of Scranton, and Joe Biden's Communion
Once again, the emotionally charged issue of abortion has penetrated a presidential campaign, especially among Roman Catholic voters.
The bishop of Scranton, Pa., home to a strong conservative Catholic population, has forbidden Sen. Joe Biden, a Scranton native, from receiving communion in his hometown.
Biden, like 14 other Democrats in the Senate, is both pro-choice and Catholic. So the bishop decreed that the party's vice presidential candidate was not welcome at the communion rail. These Senate Democrats and many other Catholics—including this writer—do not necessarily favor abortion, but we do not feel our religious views should be foisted on others in a nation where church and state are divided.
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is the only Senate Democratic Catholic who is against abortion rights. Yet, he voted last year with the others on a bill that would have overturned the "Mexico City policy," which prohibits U.S. foreign aid for organizations that provide abortions. (Casey's late father, Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey, was also against abortion rights, and in 1992 Democrats made a big mistake by not allowing him to speak at the Democratic convention. He should have been heard. In 2008, the younger Casey did address the convention.)
In the 2004 election, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts felt the wrath of some Catholic organizations for favoring abortion rights. A few prelates of the church said Kerry and other lawmakers who agreed with him should not receive communion.
As a Catholic since birth and one raised by a devout Irish Catholic mother, I have serious problems with my church on this matter.
I admit it relates in large part to the pedophilia scandals that have ripped the church in recent years. Many priests (roughly 5,000 were accused) have been found to have abused young males and young girls, some of them altar boys. For years, the problem was hidden from public view, with priests routinely sent to other parishes without warning the new church—and certainly without informing the authorities. Some cardinals were even involved, and they were, in my view, committing criminal acts as conspirators.
For the record, rape and child molestation are crimes. Covering it up is a crime. Abortion is not a crime because of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.
More than $1 billion in church and insurance money has been paid to victims of pedophilia and their families for the suffering they endured. Most of the victims were youngsters who looked on priests as moral guardians and were afraid to even tell their parents.
In the past few years, but too slowly for me, the church has attempted to get rid of these men and prevent such an outrage from taking place again. Pope Benedict, in his trip to the United States earlier this year, talked forcefully about the personal sorrow he felt about this outrage.
Is it any wonder, though, that some of us resent this bishop in Scranton telling Biden he could not receive communion? He had to know it would hit the national news.
That division of church and state has application here. No priest, minister, or rabbi should be telling the flock how to vote or for whom. Some do, and they are wrong.
The Knights of Columbus, in a harsh attack on Biden in a full-page ad on September 19 in USA Today, said in sum: "Your unwillingness to bring your Catholic moral views into the public policy arena on this issue alone is troubling." Here's an answer to the Knights: Every survey in recent years shows that at least half the Catholics in the United States are pro-choice. I assume you would like to read us out of the church. I will not let you dictate to me on public policy, nor should Senator Biden.
In earlier days, the Catholic vote was strongly Democratic, largely among working-class citizens in urban areas. There has been a remarkable shift to the GOP in recent elections, and Sen. John McCain, the party's nominee, is certain to get strong Catholic support from conservatives in the church. Abortion is not the only reason, but it will be a significant factor.
Whether Joe Biden is allowed to receive communion in his hometown may not seem like a big event in this fall campaign, yet it is important and disturbing to this Catholic.
Reader Comments
Vocation killed!
I agree!I had the vocation to become a Catholic priest...but my Vocation was killed after spending a few days in a Scranton Seminary and hearing what my Bishop was spouting off in public!I knew I could never let him Ordain me...and I could never give him my vow of Obedience!I'd be the first to give our Vice President the host!!!! Under Obama/ Binden we are no longer torturing people in America...and they are trying to get us out of the war.What could be more "Christ like"?
re: ms.d'azzo's comments of 9/26
Scapegoating does not justify anything. Blaming anyone and anything is just more denial of responsibility. It is that denial and the cover ups that went on for sooooooooooo long that allowed sooo many to be abused. Despite mountains of testimony and evidence to the contrary the church continued to make excuses and denials. Even now any apology is only done with GREAT reluctance and the fewest words and the barest sense of remorse. This is moral?
It seems that a desire to evade U.S. laws and retain the great wealth and power of the church dominated the thinking that drove church behavior in response to these abuses, rather than any real concern for the victims or any desire to be good citizens and law abiders in the countries in which the church resides. They overrode the moral choice for their own selfish, earthly reasons. At least, that is how it appears.
In light of all this, most thinking people will question the wisdom of the church, its supposed guidance by God, its commitment to the good of its parishoners and, certainly, its MORAL AUTHORITY. And, that is why the church sex scandals are relevant. For many, it has shaken their beliefs to the core-at least their belief in the church and its bureaucracy, hierarchy, male domination and authority. It's really that s
simple.
Maybe some would put more stock in the opinions of the church on U.S. laws if the church showed respect for the laws of the country by adhering to them. That would include, of course, reporting those within their ranks who break them rather than aiding and abetting by covering up.
The U.S. is a nation of laws, not a theocracy. No one is above the law here. And, citizens of the U.S. have never been more acutely aware and sensitive to those who try to put themselves above the law or manipulate it for their own advantages than we are now...because there is a tidal wave of it going on in various institutions and with the heads of our government - and we are in the gravest danger of losing this wonderful country as a direct result of those abusing our laws.
Churches don't have to pay taxes-supposedly as a part of separation of church and state, yet we all are obligated to obey the laws of the land we inhabit. If churches want to influence those laws, then they, too, must pay equivalent taxes. Even then they must obey the laws as they stand. As for abolishing the separation of church and state, that'd be for all Americans to decide. Remembering the Spanish Inquisition and so many other atrocities committed under governments run by religions, most will probably be hard pressed to agree to such an arrangement.
I think these are some of the issues on people's minds in regard to the wisdom of churches and religion having so much power-especially in our governance, spending and elections.
Finally, Ms. d'azzo-most homosexuals are not pedofiles; most pedofiles are not homosexual. It is the abuse of the vulnerable by the powerful that is the real issue.
Separation of Church from State
It is Senator Biden who has, in his actions as an agent of the state, separated himself from his Church. No reasonable person accepts that he didn't know his support of legalized abortion was contrary to Church teaching. He chose to violate the Church's moral code, and continues to do so publicly. Hopefully this sanction will be instructive and serve to bring his actions back into line with the moral teachings of the Church he professes to believe in. If it does not, then it will serve to illustrate that he has chosen to serve his own interests, rather then Christ's Church.
The Church, an entity separate from the State, has a right to tell it's members anything it wants to, short of incitement to riot or sedition.
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