Pacific Views

Sanctimonious Bull

The list of Democratic political sins for which you can be denied communion from certain Catholic clergy is growing longer (via Atrios, who notes that they also don't seem to care about IVF):

...The bishop of Colorado's second-largest Roman Catholic diocese has issued a pastoral letter saying Catholics cannot receive Communion if they vote for politicians who support abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or gay marriage. ...

It would be interesting to find out this bishop's position on and/or knowledge of the kiddie sex cover-up ring. Also, why do Catholic bishops hate Nancy Reagan? But I digress...

I'm waiting for them to decide that you can't receive communion if you are a politician who supported the war, or have voted for a politician who did without confessing that sin and receiving absolution? For your reading pleasure, a Catholic news publication elucidates the Pope's opinion of the war:

..."When war, like the one now in Iraq, threatens the fate of humanity, it is even more urgent for us to proclaim, with a firm and decisive voice, that only peace is the way of building a more just and caring society," he said.

The Pope, in a speech to employees of Catholic television station Telepace, added: "Violence and weapons can never resolve the problems of man."

The Pope led the Vatican in a diplomatic campaign to avert war, putting the Holy See on a collision course with Washington and its backers in the Iraq campaign. ...

At the end of a non-partisan ideological witch hunt, the American Catholic church would be down to nuns and clergy. Quit while you're ahead, folks. The separation of church and state protects the dignity of the church as much as it does the impartiality of the state.

Posted by natasha at May 16, 2004 03:05 AM | Faith | Technorati links |