Assume for the moment that John Kerry’s Catholic critics are correct. That a Catholic legislator, or would-be president, cannot embrace abortion rights (or embryonic stem cell research, or gay rights or you name it) and be a “good Catholic.”

It’s an interesting debate, one in which even some “good Catholics” --those who would pass these narrow litmus tests -- might disagree.

But that discussion has nothing to do with whether John Kerry should be president of the United States.

Kerry might be a “bad Catholic” (or a “good” one for that matter) and still be an exemplary president; or a failed one. Personal piety and religious observance are not prerequisites of national leadership.

Were Jefferson and Lincoln good Deists? Hoover and Nixon exemplary Quakers? Kennedy a committed Catholic? George H.W. Bush a first-rate Episcopalian? Clinton a quality Baptist? George W. Bush a pious Methodist?

History judges these men not on their religious zeal, but on their performance in office. How God judges them is for God to decide.

No, what should engage us as citizens is not the quality of a candidate’s religious commitment -- but the quality of that person’s vision for this country and the individual voter’s analysis of the candidate’s ability to implement that vision.

Which brings us to abortion.

There are those among the Catholic laity and hierarchy -- the list is long, but now includes Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput -- who argue that abortion trumps all other issues in the upcoming election.

“Candidates who claim to be ‘Catholic’ but who publicly ignore Catholic teaching about the sanctity of human life are offering a dishonest public witness,” writes Chaput. “They may try to look Catholic and sound Catholic, but unless they act Catholic in their public service and political choices, they’re really a very different kind of creature.”

And then the zinger: “And real Catholics should vote accordingly.” There’s so much wrong with this statement that it is hard to know where to begin.

Does Chaput really believe that Catholic voters should invoke a religious test -- is the candidate a “real Catholic”? -- before voting for one politician over another? Apparently, he does.

“Abortion, immigration law, international trade policy, the death penalty and housing for the poor are all vitally important issues. But no amount of calculating can make them equal in gravity,” writes Chaput. “The right to life comes first.”

It’s odd, by the way, that the archbishop apparently does not consider “the death penalty” a “right to life” issue, though the Catechism of the Catholic Church groups all these issues under a Fifth Commandment heading -- “Thou Shall Not Kill.” Further, the catechism says state-sanctioned killing should be restricted to those cases, nonexistent in the United States, where it is necessary to “protect public order and the safety of persons.”

Chaput, in fact, steps right up to the line of saying that a “good Catholic” cannot vote for John Kerry. Those pesky Internal Revenue Service regulations are something of a stop sign for even the most partisan prelates.

(National Catholic Reporter, April 30, 2004) Full text at http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004b/043004/043004r.htm

-- Clear Catholic Conscience (BrendanAD@usamail.com), May 15, 2004

Answers

The National Catholic Reporter is NOT a Catholic magazine.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), May 15, 2004.

The National Catholic Reporter is NOT a Catholic magazine.

In your not-so-humble opinion :)

-- Clear Catholic Conscience (BrendanAD@usamail.,com), May 15, 2004.

actually, bill is quite astute.

the national catholic reporter is not a sanctioned magazine which undergoes review by the USCCB, therefore the articles contain whatever error the authors who "claim" to be catholic wish to present. they are completely unauthoritative when compared to the USCCB and the pope. you take the word of the newspaper, i dont gamble with mortal sin.

-- paul h (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), May 16, 2004.

For some examples of the errors in NCR see this site.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), May 16, 2004.