Abortion and the Catholic Factor in 2004

By Ken Concannon
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 3/11/04)

I fully expect that during this election season we will hear much about our country’s so-called time-honored tradition of the "separation of church and state." Much of it will come from pro-choice Catholic politicians who will argue, as they always argue, that while they are personally opposed to abortion, they don’t believe that they have the right to impose their religious or moral views on their constituents, many of whom do not share the Catholic Church’s views on abortion.

I expect that the "separation of church and state" mantra will be louder than in previous elections for two reasons. First, the Presidential election this year will most likely be between a socially conservative, pro-life President, George W. Bush, and a liberal, pro-choice Catholic contender, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. Feared by the abortion industry before he was elected President in 2000, and even more after he was elected, Bush has proven himself to be the most pro-life President since issuance of the Roe and Doe decisions 31 years ago. Feminist Gloria Steinem, no friend of the unborn, described the Bush administration thusly: "To my knowledge, there has never been an administration that has been more hostile ... to reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right, and has acted on that hostility."

The Catholic Kerry, on the other hand, is a devout disciple of the abortion agenda. Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, attested to his devotion in an interview with the New York Times: "Even on the most difficult issues [e.g. partial birth abortion] we’ve never had to worry about John Kerry’s position." Since 1995, NARAL has given Kerry a 100 percent rating for his voting record in support of the abortion industry.

The second reason is the increasing willingness of some Catholic bishops to both privately and publicly confront pro-choice Catholic politicians who are members of their diocese. About a year ago Bishop Robert Carlson of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D., where pro-abortion Catholic Senator Tom Daschle supposedly worships, asked Daschle to stop advertising himself as a Catholic in his Congressional biography and campaign material. More recently Bishop Raymond Burke of the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., told three pro-abortion Catholic politicians that they should stay away from the Eucharist. And Archbishop Sean O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston, where there are several pro-abortion Catholic politicians, has instructed those politicians to refrain from receiving Communion. Senator Kerry is a member of that diocese.

When Senator Kerry is nominated by the Democratic Party, as expected, he will be only the third Catholic nominated for the presidency by one of the two major political parties in the history of our country, and the authoritative nature of his Catholic religion will become fodder for liberal interest groups and commentators who consider themselves guardians of the "separation of church and state" flame. To these people the authority of the Catholic Church and its opposition to the relativism that is their only moral guidepost is frightening.

The two previous Catholic nominees, Al Smith in 1928 and John Kennedy in 1960, encountered serious anti-Catholic bias emanating from a suspicion that a Catholic President would yield his Presidential decision-making authority to the Pope in Rome. During the 1928 campaign the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses and circulated a ridiculous rumor that Smith favored building a tunnel between the White House and the Vatican. Smith lost by a large margin to his Protestant opponent. And Kennedy, a young, good-looking, charismatic war hero, barely eked out a victory after explaining to a televised assemblage of Baptist ministers in Texas that, if elected, his Catholic faith would not prevent him from acting in the best interests of the country.

Abortion wasn’t a political issue when Smith and Kennedy ran for office, and both were considered at the time to be practicing Catholics in good standing with their Church. Consequently, the anti-Catholicism of the day was directed at them and their right, as Catholics, to serve as President.

But abortion has been a major political issue for the past thirty years, one that should trump other issues for Catholics and others who believe the state has an obligation to protect innocent human life. Senator Kerry, who, through his actions, defines himself as something other than a Catholic in good standing, will not be the target of the anti-Catholic bias that his predecessors were. But his Church will be.

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