WASHINGTON — Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has forbidden Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy to receive the Roman Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion because of his advocacy of abortion rights, the Rhode Island Democrat said Friday.
“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion,” Kennedy said in a telephone interview.
Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion. He declined to say when or how Bishop Tobin told him not to take the sacrament. And he declined to say whether he has obeyed the bishop’s injunction.
Amen! Of course there are other stands besides abortion he takes that are not worthy of one who claims to be a christian.
In Catholicism, advocating the legality of birth control use would be on par with abortion. And while the political climate allows Catholic politicians to be silent on the matter, you can be guaranteed almost if not all of them holding major office favor maintaining its legality. Some consistency needs to be applied here.
I was actually thinking the same thing, EA. Why go after him on abortion when just being pro-birth-control is a sin in the Catholic view? And being in favor of keeping hormonal birth control and IUDs legal is just as bad as abortion to them.
"It seems to me that these women were the head (κεφάλαιον) of the church which was at Philippi." ~ John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians 13