This article, from Catholic World News, seems to indicate that Kerry has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church. If true, what affect will excommmunication have on Catholic votes in today’s world?
Huh. That article seems to indicate to me that a layman with too much time on his hands is distorting what the church has actually told him, and is making a tortured argument that Kerry is “automatically” excommunicated. Note that it doesn’t contain any direct quotes from anyone in the Church itself responding to the story, and that nowhere in the information the layman received is Kerry specifically excommunicated.
It’s wise to give stories like this, just like stories about WMDs in Iraq, a couple days to age, before getting too excited about them :).
Daniel
Bah.
The conclusion that Senator Kerry incurs a latae sententiae excommunication comes from one “learned theologian” - not from any tribunal that has considered the evidence in any particular canon lawsuit. This is like a plaintiff suing a defendant for a defective product and issuing a press release saying that the product has been authoritatively deemed “dangerous.” (By his own expert, that is).
No, Senator Kerry is NOT excomunicated.
- Rick
Canon 751 says:
So, I guess the question is whether or not Kerry’s stance on abortion represents an “. . .obstinate denial or doubt, after baptism, of a truth which must be believed by divine and catholic faith”
I’m not a canon lawyer or familiar on exactly what the Catholic church has to say about abortion, so I don’t know to what extent it does. Can. 1398 does say:
It depends. There are catholics and there are catholics. Not many I know live and die by the word of the vatican. There are plenty of catholics I know that don’t play by all the hard rules. Believe me, there are dozens who belong to the church who have premarital sex, are pro-choice, believe in gay-rights, etc. etc.
I believe a small percentage are actually stern catholics who go along with every “you must go to church every sunday or go to hell” proclamation the pope sets forth.
Besides, didn’t the vatican denounce the war in Iraq? Can’t vote for Bush now either.
Tiger, weren’t you the one constantly mocking me for starting a thread about the lump on Bush’s back, despite the fact that I said over and over and in the OP that I didn’t buy the conspiracy theories on it?
Yet here you are, on the basis of evidence no stronger than the “Bush was wired” article in Salon, saying you’ve found an article that “seems to indicate that Kerry has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church.”
Mind if I mock you a little for the double standard?
Mock, mock, mock.
There. I feel better.
Daniel
Why is it that the Catholics don’t denounce pro-death penalty politicians as heretics also?
until the pope says it, i ain’t buying it (happy roman catholic)
Does this site have anything in common with the Weekly World News?
I found this headline on their home page:
http://www.cwnews.com/index.cfm
:dubious:
Oh come on… This can’t be a serious attempt to have Catholics believe that John Kerry is “excommunicated”, no?
Please tell me there is no Catholic in the US who is actually going to buy this nonsense and then starts believing that voting for Kerry is a mortal sin?
What about all the other politicians in this world who are Catholic, uet could actually separate their religon from their political mandate?
They must be all “excommunicated”… Poor souls. Maybe I should start mailing a few tens of thousands of copies of Al Qur’an to help them.
Salaam. A
As far as I know, Catholicism views the death penalty differently than abortion. It says that the death penalty is wrong in practice, while abortion is intrinsically morally wrong.
Hey Catholic Church: excommunicate child molesters, then talk about excommunicatig anyone else.
/me applauds John Kerry for putting his duty to the nation above his personal religious beliefs.
Sadly, it is. I stumbled upon a Catholic message board just now, where people not only fully believe this is a reality, but are gleefully cheering it and condemning Kerry. It was a little difficult to actually see the “Christianity” in these supposed Christians. 
Interestingly, I also came across the website votingcatholic.org, which, without coming right out and endorsing Kerry, seems to have worded their condensed descriptions of Bush and Kerry’s policies in their “2004 Catholic Voter Guide” (PDF File!), in such a way as to make it appear very much in favor of Kerry. And in fact, taking their quiz for undecided voters, every single category tells me I match both the bishops and John Kerry and completely oppose George W. Bush. Fascinating. Seems to me like the Catholic church definitely supports John Kerry over George W. Bush.
I’ve said many times before that it’s a rough world for the committed Catholic voter. John Kerry’s stance on abortion is abominable; George Bush’s glee for the death penalty is nothing short of a nightmare. Of the two, Kerry’s positions most closely track with the social justice teachings of the Church – the reason that most Catholics historically have been Democrats.
I would love to find a viable candidate that believes in the pro-life position on both ends of the spectrum – alas, most everyone that favors pro-life positions for the unborn is inexplicably in favor of killing 'em when they are adults – and vice-versa.
In any event, Kerry has evinced no heretical positions; he is not denying any essential truth of the faith. Nor has he, so far as I’m aware, been involved in actually procuring an abortion. Unless there’s some dark secret somewhere, Senator Kerry is not excommunicated, and, assuming he’s in a state of grace, is perfectly eligible to receive the Eucharist.
- Rick
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Bush once chastised and excoriated by some people in the press for mocking someone on death row who was soon after executed? Apparently he (Bush) thought it was funny.
The person Bush mocked was a woman named Karla Faye Tucker, who was on Death Row in Texas at the time. Of course, this is a man who repeatedly talks about how much he values life. Bleepin’ hypocrite. :wally
Tucker Carlson reported that then-Governor mocked Karla Faye Tucker’s pleas for mercy. Spokesmen for Bush denied the claim.
I don’t credit the account, but I don’t discredit it. Frankly, the willingness to kill another human being in cold blood, through a state-sanctioned execution, doesn’t get too much worse no matter what juvenile hijinks do or do not accompany it.
Here’s the article from The New York Times adding a little information.