Communion

DURBIN, OTHER CATHOLIC SENATORS RELEASE CATHOLIC ISSUE ANALYSIS FOR U.S. SENATE

I'm quite disappointed that the national media haven't picked up on this effort by Catholic Senators to clarify how their positions correspond to the Church's official stances on a variety of issues. As Senator Dick Durbin explains, "Unfortunately, recent media attention has focused on one or two priorities of the Catholic Church, while obscuring others. This has made it more difficult for Catholic voters to understand the full range of issues that have been identified by the USCCB as priorities for public life. What we have done today is to use the criteria established by the U.S. Catholic Bishops to give voters an insight into the voting records of Catholic senators." Considering the cloud of coverage about this issue as it relates to Catholic John Kerry we've seen recently, you'd think this would merit a mention, wouldn't you?

Aided by a media that presents their words to a national audience, bishops and cardinals in recent months have happily declared that they will not offer communion to politicians who support a woman's right to choose; some have also said that any politician who supports gay marriage or anything like it should not be allowed to receive the sacrament. One went so far as to tell parishioners they should not present themselves for communion if they planned to vote for such a politician. Yet these bishops say nothing about politicians who support wars, the death penalty, and policies that hurt the world's poor; all of these issues are also supposed to be crucial to one's Catholic faith. Bishops of the Church have vocally supported a position that puts it distinctly on the side of Republicans when, in fact, the stated positions of the Church would favor neither party. The media should be willing to examine this fact and the reasons behind it, whatever they are. To continue to report the statements of these leaders as if they're important but treat them as unimportant by failing to do the background work they demand is not only sloppy journalism--it's an abdication of a Constitutionally-protected responsibility.