Weblog: Communion Watch Continues
Why John Kerry probably won't be denied any time soon.
Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 4/01/2004 12:00AM
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Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, D.C., told Fox News Sunday that he wants to "talk to Kerry, get to see him and get to understand him before I would make a decision" on denying him Communion. "I think that there are many of us who would feel … that there are certain sanctions that we may put on people," he said. "But I think many of us would not like to use the Eucharist as part of the sanction."
But the matter probably isn't settled in Boston, as the city gears up for the Democratic National Convention.
It's worth noting that Kerry's worship practices aren't just of interest to Roman Catholics, nor is Protestant concern over his taking Communion limited to sacramentalists. Even Southern Baptists, who generally believe that Communion is only a symbol, are weighing in. "Have we really reached the point when candidates must just "happen" to be evangelical Christians, Jews or Roman Catholics?" asks Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Al Mohler.
This implies that faith is nothing more then a matter of ethnicity or privatized belief. Political maturity—and Christian conviction—must require that we judge a candidate by consistency of character as well as by the eagerness of identification with one faith or another. We should look for integrity of heart and consistency in political judgment. In other words, we should hope for Catholic politicians who are genuinely Catholic and evangelicals who are authentically evangelical. This is especially true when dealing with issues of life and death, marriage and family, war and peace.
Those interested in following the issue should bookmark Catholic Kerry Watch, which considers the first two words of that phrase an oxymoron.
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