Pro-Abortion Catholic Candidates

Pro-abortion candidates taking communion seems to be a roller coaster as an issue. Although it is not one that I worry much about, I have heard some people argue that it would be ridiculous and outrageous for the Church to deny someone communion over their political leanings and position on abortion. On the other hand I have heard others argue the other extreme that Bishops are neglecting their duties by not immediately excommunicating high profile pro-abortion Catholics that receive communion. The recent Papal masses attended by the likes of pro-abortion Catholic politicians like Rudolph Giuliani, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Christopher Dodd, and Edward Kennedy has once again created a spark of gossip among media sources and Catholic circles. I however, would like to take some moments to address what I believe the issue really is and reasonable expectations of implementing a course of action.

The Church's teaching against abortion is based on the dignity and sacredness of human life. God designated the process of procreation by which a man and woman unite in a sexual union to bring new life into the world. This very process and the new life created are sacred. Furthermore the Church's approach to life is holistic. Life from the womb to the grave should be respected and honored. The pro-life ethic is a hermeneutic by which Catholics should view all issues. There is a dignity to all human life whether unborn, impoverished, enslaved, imprisoned, sick, elderly, dying, homeless, foreign, etc. As Catholics we should be holistic in our approach to life and not pick and choose which life issues we happen to think are worth supporting.

Whatever is hostile to life itself, such as any kind of homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and voluntary suicide; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture and attempts to coerce the spirit; whatever is offensive to human dignity such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and trafficking of women and children; degrading conditions of work which treat laborers as instruments of profit, and not free responsible persons: All these and the like are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honor due the Creator. - Second Vatican Council Gaudium et Spes, 27

There are principals under which bishops can deny communion to politicians who support abortion with obstinate persistence. This obstinate persistence is demonstrated by consistently campaigning and voting for abortion laws or participating in an abortion. It turns out that killing an innocent child is incompatible with the Gospel message and receiving communion. Those who support abortion create scandal in the Church. Those who are in the public eye create public scandal in the Church. To actively promote an intrinsic evil, killing innocent human life, is to formally cooperate in an evil and exclude oneself from the Church community. Bishops should make sure that Catholic politicians and all Catholics are fully aware that they should not receive communion if they actively support abortion or any other social evil that violates the integrity of the human person. If a Catholic politician refuses to comply with this guideline, a public excommunication would just be a formal recognition of the scandal and separation that the pro-abortion candidate already accomplished in his actions. The Church has a responsibility to speak out publicly against the inequities of society and the false teachings of those who claim the identity of Catholic. The Church has a responsibility to deny communion to those who publicly deny the teachings of the Church. The Eucharist is a gift, not a right. It is a physical sign of the spiritual unity of all Catholics. If some people want to publicly dissent from the Church community, they have distanced themselves from the Church community via their actions. However, the bishops are not required to act strictly on this guideline and can opt for a more pastoral approach given the complex question of prudential judgment in each case. The pastor of the parish and bishop of the diocese should try to persuade a Catholic politician to bring an end to supporting abortion and the objective situation of sin. Nevertheless, threats to excommunicate pro-abortion catholic political leaders is consistent with the social justice ethic put forth by Christ and his Church.

My hope is that bishops will continue to address this issue in a manner that shows charity but does not compromise truth. Cardinal Egan’s rebuke of Giuliani seems to employ such an approach. Cardinal Egan warned Giuliani in the past about the Church’s position on supporting abortion and receiving communion, and the two seemed to have an agreement that Giuliani blatantly broke when he received communion during the Papal mass. Currently Cardinal Egan is requesting another meeting with Giuliani to clarify the position of the Church. The Cardinal’s actions show his concern for both Giuliani and Church. He has attempted to prevent the Church from undergoing further public scandal by reprimanding Giuliani for promoting abortion and receiving communion with an objectively unworthy disposition.

Whether this issue should receive as much media attention as it has is secondary to the fact that the media will continue to second-guess bishops and pro-abortion Catholic candidates and pivot one against the other. The media asking pro-abortion candidates before the papal mass if they were going to receive communion shows their desire for controversy. But the fact remains that there is a real public scandal involved. For bishops to remain completely silent is to send inconsistent messages about this grave moral issue in the public arena. I believe that most bishops have made the Church’s position on abortion clear and that the main responsibility rest on pro-abortion Catholic candidates to refrain from receiving communion. To receive communion after having heard the Church’s position for so many years is an act of defiance on part of the politician that seems to serve a selfish political agenda. My concern is what will bishops do with those pro-abortion Catholic politicians that act as rebellious and disobedient children.

You are not going to hear me calling for the excommunication of any pro-abortion candidates, I’ll leave that task to the bishops. But I do wish to hear from those bishops from the candidate’s local diocese in this matter so that I and other Catholics know that the candidates are being properly formed about their duty as a Catholic in the public sphere. The reality is that all Catholics need to know that if they are co-opting in an intrinsic evil, like the taking of innocent life, they need to reconcile their actions to God and repent before receiving communion. Otherwise people may get the idea that the Church’s teaching on the dignity of life doesn’t matter in the lives of practicing Catholics and that actively pursuing evil causes has no negative consequences on the community.