Vickie K tells bishops: Back off
By Andrew Miga
Monday, May 24, 2004
WASHINGTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's wife yesterday sounded off on a hot-button political issue, calling on Roman Catholic clergymen to back off their threats to deny Communion to Catholic politicians supporting abortion rights.
``I am deeply saddened and concerned by the threatened denial of Communion to pro-choice Catholic politicians,'' Victoria Reggie Kennedy wrote in an op-ed piece in yesterday's Washington Post. ``This course of action takes both the church and public discourse in this country to a new and dangerous place, and I urge that it be rejected.''
Victoria Kennedy, who is Catholic, urged church officials to let worshipers follow their own conscience on such matters.
``The pro-choice position recognizes that the United States is a diverse, pluralistic society where a woman has a constitutional right to make a decision based on her own conscience, religious beliefs and medical needs,'' she wrote.
The senator's wife noted that the Catholic Church has not made similar threats of withholding Communion from lawmakers who oppose the church's position against the death penalty.
A handful of Catholic bishops in the United States sparked the controversy earlier this year when they warned they would not administer Communion to politicians who favor abortion rights, including presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry [related, bio] (D-Mass.).
Last week, 48 U.S. House members, including six Catholic Bay State congressmen, wrote a letter calling on their church to take a more tolerant view of politicians who oppose the church's anti-abortion stance.