A Catholic University professor tells Breitbart News that Sen. Tim Kaine (D.-Va.) is so hostile to the culture of life that by Canon Law, he should not present himself to the Eucharist.
“A Catholic, who has procured an abortion or has publicly advocated it, which could be any politician, is not to present his or herself for Communion and a priest is supposed to withhold it,” said Jay W. Richards, who teaches at the Catholic University School of Business and Economics and is a co-founder of The Stream, an online journal of conservative Christian commentary and inspiration.
Catholics believe that during the Mass a priest effects the transformation of the Communion wafer into the body and blood of Christ, so that any Catholic conscious of serious sins and unreconciled state must refrain from accepting Communion until their have reconciled themselves to Church teachings.
The author of Money, Greed, and God, winner of a 2010 Templeton Enterprise Award, said the Church considers abortion, which is the killing of an unborn child, such a grave sin that it merits an automatic excommunication. Excommunication is the expulsion from the Church and by doctrine from the gates of heaven.
In practice, each bishop makes a rule for his own diocese and most priests are loath to participate in something as controversial as denying a Catholic seeking the Eucharist.
But, Richards said, his reading of canon law is widely-held, if not adhered to. “Tim Kaine, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, they should not be presenting themselves for Communion in a Catholic Church. It is that straightforward. It is frustrating that someone can call themselves Catholic and speaks and sounds really Catholic, they can directly contradict the settled teaching of the Church and get credit for it.”
Kaine began his political career as a Pro-Life Democrat and even as a candidate for governor of Virginia, he said.
“The thing about Kaine is that he seems to have moved left over the years, especially on abortion, which ends up by far being the most problematic issue for Catholics,” the professor said. “He’s got a perfect score now from Planned Parenthood, despite the fact that he claims to be personally opposed to abortion.”
It was a point Emily Crockett made in her July 23 profile of Kaine for Vox:
But since Kaine was elected to the Senate in 2012, his rhetoric and actions on those fronts have shifted pretty dramatically. Not only has he consistently voted for pro-choice positions, he’s also been quite vocal about the need to fight abortion restrictions and protect women’s right to choose.
Richards said, “Maybe that works for Catholics that are not very thoughtful, but nobody’s going to buy kind of argument, if they are a serious Catholic.”
But, it is not the conservative and thoughtful Catholics that the Clinton campaign is playing for with the Kaine pick, he said.
“Based upon what the Hillary Clinton campaign sees as a weakness in the Trump campaign, I think they were very clever in picking Tim Kaine, who at least, when you listen to him, he knows how to talk-the-Catholic-talk,” he said. “The language is familiar to him and has lived a stereotypical Catholic life.”
Although, Trump has made a determined pitch for evangelical Protestants, personally thanking them in his acceptance speech, he has not made a similar effort for Catholics, he said. Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Michael R. Pence was raised in a Catholic home, but he left the Church to worship with his wife, a member of an evangelical church.
Clinton is hoping with Kaine to be able to pull over some of the centrist Catholics, who could go either way, he said.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.