Prominent Catholic statesmen, euphemistically called "pro-choice," who support a right to abort unborn human persons have no business ingesting the transubstantiated body of Christ at mass. That is not my polemical assertion but rather the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. Bob Novak notes today that the archbishops of New York and Washington DC, eager not to cause offense, have violated this prohibition, serving communion to Ted Kennedy and Rudy Guliani, among others.
Many non-Catholics read Catholic teachings through their own consequentialist lenses. They wrongly attribute to the Catholic Church the intent to exact vengeance on pro-choice pols, or to dissuade them from voting in favor of reproductive "rights." The Catholic view of communion is that the elements actually become Christ's body and blood. Abortion is a moral issue, on which there is a correct position and a clearly wrong position. To support the destruction of innocent human life is to live unrepentant in sin, and to reject Christ's grace. Thus, denying Ted or Rudy communion is not pursuit of a vendetta but rather an exercise in holiness.
Meanwhile, Ted and Rudy like to pretend that they are still Catholic, that their Catholicism means something to them, as it does for their constituents. To be invited to the Pope's mass and given a seat of honor there is to be acknowledged as an important American Catholic. It is to receive the imprimatur of a Church whose compassion, defense of truth and life, and righteousness Ted and Rudy despise.
Trampling the grace of Christ for personal aggrandizement should be unthinkable for prominent Catholics. Did Ted even pay heed to the Pope's admonition to cultivate an intellectual culture that is truly Catholic?
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