THE WANDERER, OCTOBER 21, 2004

JOSEPH SOBRAN'S
WASHINGTON WATCH

Articles of Faith

     After watching John Kerry in his second debate with 
George W. Bush, I wondered if a Kerry victory wouldn't be 
a triumph for anti-Catholicism.

     One of his answers to a questioner in the "town 
hall" format was his most revealing moment in the entire 
campaign. It told us exactly the sort of man he is. Yet 
it has caused very little comment.

     Asked what he'd say to a voter who didn't want his 
or her tax money spent on abortion, Kerry spent several 
minutes running away from the question, while 
misrepresenting himself, the U.S. Constitution, and the 
Catholic Church. It vividly illustrated why people don't 
trust him.

     In response, Bush smiled that he was "trying to 
decipher that." He then said flatly what Kerry wouldn't: 
that he'd spend no tax money for abortions.

     Well, let's try to decipher Kerry's answer. First, 
he said, "I would say to that person exactly what I will 
say to you right now." Here it comes, I thought: John 
Kerry, straight from the shoulder.

     He went on: "I cannot tell you how deeply I respect 
the belief about life and when it begins." Say what? He 
"respects"-- but doesn't necessarily share? -- "the 
belief" -- not the biological fact? -- "about life and 
when it begins"-- but not about the humanity of the 
child? Pretending to be forthright, Kerry immediately 
obfuscated the issue. He deeply respects the belief.

     Kerry seems oddly remote from, and condescending 
toward, the faith he professes. Or professes to profess, 
anyway. His "respect" sounds a bit like disdain.

     That was only the beginning. Kerry then launched 
into his I-was-an-altar-boy spiel, fusing it with his 
I-was-a-combat-veteran spiel. He's a Catholic, was raised 
a Catholic, was an altar boy. "Religion" has been "a huge 
part of my life." And yes, it "helped lead me through a 
war," and "leads me today."

     At this point I expected him to reach into his 
pocket and pull out a fistful of rosaries. He didn't, 
though.

     He was asked about abortion. Nobody asked about his 
religion. But since he brought it up so emphatically, 
let's state the obvious: John Kerry is not a practicing 
Catholic. He's a Catholic only in the sense that he was 
involuntarily carried to a baptismal font as an infant. 
That was a huge part of his life, all right, but he left 
it behind a long time ago.

     How long? Who knows? But by 1995 he was divorced, 
and though some Catholics who get civil divorces continue 
to practice their faith, John Kerry evidently didn't. He 
married Teresa Heinz in a civil ceremony without having 
his first marriage annulled, even though annulments were 
by then readily -- even scandalously -- easy to secure. 
(He has told one interviewer that he has applied for an 
annulment, but he doesn't seem to be waiting anxiously 
for it.)

     The pair even had a prenuptial agreement, which 
doesn't suggest that they viewed their union as sacred or 
indissoluble. Prenuptial contracts sit uneasily with 
"till death do you part" and "for better, for worse." 
They don't even suggest romance; I can't think of a 
single love song or sonnet about a prenuptial deal. The 
subject is perhaps better suited to the limerick than to 
the lyric:

          A chivalrous fellow named Kerry
          Spoke his heart to the one he would marry:
               "I love you, of course,
               But in case of divorce,
          Should we not sign a pre-nup, ma cherie?"

     So the Kerry-Heinz union was preceded by careful 
financial preparations; but not, it appears, religious 
ones. Again, this might be overlooked if he weren't using 
"religion" for political purposes. 

     And if he weren't distorting Catholic teaching. He 
continued his long-winded non-answer with the assertion 
that "I can't take what is an article of faith for me and 
legislate it for" -- here he listed most of the world's 
religions, omitting only Shintoism.

     By implication, banning abortion means imposing 
Catholic dogma on non-Catholics. Apart from being 
nonsense, Kerry's words show that he doesn't even grasp 
the difference between an article of faith and natural 
law -- that is, between Revelation and reason. This tells 
us pretty clearly what a huge part of his life religion 
has been.

     For example, Nat Hentoff, the liberal Jewish atheist 
writer, believes on his secularist principles that 
abortion is evil and should be outlawed. Someone should 
have asked Kerry why Hentoff wants to impose Catholic 
dogma on the rest of us. 

     Kerry was also soliciting anti-Catholic prejudice in 
the same way as the pro-abortion movement he has 
consistently served. At the same time, he was posing as a 
pious Catholic. And Kerry resents the charge that he 
tries to have it both ways! 

     Kerry achieved all this deceit and confusion in just 
six sentences. Then he maundered on about his wife, 
alternatives to abortion, constitutional rights, and 
various other subjects, saying nothing useful about any 
of them. 

     Constitutional rights? Yes, he managed to insert 
that old canard, however briefly. In the pro-abortion 
circles Kerry swings in, it's an article of faith, so to 
speak, that the Constitution mandates abortion on demand. 
This too shows how loosely the supposedly brainy Kerry 
thinks. 

     He finally ended by repeating that "I truly respect" 
... whatever. Without answering the question, he'd 
answered it. No viewer could doubt that he would spend 
tax dollars for abortions. 

     Kerry's performance should have appalled Catholics. 
But did it? After decades of neglect in Catholic 
education, I wonder if most Catholics (outside the active 
pro-life movement) even noticed anything amiss. Some no 
doubt felt he sounded thoughtful. 

     During the rest of the debate, when Bush called 
attention to his "liberal" record, Kerry kept insisting 
that "labels don't mean anything." In his case, the only 
label that doesn't mean anything is the only one he 
claims: "Catholic." 


Our First Lapsed Catholic President?

     Which raises other questions. If elected, Kerry 
would be our first lapsed Catholic president. All 
presidents are expected to appear pious; it's almost part 
of the job description. Would President Kerry make a show 
of piety, attending Mass and receiving Communion? Would 
he try to regularize his marriage? As president, would he 
go to the head of the long annulment line? How would the 
bishops handle this delicate and explosive situation? 

     The religious issue Kerry has managed to evade 
during the campaign could come back with a fury after the 
election. The media have given him a pass on his 
hypocrisy. That would hardly be possible if he were in 
the White House with all eyes on him, and many Catholics 
well aware of the man he has revealed himself to be. 

     From a Catholic standpoint, the low point of Bill 
Clinton's entire presidency wasn't the scandal leading to 
his impeachment, but his sacrilegious reception of 
Communion at a Mass in South Africa. Are we about to see 
that repeated every Sunday? 

                 +          +          +                  

     I'll have more to say about the problem of the 
pseudo-Catholic politician in my monthly newsletter, 
SOBRAN'S. If you have not seen a copy yet, give my office 
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                                        --- Joseph Sobran

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