The Archbishop of Kansas City wrote this week that Sen. Tim Kaine’s, D-Va., support for legalized abortion shows the Democratic vice presidential candidate is interested more in doing what is politically convenient than adhering to the tenets of his Catholic faith.
“Unfortunately, the vice-presidential debate revealed that the Catholic running for the second highest office in our land is an orthodox member of his party, [fully] embracing his party’s platform,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann wrote this week in an op-ed published by the Leaven, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, adding that the senator is a “cafeteria Catholic, picking and choosing the teachings of the Catholic Church that are politically convenient.”
Kaine’s position on the issue has drawn high marks from abortion advocacy groups, including NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of abortions.
The Roman Catholic Church explicitly opposes abortion, and teaches that, “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person — among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”
Kaine, who is a Roman Catholic, has explained his support for legalized abortion by saying he personally opposes the practice, but that he won’t impose his faith on others.
Archbishop Naumann characterized the senator’s oft-repeated defense as nonsense.
“It was painful to listen to Senator Kaine repeat the same tired and contorted reasoning to profess his personal opposition to abortion while justifying his commitment to keep it legal,” the Archbishop wrote this week.
“He said all the usual made-for-modern-media sound bites: It is not proper to impose his religious beliefs upon all Americans,” he said.
Archbishop Naumann continued, writing:
With regard to the imposition of religious beliefs, Senator Kaine appears to have no qualms with his public positions conforming with his religious beliefs with regard to such issues as the church’s opposition to racism or our preferential option for the poor. He appears not to be conflicted with our public policies mirroring the Ten Commandments with regard to stealing, perjury, or forms of murder, other than abortion.
He concluded, “This presidential election presents all Americans with a difficult choice. Both major political parties have nominated very flawed candidates. In making your decision as a voter, I encourage you to think not only of the candidate, but who they will appoint to key Cabinet and other powerful government positions if he or she becomes president.”
“We are choosing not just a president, but an entire administration,” he advised.
This isn’t the first time that Kaine has drawn criticism from a high-ranking leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Virginia senator’s own bishop, Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond, Va., in September took a none-too-subtle shot at Kaine’s prediction that the Catholic Church would soon amend its position on same-sex marriage.
“More than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court‘s ruling on marriage, and despite recent statements from the campaign trail, the Catholic Church’s 2000-year-old teaching to the truth about what constitutes marriage remains unchanged and resolute,” DiLorenzo said in a statement this week.
DiLorenzo’s statement didn’t mention the Virginia lawmaker by name, but it came almost immediately after Kaine predicated the Church would soon be pro-gay marriage.
“As Catholics, we believe, all humans warrant dignity and deserve love and respect, and unjust discrimination is always wrong. Our understanding of marriage, however, is a matter of justice and fidelity to our Creator’s original design,” the statement added. “Marriage is the only institution uniting one man and one woman with each other and with any child who comes from their union.”
The Catholic Church holds that marriage is a sacrament, and that it is between one man and one women.
Bishop DiLorenzo reaffirmed that teaching this week in a none-too-subtle response to Kaine’s comments from this weekend.
“Redefining marriage furthers no one’s rights, least of all those of children, who should not purposely be deprived of the right to be nurtured and loved by a mother and a father,” the bishop’s statement said.
“We call on Catholics and all those concerned for preserving this sacred union to unite in prayer, to live and speak out with compassion and charity about the true nature of marriage — the heart of family life,” it said.
