Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Maybe He'll Finally Realize It's in the Catechism?
Five swing state newspapers will publish a full-page ad Wednesday chiding Democratic Sen. John Kerry for embracing abortion rights - what an accompanying list of Catholic elected officials and voters argue is a contradiction to his faith.
The ad, titled "An Open Letter from Fellow Catholics to John Kerry," was paid for by the Bush-Cheney campaign. It is running in mid-sized newspapers with strong Catholic readership in Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Florida.
"In the most recent debate, Senator Kerry, you said, 'everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith,' and that 'everything is a gift from the Almighty.' But apparently, when it comes to the issue of the right to life, you follow neither your own faith nor your own reason," the ad says.
"Senator Kerry, your stand contradicts both your faith and reason," the ad says.
The letter is signed by 38 Catholics, including Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.; American Catholic Council president Connie Marshner; former Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn; and a handful of college professors, including two from Catholic University.
Kerry is a Roman Catholic who has talked on the campaign trail about serving as an altar boy. Michael Meehan, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign, said, "America was built on the foundation of religious tolerance and as a Catholic John Kerry does not believe as our next president that he can legislate his personal articles of faith on all Americans, who are of many faiths."
Santorum said Kerry cannot claim to be influenced by faith but also support issues like abortion rights and assisted suicide.
In Cincinnati, Ohio, Reverend Michael Seger, moral theologian on the faculty of the Athenaeum of Ohio, St. Mary's Seminary of the West, is holding a seminar to talk about what he is calling "The responsibility of Roman Catholics to vote conscientiously with regard to Catholic policies".
