The Perky Papist

You go, J. G.!

N.J. Bishop Says He Won't Serve Governor

I'm glad Jim loves his faith so much. It would be even nicer, since he makes such a big deal about it, if he lived like he loved it. P.S. Jim: Lotsa Catholic pols out there you can ask who can tell you how to be a "democratic, civil, inclusive" governor without being an abortion whore.

A blessed Easter season to you all!

So glad to be back! Had to take a hiatus, what with work and the wedding (down to three months now), but there's too much going on now for me not to blog. That's why I started my own blog in the first place, right? So many things have happened and I've thought, "Oh, I really want to write a little blog entry about that," but I fear ending up with a 5,000-word screed before I'm finished! But reading about how John Kerry just bitch-slapped Cardinal Arinze (figuratively speaking) Saturday evening and received Holy Communion pushed me out of my hesitation. The amazing thing: If he's the Democrat nominee, some Catholics will still vote for him "because he's Catholic".

Mental exercise: John Kerry wins the presidency (hey, now . . . hey, stop laughing . . . yes, I know he hasn't secured the nomination yet, but we are pretending here); Francis Cardinal Arinze becomes pope sometime in the next four years. Naturally, the two would meet not long after the second of these two events would have occurred. Now - what would that meeting be like? I bet you speculated, just like I did, on what JPII's meetings with Bill Clinton (and, to a lesser extent, G. W., because of the Holy Father's feelings about capital punishment and our Iraq policy) were like. Imagine the meeting between President Kerry and Papa Arinze. That would be something. Jean would probably be crying when he came out of it . . .

John Kerry, you're a classy guy

Kerry Takes Communion After Vatican Edict

Compare and contrast:

"We're following the directive of our archdiocese," said Father Joe Ciccone, who gave Kerry the Eucharist. "They have said we should give him communion."

but:

The Archdiocese of Boston "does not hold to the practice of publicly refusing Communion to anyone," said archdiocese spokesman Rev. Christopher Coyne. He said it was up to the individual to decide whether to receive Communion.

but:

Coyne said he also received many letters and angry calls from concerned Catholics about Kerry's ability to take Communion. He said he contacted the Paulist Center ahead of time to ensure there would be no problem when the senator received the Eucharist.

The way Fr. Ciccone puts it, it sound like the chancery's practically forcing them to give Communion to Senator Kerry. But from Fr. Coyne's statement, it's clear that the decision to use that "conscience" the senator loves to refer to belongs to the individual. I'm sure he said something to the Paulists like "it's okay" in a voice void of enthusiasm, which hardly translates into a "directive", but (again - I'm obviously flopping around here, consider it in honor of the senator) why are the chanceryistas even saying it's okay??? I don't even want to get started with Archbishop O'Malley, who is certainly caught between a rock and a hard place but Needs to Do the Right Thing. It's gonna be a long summer, folks.