In violation of Canon 912, a chaplain refused professor Kmiec communion for his advocacy of Barack Obama for President. While I have found Professor’s Kmiec’s initial justifications particularly weak even if I share them in finality now, I think his arguments have improved. I don’t think his arguments ever came to the point of direct support for abortion.
** I’m reopening the comments here. I request that comments positive and negative attempt to stick as closely to the topic at hand as possible. Volumes have been written about variations on this topic. This topic is relatively straight forward. A man with a long and distinguished career in the pro-life movement was refused communion at an event by a chaplain. As best I can surmise, there was no existing pastoral relationship between the two men. He was denied communion putatively because he endorse Barack Obama and has articles questioning whether the abortion issue should be the preeminent issue in this particular election. Feel free to reference Cardinal Ratzinger’s letter on this topic, USCCB documents and other resources. **
Update 1: Canonist Ed Peters largely concurs here. (HT: Pro Ecclessia and Southern Appeal)
Update 2: CatholicDemocrats.org and a number of other outlets are using this incident to also criticize the denial of communion for Governor Sebelius of Kansas. I spoke to the matter of Governor Sebelius here. While those with only bare familiarity of these issues may think they are similar, they are not for reasons I will not offer a comprehensive proof for here. For those who should be knowledgable in these areas, I consider it an act of bad faith to compare them for the circumstances are night and day different. Conflation does not serve the interests of truth, be it conflating Professor Kmiec’s endorsement of Obama to obstinate and manifest support of abortion or conflating the action taken against Governor Sebelius as a brazen, partisan act, as if it lacked any choices on her part after numerous warnings over a period of numerous months by her proper pastor, the Archbishop of Kansas City.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In