Justice’s Nomination Brings Issue of Catholic Faith to Forefront
Are Catholics welcome to serve in the offices of this country or are they banned and condemned to second class status?
=====================
Supreme Court justice nominee John G. Roberts has begun to face increased scrutiny over his Catholic faith and the role it would play were he to be confirmed by the Senate. Whether or not Catholic bishops will weigh in on the question remains unknown but it seems likely that many of the issues surrounding Catholic politicians, Catholics in the voting booth and reception of the Eucharist that arose during last year’s election will once again become prominent.
Following the resignation of Sandra Day O’Connor from the high court, Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad wrote a letter on the vacancy to President Bush. In the July 6 letter, Bishop Skylstad, who serves as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote that while the bishops could not endorse nominees they did urge him “to consider for the Court qualified jurists who, pre-eminently, support the protection of human life from conception to natural death, especially of those who are unborn, disabled, or terminally ill.”
Since then, Roberts, a practicing Catholic, was nominated and people have begun to ask whether or not his Catholicism will interfere with his ability to carry out the duties of a Supreme Court justice. Opinion pieces appeared yesterday in the Los Angels Times and Boston Globe both saying Roberts’ faith should not be off limits. Writing in the Times, Michael McGough said, “Catholic antiabortion activists and some bishops have suggested that canon law requires that Catholic politicians who support abortion rights be denied Holy Communion.” McGough asks if the same reasoning would be applied to a judge who rules to uphold Roe v. Wade.
During last year’s election many Catholic bishops spoke out against pro-abortion Catholics who hold public office saying they should not receive communion prompting numerous news stories. One bishop even said those voting for pro-abortion candidates should not receive the Eucharist. The question of Catholics in political life was even addressed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who wrote a memo to Washington Cardinal Theodore McCormick saying Catholics are obligated to oppose laws that permit abortion and euthanasia. A Catholic politician “consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws” is guilty of formal cooperation according to the memo. In such a situation the politician’s pastor ought to explain the Church’s teaching and tell him not to receive Communion, “warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.”
Though the bishops themselves have not spoken out, the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, an organization that operates under the oversight of the bishops, has led several efforts dealing with the Supreme Court. In April, in anticipation of a vacancy in the Court, the NCHLA distributed some 7 million postcards to 70 percent of the nation’s dioceses urging senators to reject making support for Roe v. Wade a prerequisite for being confirmed. They are now directing their efforts to promoting the website EndRoe.org. Visitors to the site can send their senator an e-mail telling them not “to require support for Roe v. Wade as a condition for determining a nominee’s fitness for judicial office.” According to Loretta Fleming, field coordinator at NCHLA, they hope the site becomes a one-stop educational resource advocating the end of Roe v. Wade. “People think that Roe is the law of the land and that it’s never going to change. We want to change the mindset,” she said.
Copyright 2005—Culture of Life Foundation.
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
Culture of Life Foundation
1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington DC 20005
Phone: (202) 289-2500
Fax: (202) 289-2502
E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org
Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org
