Archbishop v. Kennedy-Cuomo

(In his column this week in the Denver Catholic Register, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M.Cap., denounces the division between faith and public service as articulated by the late John F. Kennedy and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and adopted by many Catholic politicians since. Here are some highlights.)

. . . . .

"Forty-four years ago this month (Sept. 12, 1960), (then-Senator and Presidential candidate) John F. Kennedy delivered remarks to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association wherein he effectively severed his Catholic identity from his public service. It’s OK to elect me president, he argued to a wary Protestant audience, because I won’t let the pope tell me what to do.

"In pledging to put the 'national interest' above 'religious pressures or dictates,' Kennedy created a template for a generation of Catholic candidates: Be American first; be Catholic second.

. . . . .

"The Kennedy compromise seemed to work pretty well as long as the 'religious pressures' faced by Catholic elected officials involved issues like divorce, federal aid to Catholic schools or diplomatic relations with the Holy See. Each of these issues was important, surely, but none involved life and death. None was jugular.

"In 1973, by legalizing abortion on demand, the U.S. Supreme Court changed everything. The reason is simple: Abortion is different. Abortion kills. The great Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke for the whole Christian tradition when he wrote:

"'Destruction of the embryo in the mother’s womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed upon this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder.' ([Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (New York; Macmillan, 1965) 175-6])

"Resistance to abortion cuts across all religions. It’s not a 'Catholic' issue. In fact, it’s finally not a religious issue at all, but a matter of human rights...." (emphasis added)

"(Eleven years after Roe v. Wade, then-New York Governor Mario) Cuomo argued that 'in our attempt to find a political answer to abortion - an answer beyond our private observance of Catholic morality' - he had concluded that 'legal interdicting of abortion by either the federal government or the individual states is not a plausible possibility, and even if it could be obtained, it wouldn’t work.' He might privately oppose abortion but, in his view, he had no right to “impose” that belief on others.

"In hindsight, Cuomo’s speech is a tour de force of articulate misdirection. It refuses to acknowledge the teaching and formative power of the law. It implicitly equates unequal types of issues. It misuses the 'seamless garment' metaphor.

. . . . .

"Next month, October, is Respect Life month. It’s a good time to reflect on the meaning of the Kennedy-Cuomo legacy. In brief, it’s OK to be Catholic in public service as long as you’re willing to jettison what’s inconveniently 'Catholic.'

"That’s not a compromise. That’s a deal with the devil, and it has a balloon payment no nation, no public servant and no voter can afford."
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M.Cap.