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Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks Oct. 26, 2019, at the Second Step Presidential Justice Forum at Benedict College in Columbia, S.C. Biden attended morning Mass Oct. 27 at St. Anthony Church in Florence and was refused Communion by the pastor, Father Robert E. Morey, over Biden's support for legal abortion. (CNS photo/Sam Wolfe, Reuters)
Dec. 30, 2019
Richard Morasci
San Francisco
Letter to the Editor
Catholic San Francisco
Editor's note: Here is a related post with links to previous reader comment. Another letter may be found here.
Editor:
In the letter written by Bob Danzl ("Taking liberties with language," Dec. 19, 2019), he criticizes Nancy Pelosi for calling herself a Catholic. I think it is tempting for Catholics to look at well-known politicians or other people in government who are also Catholic and criticize them for their practice of Catholicism.
With more and more Catholics in high places, it has become common to doubt the religion of these individuals because we may disagree with them. However, the majority of the Supreme Court is now Catholic, including the chief justice, John Roberts. Joe Biden is Catholic. William Barr, the attorney general, is also Catholic. Steve Bannon is Catholic. So is Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Chris Christie.
Look at the diverse group of Catholics in political life. How is it possible that people with such different ideas and beliefs in government are all Catholic?
Even though it is tempting to pick and choose those who we agree with and claim we know which people are the “real” Catholics, that to me is a mistaken assumption. People still have freedom of religion in the U.S., and they can publicly proclaim which religion, if any, they belong to. We have a right to disagree with their ideas or principles, but I don’t see how we have a right to judge a person’s religious belief.
Editor's note: In November 2019 the U.S. Catholic bishops approved adding new materials to complement "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," their long-standing guide to help Catholics form their consciences in public life, including voting, according to a Catholic News Service report. The addition included the statement that called abortion the preeminent social issue of our time.Letters policy
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