PETITION CLOSED

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Protest the Catholic Church’s Use of Communion as a Political Weapon
  1. Signatures
    118 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. Bishop of Providence (+ 1 other)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Bishop of Providence (The Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin)
      • Diocese of Providence (Office of Communications)
  2. Created By
    Ray in DC
    Washington, DC
About this Petition Petition Letter

It has recently become public that Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island informed Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island) that he should not be permitted to take Communion, due to Kennedy's failure to support anti-abortion rights legislation. According to Rep. Kennedy, the Bishop has also instructed his priests not to administer the sacrament to the Congressman should he attempt to attend Holy Communion.

The Catholic Church has used withholding of Communion as a political weapon before, most notably during the 2004 Presidential election when Archbishop Burke of St. Louis stated that he would refuse Communion to Presidential Candidate John Kerry due to Kerry's opposition to further restrictions on abortion rights (Burke instituted a similar ban in 2003 against Rep. David Obey for his pro-abortion rights stance). Others targeted include former California Gov. Gray Davis, former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, and Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Ms. Sebelius said in a 9/15/09 Washington Post interview that the ban was "one of the most painful things I have ever experienced in my life, and I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state, and I feel that my actions as a parishioner are different than my actions as a public official."

Sign this petition to express your support for our Constitution's separation of Church and State, condemn the Catholic Church's policy of political intrusion and religious exclusion, and email Bishop Tobin to express your opposition to Rep. Kennedy's ban. Feel free to edit the letter however you see fit; if you're Catholic, by all means mention that as well.

For more background, links to articles, a political protest poem about the issue, and more poems and petitions about abortion rights, see http://newsericks.com/the-blood-of-christ-not-shed-for-you.

Recent Signatures

Use of Holy Communion as a political weapon

Dear Decision Maker,

I would like to express my condemnation of the Church’s use of Holy Communion as a political weapon to punish legislators who do not adopt adequately (in the Church’s view) anti-abortion rights positions. While I support the Church’s and all believers’ rights to express and live according to their beliefs, I oppose the Church’s attempts to force those beliefs on others by restricting a woman’s Constitutional right to choose.

Furthermore, while I acknowledge the Church’s legal right to withhold religious services or even exclude (through Excommunication) those who do not uphold the Church’s principals, I firmly believe that such actions are not consistent with Christ’s teachings, and I condemn their selective application as a Machiavellian attempt to turn the Blood of Christ into a political weapon.

I believe, as do many abortion rights supporters, that the incidence of abortion should be minimized, but that abortion should remain legal and safe. The Supreme Court has ruled that while abortions may be restricted (as they are under current law), those restrictions can not abrogate a woman’s fundamental Constitutional rights.

A return to pre-Roe abortion bans would do just that, and would not even reach the Church’s goal of eliminating abortion. Allowance of such restrictions would force woman who could afford it to travel to jurisdictions that permit abortion, and poor women to again resort to unsafe procedures, often resulting in the death of both mother and child. The Church should not seek to punish those who, like Rep. Kennedy, do not see that as a desirable outcome.

Finally, I find hypocritical that the Catholic Church condemns the use of birth control, which prevents conception and greatly reduces the incidence of abortion, while tacitly turning a blind eye to birth control’s widespread use by Catholics.

I therefore strongly urge you to reconsider your ban of Rep. Kennedy from Holy Communion, as well the tenor of your and the Church’s approach in the abortion rights debate.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

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