Almost all Catholic Democrats in Congress and a few of the Republicans reliably vote against the Church’s teachings. And watchdog groups call this the “unfortunate legacy” of JFK. It’s amusing that John Kerry appealed to the example of JFK in calling the recent Vatican document on gay marriage outrageous, as if JFK, by virtue of his election, has become the source of divine political revelation that cannot be disobeyed. Given a choice, I would follow the Pope over JFK, who never set a very good personal example to follow.
“This is all part of the unfortunate legacy of John F. Kennedy, who perhaps paid too high an admission price to enter the race for the presidency in 1960 by basically telling people that he would never bring his religious values into American public life,” C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Action League told CNSNews.com Friday. “Looking back on it, the election of Kennedy in some ways represented the empowerment of the Catholic elite but a defeat for Catholic values.”
I think Kerry and others of his ilk feel more comfortable in opposing the Church on moral issues, because they sense that American Catholic voters in general don’t mind. In fact, it may be that Catholic voters like Kerry’s stance because they disagree with Church teaching themselves—perhaps on contraception—and it validates them in their disobedience. Kerry says what they want to say to the Church: “Stay out of my life! Don’t remind me that what I’m doing is wrong.”
