Kerry’s Easter plans

4 comments

• Rev. John Ardis, director of the Paulist Center, said the Kerrys had received Communion there and were always welcome to do so. Asked if he had been instructed not to offer Kerry Communion Ardis said: Eucharist.”

  Okay. The way the paragraph is written, one would think that, in the middle of the busiest weeks of the year, the Archbishop got on the phone, or had one of his aides get on the phone, call Father Ardis, and specifically instruct Father Ardis to make sure the Kerrys received Communion.

  Here’s what I think probably happened.

  (First of all, if you live anyway near the city of Boston, the words “Paulist Center” outta make a lot of warning bells go off!)

  Either Ardis or Kerry or perhaps both decided to make an “issue” out of this…my guess is weeks or even months ago. So they decide to place “urgent” calls to the chancery. Several, at least. Finally somebody gets back to Ardis, saying something like “What did you want?” He says something like: “Are you telling me to DENY any of my parishioners Communion????” The somebody says “no, of course not,” hangs up, wonders briefly about the sanity of Father Ardis, and goes back to his or her duties, forgetting about the whole thing. Meanwhile, Father Ardis telephones either Greg Frost or another reporter with the news that he’d “just heard from the archdiocese an hour ago.”

  I mean, really. Isn’t it a bit far fetched to imagine a reporter calling Father Ardis about John Kerry one hour after Ardis spoke to somebody at the chancery?

  This is a set-up, folks, in my opinion. Look, if this wasn’t a politically motivated thing, how come no reporter is nosing around, wondering where Senator Kennedy is spending Easter? I mean, he’s at least as pro-abort as Kerry, if not more.

  But then, Senator Kennedy isn’t running for president of the United States.

  It saddens me greatly that Senator Kerry, and apparently his friend Father Ardis, have chosen to use the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ for some ink. May He have mercy on their souls.

• Father Michael asks:

  So when they ask me [a couple who has been and apparently still are living together sans the sacrament of matrimony] about Senator Kerry and his anti-life position and invalid marriage, what do I say?

  Yeah, yeah, I know this is a rhetorical (and rather emotive) question, but here’s a thought, anyway:

  How ‘bout telling them it’s none of their damn business? (Please refrain from gasping in Utter Shock and Horror…I’m serious.)

  You might also tell them that neither they—nor you—are equipped to look into another’s soul. (Although she might surprise you by not asking the question at all…you said she converted to the Faith. Could be she’s already learned this bleepin’ tenet.)

  And as long as you’re having this, uh, “dialog,” you might mention, incidentally, that if they’re still living together they probably shouldn’t be. As long as you’re all interested in the morality of others, I mean.

  But wait: Father Michael already has his script down pat:

  I know what I will say—the Boston Archbishop is a coward and let prestige of power and money subvert his moral sense.

  Look at this really closely, friends. I’m looking at it and shuddering.

  Here’s a priest—let’s presume he’s a priest—evidently certain of his ability to look into another’s soul.

  Or maybe not. Maybe he’s just one more frustrated cleric who doesn’t know how to handle a situation, doesn’t know how to ask for help, and instead strikes out. In both senses of the term.

  On a not unrelated note? In the Divine Mercy chaplet on Holy Saturday, we’re asked to pray for priests and religious.

• Hi Joanne,

  Sure the priest does have this responsibility, I certainly believe.

  Yes, I read the Isaiah passage on Good Friday.

  Hey Dom, a bit of administrivia: the “notify me when somebody replies to this post” isn’t working, for me anyway.

• Brian,

  You’re right, I am ambivalent about him because one day he does something praiseworthy and the next he does something I can’t understand.