Denver, Colo., Sep 20, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Catholic political leaders have left a flawed legacy, which instructs politicians that it is okay to be personally opposed to abortion and not “impose” that view on the nation, says Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver.
It is a legacy that says a Catholic can be in the public service as long as he or she is willing to abandon what is “inconveniently Catholic,” adds the archbishop.
What these politicians pitch as a compromise between personal and public interest is actually “a deal with the devil, and it has a balloon payment no nation, no public servant and no voter can afford,” says the archbishop in his column, published today, in the Denver Catholic Register.
In his column, Archbishop Chaput reflects on the legacy of Catholic politicians who severed their public identity from their faith and rationalized that it was okay to maintain personal beliefs and not “impose” them on the nation through federal legislation. He focuses in particular on President John F. Kennedy and New York Governor Mario Cuomo.