“My joy, however, is tempered by the knowledge that this man has a deplorable record when it comes to pro-life issues and is possibly in the pocket of Planned Parenthood,” the cardinal continued, noting the irony that the organization’s origins were racist and claiming its aims were to “eliminate the blacks.”
Saying he will try to work with the president-elect, Cardinal O’Malley said Obama should realize his election was not a mandate to “rush ahead with a pro-abortion platform.” He argued that the passage of marriage referenda in Florida and California showed that people who were socially conservative voted for Obama for other reasons.
Discussing the actions of the bishops, many of whom were vocally pro-life in the months leading up to the election, the cardinal voiced confidence that people understand the Church’s teaching on abortion.
“And obviously when you look at the differential between the way that Catholics who are church-going Catholics vote and those who are not church going Catholics, I think that the Catholics reflect the church’s teaching,” the cardinal continued. “Not as much as we’d like them to, but certainly this last election there were many other factors that intervened.”
Turning to the matter of the worthy reception of Holy Communion, especially as it concerns Catholics who publicly support abortion rights, Cardinal O’Malley noted a decline in awareness of the need to be both “spiritually prepared” and in a state of grace before receiving Holy Communion.
“Today I think we need to reinforce that teaching a lot. And once that teaching is better understood, then, I think, it will be obvious as to who should be coming to Communion and who shouldn’t. But until there’s a decision of the church to formally excommunicate people, I don’t think we’re going to be denying Communion to the people,” Cardinal O’Malley told Paulson.