Dubuque, Iowa, Jul 4, 2004 / 22:00 pm
A newspaper in Iowa revealed yesterday that Presidential Candidate John F. Kerry hates abortion and believes that life begins at conception, but is opposed to legislating his beliefs onto others who don’t share them.
In an interview that ran in Dubuque's Telegraph Herald, Kerry spoke again about his Catholic faith and his controversial support of abortion.
"I'm a person of faith, and I care enormously about my faith," Kerry told the Telegraph Herald during an interview held on his campaign bus, while traveling through Wisconsin and Iowa as part of his blaze across "Heartland America."
"I'm confident I wouldn't be here if God didn't help carry me through," he said, after revealing that during the Vietnam War, he wore a rosary around his neck and prayed during combat.
"When I examine my conscience -he also told the Dubuque's newspaper - I believe my conscience is where it ought to be within Catholic teaching, which also teaches about war, about the environment, about children, about poverty, about capital punishment and many other things."
"Vatican II is very clear. There is something called freedom of conscience in the Catholic Church. You have to examine your conscience," Kerry also said.
"I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception. But I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist... who doesn't share it. We have separation of church and state in the United States of America," he added.
Commenting on Kerry's words, Monsignor James Barta, Vicar General and spokesman for the Dubuque Archdiocese, told the Telegraph Herald that the Church needs not to decide who it deems worthy to receive Holy Communion, rather parishioners should reflect on the state of their soul.
"A person should not receive communion if they are aware of committing a serious sin and not being forgiven," Barta told the Dubuque newspaper."That judgment is made by the person himself, not the person giving communion," he said.
The Dubuque Archdiocese, Barta also explained, only considers barring a person from communion due to a "grave scandal," and only after Church officials discuss the matter with the person in question.
On Sunday morning, Kerry attended Mass in Iowa and took Communion.