VP candidate Kaine is ‘cafeteria Catholic,’ archbishop says

October 18, 2016

In a strongly worded column published in his archdiocesan newspaper, Archbishop Joseph Naumann has labeled Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine as “an orthodox member of his party, fulling embracing his party’s platform, but a cafeteria Catholic, picking and choosing the teachings of the Catholic Church that are politically convenient.”

“It was painful to listen” to Kaine’s arguments in favor of abortion during a recent television debate, the archbishop writes. He dismissed Kaine’s familiar claim to be “personally opposed” to abortion but unwilling to impose his moral views. Archbishop Naumann observed that Kaine “appears to have no qualms with his public positions conforming with his religious beliefs with regard to such issues as the church’s opposition to racism or our preferential option for the poor.”

In Virginia, Kaine worked to end the death penalty, the archbishop observed.”Yet, with regard to legalized abortion, I am not aware of Senator Kaine making a similar effort to convince his constituents to work for public policies that protect the lives of the unborn.”

 

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Further information:

• Kansas archbishop blasts Kaine: He’s an ‘orthodox’ Democrat but a ‘cafeteria Catholic’ (LifeSite News)
• Our choices end where another’s more fundamental right begins (The Leaven)