Kerry Mass Watch

By Domenico Bettinelli, Jr. ( articles - email ) | Jun 15, 2004

In this week's installment of the Kerry Kommunion Kapers, the Boston Globe reports that Kerry attended Mass near one of his wife's many homes, this one outside Pittsburgh. He did not receive a warm welcome, no not from the priest or local bishop, but from a couple of pro-life women:

Kerry not only received Communion at St. Benedict the Moor Church, a largely black parish in Pittsburgh's Hill District, but he and his wife listened to a homily focused on the Eucharist. In brief remarks to the parish during a pause to greet visitors, the Massachusetts senator said, "I have the privilege of not just worshiping here this morning, but also visiting Teresa's home." His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, has a farm in nearby Fox Chapel, where the couple spent the week.

After Mass, two abortion opponents berated Kerry, his wife, and a priest as they left the church. "Senator Kerry, you can't support abortion. It's a scandal," yelled one, who identified herself as Janet Cocchi of Mount Lebanon, Pa. "You're not in communion with the Catholic Church." The other protester, who identified herself as Mary Kay Brown of Dorseyville, Pa., said she and Cocchi represented the local chapter of Operation Witness, an antiabortion group founded by Operation Rescue leader Randall Terry.

Neither Kerry nor his wife responded to the taunts, which included Cocchi yelling into the open door of their limousine, "Teresa, how could you kill a baby?"