Dialogue must continue on politicians and Communion, says cardinal

Published: 2005-03-09

NEWTON, Mass. (CNS) -- In a divided society, Catholics must become unified when it comes to political and social matters, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington said in a March 3 talk at Boston College in Newton. "As American bishops faced the cloudy political situation of the beginning of the new millennium in our country, many of us began to see the hardening of positions and the lack of bridges crossing from one side to the other in conversation, in dialogue and even more deeply in trust and friendship," the cardinal said in the inaugural address of the Canisius Lecture series, sponsored by the Jesuit Institute. "The division which has arisen strikes at the heart of Catholic thought because it strikes at the question of life itself," he added. "Before the Roe vs. Wade decision of the Supreme Court of the United States 32 years ago, disputes were based more on policy than on principle, but now questions about life itself have very properly become fundamental. Sadly, however, they have very often increased the decibel level of our conversations." Cardinal McCarrick chairs the U.S. bishops' Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Catholic Politicians.

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