The Politics of Denying Communion to Catholic Elected Officials

Authors

William D. Blake
Amanda Friesen, Western UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2013

Volume

11

Issue

4

Journal

The Forum

First Page

671

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1515/for-2014-0002

Last Page

682

Abstract

In his 2004 presidential campaign, John Kerry, a Catholic, was threatened with being denied Holy Communion because of his pro-choice voting record. This article investigates the extent to which communion denial impacted Catholic elected officials and analyzes public attitudes regarding communion denial for Kerry. The results of our analysis suggest that, despite heavy media coverage, few bishops endorsed the communion denial and few pro-choice Catholic officials were threatened. While the data also indicate there are meaningful political implications for public attitudes on communion denial, the tactic does not command support from many Catholics.

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Citation of this paper:

Blake, W. D., & Friesen, A. (2013). The Politics of Denying Communion to Catholic Elected Officials. The Forum, 11(4), 671–682. doi:10.1515/for-2014-0002