Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence says he can't explain why a majority of local Catholics favor abortion rights, although he hopes that they keep the church in mind when they go into the voting booth.
Tobin made the statement in response to a question from guest panelist Jennifer Lawless during a taping this morning of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers. The program will be broadcast on Sunday, at 5:30 am on Channel 12 and at 10 am on Fox 64.
In response to my question about church officials who suggest that parishioners who back abortion, same-sex marriage and the like should be denied communion, he says this is consistent with the beliefs of the church. Some may recall how this became an issue in 2004, when the bishop of Colorado Springs a Vatican offical said John F. Kerry Catholic politicans who support abortion should be denied communion because of his support for abortion rights. I wrote at the time about how the interesection of politics and Catholicism was more mellow locally.
Tobin called for a lowering of the rhetoric as Rhode Island continues to face a $450 million budget deficit. He says that faith-based organizations have a role to play, but that the poor and weak should not bear the brunt of budget cuts.
The bishop was the subject of a lengthy recent series in the ProJo by G. Wayne Miller. While the series attracted praise, some, including Phoenix contributor Mary Ann Sorrentino, remain critical of the church's ongoing handling of the response to pedophilic priests.
In other news, Lawless, who ran a lively campaign against US Representative Jim Langevin in 2006, seemingly giving him a bit of a scare, told me off-camera that she doesn't plan to run again for office in the near future.