In All Things
Is Palin an Apostate?
Gov. Sarah Palin was baptized in the Catholic Church but later joined a Pentecostal church as a teenager, the Wasilla Assembly of God. Her new church requires baptism by immersion, so at age 12, Palin and her mother and sisters were "re-baptized" in Beaver Lake, according to the Los Angeles Times. My colleague, Father Jim Martin, S.J., has already noted this fact in an earlier post entitled "Palin is an ex-Catholic."
One searches the Code of Canon Law in vain for the term "ex-Catholic." Similarly, the Catholic Church does not recognize the ritual the Times called "re-baptism." More importantly, it is difficult to see how submitting oneself to a "re-baptism" would not be a renunciation of your prior baptism. And the technical term for renouncing one’s baptism is apostasy.
The Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law is very nuanced. Canon 751 deals with heresy, apostasy and schism. It recognizes that in a situation like Palin’s, the severity of the crime could be mitigated by diminished personal freedom: Even a precocious teenager who commits an act of apostasy might be so strongly influenced by familial considerations that the perpetrator’s guilt is diminished. As well, while the Canon speaks of the "Catholic faith" as regards both heresy and schism, it calls apostasy a repudiation of the "Christian faith." The distinction may be literary: Through much of the Code, "Catholic" and "Christian" are used interchangeably.
Curiously, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, who was on John McCain’s shortlist for the vice-presidency as well, was also "re-baptized" when he got married and joined his wife’s evangelical church, the Wooddale Church in Eden Prarie, Minnesota.
In this pluralistic society of ours, we are free to join or un-join any church we wish. There are no guards at the airport or inquisitors in the courtrooms. No one is suggesting that Palin’s apostasy should prevent her from being elected to high office. But, while many Catholics may warm to Palin’s moral views, for example, her opposition to abortion, the cavalier way she evidently treats an act of severe sacramental and canonical significance should give pause to those who take their religion seriously.
No penalty attaches latae sententiae to apostasy as it does with some other severe acts. There will not be a canonical trial for Palin. And, unless she subsequently seeks to get married or buried in a Catholic Church, the issue will not be raised by any ecclesiastical authorities. Palin could show her respect for the Catholic Church and its canons by requesting a formal separation from the Church from her local bishop. This might not be good politics but it would be good for her soul.
For the rest of us, it is beyond hypocritical for certain conservative Catholics to denounce Joe Biden because he is Catholic and does not support making abortion illegal while applauding a self-described "hockey Mom" who is skating close to apostasy. The Church’s sacramental traditions and beliefs are as worthy of respect and defense as our moral traditions and beliefs.
Michael Sean Winters
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By the way apostasy is the total rejection by a baptized person of the Christian faith he once professed. This certainly does not apply.
So, Sarah Palin is still a Catholic in the Church's eyes, and while her marriage might not be a valid marriage without her formal declaration, which then removes her from the obligation to the Catholic form, she is certainly innocent of any crimes. On the other hand, Joe Biden OUGHT to know better.
Simply moronic.
Sorry, but a 12 year old is basically a little girl, not even qualifying as possibly a ''precocious teenager.'' They are not exactly responsible for what church their parents take them to. What is expected of a 12 year old minor child? Are they supposed to dig their heels in the ground and refuse to get dressed on Sunday morning, backing up their resistance with a theological explanation of inadequate sacramental systems and true but imperfect communion?
If when I was 12 my parents switched to a Protestant church I would have switched right along with them. At a child's level of theological sophistication you probably wouldn't notice much difference except that the Protestants probably would have better preaching.
There are millions of Americans in Mrs. Palin's position, unfortunately. My best friend and her brothers and sisters were raised Anglican after being baptized Catholic. They do not treat anything regarding religion ''in a cavalier way'' but rather they don't give it a second thought. They were not raised Catholic. They do not consider themselves Catholic. It is not a big deal to them.
Nor, I suspect, will Mrs. Palin's faith origins be a big deal to anybody else besides the crudest partisans.
I've just started your new book, "Left at the Altar," and I'm enjoying it. I haven't reached the section (I'm presuming there will be a section) on the takeover of the Democratic Party by organizations such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL, and the subsequent about face by many formerly pro-life politicians when they realized being pro-life would consign them to just the scraps from the table of party financing. Why Senator Biden chose to join other Catholic politicians (e.g., Cuomo, Daschle, Kennedy, Dodd, Sibelius, Leahy, Richardson, Kerry -- and the list goes on and on) in the decision to become pro-choice is a much more interesting subject to ponder than whether a 12-year old girl, now on the national political stage as 40-something adult, is an apostate because she was re-baptized in a Protestant denomination.
Your posts are usually very good. That's why I'm chalking this one up to having a bad day. :)
The real point of it, I suspect, is to try and tarnish Sarah Palin as an "apostate" as if that means Catholics shouldn't support her, because she does not walk in step with the usually liberal social views that America espouses in its pages.
Besides, abortion is an entirely different issue from accepting the truths of the Catholic faith. Abortion is an issue of public policy that affects--or should affect--how we vote. The personal religious beliefs of government leaders are not a matter of public policy and have no bearing on voting.
I'm really surprised that you would publish this absurd post.
This almost rises to a level of canceling my subscription.
Interestingly, the Obama campaign, in the wake of the Palin selection and the stories about Palin's Down syndrome son and her teenage daughter's pregnancy, has begun running ads attacking McCain for being pro-life, no doubt intending to signal to voters that, if McCain is elected, women will no longer be free to kill handicapped children or children conceived when they are teenagers. And while I believe that John McCain will not do much to attempt to overturn Roe v Wade, I do know that Barack Obama and the Democratic platform are committed to supporting federal funding of abortion, and Obama may very well get that from a Democratic Congress, thereby increasing the number of abortions performed in America. And all this is met with deafening silence by Obama's Catholic apologists, who point out the mote in Palin's eye while ignoring the beam in Obama's.
I too raised the "a" word on Vox Nova (http://vox-nova.com/2008/09/03/palins-dangerously-distorted-christianity/) and was attacked by those who seem to think that oppposition to abortion is the defining creed of Catholicism. For one, I became a "tridentine attack machine"! (http://markshea.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html#5330191514895521652)
Michael Sean has never addressed Nancy Pelosi's recent apostacy on Meet the Press. He has the gall to raise what a 12 year old girl does. Who even knows if this true?
Yes this is desperation and mean-spirited.
Milbo
Sadly, this seems to be the case now: this is where political partisanship trumps everything, using religion as an electoral weapon.
Do you really think any Catholic is going to be persuasaded by this? Come on... :-(
So, we've made such a 'holy cow' out of abortion that we've gone soft on 'apostasy'?
Seriously? So politicians whose parents left the Catholic church when they were CHILDREN should be viewed as apostates? So their 'apostasy' should be regarded by catholic voters as just as weighty a voting matter as their stand on abortion?
Good Lord, is this the best you can do? This kind of desperate argumentation is surely beneath you.
I cannot take anymore of this secular liberalism in Catholic disguise. It is sick, as is any form of "Liberal Catholic" gibberish. Your arrogance will be judged, but not by Man.
You Catholics are the apostates. You have stood the simple Gospel on its head so profoundly that a good Catholic who listens to church teaching would realize believing in the Words of Jesus makes one a rebel against the magisterium.
Sarah is walking with the Lord in obedience, Biden is not. Jesus doesn't tell the sinners on the last day ''Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, you weren't good catholics'' but ''Department from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.'' Jesus knows Sarah.