DiLorenzo ready for new post
By Justin Bergman
Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. — Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, Hawai'i's bishop who is soon to be the next bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond, told reporters yesterday he would not refuse Communion to any parishioner who votes for a pro-choice political candidate — as some priests have advocated — but he stressed that abortion-rights supporters do not believe in an essential part of church teaching.
Asked whether he would offer Communion to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the apparent Democratic presidential nominee who supports abortion rights, DiLorenzo said he would have to meet Kerry first.
"For me personally to handle something as delicate as this, I should at least talk to him privately first," he said at a meeting with reporters. "I don't have a clue as to who John Kerry actually is."
DiLorenzo, 61, will be installed Monday as the 12th bishop of the Richmond diocese, which encompasses 143 parishes stretching from the mountain towns of western Virginia to bustling Hampton Roads. DiLorenzo has been Hawai'i's bishop since 1994, and served as apostolic administrator here for the year before that.
He replaces retiring Bishop Walter E. Sullivan, a more liberal leader who led the diocese for 29 years. Sullivan was outspoken against war and the death penalty and established what was the Catholic church's first official outreach program for gays and lesbians in 1977.
DiLorenzo said his top priority is upholding the church's anti-abortion stance and promoting social justice issues with parishioners and political leaders.
His position falls in line with other conservative U.S. bishops who recently have issued warnings to Catholic lawmakers who defy church teaching in their policy-making. Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis has said he would not give Communion to Kerry because the senator supports abortion rights.
Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado said this month that voters should not receive Communion if they back politicians who support abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or gay marriage.
Forty-eight Catholic members of Congress responded Thursday by signing a letter saying the church would harm itself by denying the sacrament to legislators based on their voting records. But DiLorenzo defended the bishops' position.
"Going to Communion says something," he said. "Communion has a meaning that says you are completely in union with the pope. ... If you are welcomed into a family, there is a culture or set of values you need to be comfortable with."
Realistically, DiLorenzo said, it may not always be possible to choose a candidate who opposes abortion. In that case, he said, "you have to figure out which candidate and his platform do the least amount of evil."
DiLorenzo said that while he supports the diocese's Commission on Sexual Minorities reaching out to gays and lesbians in the community, it is ultimately their choice whether to join the church and adhere to its teachings.
"The challenge is to face the whole issue: Is my lifestyle such that it is inconsistent with the Catholic Church?" he said.
DiLorenzo, a Philadelphia native, served as auxiliary bishop of the Scranton, Pa., diocese from 1988 to 1993. His installation takes place Monday at Richmond's Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.
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