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A Further Perspective
Does Anyone Deserve to Lose His Rights?
Conservatives should not be blaming the victim in Obama’s showdown with the Catholic Church.
Short weeks ago, the political world was in welcome upheaval at the news that Barack Obama’s latest healthcare fiat was being met with great opposition, particularly by the Catholic Church. His dictate that certain forms of contraception be covered by all employers regardless of their religious beliefs had folks from both right and left arrayed against him, outraged at his blatant disregard for the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberty. But then a funny thing happened.
Rush Limbaugh, influential in liberal as well as conservative circles, read on air from a column written by Dr. Paul Rahe, a professor at Hillsdale College, who basically said that the Catholic Church deserved what it was getting, as a result of its “Pact with the Devil,” made decades ago. The piece makes numerous contentions against the Church in America; most of them true and some of them not so true, with further inference by Rush, suggesting that the Church was indeed in league with the Democratic Party and therefore rightfully deserving of its treatment by Obama and friends. Sort of what I call the William Kennedy Smith defense: that girl walked into the bar with me; ergo, she deserved to be raped.
Have many U.S. bishops acquiesced to parts of the liberal agenda in the last 70 or so years? Unfortunately, they have, as have too many Americans. Yet to posit that the Church is in bed with modern Democrats is a quite a stretch. The Church is the only worldwide entity that stands athwart their main pillars: abortion, gay marriage, and euthanasia. Yet, as the Rahe view gains popularity, too many Americans have put the Church in their sights, instead of the Obama Administration.
The distressing part of all this is that many conservatives have now fallen prey to that most progressive of diseases: the “everybody knows it” syndrome. This dreadful malady takes hold when an appealing bit of personal opinion makes its way into the mainstream, then metastasizes into the realm of public acceptance. This nugget need not be factual, but it becomes an easy way to deal with issues that deserve deeper consideration.
Almost as disturbing as the “the Church deserves it” theory, is Dr. Rahe’s claim that in 13 years of visiting parishes across the nation, he has only heard three anti-abortion sermons, and none on contraception, stating: “In the face of the sexual revolution, the bishops, priests, and nuns of the American Church have by and large fallen silent. In effect, they have abandoned the moral teaching of the Roman Catholic Church in order to articulate a defense of the administrative entitlements state and its progressive expansion.”
Well, this surely comes as news to me and millions of other American Catholics. Living as I do, in Fairfield County, Connecticut, one of the most liberal enclaves of this nation, you’d think that I too would have trouble finding a parish that teaches the true Faith; that it would be impossible to find a spiritual home amongst the modern dwellings of Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, within a few miles of my home, there are at least five parishes so orthodox in worship, that they would be fit to host a visit from Pope Benedict XVI himself; indeed, my own parish church was recently named a minor basilica where, during any given week, Dr. Rahe might hear a few pulpit-pounding homilies dealing with abortion and avail himself of one of the 15 Confession opportunities. And yes, there is always a line.
The truth is, there are very many faithful Catholics in this country who reject the liberal agenda: just look to the U.S. Supreme Court, or to the many recent converts to the faith among the conservative punditry, or to two of the four remaining presidential candidates. The problem is, those who call themselves Catholic yet publicly and repeatedly reject Church teaching are the ones who get all the ink.
But, as they say, the times, they are a-changin’. Newly named Cardinal Timothy Dolan — a classmate of my Pastor at the Pontifical North American College in Rome — the jocular prelate who is currently charming the pants off the liberal media, has been gifted with the nauseating sobriquet of “rock star,” as they celebrate his outward joviality while ignoring his rock-hard commitment to the Church and her teachings; a mistake they will hopefully come to regret. He is only one of many of the Pope’s Panzer division of new hierarchy of the Church who will lead her for many years to come.
So before folks decide in favor of an indictment against a fading breed of 1960s bishops as representative of the Church in America, they shouldn’t fall prey to the liberal media tactic of blaming the victims. The Church, going forward, may indeed lose many, many members who wear their Catholicism like a piece of clothing to be changed and discarded at a whim, but those of the true Faith will continue to uphold and defend it, come what may.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (75) | Leave a comment
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WhatAboutBob| 2.29.12 @ 6:54AM
Lisa,
I have to disagree with you. I heard Rush's shpiel, and read the Rahe column. I didn't come away from them with the same interpretation that you did. Rather, it was more like "Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas."
In the late 60's and 70's, many Catholic bishops in South America signed up to the liberation theology ideology, which had the net result of promoting communist inroads in those countries, and did nothing to undermine the position of the autocratic regimes that were in power at that time.
Rahe's points were made in a similar vein: the American Catholic bishops hopped on board the "social justice" bandwagon of American Leftism, and thus became useful idiots in the fight against personal responsibility and individual liberty. And now the Left is looking at the Church as the next course on the menu.
However, there WERE bishops in the Church who recognized that liberation theology and "social justice" were a bargain with the Devil.
Google "Karol Wojtyla" for more information.
Timothy L. Pennell| 2.29.12 @ 7:04AM
Wow. It would seem that 3 of us are on the same page. Perhaps there's hope, yet.
WRTolkas| 2.29.12 @ 8:34AM
Dear WhatAboutBob,
Before I read your comment, I read Professor Rahe's editorial. I forwarded that editorial's link to a friend and added my own comment: Professor Rahe's editorial boils down to: "If you lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas."
And Mr. Pennell, I do hope there is hope for the Catholic Church, my Church, and your Church.
We share the same thought.
Bruce| 2.29.12 @ 11:14AM
IMO, the Catholic church saw in the government a means to lessen their own burden of caring for the poor. The more money the government provided, the less the church would have to do. It would benefit the church, so it was a "good" thing.
Brian Mc| 2.29.12 @ 1:58PM
I didn't leave the Church, it left me. When the "Prayers of the Faithful" became infested with requests for the government to be more of what the Church was supposed to be, I got up after one particularly socialist rant, walked out and haven't been back...but once. After 9-11, I showed up for a visitation which actually was a Mass...the homily concerned Cain and Abel...I almost threw up. I was near tears when I stormed out. I was meant to be ashamed of the fact that I was not willing to give poor-old evil a big hug. I will always pray for the Church but...
Dr. X| 2.29.12 @ 10:54PM
I absolutely agree with Bruce. The Church saw the government and the Democratic Party from the New Deal onward as a means of enacting its "social justice" goals and got burned when the Democratic Party went radical Left after the Sixties.
I've never understood why the Church failed to embrace the Republican Party in the Eighties when it became clear they were the true pro-life party. As I grew up back then I realized that the Southern and Midwestern Protestants were a lot more serious about moral conservatism than Catholics were. I've NEVER heard a decent sermon from a Catholic pulpit EVER in forty years of going. I pretty much became a C&E guy after my priest went to prison for possession of child pornography... I'm not anti-Catholic the way some who got sick of it are, but I know more about religion than they do and live a better life than they do... It's pretty much a waste of my time to listen to nonesensical pap and then watch them all vote Democrat.
Jacob R| 3.1.12 @ 7:24AM
You don't sound bitter at all "Dr. X"
And you sure fooled me about not being anti catholic. The fact that you spent 40 years there yet made your pivotal decision based on the actions of one bad priest doesn't much support your claim that "I know more about religion than they do" (which by the way came off as pathetically pompous).
Dr. X| 3.1.12 @ 12:39PM
Actually it was more than just the guy that caught with kiddie porn. It was the nuns I saw going to the Clinton-Gore rally I was protesting outside of after Clinton got caught with Monica. It was the priest who failed to show up for Mass at all one morning; the one who showed up drunk for Midnight Mass; the two who got defrocked for alleged "improper actions;" the accountant who stole $2 million and went to prison, and the priest who ripped off $100,000 from the Sunday collections -- all in a 30-mile radius. All personally experienced by me, so this does not include the others I only read about in the paper.
And last Christmas the doddering old senescent fool they trotted out had no sermon really prepared; he was going to read a quote from St. Augustine, except that forgot to bring it, and couldn't remember what it said. "Ah, well"... he said... "Next Christmas!"
Since I had just finished teaching St. Augustine and the Gospel of Matthew to my philosophy students, I wasn't amused...
JHB| 2.29.12 @ 3:03PM
WhatAboutBob nailed it. Rahe may have included items/issues not germane to his primary points, but his primary points are spot on. The Bishops are learning the hard lesson of being careful what you ask for. They need to focus on the inherent dignity of each individual and the liberty on which it is inextricably dependant. Rather than asking for a "carve out" from the mandate, they should be decrying this entire approach to "reform" as fundamentally flawed and calling for its total repeal.
I hope and pray it's not too late.
Patrick| 2.29.12 @ 11:30PM
Has it occurred to you that perhaps this problem is more generational in nature? Boomer bishops are a dying breed (or at least retiring). It is a shame that you demand that the nephews of bishops past must suffer for their predecessors' folly.
jcrew| 3.1.12 @ 4:01PM
Is Boomer some sort of NAMBLA lingo? You Catholics have a language all your own. Maybe you all should get a grip on your own "family issues" before telling others how to live their lives.
Kenny| 2.29.12 @ 6:54AM
As a Catholic observing the antics of the American Catholic bishops for many year, I find them, as a group, disgraceful and spinless.
Yes, the are officialy against abortion, but the fact is that the bishops have used but a smal fraction of their power & resources to confront it. And in case you haven't noticed, Liz, the bishops are quite comfortable with Catholic politicials who support it. Which pro-abortion Democrat has been denied Communion, for example, any????
This is all part of the hirearchy's twisted idea that the Church must 'get along' with the world rather than to confront it as Jesus directed them to.
There was an old saying going around when I was a kid regarding the clergy: "Born Democrat, baptized Catholic." It seems little has changed , although the Democrat Party have evolved into the Party of Death & Perversion since then.
Timothy L. Pennell| 2.29.12 @ 6:58AM
Hey. Sometimes the Truth Hurts.
This is one of those times.
The CHURCH has been a handmaiden to the LEFT for a very long time. It was the Jesuits and the Catholics, who fought with the Communists and the Marxists, in Latin America. It was the American Catholic Church, and its' Protestant brothers, who fought AGAINST our efforts during the Cold War. It is the Catholic Church who has been fighting for MORE and MORE Government involvement in our lives. More Programs. More Mandates. More Edicts. All in the name of The Poor.
Careful what you wish for.
For 50 Years the Catholic Church has gotten in to bed with a GODLESS Ideology. The Council of American Bishops has been to the LEFT of the ACLU, for most of that time.
For too many Years, it has closed its' eyes to a Culture of Death and Depravity, in exchange for a few pieces of Silver. For too many years they have made Deals with the Devil. For too many Years, they have laid down with Dogs.
Like the Fox, who "Can't believe it", when the Scorpion stings him on the head, after he had PROMISED that he wouldn't, if only he would give him a ride across the river, the Catholic Church has been played for the FOOL that they are. Lied to, by the Prince of Lies.
"And I saw the BEAST rise from the Sea. And he was given a MOUTH, to speak Haughty and Blasphemous words. And he was allowed to exercise authority for forty two months." Revelation 13-5.
He derives his Core Principles from a Book, dedicated to LUCIFER. (Rules for Radicals)
What did they think was gonna happen?
Mimi| 2.29.12 @ 8:26AM
Timothy....Looks like we have stumbled upon
" A TIME FOR CHOOSING " Look for God's grace to enter your consciousness... and conscience....CHOOSE RIGHTLY!
Ted| 2.29.12 @ 1:20PM
"The CHURCH has been a handmaiden to the LEFT for a very long time."
NO NO NO! The Church has not been a handmaiden to the Left. There are some within the Church, both clerics and members, who have used their positions within the Church or as members to push the Leftist vision. But the Church herself as an institution has never done so.
Jack London| 2.29.12 @ 7:10AM
'The truth is, there are very many faithful Catholics in this country who reject the liberal agenda'
Nonsense - if you mean by 'liberal agenda' using contraception, then the vast majority of Catholic women have used contraception at some point. How about you?
WhatAboutBob| 2.29.12 @ 12:41PM
Nonsense.
Where's the data to support this MSNBC talking point?
Brubaker| 2.29.12 @ 2:13PM
Given that the birth rate among non-Hispanic Americans continues to decline, we may reasonably infer that a) lots of women (including Catholics) are using contraceptives or b) lots of women have stopped having sex.
Which choice do you believe is most likely?
Mike 3/505| 2.29.12 @ 2:46PM
If I come home late without calling first, option "b."
roomfull| 3.1.12 @ 12:47AM
Gosh, you're really cool ole infantryman coot.
Can I be like you some day. Can I?
One more zinger in here today....gosh, we just don't have sharp enough minds to keep up with you Queenies of Battle. Such wit! Such wry humor!
Appleby| 2.29.12 @ 7:16AM
As I have said before, this is not a National Fight, but a PERSONAL fight. This is a battle between the indiviual Catholic and his or her God; this is the confrontation Jesus told us would come, when we will be required to stand with the Church or choose Mammon and be lost. Even here in wishy-washy Canada, even here in exceedingly liberal Toronto, we have Catholic churches that stand for Catholic values. We have the St Vincent de Paul Oratory where the Mass is celebrated in Latin, and where they actually had to change the time of the service (which had started at 9:00 so that people who take the subway -- which does not start running until 9:00 on Sunday, even on weekends when major downtown events are taking place, could not attend) to accommodate the crowds who wish to attend. And when the congregation becomes faithful, the church will grow. We, too, have a newly created Cardinal (Thomas Collins) and he too is a staunch and outspoken Catholic who will start steering this ship out of Hippieland and back into the mainstream of Catholic beliefs. Our church has already disponsed of its Band at the 10:00 service and turned that one into a family service; and the number of baptisms is soaring.
Don't judge the Catholic Church by the hippie scum, any more than you judge America by the same. Their day is past. Our job is to push them aside and get back to what the Church truly stands for. The Church is not mandatory; those who don't want to follow her tenets are free to leave. We wish they would instead convert, but if they choose sex above God, let them find their way to the door.
jcrew| 3.1.12 @ 4:02PM
Which door? The one to the altar boy's dressing room?
LC Peterson| 2.29.12 @ 7:51AM
Rahe screwed up. We were all on allied on the same side against government mandated contraception, and he found a way to divide us. By incredibly sloppy scholarship he posted a piece claiming that the Bishops were only objecting to their institutions having to obey, while throwing all other employers of conscience under the bus (this was patently false). Then Rahe chose this moment to go to war against the long deceased Cardinal Bernardin with his speculations on sexual misconduct -- all rather interesting and salacious conjecture. But this was not the time to put the Bishops on trial and force them to defend Bernardin. This was the time to stand in solidarity with the Bishops while we all confront the charging HHS grizzly bear.
nathan| 2.29.12 @ 8:06AM
I understand the concerns being raised here, but conservatives are "selective" in the rights they care about, aren't they? I didn't see this kind of ranting and raving over the NDAA language which basically abolishes the Fifth Amendment. Where were all of you then? How many of you were concerned that people in the this country can be hauled out of your homes, and held without ever being seen by a judge, without any access to a lawyer based on "information" the same that Padilla was for what two years in conditions that probably violated his Eighth Amendment rights too. Oh, but I'm sorry, I forgot, that language was inserted to "defend the country". Silly me. Anything is permissable when you invoke that phrase right?
Or the Patriot Act. How many of you rose up in opposition to that? It's blatantly unconstitutional. How many of you wrote letters to the editor, ranted and raved about that? It's an assault on individual rights too. Oh again, I forgot, "defend the country". Silly me again.
The non judicial execution of those three Americans in Yemen, not on a battlefield, guilty of exactly what? I mean again, if brought home and tried in a New York court room would they have been found guilty of a capital offense? Not really. How many of you raised your voices in rigthteous opposition to that? The deprivation of their FIfth Amendment rights? Oh again, defense of the country. silly me again.
You see here folks, let me explain this to you. Most of you here don't like unconstitutional behavior in support of THEIR good intentions. But when it comes to YOUR good intentions, Constitution, what Constitution? But you can't have it both ways. That document applies equally to conservatives and liberals, republicans and democrats. Go back and read the 1866 Supreme Court ruling again. They said, war is not an excuse for not following the Constitution. They totally repudiated what Lincoln did.
The language in the health care bill is unconstitutional. But so is the NDAA language, so is the Patriot Act, so is sending people to Morocco to be tortured and so much else. If you're going to stand for individual rights, then stand for them. But stand for ALL of them, even when it means standing up as Tom Paine for the rights of people you really hate.
PJ| 2.29.12 @ 9:12AM
I agree with what you say. But I'll add this: there's a pecking order in the Bill of Rights. The Founding Fathers viewed freedoms of speech & conscience to be the most important & placed them first. All the others derive their raison d'etre from this amendment. (Its works the same way similar to the 10 Commandments.)
If Obama succeeds in enforcing the current HHS mandate that blatantly disregards the 1st amendment then all the other amendments will fall by the wayside automatically. That's how important it is to defeat Obama, his laws, & his executive orders.
trw| 2.29.12 @ 10:36AM
PJ, not to disagree, but let's get the focus off Obama. Sure, he needs to be beat and he will be in November. Obama is not the problem. He's not the smartest guy in the room and he is certainly NOT the person who put himself in place to become an Illinois state senator, a U.S. senator or a sitting president.
The fight is against forces much much greater and dangerous than just the left handed golfer with ugly legs.
Just ushering Obama and Company out the door won't repair but a few of the dents in our many problems.
TrueBlue | 2.29.12 @ 11:20AM
Nathan, I agree with most of some of what you wrote, with a couple of exceptions. Those guys in Yemen you are defending were terrorists. They recruited for them, and they were helping them directly. Should they have been killed? That's a different argument. Being traitors (which they were since they were actively helping our enemies against us) the State department SHOULD have revoked their citizenship, which they CAN do with sufficient evidence, this would have made them enemies, and thus viable targets.
The problem is that this was not done first, THAT is what made the act illegal and unconstitutional. IF they had been brought back stateside they most definitely would have been found guilty, if you really believe otherwise you obviously didn't look at the evidence against them. Capture and extraction, or requesting Yemen deport them were not options without putting more people at risk.
Like I said above, I agree with you on the NDAA and Patriot Act. As far as sending people to Morocco to be tortured, if they aren't American citizens, are working with our enemies, and the information they get from them saves American lives I don't much care.
nathan| 2.29.12 @ 11:48AM
Sir, regarding the three Americans, what I asked was would they have been found guilty of a "capital" offense? No. Would they have been found guilty of something? Probably. But the one guy was having dinner with eight other people, possibly civilians not guilty of anything. We have to be careful here and err on the side of respecting the rights they clearly had. And if that means they walk they walk. The rights here matter more in this case than what they were doing.
Regarding your last paragraph, I'm sorry, the Torture Convention which Reagan himself supported, doesn't allow for us to torture anyone for any reason. And as Judge Napolitano points out, torture, either done directly or outsourcing it is against our own laws.
You say "saves American lives". That's the good intentions argument. But how is that any different than the liberals and the health care bill? They can cite one "good intention" after another in defense of that bill and other unconstitutional or blatantly illegal activities. You cannot go on the basis of "good intentions". The Kempetai officer who tortured 50 POW's during WWII in his mind had the best of intentions. So what? Are we going to give him a pass because he was in his mind attempting to get information that would save Japanese lives? We never accepted those aguements at Nuremburg or Tokyo. How can we now turn around and make them now?
West had the best of intentions that day. No one denies that, I don't deny that. He was trying to get information that would save the lives of some of his men. Who can possibly fault him on that? Except he was wrong that day, totally completely wrong. He violated the Torture Convention that again Reagan supported, he violated US law as the Judge has pointed out in one of his books, and really he violated his oath of office, the oath he took when he joined the armed forces. Again, he took an oath not to defend his men, he took an oath to defend that document and the principles embodied inside it. And sometimes that means sacrfices get made. It just does. And he was just wrong. The moment he carries out that "mock execution" he is by his own admission a self confessed war criminal. And we, the Americans simply have higher standards that can't allow that. We can't pick and choose what rights we are going to adhere to, and whose rights get defended. And too many of the people that were abused and tortured, and this happens all the time, weren't guilty of anything, didn't know anything. The Canadian didn't. He's scarred for life and we're responsible. That was done in OUR name. We can't talk about American exceptionalism when we tie someone to a shower head in Abu Ghraib and beat him to death. We can't talk about American values when an American interrogator told one detainee that he would bring his kids in and torture them in front of him if he didn't talk.
Sorry sir, Tom Paine was right to secure our own rights we HAVE to defend the rights of those we hate.
And that's why I say again, conservatives the last decade have been far too selective about which part of the Constitution they get worked up about. They only care about what the left does, paying little mind to the unconstitutional acts of the right, of republicans, the gross human rights violations by "so called conservatives" go so far as to elect as a republican a self confessed war criminal. We can't do this. We can't say, we love this part of the Constitution but we'll just close our eyes to that part.
No, all of it applies and it applies equally left and right.
The Bruce| 2.29.12 @ 10:59PM
Nathan, the NDAA was signed by the President on New Year's Eve. The vast majority of people have no knowledge of what's in the NDAA.
It's rather hard to oppose something if you have no knowledge of it. And, once again, the MSM totally ignored the story. I'd bet my paycheck they would have been all over this story if the NDAA had been signed by Bush.
You can hardly blame the people of this country for not opposing this, if the press doesn't REPORT it.
NHConservative| 2.29.12 @ 8:07AM
Lisa - I have to disagree, in 'conservative, Catholic' New Hampshire - from our pulpits we hear 'social justice, social justice, environmentalism, social justice, sort of stop abortion, social justice' - AND the 'stop abortion' message is 'sotto voce' AND NOT for emphasis.
Today's Union Leader has an editorial by our "OH so Catholic' Senator Jean 'Let's kill all the babies' Shaheen - missrepresenting Conservative and Religious leaders' opposition to Obama's mandate for free abortions/birth control - Shaheen is a shrill, consistent supporter of 'all things abortion' - she was a very close friend and confidant of our last Bishop (Pedophile protector) McCormack. We have yet to hear anything from our new Bishop about our abortion promoting 'Catholic' Senator. Our local pastor carefully avoids any statements objecting to Obamacare and its anti-birth mandates. Certainly there was no encouragement to voice opposition to state mandates for 'government funded' contraception, abortion, etc.
Patrick| 2.29.12 @ 11:43PM
At least you didn't have Bp. Weakland.
If you are annoyed with all the hippies, ask yourself why you didn't choose a clerical/religious vocation yourself and set things straight?
lisafab| 2.29.12 @ 8:49AM
You are all making valid points. However, LC Peterson is getting the gist of my piece: "Rahe screwed up. We were all on allied on the same side against government mandated contraception, and he found a way to divide us."
And Appleby has nailed it: "Don't judge the Catholic Church by the hippie scum, any more than you judge America by the same."
IMHO, Rahe has used the Bill Clinton defense: "these bimbos deserved what they got."
Lisa Fabrizio
cuban pete| 2.29.12 @ 11:14AM
Appleby usually "nails it."
Mick Lee| 2.29.12 @ 9:19AM
Come on folks. Can't we all agree that the lesson from all this is "Be careful for what you ask for".
The Catholic bishops demanded Obamacare only to discover the present administation won't play by their rules. Anyone who has watched how Washington works knows that the various unaccountable agencies make their own rules once Congress hands a matter over to them.
Even if Catholic hospitals and institutions win this one for now, they will end up having to fight this government intrusion over and over again no matter what administration comes into power. The reality is that, once they lose, they will eventually have to give up.
PJ| 2.29.12 @ 9:41AM
Mike Lee,
I'm afraid you're partially wrong on this one. The Catholic bishops as a group did not side with Obamacare because it lacked the conscience clause. Unfortunately that was the only reason. Fortunately as stated by Lisa there is a new crop of bishops & priests moving up the ranks who are more socially conservative & very American & will fight when their mission is impeded by the government.
The Catholic Church will not lose this one. It is their mission commanded by God to serve others, esp the poor & Obama & ilk are trying to limit that. In my view, it's Obama picking a fight with God. And you know how that's already going to end, whether you're a believing Catholic or not.
Fredx| 2.29.12 @ 9:51AM
For a woman to title her article "Does Anyone Deserve to Lose His Rights?" without resorting to the tiresome liberal chestnut "His or Her Rights" tells me that there may be hope for the language after all.
PL| 2.29.12 @ 10:17AM
At the very conclusion the article above, Ms. Fabrizio writes, "many members who wear their Catholicism like a piece of clothing to be changed and discarded at a whim...."
Um, Ms. Fabrizio, this is the Catholic Church I have known for the last four decades. A very, very false faith.
Sorry if that hurts. Truth often does.
In the Catholicism I observe, one can be a Catholic in good standing while simultaneously married sleeping with one's boss. The boss is a Catholic in good standing and has not only a wife and three legitimate children but also another mistress with whom he has a child that no one -- as yet -- knows about. All are doing some form of recreational drugs on occasions and when the urges strike. Getting drunk every now and again is not just acceptable, it would be unthinkable if it were not so.
The man can cuss a blue streak in public on frequent occasions and the women, in this, "You go girl!" world of ours can do the same. Sort of like Betty White as we know her today.
As a Catholic in good standing today your favorite comedians are the ones who are just about the raunchiest. There is no place in modern media or pop culture where today's Catholic should step back and not imbibe. Shy away? Pray tell, why?
Look, I've lived in the very bastions of Catholicism, in Catholic Italy, Catholic France and the most Catholic parts of Germany. I've also had many relationships with Catholics here on this continent over the decades.
Suffice it to say that I'd only consider roughly 10 - 15% of the Catholics with whom I've had dealings in my life to be adults who take their Christian faith very seriously, who take scripture seriously, and who try to live as Christ would have us to live.
Just 10%. Maybe 15% in rare places. Not one tick more.
If people are saying that the Catholic Church is now getting a serious smack in the face from secular-liberal government, then I would also say, based on my lifetime, "So what did you expect?"
Most of the liberal government people doing the smack down right now have at some time in their lives considered themselves to be in a Christian faith, many of them probably would still call themselves solid Catholics.
Yesterday these pages featured Maryland's Governor O'Malley who most assuredly considers himself a very, very fine Catholic. He is great company along the east coast and in Chicago. What's that priest in Chicago named, Flaherty? The one who cavorts with Luis Farrahkhan?
We reap what we sow. We all know this. And whatever watered-down, useless, spineless faith has been pedaled by the Vatican, by the bishops closer to home, by the local priests, well, is has come home to roost. In my lifetime of now five decades of adulthood, I've rarely seen a Catholic faith that demands piety, demands knowledge of the scriptures, that demands strict adherence in one's life to Christ-like attributes ALL THE TIME.
No one is supposed to be perfect but the jokes we told as kids still seem true. These jokes centered on Catholics who go to mass early in the evening on Saturday and then party like there's no tomorrow well into the sunrise of Sunday, the next day.
Ms. Fabrizio, I agree with some of the columns you've written in the past. Not today.
Simply put, being Catholics and Catholicism stands for very, very little today. So it is no wonder that it is trampled upon with ease.
I know that there are the few who really do take the faith seriously. But surely you cannot be deceived that the vast majority are just going through the motions with very little idea, understanding, or conviction backing up their occasional attendance.
Being a Catholic today is like saying you are a member of the human race. There are no requirements, no responsibilities. One can hold any liberal anti-faith social or political position, one can openly advocate for homosexuals to enter all walks of life and to adopt. One can openly support and advocate and fund abortion doctors and clinics. One is not required to do any good works/deeds. One needs show manifestations in one's life that not just echo but firmly evidence Christian faith AND Christ-like behaviors.
It is so redundant to say it but one of the most prominent Catholics in the nation is Nancy Pelosi.
Everyone in the nation looks at her and says, "Well, if that is Catholicism, then 1. I fit in too because I have no standards in my life, or 2. good riddance."
albert constantine jr.| 2.29.12 @ 10:59AM
The Chicago priest is Pfleger, I believe.
lisafab| 2.29.12 @ 11:32AM
PL,
I am sorry for you and for all the faithful Catholics in this nation that you feel that, "being Catholics and Catholicism stands for very, very little today." You can't be more wrong.
You are painting 25 million people with the same brush, because some of them do not live their faith and treat it as some unavoidable and unpleasant inheritance, like ethnicity.
Should the fact that Pelosi is also an American cause all Americans to say "good riddance" to America?
Again, I would advise you to look past the lapsed Catholics you have met in your private life, as well as the public ones so often sought out and quoted by the NY Times.
Go to a few of your local parishes and stand outside the door after daily Mass and speak to those good people. You'll be surprised. A parish that follows the Faith to the letter is one that is flourishing...as I stated in my piece, there are many out there.
As far as Catholics being sinners, that is why my parish has 15 scheduled Confessions a week...Jesus came to call sinners. For, while we are expected to obey the Commandments and all articles of our Catholic Faith, we know that we will fall on occasion, and when we do, the God of Mercy is there to grant us pardon and absolution.
And as far as your statement that "Being a Catholic today is like saying you are a member of the human race. There are no requirements, no responsibilities..one is not required to do any good works/deeds," please do a little reading.
Lisa Fabrizio
David T| 2.29.12 @ 12:48PM
PL could start by reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The notion that being Catholic today brings with it no requirements or responsibilities will be quickly dispelled.
philfourthirteen| 3.1.12 @ 12:59AM
I agree with Lisa. The Catholic Church is undergoing a big change thanks in part to converts like me. We converts have discovered the richness of the Catholic faith and we are excited. I am seeing many young Catholics who are eager to read the Bible and learn more about their faith. Yes there are the Catholics in Name Only like Pelosi, but they are a dying breed. But now you have conservative Archbishops like Chaput and Dolan. The younger men going into the priesthood whom I have met are serious Catholics and won't settle for the watered down theology of the 60's and 70's.
Conserdude| 2.29.12 @ 10:37AM
President Obama and his administration with people like HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebeilius despise traditional religion and their superiority complex of government dictates proves it. The Catholic church is right to be offended, but the church has become so entangled and dependent on government social service policies, it diminishes their effectiveness to oppose immoral policies.
Simon Templar| 2.29.12 @ 10:41AM
Read the following. Lisa, this is the reason why social issues, religious freedom, social conservativism, and the culture war are critically important and why conservatives need to hold the line and fight mercilessly in this area. Give this up and you lose everything. Let the Left dictate and this is where you will go.
For you idiot libertarians, be warned...
Article from the Blaze....
Brian Cutteridge, 38, has made his thoughts on bestiality well known. He’s a fan of it, to say the least. And now he’s set to go on trial in Canada for practicing it.
The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says it obtained video of Cutteridge engaging in sex acts with his dog. That video has now led to charges.
“The B.C. SPCA first started investigating this case back in 2010 when we received some information that this individual was sexually interacting with his dogs, which is illegal in Canada,” SPCA spokesperson Marcie Moriarty told CBC News.
Cutteridge has been an outspoken advocate of the practice. For example, he once wrote a paper called, “For the Love of Dog: On the Legal Prohibition of Zoophilia in Canada and the United States.”
“Laws proscribing zoophilia are unjust inasmuch as this consideration of why is given paramount legal weight,” he writes. “They seek to punish those who engage in sexual contact with animals for their own sexual gratification, ignoring the fact that animals are regularly subjected to sexual interference for commercial purposes through such procedures as manual and electronic semen collection and artificial insemination (AI).”
He also argues that such acts are part of a longstanding history, and that prohibiting them violates basic human rights.
“He feels very strongly that that should be something that’s legal,” Moriarty said. “He feels those relationship with his dogs are equivalent to a marriage-type relationship and that’s not the case in Canada, thank goodness, and it can impact the welfare of the animals.”
Seek| 2.29.12 @ 6:46PM
One need not be a Catholic to decry this man's perverted activity.
Simon Templar| 2.29.12 @ 10:43AM
Lisa,
Here is another reason.
From the Blaze...
Two ethicists working with Australian universities argue in the latest online edition of the Journal of Medical Ethics that if abortion of a fetus is allowable, so to should be the termination of a newborn.
Alberto Giubilini with Monash University in Melbourne and Francesca Minerva at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne write that in “circumstances occur[ing] after birth such that they would have justified abortion, what we call after-birth abortion should be permissible.”
The two are quick to note that they prefer the term “after-birth abortion“ as opposed to ”infanticide.” Why? Because it “[emphasizes] that the moral status of the individual killed is comparable with that of a fetus (on which ‘abortions’ in the traditional sense are performed) rather than to that of a child.” The authors also do not agree with the term euthanasia for this practice as the best interest of the person who would be killed is not necessarily the primary reason his or her life is being terminated. In other words, it may be in the parents’ best interest to terminate the life, not the newborns.
The circumstances, the authors state, where after-birth abortion should be considered acceptable include instances where the newborn would be putting the well-being of the family at risk, even if it had the potential for an “acceptable” life. The authors cite Downs Syndrome as an example, stating that while the quality of life of individuals with Downs is often reported as happy, “such children might be an unbearable burden on the family and on society as a whole, when the state economically provides for their care.”
Petronius| 2.29.12 @ 10:57AM
Nothing will change for the better until our economically illiterate, morally bankrupt, culturally infantile populace realize that they are fouling their own nests. So long as others have resources they can take by casting a ballot the decline will not cease. Their objective is a life of ease with no responsibility at their neighbor's expense. Hooking up, aborting or ditching the sprog, and collecting the welfare check anyway are pro forma. And the Church is on their side. The virtuous have been taking a back seat to the lowlife in the eyes of the clergy for three generations now and it's long passed time they quit being door mats for lefty priests. The first thing Conservative Catholics need to do to get their attention is Shut Your Checkbooks. That is the only thing that works for us unless Father has drunk the koolade. But that title is a misnomer today. Too many priests are as childish as their congregations. And despite the affront with it's implied persecution, they will vote for Obama again because their attitudes towards life are just like his.
Sam Vaughn| 2.29.12 @ 11:19AM
Well said. Though I listened to that "homily" by Rush it didn' come across as blaming the victim, more like unwitting dupes.
Joe D.| 2.29.12 @ 11:22AM
No offense Lisa but the Catholic Church is not the only ones standing against Gay Marriage and Abortion. The Baptist and Assemblies of God do as well as other mainline Churchs. And the prior two do not hire homosexual priest to abuse boys. This is not Jesus or the Bible teaching.
Finally, they unlike the Catholic Church do not push for illegal immigration a pet project of the left. They also did not try to stop some people (Beck, Rush, etc.) freedom of speech rights.
Ken Snyder| 2.29.12 @ 11:32AM
"Sort of what I call the William Kennedy Smith defense: that girl walked into the bar with me; ergo, she deserved to be raped." - Well if the girl was repeatedly warned about the dangers of the guy she was with, maybe she did deserve it. People were screaming their heads off but the Catholic Church (in general) and AARP among others mislead their members that Obamacare was great. The Catholic Church continues to do the same with illegal immigration........sometimes "date rape" isn't......
astorian| 2.29.12 @ 11:33AM
Speaking as a 51 year old cradle Catholic...
In school, I got all the last of the old-school nuns that Christopher Durang mocked in "Sister Mary Ignatius" as well as all the young, liberal folk-singing nuns that the Zucker Brothers mocked in "Airplane!" I spent 13 years in Catholic schools in the Sixties and Seventies.
In all the years I've gone to Mass, have I ver heard a sermon attacking boirth control? Nope. Did any of my teachers condemn birth control in class? Nope. Hence, it doesn't surprise me in the least that millions of self-described Catholics my age or younger either don't know the Church's position on birth control or never got the feeling it was very important.
What about abortion? Did I ever hear anti-abortion sermons? Yes. Once a year, right around the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, priests usually have to read a dry right-to-life letter from the bishop. Otherwise? Nothing. I never heard anything about abortion at school, either.
Old nuns were more interested in the trappings and minor traditions of Catholicism than in the substance od Catholic doctrine and dogma. Young nuns ignored dogma entirely and taught us just to be "nice."
Hence, we have millions of Catholics who grew up thinking the Church doesn't really stand for much and doesn't strongly care how we live.
Your Inner Voice| 2.29.12 @ 11:52AM
"The Church" of Catholicism is a top-down, authoritarian human organization. Not one single human in it is "infallible". Discussion of religious freedom in terms of the Catholic Church seems a tad oxymoronic, where a human Pope can claim to refuse someone their eternal salvation by excommunication.
Non-Catholics are not raising enough of a fuss about the First Amendment/freedom-of-association violations, which is LAW, nor prosecuting the violators, and will most certainly lose them as a result, in fact already have lost many freedoms.
The Rapture Cult has closed the eyes and ears of Protestant and Free church followers of Christ, who seem to believe they somehow have special dispensation from God and won't suffer the horrendous persecutions millions of Christ's followers suffer everyday around the world...and thus they will shortly lose the blessings of the freedoms they once enjoyed.
I was listening, as I do every day, to Rush, and his righteous rebuke was for the leadership of the top-down Catholic institution playing politics with, and thus allowing themselves to become entangled and thus captured by the State. Power always seeks more power, and the protections written into our Constitution were a reflection of such a problem that helped create America from religious refugees from all over the world.
shipley130| 2.29.12 @ 12:37PM
If you intend the victim to be people that think it's perfectly alright to mooch off the taxpayer, then you are just as much to blame for the mess that America is in than any lawmaker.
Kathleen| 2.29.12 @ 1:07PM
PL's comments reflect a dishonest anti-Catholic bias. I guess only Roman Catholics only can be hypocrites.
The Roman Catholic Church is the True Faith. All the Protestant offshoots (estimates are 33,000!) are false. Man made religions. The Catholic Church was founded by Christ in 33 A.D. It's the real McCoy.
Now, since Vatican II, the Church has slowly but surely become Protestantized and weakened. Dissenting Catholics exist and spread lies and confusion. Well-meaning Catholics who have been dumbed down in their religion by weak catechesis and ignorance must separate from the Novus Ordo church that has worked so hard to try and destroy Catholicism from the inside. The gates of hell shall not prevail, we have been promised. But the Church Militant needs to rise up again, close their pocketbooks to the corrupt Novus Ordo, and return to the Traditional Latin Mass. Wise up.
Kathleen| 2.29.12 @ 1:07PM
PL's comments reflect a dishonest anti-Catholic bias. I guess only Roman Catholics only can be hypocrites.
The Roman Catholic Church is the True Faith. All the Protestant offshoots (estimates are 33,000!) are false. Man made religions. The Catholic Church was founded by Christ in 33 A.D. It's the real McCoy.
Now, since Vatican II, the Church has slowly but surely become Protestantized and weakened. Dissenting Catholics exist and spread lies and confusion. Well-meaning Catholics who have been dumbed down in their religion by weak catechesis and ignorance must separate from the Novus Ordo church that has worked so hard to try and destroy Catholicism from the inside. The gates of hell shall not prevail, we have been promised. But the Church Militant needs to rise up again, close their pocketbooks to the corrupt Novus Ordo, and return to the Traditional Latin Mass. Wise up.
Frank Natoli| 2.29.12 @ 1:34PM
Lisa: the Church cannot be the victim if the Church is also an enthusiastic perpetrator [of tyrannical central government].
There was a terrific Dan Henninger column in WSJ, a day or two after Obama dropped the bomb on "Catholic" institutions, that clearly articulated the Church's complicity in state sponsored coercion, see http://online.wsj.com/article/.....75336.html
So many Protestant friends spoke in sympathy with the Church after Obama's dictat, and I told them all, "keep your sympathy, there is a 100% likelihood that the clergy who has infinitely more in common with Obama than opposed will come to an 'understanding' with Obama". And they have.
It ain't your Daddy's church anymore, Lisa, or mine.
Stan Redmond| 2.29.12 @ 3:03PM
Government has taken away lots and lots of our rights. Obama and his liberal cohorts are just stepping on the gas. Gun rights? Gone in many liberal cities. Freedom of speech? Hello McCain Feigold and "hate speech / crime" legislation. Property rights? Kelo Vs Conn. A bit late.
mikhail silo| 2.29.12 @ 4:24PM
Mike 3/505| 2.29.12 @ 2:46PM
: )
trw| 2.29.12 @ 10:36AM
You've nailed it!
Alvin H. Belt| 2.29.12 @ 4:51PM
Much of what I wanted to say has been said, but I should say that from my perspective as a conservative Protestant, what I really feel is relief that, after years of Protestants speaking up for morality being attacked by liberal supposed-Catholics with the non-interference or assistance of most other Catholics people can now see the problem as good versus evil rather than bumpkins versus sophisticates and maybe we can join together instead of getting in each other's way.
Occam's Tool| 2.29.12 @ 4:56PM
I never understood why the Church was supporting "social justice" anyway.
But now, here and now, they are getting screwed, and wrongly. They deserve support on this.
Willy| 2.29.12 @ 6:06PM
As a Catholic convert of many years, I am encouraged that the Church is finally fighting back against a secular war aimed at making it obsolete. In my mind, social justice was never part of Christ's teaching. Charity was. Hopefully, the bishops will now figure that out.
alabama yankee| 2.29.12 @ 7:22PM
The Catholic Church is at a crisis. The administration's assault (not too strong a term) upon Catholic teachings and doctrine is not about contraception, but about the right to decide. A Catholic should have the ability to see the difference between right and wrong, not in the light of social justice and relative morals, but in the light of the 10 Commandents and the Precepts of the Church (does anyone teach them any more?). The Jesuits used to teach these verities, before their motto changed from 'Men for Others' to 'Boys for Us'. Now they have become extraneous to the moral life of Catholics.
The key is the bishops: it's long past time that they realized that 'Social Justice' is not the teaching of Jesus, but of Marx; that gonands are for more than reproduction; and that the main reason that the Catholic Church had prospered in the United States is the First Amendment to the Constitution. Fortunately, many of the newer bishops seem to understand this, as they slowly replace the senile 'Holy Hippy Homos' that have ruled the American Church since the 60's.
Pray for our Church; it's definitely worth saving!
alabama yankee| 2.29.12 @ 7:23PM
The Catholic Church is at a crisis. The administration's assault (not too strong a term) upon Catholic teachings and doctrine is not about contraception, but about the right to decide. A Catholic should have the ability to see the difference between right and wrong, not in the light of social justice and relative morals, but in the light of the 10 Commandents and the Precepts of the Church (does anyone teach them any more?). The Jesuits used to teach these verities, before their motto changed from 'Men for Others' to 'Boys for Us'. Now they have become extraneous to the moral life of Catholics.
The key is the bishops: it's long past time that they realized that 'Social Justice' is not the teaching of Jesus, but of Marx; that gonands are for more than reproduction; and that the main reason that the Catholic Church had prospered in the United States is the First Amendment to the Constitution. Fortunately, many of the newer bishops seem to understand this, as they slowly replace the senile 'Holy Hippy Homos' that have ruled the American Church since the 60's.
Pray for our Church; it's definitely worth saving!
POST American| 2.29.12 @ 10:06PM
---------------Tavistock 90's Show SAP OP---------------
----------------------------meets------------------------------
----------------Capstone media PSY OP--------------------
-----------------------RED ALERT!-----------------------
For the slow of seeing, the last decade has,
indisputably, seen the unfold of a full spectrum,
all encompassing police state surveillance and
EUGENICS grid that would make B F Skinner blush.
Pelosi's calling for -even more! surveillance
saturation ---from the world capital of MASS
genocide across the Pacific!
-----Sitting justice Ginzburg's as good as committing
TREASON by dissing the document
she's sworn to uphold while stands on the
'Banks of DE--NILE' ---in 'E--jipped'.
Unaccountable, inter-generational,
indeed, PSYCHOPATHIC USURY, and
its sole cultural contribution
---EUGENICS don't even rate passing
mentions.
The foundation pay slips are showing as this
very journal REFUSES to take up these
matters in any kind of sustained and
unflinching way.
--------------HUAC/ NUREMBERG 2012-------------
"Let's ALLL DIE, or LET'S DO IT."
-Thomas Carlysle
----------------------------------------------LET'S
POST American| 2.29.12 @ 10:59PM
-----------------------P.S. ALERT!--------------------------
And one and all, CHECK OUT the latest
from leading capstone EUGENIST, Princeton's
Dr Peter Singer and his renewed calls
for designating children up to the age of
3 as ---'disposable' at the parent's discretion.
And YES, he's including healthy children.
"We live in a PSYCHOPATHIC system,
designed and directed by PSYCHOPATHS."
--WE DO INDEED--
GET THE WORD OUT ---EVERYWHERE
Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 3.1.12 @ 2:17AM
Traditionally Roman Catholics in America have voted Democrat because at one time the Democrats were not to the far-left socially as they are today and the Democrats have been the party of labor. Traditionally Roman Catholics have made up a good percentage of the American working class and of American union members. We must remember that the Roman Church's social doctrine endorses labor unions as an institution that can help champion the needs of working class people. Trade unionism was seen as a good bulwark to prevent Roman Catholic workers from being exploited to the extent that they would embrace socialism or God forbid communism. For generations it was only natural for Roman Catholics to vote Democrat. Unfortunately the Democratic Party has largely abandoned the Roman Catholic working class that was once its base in the Northeast and Midwest. If you ask me it was a grave blunder on the part of the Democratic Party as is Obama's contraception mandate.
It's easy for a guy like Limbaugh to say this is just desserts for the American Catholic Church but he also doesn't get it that many conservative Catholics who had joined the Republican Party during the Reagan era became disillusioned with the Republican Party due to their unrelenting cheerleading for unbridled free trade, also the strong anti-labor rhetoric as well as the pre-emptive war in Iraq which the Roman Catholic Church (in Rome) had been in open opposition to. Even Pat Buchanan (who is Catholic) acknowledged in the last presidential election that many Catholic Democrats who had switched to the Republican Party under the Reagan era were switching back to the Democratic Party because they were tired of the Bush Administration. It wasn't Catholics who gave us Obama it was George W. Bush.
Larry| 3.1.12 @ 3:14PM
Dimitry, I think you confuse the "anti-labor" rhetoric with a criticism of working people. Likewise, the "cheerleading" of "unbridled free trade" is for most Catholics a confused subject which many of them don't understand and thus don't care about.
I would suggest it is more the Iraq war and the contentious nature of the politics in Washington and their own personal economic lives that has caused Catholics to abandon the Republican Party. I note, however, that we are now in an existential crisis in this country that Catholics cannot ignore. The mandate is just one example of what will happen if Barack the Usurper is not thrown out of office.
Catholics have a moral obligation to stay informed, and to seek the truth in all matters, political and otherwise. I see the switch of Catholics to the Democrats in the 2008 election as a massive failure of moral obligation, and I say that as a practicing Catholic. Being tired of the Bush administration is no excuse, understandable as that is (I also tired of Bush, but I did NOT vote for Barack the Usurper, who has now sold us a bill of goods).
Carol O.| 3.1.12 @ 10:02AM
Well said, Lisa -- the truth.
The Bride follows her Groom in all things, including hell-spawned persecution. What bothers me most is when Her own (thankless) children flip up Her skirt and snicker rather than defend Her--as if the Lord shall one day approve.
Larry| 3.1.12 @ 3:06PM
I am not fond of attacking my own Church. But I think the aphorism stated by WRTolkas is a precise statement of the truth here.
But my perspective is slightly different. My focus is more on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. They were the ones who got on the bandwagon for Obamacare. They are the ones who assumed spokesmanship for the rest of us Catholics. They are the ones who believed the lies of Barack the Usurper and the Congressional Democrats on issues such as abortion and contraception. They are the ones who have been increasingly influenced and persuaded by a social justice agenda pushed by certain members of the American Catholic Left.
The American bishops are the ones who deserve most of the criticism for supporting Obamacare.
Clarity| 3.1.12 @ 6:32PM
I find it odd that a Catholic author and many self-professing Catholics wish to make statements on this page of true importance --
--- yet ---
There is no reference made at all to the Bible anywhere to be found here.
Doesn't the Bible say it best? Isn't its verses where we want people to go for moral clarity, wisdom in considering the issues of our day? Don't we believe that what we find in the Old Testament and New Testament informs us in all things even today?
Not one Bible verse.
That is why I could never be Catholic. You jettison the Bible.
You really don't know what is in the Bible.
So you are incapable of using it to aid in arguments for sound moral thinking, righteous (no one uses this word, why?) behavior, and clarity of thought on why government mandates on faith are an abomination.
Dmitry Aleksandrovich| 3.1.12 @ 7:57PM
Larry I think the meat and patatoes of the manner is this. The Roman Catholic Church as represented by the U.S. Bishops is supportive of lowcost healthcare for Americans who cannot afford both health insurance and to keep a roof over their head, pay the bills and keep the refrigerator full. I have no doubt that the Roman Catholic Church would have no problem with nationalized health care in the United States as long as their institutions did not have to provide coverage for abortions and contraceptives. That's not saying the Church would be wrong to back socialized medicine I am only arguing that it wouldn't that supporting socialized medicine wouldn't be violating Church teaching at all.
Dmitry Aleksandrovich| 3.1.12 @ 8:00PM
Clarity you should be informed that you only have the Holy Bible in its current form because of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The contents of the New Testament was decided upon by the Church's Ecumenical councils
trw| 3.2.12 @ 8:50AM
D.A., it is nice to know the historical roots of the document. But that is like talking the authenticity of a text buried deep in the vacuum sealed archives of London Museum. That text is real too and we can thank those who kept it from fires, natural disasters, theft, loss, defacing....
I am well informed at HOW we still today have scriptures.
And while that is nice to know, it pales in comparison to utilizing the words of scripture in every aspect of our earthly lives.
Utilizing. That is what Clarity speaks of.
You don't seem to understand -- if your faith is real, use it. The most powerful way to convey and share your faith (and to win public policy issue discussions, for example ) is to quote and use the Bible itself.
The Bible is Divinely inspired words; it consists of God's words to us. Our human words, while maybe well rehearsed, proof read, smart and timely, are no match.
Dmitry Aleksandrovich| 3.3.12 @ 2:06AM
She's clearly jabbing at Catholics for not being well versed in the scriptures (which they should be), but that doesn't mean that the Catholic Church is not Biblical in fact the Church existed before the Bible. I'll go further and state that the Bible was written by inspired men who are Saints of the Catholic Church St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John and St. Paul who wrote the epistles. Now as an Orthodox Christian we believe the Roman Church went off track around the 11th Century A.D., but it is also true that before then there was only One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church for both Rome and Constantinople. I have read the Gospels...I know I must study my Bible more trw, but I also challenge you to study about the early Church and the early Saints and you'll discover that there was a clear structure and hierarchy in the early Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church's teachings go directly back to the early Ecumenical Councils.
Alvin H. Belt| 3.1.12 @ 8:18PM
Frankly I don't see how Protstants are supposed to come to the aid of Catholics if doing so subjects us to attitude (no offense intended to anyone here). However, it may not be neccessary because maybe the liberals have gone off a cliff with this.
Also, no offense again, but not myself being Catholic, my impression of Catholics has been warped by media using Catholicity to make non-Catholic beliefs look better.
wm| 3.2.12 @ 6:50PM
Is this the guy referred to in the article above who will help the Roman Catholic Church in America?
Cardinal Timothy Dolan
(YouTube Video link below the commentary)
Taken from (yes, strong) comments from Ms. Ann Barnhardt directly off her blog page. Comments posted February 18, 2012.
ON CARDINAL DOLAN (AND IT AIN'T GOOD)
POSTED BY ANN BARNHARDT - FEBRUARY 18, AD 2012 10:01 PM MST
The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, was made a Cardinal today. Dolan embodies the sleazy, politicking, used-car-salesman wing of the episcopacy. I trust the guy about as far as I can throw him – by his HAIR. I fully expect him to cave to Obama, and to do it fairly quickly.
You may be wondering how I could possibly have come to such a strong conclusion. Well, as with most things I write about, I have objective evidence. Sickening, disgusting, nauseating objective evidence. Let’s take a look at Dolan at the reconsecration of St. Francis Xavier church in New York City after a huge refurbishment project in June of 2010. What an architecturally beautiful church.
Sadly, this parish in Manhattan has been invaded and taken over by homosexualist heretics, led by a cabal of homosexual Jesuit priests. The Mass has been profaned unspeakably, and satanic lies ratifying and encouraging sodomy and homosexuality are projectile vomited from the pulpit constantly. So, just to make certain that we are clear, Jesus hangs crucified, dying for these people’s sins so that if they repent, they can be forgiven at every Mass, as the Holy Spirit bends the fabric of spacetime in order to make the present moment intersect and touch the moment of Calvary on the altar. Meanwhile, the priests are telling the people that homosexuality is great and thus encouraging them to sin, thereby adding to Christ’s agony. Additionally, these evil, demonic priests are convincing these people that they have no sin to confess, thus near-guaranteeing that the parishioners are receiving the Eucharist in a state of grave mortal sin, exponentially increasing the risk that these people will die in a state of mortal sin, and thus being lost forever to hell.
This is serious, serious business. HELL ISN’T AN ABSTRACTION. IT IS REAL, AND IF YOU GO THERE, YOU ARE THERE FOR ALL ETERNITY. Those people matter. They aren’t political pawns or objects to serve the egos of their priests and archbishop. They are human beings and they deserve to be loved and told the truth – not lied to and used.
Does Dolan do anything about any of this? Nope. Not a damn thing. He sits and watches as some barefooted lesbian wannabe-witch-priestess does a pagan dance on the altar with a bowl of incense at the 1:25 mark. Uh, excuse me, but that’s sacrilege. It’s blasphemy. Dolan needs to tell that woman to sit down and repent of her sins – starting with her acts of sodomy with other females. But NOOOOOO. Dolan can’t do that, because then he might not be popular and the people might not cheer for him. Oh, heaven forbid.
The worst part comes at the 5:30 mark. Look at Dolan, faux-ponderously chewing on his eyeglasses while someone off camera GLORIFIES homosexuality, and then everyone cheers. It’s sick. It’s just sick. What the hell, Dolan? How are you going to explain this to Our Lord? You CHEERED sodomy. You told thousands of people that SODOMY was a-okay. During a Mass. You put your foot in the smalls of these people’s backs and literally shoved them further into hell. And you have the nerve to call yourself a SHEPHERD?
Dolan should have immediately removed and suspended those priests, brought in priests who actually believed in what the Church teaches and would tell the congregants of that parish that sodomy and all homosexuality is gravely, gravely sinful, and that confession, penance, and CHASTITY was the one and only path to salvation. Period. You cannot get to the truth by telling lies. You cannot get to the light by running at a dead sprint into the darkness.
This is why I have no confidence in Dolan as head of the USCCB. He doesn’t believe in what the Church teaches, and the video above is objective proof of that. He is a politicking sleaze who will say anything and do anything in order to be loved and esteemed in the eyes of the world. Dolan is the kind of guy who gets off on being invited to meetings with powerful Washington D.C. players, and being cheered and given standing ovations. It makes him feel good about himself. He’ll never call Obama out or tell Obama to go to hell, because then he might not get invited to the next cocktail reception or Georgetown soiree, or worst of all, not get any more invites to the Oval Office. Dolan will kiss Obama’s ass, will capitulate to Obama’s satanic evil, and then thank Obama after Obama has spit in the face of Christ and His Church – just so long as Dolan’s ego and social calendar don’t suffer.
This is why I fear that there will be a quiet schism in the Church, and that it will happen soon. Dolan and his politicking bovine excrement is going to lead the Church in the United States off the edge of the cliff in the name of “compromise” and “tolerant dialog”, and in doing so will render the Church no longer in union with the Chair of Peter, and thus no longer Catholic. Once that apostolic break is made, the churches that go with Dolan will no longer have valid Masses and the Eucharist will not be present in those churches. At that point, there will literally only be a few hundred valid Masses celebrated in the entire United States per week. Many people will be many, many hours drive away from the closest Mass. Satan will run wild in the land.
The St. Francis Xavier Rededication Service referenced -- June 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQEmO07DpaI
Is this what it has come to?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQMk_bME5R8 A lesbian parishoner replying in this CNN news broadcast, "Hell no!"
And with this moral equivalency morass in these parishes, you think you are going to stand up to the governmental secularists ready to rip away at all aspects of freedom of worship.