Posted on 10/24/2012 3:30:46 PM PDT by NYer
October 24, 2012 (HLIWorldWatch.org) - In a recent video interview with Catholic News Service, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said that the position of the Democrat Party on abortion has gotten worse over time because Catholics within the party havent taken a strong moral stand and shown a willingness to abandon the Democrat Party.
I think many of the Democrats have [taken] Democrat Catholic votes for granted because theyll go with them no matter what the party position might be on abortion, Archbishop Chaput said. Thats why the position of the Democrat Party has gotten worse, and worse, and worse as time goes on because Catholics havent abandoned them as theyve moved in that direction.
Chaput said that in the earliest days of the abortion debate in the United States, most people probably thought that the Republican Party wouldve easily embraced abortion, and that Democrats would have been the political party standing for the defense of life because of the large number of Catholics within the party.
Catholics have been historically part of the Democrat Party in great numbers, and I think really couldve stopped that great development movement if they tried, but they didnt in order to accommodate people from the other side of the issue, he said.
The Archbishop also said that you cant always trust the Republican Party to stand for the defense of life either.
You know you cant trust the Republicans to be pro-life 20 years from now. You cant let any party take your vote for granted, said Chaput.
Archbishop Chaput called on Catholics in the United States to put their Catholic identity ahead of their political party, and even their American citizenship, to stand united with the Churchs moral teaching opposing abortion.
Were Catholics before were Democrats. Were Catholics before were Republicans. Were even Catholics before were Americans because we know that God has a demand on us prior to any government demand on us, he said. And this has been the story of the martyrs through the centuries.
[Abortion] is a very serious issue that requires absolute adherence on the part of Catholics, the Archbishop said, and if we dont stand united on this issue were bound to failurenot only in the area of protecting unborn human life but in maintaining our religious freedom.
This Roman Catholic has never, ever even considered voting for a Democrat and has nothing to do with those that do.
It is like cheering for a team for some. Kennedy was Catholic, so they will vote Dem. Others view it as a debt to the poor, which the Democrats claim to champion, and an attack on some of the rich, which many Catholic feel comfortable doing.
All in all, it like an article that was posted not long ago. Abortion is not viewed as important as other issues.
The people that poll are Catholics, baptized, Catholics that identify as and know that they are Catholic, that is why they tell people that they are Catholic, regardless of the last time they attended church.
Protestants in regard to voting are a much less vetted category.
If you identify as a Christian but aren’t Catholic, then you are put into the Protestant category, even having never been baptized or having attended any church or ever having been a member or identified with a church.
She never noticed that when Republicans were in power, the checks kept coming?
Archbishop Chaput has made similar comments in the past. He talks as if there were no such thing as a Catholic bishop.
Since the late 1960s, pro-lifers have BEGGED and PLEADED with the bishops to get serious about abortion. The vast majority of the are still not serious. Only fifteen bishops in the entire country have made an explicit statement that Joe Biden should not receive Communion.
Chaput’s comments blaming the laity are as unseemly as if he were to repeatedly blame the laity for clerical sexual abuse.
I think that ship has pretty well left port quite a while ago. The only thing that we must do is commandeer it and bring it back.
I am of the opinion that evil in this world cannot prevail without the consent of the Church, which consist of God's people. That is why Satan works overtime on Christian individuals, especially of prominence, to cause them to enter into agreement with him, for it thus he gets his power to his evil work.
Sure, and every fat, loud mouthed drunk who claims to have been a Navy SEAL or Army Green Beret can legitimately self identify too and some dufus would accept it if he were trying to deceitfully prove a point......
People say:Why didnt Pope Pius excommunicated Hitler who, after all. had not attended mass since he was 17; who in fact, made little secret of his contempt for the effete religion of Christianity. Because he knew that faithful Christians in Germany were in the minority, and that to denounce Hitler would only strengthen Hitlers hand.
No, the Archbishop knows his brother bishops are cowards, that they are cowed by the fear of being abandoned by rich Catholic laymen who keep up the pretense because of their families. he knows that when Henry VIII confronted HIS bishops, they caved. Why the Separatists had so little respect for the Tudor Church in general and bishops in particular. It was always just a show.
LOL, weird post, fake Navy SEALS and Army Special Forces, and telling a pollster that you are Catholic?
I know about fake military vets having busted more than a few, but I’m not aware of people faking having been baptized into the Catholic church.
I have never personally met a person falsely claiming to have been baptized into the Catholic church, or falsely claiming to be counted by the church as Catholic, as far as I know.
I think we can call yours and absurd post.
It would have been been superfluous. Hitler, by his own actions, had clearly excommunicated himself, latae sententiae.
What most do not understand is that excommunication is not intended to be punitive. Its purpose is medicinal. It is meant to guide the recipient towards reconciliation and a return to communion with the Church.
Peace be with you
That is too easy a verdict. Many, most Catholic Germans thought of Hitler as a lapsed Catholic. He was nothing of the kind, but a heretic of the worse sort.
It's true! I just answered a telephone survey tonight and one of the questions was to identify "religious" leanings. The options were: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, no religious leanings or Other. When I answered, Christian, I was asked to identify what kind of Christian: Catholic, Protestant, Mormon or Other.
It is often the same thing here with the few Catholic bigots that attempt to categorize everyone who isn't a Catholic and who can barely stand to consider us as fellow Christians. The catch-all is "Protestant" even though many of us do NOT identify with the mainline Protestant denominations and actually prefer to be known as Christians, alone. We understand that the sign outside the church door does not define us but only that Gospel which is found in Holy Scripture and we know our true Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps the real problem with Democrat-voting Catholics or other Christians, who not only vote for those opposed to their church's stated beliefs but who function as non-Christians every day of the week but Sunday, is they do not know the true Shepherd in their hearts but have a facade of religiosity and no desire for anything deeper. Those who know the Savior are indwelt with His Spirit and there is an internal urging that enables us to recognize what is right and true and good. This can be ignored, of course, but it IS there and there is no excuse.
We?
No, you can't know that, in fact, there is a MUCH higher likelihood Republicans will remain pro-life than Democrats will forsake their pro-abortion plank and be pro-life. At least Republicans HAVE a pro-life plank in their platform. And, like the OP says, as long as Democrats can count on the robotic votes of Catholics, they will NEVER change that stance.
The country, as a whole, is becoming MORE pro-life and is now a majority view over those who identify as pro-choice. I credit the work of ALL pro-life groups who work tirelessly to educate people about the truth of abortion. Seeing that Americans are slowly changing their views on this, I think we can have a little comfort in believing that twenty years from now Republicans can still be trusted to defend the unborn. I'd like to hope the Democrat party will eventually come to its senses, but they are wrong on so MANY other things, they have a long way to go.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Yet another wasted post about nothing.
Though the Scriptural purpose IS punitive and intended to cause repentance and reconciliation, in the case of blatant and grievous sin, the symbolic and personal purpose of PUBLIC Excommunication for people like Hitler, who engage in vile and evil actions is more for the benefit of others within the church than for that specific person. Even those outside of the Catholic Church would have benefited by such a public castigation. By failing to do this, Pope Pius wimped out and caused a scandal all its own in the aftermath. Here we are, sixty years later and it is STILL so.
The pope who who he was dealing with, and not just Hitler. He was nuncio for 13 years in Munich, and for a time nuncio to Germany. The heart of this Germany was Prussia, historically Protestant and since unification, strongly anti-Roman. Renouncing Hitler at any time would have put the MINORITY of German Catholics who opposed him at risk, by dividing a Catholic community among whom Hitler was very popular. After the war started, and into 1942, Germany was winning the war in Europe. The defeats at Stalingrad and El Alaimein did not turn things around, but only stopped his momentum. The savage allied bombings did not break the will of the Germans but made their attachment to the regime that much stronger. Nazi propoganda was very effective, not only in Germany but everywhere in occupied Europe. Pivotal in this was the presence and the speeches of Goerbbels. Try reading his speeches sometimes. They are very powerful, especially as Hitler no longer addressed the nation but was devoted to the prosecution of the war, and was presented as so doing. Now try to understasnd how hard it would have been to pass on any papal denunciation of Der Fuhrer, Broadcasts were jammed. All information from without wss treated as suspect. If it were believed, even then the message would have rejected by many. I mean, if Americans Catholics will not listento papal denunciations of abortion, what makes you think tat even Germany Catholics would have put the Church before their country?
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