Posted on 11/02/2012 5:29:10 AM PDT by NYer
As the Democrat Party becomes more aggressive in its opposition to the Catholic Church, i.e. HHS mandate, the DNC positioning themselves to remove God from its party platform, the support for same-sex marriage and its unapologetic stand on abortion, the tension and contrast between the party and Catholicism naturally becomes more pronounced. With this, the hands of those in the Catholic media have been forced to talk about such things. In fulfilling their duty to report and comment on the news, they have no other choice but to draw attention to these pressing issues.
Many who are consumers of the Catholic media have had special ties with the Democrat Party and the Catholic Church for years. What many faithful Catholics have known for years is only now becoming apparent to some Catholics. They are beginning to see that the party that they loved in the political world is becoming more at odds with the Church they loved in the world of faith. However, when the Catholic media gives voice to this contrast, accusations come their way. They are being accused by many Catholic-Dems of being partisan or cheering for the Republican team.
No doubt, there are members in the Catholic media who have had a close alliance with the Republican Party. Some have even failed to transcend partisan-politics. As such, they struggle to communicate Catholic principles to the public with objectivity. But there are many in the Catholic media whose aim is to follow truth where it may lead and educate the public as it pertains to Catholic principles. As for endorsing a political program, nothing could be further from their minds. Still, it is impossible to escape the charge of playing partisan politics.
The brutal fact is that when the Catholic media reports on the growing tension between the Democrat Party and the Church, there is bound to be denial, anger and kick back by some. But if the news is to be reported and if Catholic principles are brought to bear on the news, members of the Catholic media cannot draw back or wince from telling the truth about the Democrat Party (or even about the Republican Party as it grows soft on key moral issues). After all, the freedom of the press is essential for this very reason.
The burden of coming to terms with the conflict between the positions of the Democrat Party and Catholic doctrine should be placed squarely on Catholic-Dems to change their party; not on the Catholic media or the Catholic clergy to be quiet about the conflict. Therefore, when clerical preachers and media commentators give voice to the irreconcilable differences between party and faith the charge of partisanship by Catholic-Dems is an unfair one. Attachment to a political party – be it the Democrat Party or the Republican Party – should yield to the fidelity to the Church; especially when the former comes into conflict with the latter. With that said, members of the Catholic media and the Catholic clergy should not have to apologize for this. In fact, to do so would be a sign of weakness.
With all that has been said about the challenges of the Democrat Party, it is in the best interest of Christians to have two parties in our political system that are pro-God, pro-life, and pro-marriage. Just as the Democrat Party has taken the minority vote for granted, the Republican establishment is showing signs of taking the Christian vote for granted. Christians should want competition between the two parties. Until then – until the Democrat Party once again supports Gospel values – members of the Catholic media are duty bound to draw public attention to the recent aggressive measures leveled against the Church by the Democrat Party.
A failure to do so would be to hasten the erosion of religious liberty.
Ping!
I think there are two different types of “Catholic media” — the old guard liberal dissenting media, e.g., National Catholic Reporter, America, Commonweal, v. newer more orthodox media, including EWTN, various Catholic blogs, etc. Only the dissenters I would think would have the strong Democratic party ties.
Ah yes, the P/M, baby-killing, Socialist "catholics" Looks like they're no longer needed as useful idiots.
Cast them out!
The lines are fuzzier than we'd like to think. From the National Catholic Register, written by it's former editor-in-chief:
Time for True Democrats to Start Their Own Party [or, why Catholics can't vote Democrat any more]
my parents were both in the leftist Catholic media. Neither one of them would vote for a Republican even if it was their own child running. Ever. Never. They just vote Democrat. If you ask them about abortion, which they don’t believe in, they say it is not as important as social justice. They can’t even see the hypocrisy of that statement.
I’m dealing with the same situation in my family. We have, however, agreed that religion and politics may not be discussed at any family gathering. The one thing I have understood, however, is that they were poorly catechized. Not only do they not know the tenets of the faith, they are not interested in learning them. All we can do is pray for them.
Matthew 10:21
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.”
Jesus warned us there will come a time when families will be divided by the choices they make. In our day and time it seems to be whether they are Republican or Democrat. In future it may be whether they are truly Christian or merely lukewarm, or worse, nonbelievers. That being said, I think it is astonishing that so many Catholics and Christians are still in the democratic party and voting for Obama. They can shut their eyes for only so long—eventually they will have to deal with the reality of who they have voted into office and what kind of government he wants. Sadly, it may be too late for them once they realize it.
Our votes here on earth are accountable in eternity.
Choose life, choose God, vote Romney/Ryan.
Thanks. I would put the National Catholic Register, now owned by EWTN, among the newer more orthodox media.
I think what is happening among Catholic media is a "scales falling from the eyes" awakening to the (formerly) incestuous relationship they'd had with the Dems. That's not to say your analysis is wrong, only that the political differentiation has only recently began, and IMO the bishops are having to play catch-up to appear as though they'd been politically conservative the whole time.
Great post! I’d also like to make a comment that I hope will spark any Catholics still on the fence to vote for Romney. Some labor under the impression that Obama does not want to see Catholic hospitals, schools, and charities close their doors, and the bishops are crying wolf.
I am convinced that the President’s HHS mandate is not accidental, but deliberate. He knows that (1) Catholic bishops will not betray their principles and provide hospital, school, and charity employees health insurance that includes the funding abortion and birth control; and (2) the Church will pay the huge fines until they have no choice to close the doors to all of these institutions.
Why?
With Obamacare, there will be fewer doctors, rationing of scarcer health care, and ever-increasing costs of an increasingly older citizenry. Who will cost/expend the most of these dwindling resources? The answer:
(1)Unborn children whose prenatal care reveals abnormalities and health problems that will cost the system every year of their life. (It happens: last year, doctors encouraged my sister-in-law and brother to abort their son because they thought he had Downs Syndrome and other ailments; they refused, but he was born with many birth defects).
(2) The elderly whose productive days are long in the past, but whose visits to the doctor’s office are weekly, not annually.
(3) The chronically ill.
To curtail the costs incurred by the first category, HHS will want doctors to encourage abortions—that will never happen in a Catholic hospital.
To curtail the costs of the elderly and the chronic ill, HHS will deny them the level of care they now enjoy and encourage euthanasia—again something the Church will never sanction at its hospitals.
Thus, the best way to keep costs down is to get the Catholic Church (and like-minded Christians) out of health care entirely.
As for schools, close down the parochial schools and you have no debates about voucher programs and school choice, less competition for teacher union power, and an education system that can dispense with outdated Judeo-Christian values.
Finally, close down the non-profits, you increase dependence on government programs—and make the so-called 47% a super-majority big government electorate.
What is so scary about this is that Obama is attacking the Church on a doctrinal point that few Catholics actually follow or agree with: artificial birth control. The public has swallowed the media’s attempt to frame the issue as about birth control and the Church trying to deny them reproductive freedom. Even my most intelligent friends fail to see that the actual issue is about the First Amendment and the unconstitutional attempt to force an employer to violate his institution’s or his own personal religious beliefs in subjugation of a secular government’s decree. (They finally see the point when I ask them if I have a Second Amendment right to own a gun or a First Amendment right to free speech (they agree), and then when I inquire whether I have a right to receive their tax dollars to buy a Glock handgun or air time on a radio station to express my political views.)
The administration has chosen the battleground for achieving its goals very wisely. The challenge is understanding what is at risk, and what the true objective is. I hope that this lifts the veil for many.
There is also a generational change going on. The aging liberal post-Vatican II generation is dying out. A lot of their children probably have simply dropped out of the Church and are simply “post-religious” herd-following liberal sheep. For those of the younger generation who are still in the Church, I believe they want something more meaty than feel good warmed over left-wing “social justice” platitudes, and since the seminaries starting with John Paul II have been turning out more orthodox clergy, that helps matters. The younger generation wants the real Jesus and more of that old time religion, IMO.
Thank you for the excellent insight. Catholic or otherwise, I don’t understand how anyone can vote for Obama. I just don’t get it.
(The Reporter, or, as Fr. Z calls it, the Fishwrap, has also been told several times by their bishop to cease calling themselves "Catholic" -- an order which they ignore.)
I exhort you to follow the provided link.
Bishop Kevin Van now has more than 30 seminarians in Fort Worth. he actually believes in the priesthood, and he shows the way by his constant visits to parishes. Now on his way to be bishop of Orange,California. Too bad we can’t clone him. Reminds me of the best post-tridentine bishops.
Wonderful to hear. Let’s hope he can do the same at the Crystal Cathedral.
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