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Archbishop Chaput: About Those Unthinking, Backward Catholics
Courageous Priest ^
| October 14, 2016
| Archbishop Charles Chaput
Posted on 10/15/2016 4:38:56 AM PDT by NYer
By Archbishop Charles Chaput, Archdiocese of Philadelphia:
Back in 2008, in the weeks leading up to the Obama-McCain presidential election, two young men visited me in Denver. They were from Catholics United, a group describing itself as committed to social justice issues. They voiced great concern at the manipulative skill of Catholic agents for the Republican Party. And they hoped my brother bishops and I would resist identifying the Church with single-issue and partisan (read: abortion) politics.
It was an interesting experience. Both men were obvious flacks for the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party creatures of a political machine, not men of the Church; less concerned with Catholic teaching than with its influence. And presumably (for them) bishops were dumb enough to be used as tools, or at least prevented from helping the other side. Yet these two young men not only equaled but surpassed their Republican cousins in the talents of servile partisan hustling. Thanks to their work, and activists like them, American Catholics helped to elect an administration that has been the most stubbornly unfriendly to religious believers, institutions, concerns and liberty in generations.
I never saw either young man again. The cultural damage done by the current White House has apparently made courting Americas bishops unnecessary.
But bad can always get worse. Im thinking, of course, of the contemptuously anti-Catholic emails exchanged among members of the Clinton Democratic presidential campaign team and released this week by WikiLeaks. A sample: Sandy Newman, president of Voices for Progress, emailed John Podesta, now the head of Hillary Clintons campaign, to ask about whether the bishops opposing contraceptive coverage could be the tinder for a revolution. There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages [sic] dictatorship, Newman writes.
Of course, Newman added, this idea may just reveal my total lack of understanding of the Catholic church, the economic power it can bring to bear against nuns and priests who count on it for their maintenance. Still, he wondered, how would one plant the seeds of a revolution? John Podesta replied that We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this . . . likewise Catholics United (emphasis added).
Another Clinton-related email, from John Halpin of the Center for American Progress, mocks Catholics in the so-called conservative movement, especially converts: They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy. In a follow-up, he adds They can throw around Thomistic thought and subsidiarity and sound sophisticated because no one knows what . . . theyre talking about.
On the evening these WikiLeaks emails were released, I received the following angry email myself, this one from a nationally respected (non-Catholic) attorney experienced in Church-state affairs:
I was deeply offended by the [Clinton team] emails, which are some of the worst bigotry by a political machine I have seen. [A] Church has an absolute right to protect itself when under attack as a faith and Church by civil political forces. That certainly applies here . . .
Over the last eight years there has been strong evidence that the current administration, with which these people share values, has been very hostile to religious organizations. Now there is clear proof that this approach is deliberate and will accelerate if these actors have any continuing, let alone louder, say in government.
These bigots are actively strategizing how to shape Catholicism not to be Catholic or consistent with Jesus teachings, but to be the religion they want. They are, at the very core, trying to turn religion to their secular view of right and wrong consistent with their politics. This is fundamentally why the Founders left England and demanded that government not have any voice in religion. Look where we are now. We have political actors trying to orchestrate a coup to destroy Catholic values, and they even analogize their takeover to a coup in the Middle East, which amplifies their bigotry and hatred of the Church. I had hoped I would never see this day a day like so many dark days in Eastern Europe that led to the death of my [Protestant minister] great grandfather at the hands of communists who also hated and wanted to destroy religion.
Of course it would be wonderful for the Clinton campaign to repudiate the content of these ugly WikiLeaks emails. All of us backward-thinking Catholics who actually believe what Scripture and the Church teach would be so very grateful.
In the meantime, a friend describes the choice facing voters in November this way: A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots.
In a nation where choice is now the unofficial state religion, the menu for dinner is remarkably small.
TOPICS: Catholic; Moral Issues; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS:
1
posted on
10/15/2016 4:38:56 AM PDT
by
NYer
To: Tax-chick; GregB; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; Salvation; ...
2
posted on
10/15/2016 4:39:25 AM PDT
by
NYer
(Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them. Mt 6:19)
To: NYer
“In the meantime, a friend describes the choice facing voters in November this way: A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots.”
I choose the lout. He at least doesn’t hate my faith nor does he want to destroy me or the country I love.
3
posted on
10/15/2016 4:46:24 AM PDT
by
vladimir998
(Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
To: vladimir998
Yup, and mh gentle Catholic not too political Canadian wife thinks it may take a lout to deal with a power hungry madwoman who will stop at nothing.
4
posted on
10/15/2016 4:52:56 AM PDT
by
Dr. Sivana
(There is no salvation in politics.)
To: NYer
The “vulgar, boorish lout” isn’t going to be fining or jailing anyone for their beliefs.
5
posted on
10/15/2016 4:55:26 AM PDT
by
Excellence
(Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
To: NYer
6
posted on
10/15/2016 5:01:04 AM PDT
by
jmaroneps37
(Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
To: NYer
Yet again, Clinton and her cronies project their own stupidity and ignorance on a famously intellectual religion. To have such mediocrities in the White House staggers the mind...
7
posted on
10/15/2016 5:19:23 AM PDT
by
miss marmelstein
(Richard the Third: With my own people alone I should like to drive away the Muslims)
To: NYer
A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots. These statements about Donald Trump reflect a shallow, bigoted understanding of who Trump is. One thing he certainly is NOT is vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem. Stop getting your news from CNN.
Not only what is being said about Hillary Clinton is true, but it can be augmented, documented, and substantiated one hundred fold with thirty years of corruption and scandals, along with a trail of ruined careers, dead bodies, fear and intimidation.
All three branches of government are already becoming one branch to be used against you.
8
posted on
10/15/2016 5:19:48 AM PDT
by
olezip
To: NYer
I come from a solid Catholic home, where my mom and dad have been reliable Democrat voters since the 1950's. I've been a conservative GOP voter since the 1980's, so there have been more than a couple lively political debates in the house over the last few decades.
This election is different. When Mom told me she is voting for Trump, I about fell out of my chair. Dad still won't vote for Trump, but he cannot stand Hillary and is staying home this year.
From my vantage point, that is the best possible outcome for these two Democrat voters. I wonder how many households there are throughout America where a similar scenario is playing out?
To: vladimir998
“A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem”
So I see the archbishop has bought into the media’s made-up characterization of Donald Trump. The rest of the article I agree with, but he’s wrong about Trump. The man’s a fighter who loves his country. Nothing more. He also does not disrespect woman. A media invented smear from the start.
10
posted on
10/15/2016 5:36:31 AM PDT
by
NKP_Vet
(In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle,stand like a rock ~ T, Jefferson)
To: NKP_Vet
“So I see the archbishop has bought into the medias made-up characterization of Donald Trump.”
Well, I think it’s hard to ignore the fact that Trump is at times vulgar, at times boorish. Disrespectful toward women? That doesn’t seem so far-fetched either, but it is a bit overblown.
He’s still way better than Hillary exactly because - as you said - he “loves his country.”
11
posted on
10/15/2016 6:15:05 AM PDT
by
vladimir998
(Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
To: jmaroneps37
That is from last month, before the debates. Anything more current?
12
posted on
10/15/2016 7:41:31 AM PDT
by
NYer
(Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them. Mt 6:19)
To: Dan in Wichita
I come from a solid Catholic home, where my mom and dad have been reliable Democrat voters since the 1950's. I've been a conservative GOP voter since the 1980's, so there have been more than a couple lively political debates in the house over the last few decades. We must be related :-) I would have had the same reaction.
13
posted on
10/15/2016 7:43:52 AM PDT
by
NYer
(Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them. Mt 6:19)
To: NYer
Getting more interesting.
Two Archbishops and Franklin Graham denounce Hillary and endorse Trump!
Now for some more Archbishops to come forth.
14
posted on
10/15/2016 9:19:00 AM PDT
by
Salvation
("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
To: NKP_Vet
He is quoting someone else, a friend.
In the meantime, a friend describes the choice facing voters in November this way: A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots.
15
posted on
10/15/2016 9:59:00 AM PDT
by
pbear8
(the Lord is my light and my salvation)
To: vladimir998
I choose the lout.
Yeah, me too. At least he has a plan that includes the possibility of a better world.
16
posted on
10/15/2016 12:53:00 PM PDT
by
Montana_Sam
(Truth lives.)
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