Posted on 10/21/2004 5:19:45 PM PDT by topher
PHILADELPHIA, USA, October 21 (CNA) - President George W. Bush met with Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, this afternoon in Philadelphia. The president had requested the meeting.
The archdiocese released a statement saying that the meeting, which took place at Saint Joseph Parish, Downington, Chester County, "was private," and therefore "the Archdiocese will not be issuing any additional statement regarding the meeting."
The statement also notes that "Cardinal Rigali had indicated his willingness to meet with both presidential candidates."
This also the state where Gov. Rendell has issued an edict that he will allow his bullies to watch over the counties on election day.
I really do not know what is going on with this meeting...
ping
It's FABULOUS!!
Rigali is a good man, and an advisor to the Pope.
Not sure what Dubya is looking for here specifically, though.
An appeal to PA Catholic voters, that's all.
An appeal to PA Catholic voters, that's all.
Earlier this year, the Kerry camp made a big show of Kerry's visit to Cardinal McCarrick, the liberal waffling Cardinal of Washington, D.C. The implication of this was that McCarrick nodded to Kerry's evasions and opposition to church teaching. Typical election-year religious politics.
Rendell has also announced that he will not extend the deadline for absentee ballots received from overseas military voters past the Oct. 29 deadline! But they did not receive their ballots until late because he and his party had them tied up in the courts trying to keep Nader off them.
Note that he did extend the deadline in the May primaries for the military, but refuses to for this election!
Additionally, he sent out an edict to the wardens of all prisons that they are to make every effort to help inmates vote by absentee ballot! He goes to great effort to allow the criminals to vote, but disenfranchises the military!
I really do not know what is going on with this meeting...
A few weeks ago, Cardinal Rigali gave a homily that a number of parish priests chose to recite at masses throughout the Archdiocese.
You can read it here.
It contains this:
Annually, my brother bishops and I set this day, Respect Life Sunday as an opportunity to reflect upon the many contemporary life issues that face our society. Issues that are critical to the defense of the sanctity of life - especially as we face decisions concerning our national and local civil leadership. As the electorate we must exercise our duty and responsibility to cast our vote for candidates who hold with our Catholic teaching that respecting all life from conception to a natural death is inviolable.
. . . we need the conservative Catholic vote -- Pennsylvania has a HUGE Catholic population!!!
GOOD.
I think I like your Cardinal, it seems he is actually Catholic.
There are some in our society today who argue that there is no place in the discussion of public policy for opinions based upon, and informed by, religiously held convictions and beliefs. . While it is admittedly a somewhat daunting task to find the proper balance between religion and politics in the discussion of public policy, it would be a mistake to accept the argument that religiously motivated convictions are a purely private and personal matter and have no place in the marketplace of ideas, or in the political discussion that shapes the public policy of our time.
Excellent, Bears repeating. It is wonderful to know the Cardinal is willing to speak out in defense of life.
I've lived in PA my entire life. There are a lot of conservative Catholics here. The problem is, a lot of them don't vote that way. Many, especially the older ones, are still stuck in the coal mine/steel mill union mindset (i.e. vote DemocRat).
The good Cardinal will past it along.
I contacted a goverment agency about the Governor this morning. It was a Federal agency, and I claimed what Gov Rendell did was REEKING of RICO.
I also put in the message that I wanted a FAIR ELECTION.
Since I thought it was RICO related, it did not go to the FEC.
I found this article posted at the DUmp...sure made them feel good.
On Belief
Steven Waldman
A Big Catholic Shift to Kerry?
Two new polls show a sudden movement of undecided Catholics toward Kerry.
Two new polls show a significant shift of white Catholics to John Kerry--which, if it holds up, could be a decisive development in the election.
A Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday has Kerry winning among white Catholics 50%-43%--a huge change from the October 3 poll which had Bush leading 49% to 33%.
By comparison, George Bush beat Al Gore among white Catholics by about seven points.
An October 14 ABC News poll showed a similar dramatic shift.
Kerry's favorable vs. unfavorable rating among white Catholics before the debates was 36% vs. 50%. After the debate: 50% vs. 41%. Kerry improved across the board, but the shift was more stark for white Catholics than just about any other group the poll measured. (By comparison, his standing among women improved from 41% favorable vs. 42% unfavorable up to 53% vs. 38% after the debate.)
Catholics represent about one in four voters and, more important, are disproportionately found in key battleground states like Pennsylvania (30%), New Jersey (45.9%), Ohio (28%), Michigan (28%), Wisconsin (34.4), Minnesota (28.7%), and New Hampshire (38.2%).
Until now, there has been no evidence at all that Kerry's being Catholic has helped him with this group. In fact, Bush's conservative views on abortion and gay marriage had him performing better against Kerry than he had even against Gore.
In both cases, the improvement seemed to come from undecided Catholics choosing Kerry, not Bush Catholics switching.
Neither poll teases out the causes for this, but in both cases the shift happened after the second and third presidential debates. It was in the third debate that Kerry had his most expansive declaration of his personal faith.
Another possible explanation is that the criticisms of Kerry by conservative Catholic bishops have backfired. The question in the third debate that prompted Kerry's response was about the charge from Bishop Charles J. Chaput of Colorado that voting for Kerry was a "sin" because he is pro-choice on abortion.
"I respect their views," Kerry said. "I completely respect their views. I am a Catholic. And I grew up learning how to respect those views. But I disagree with them, as do many."
A narrow majority of Catholics are pro-choice on abortion and may take it personally when Kerry is told that he's a bad Catholic because he's pro-choice.
One other piece of circumstantial evidence that Kerry's improvement may have been a backlash effect: The last time there was a move among white Catholics toward Kerry in the polls was in May. At the beginning of that month, Bush led among Catholic registered voters 51% to 45%. By the end of the month, Kerry led 51% to 44%--even though Bush's ratings were going up. May was also when there was the most press coverage of the conservative bishops' move to deny communion to Kerry.
"It may be most American Catholics have made up their minds that they can be good Catholics and disagree with the church on several issues, particularly sexuality," says Michele Dillon, associate professor of sociology of religion at University of New Hampshire. "Most Catholics, regardless of their political views, don't like to be told what to do. The bishops may be seen as too aggressive."
The third debate may also have helped Kerry among white Catholics simply because he was prompted to connect his Catholic faith to something positive. "My faith affects everything that I do, in truth. There's a great passage of the Bible that says, 'What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead'.... That's why I fight against poverty. That's why I fight to clean up the environment and protect this earth. That's why I fight for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith. But I know this, that President Kennedy in his inaugural address told all of us that here on Earth, God's work must truly be our own. And that's what we have to--I think that's the test of public service."
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/154/story_15467_1.html
Very much agreed. It's most unfortunate.
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