Posted on 06/28/2008 4:47:29 AM PDT by kellynla
In officiating at the June 17 “marriage” of the same lesbian couple he had joined in dubious wedlock four years ago, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom beat Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the punch. But Villaraigosa, like Newsom a potential contender for the Democratic nomination for governor, was not to be bested. On June 23, Villaraigosa united Hollywood producer Bruce Cohen with his five-year-long male companion, art consultant Gabriel Catone. And, the previous week, the Los Angeles mayor voiced his warm support for legalized same-sex marriage.
"The California electorate is coming into a new age realizing that [gay] marriage is an institution that supports family values, and it's certainly one I support," Villaraigosa said, according to the June 24 Los Angeles Times. "I certainly respect people of faith who disagree. I also respect the law, and I'm sworn to uphold the law."
Villaraigosa calls himself a person of faith – the Catholic faith. But that his respect for the law includes support for something as contrary to his faith as same-sex marriage is, perhaps, not surprising. Villaraigosa also supports legalized abortion and, last year, was given Planned Parenthood’s “Hero Award” for his role in the defeat of Proposition 85, the Parents’ Right to Know and Child Protection Initiative. In October 2002, Villaraigosa spoke at the grand opening of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Boyle Heights.
In a 2001 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Villaraigosa said he attended Mass only about a dozen times a year (at Holy Family in Pasadena) and that his religion was “more about my spirituality and faith than adherence to rigid theological concepts.” Indeed, he said, "I'm strongly, strongly pro-choice," and noted that he is troubled by "some of the church's teachings on sexuality with respect to gays and lesbians."
But if he ignores some of his Church’s “rigid theological concepts,” Villaraigosa has not been shunned by Church leaders – at least, in Los Angeles. In 2005, Cardinal Roger Mahony led an “interfaith service” at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in honor of Villaraigosa's inauguration as L.A. mayor. The cardinal joined a procession from the cathedral to City Hall on inauguration day, and gave the invocation at the inaugural. Last December, Mahony and Villaraigosa marched together in an Our Lady of Guadalupe Day procession that began at the corner of Cesar Chavez Avenue and Ford Boulevard and ended at East Los Angeles City College Stadium, where the cardinal and his auxiliary bishops celebrated Mass.
Villaraigosa also spoke at commencement ceremonies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2006, a college that calls itself “a Catholic university rooted in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions.”
Villaraigosa was not the only Los Angeles-area politician to display his support for same-sex marriage. Last week, LA city council president Eric Garcetti “wheeled an upright piano onto the south lawn of City Hall so he could preside over a wedding between two of his former staffers,” reported the Times.
“Would any of these CINO politicians get into office if Catholics didn’t vote for them?”
Lets not confuse practicing Catholics with CINO’s if you don’t mind...
“I hope this new Pope takes action against the Cardinal as well as priests and their parishioners and politicians that continue to support the culture of death?”
“take action against...parishoners?”
And just what would you have the pope do?
BTW, where do you go to church?
The question remains, how can any REAL Catholic vote for any Democratic candidate at ANY level who is pro-abortion?
“The question remains, how can any REAL Catholic vote for any Democratic candidate at ANY level who is pro-abortion?”
The answer remains, “they shouldn’t”
and those of us who are practicing Catholics who attend Mass every Sunday are reminded not to vote for those pro-abortion politicians on a regular basis.
“If you look at polling numbers you will see Catholics have supported the democrat candidate over a republican pro lifer with few exceptions.”
Again, you are assuming that the “Catholics” who are voting for pro-abortion candidates are “practicing” Catholics...and as you know, just like Jews, there are Jews and then there are Jews.
“why not those that enable baby killing, euthanasia, same sex marriage, and every other deviant activity”
And just how would you determine who those folks are?
As I have already said, chances are the Catholics you are referring to probably don’t even attend Mass much less receive Holy Communion.
It makes no sense for the Vatican to punish or pressure the PEOPLE because of the behavior of the bishops, because the people don’t pick the bishops. The Pope picks the bishops.
Look Kelly, I was merely throwing out ideas for discussion. What are the limits of power for the religious in this nation? Are we individually more accountable to God for the behaviour of our government be-cause we are a representative republic verses a monarchy? I wasn’t merely thinking of Catholics but all Christian churches who feared God. Is it possible for the moral persons in all religious faiths to bring pressure to bear on our politicians to do justice?
And then again, how do I respond as a non Catholic to a CINO politician whose immoral practises and laws affect me as a protestant as well? His or her decisions affect all of us, not just Catholics whether it be in California or Virginia. I don’t judge all Catholics by the behaviour of CINO politicians and the behaviour of PINO and JINO politicians has been just as abhorrent!
These folks who make such decisions in California are attempting to bypass congress and the people by means of set precedents so that the Fed courts thru the commerce clause of the Constitution can mandate gay marriages, hate speech laws,more permissive abortion rules, gun control and other loathsome practises to be carried out across the nation.
I apologize if you feel sensitive to what you feel was a presumed attack on the Catholic faith and on California but the questions I have are on larger issues nationally. Get your panties out a twist, take a few cleansing breaths. It’s not all about California but how California affects the rest of us...even here in “adulterous Virginia” as you put it!
....and I do attend a church a couple of miles from me. If I didn’t have Christ, I’d probably liberal, cheering the LA mayor on!
“It makes no sense for the Vatican to punish or pressure the PEOPLE because of the behavior of the bishops, because the people don’t pick the bishops. The Pope picks the bishops.”
Bingo!
We have a winner!
I was merely raising the ideas for discussion...do the righteous of this nation still have any power politically and spiritually to affect change....can it be leveraged so that it honors God, proclaims Christ, and heals our political systems?
If for a given week, a large proportion of Christendom of every denomenation simple pulled back from every kind of public service other than the most neediest services to our sick and poor,withheld spending, fasted, prayed, would it make a difference? Would it put worse persecution on us?
I don’t know, these are questions I have. I do suspect that the LA mayor would have a flood of angry phone calls from very religious and moral hispanic Catholics who discovered that they couldn’t receive communion because of the actions of their mayor. Yeah, I know, it’s not very realistic and given church history, it’s not wise that any church denomenation should tinker with politics in such a direct fashion.
Someone had a point in another post that many of the folk that put these politicians in office are only nominally attached to the Catholic church and are in full agreement with these politicians’ policies. So more direct church discipline wouldn’t even phase them anyway...the same sad situations exist in many protestant churches as well.
The state of Christendom in this nation needs a “come out of her my people”, a kind of “who is on the Lord’s side, let them come to me” kind of separation...but I am mindful of the parable of the wheat and the tares. Won’t happen until God deems the harvest ready.
You come on a Catholic thread and criticize Catholics and the Catholic Church and you aren’t even Catholic. Do I come on Protestant threads and criticize Protestants? NO!
Try cleaning up your own religion before you criticize others!
And, BTW, I don’t wear panties...
and if you expect anyone to take you seriously, I suggest you keep your personal insults to yourself!
Class Dismissed!
I guess we now have Biships in name only (aka BINO’s), and the slippery slope continues to a new tomorrow. Onward to a greater Sodom and Gomara II.
Catholic Californian
Show me a direct quote where I have directly criticized good moral Catholics? And I thought this was a posting in the News Activist category, not a Catholic religious thread. So don’t get your loin cloth all in a twist...teacher.
Class has only just begun! For all of us, just ask Obama’s wife...Obama’s gonna save us(sarcasm on)
Arch bishop Burke is to be made a cardinal. Just saw this on FN ticker. A good start by a great Pope. Thank you Pope Benedict.
Why doesn’t he?
When will he act?
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