Will the Church Split Along Red and Blue Lines?

Poland has the sole remaining Catholic majority; Spain, Ireland and the Czech Republic still have functioning Catholic minority parties—a resistance movement, as it were.

I’ve been carefully monitoring yard signs in my neighborhood. I still can’t get over the “Notre Dame” house where both parents attended ND and sent all 3 kids there. Active, church-going Roman Catholic. Never had a yard sign up before this year ... helluva candidate to decide to go with, given their backgrounds.

I don’t know how any Christian could support either major candidate.

The Catholics who support Obama or who are dimocrat and support the abortion plank of their platform excommunicate themselves by doing so. Here's what 26 out of 56 bishops say.

Updated: American Bishops who have spoken against Pelosi

Here is the complete list of American bishops who have responded to Nancy Pelosi's comments so far:

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver was the first American bishop to respond
... Bishop James Conley, his auxiliary, joined him
Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington DC responded twice, first in a press release and second in a statement to The Hill. He has also appeared on Fox News, I am told.
Cardinal Justin Regali of Philadelphia, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued this statement through the USCCB website...
... Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, chairman of the Committee on Doctrine, joined him
Cardinal Edward Egan of New York publised a strongly worded statement of his own
Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo issued a letter correcting Pelosi's claims
Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh and...
... Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs have chimed-in
Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio, CNA reports has added his voice ...
... Bishop Oscar Cantu, his auxiliary bishop, has joined him
Bishop William Murphy of Rockville has published an extensive letter
Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa has a detailed response
Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas has joined the USCCB's efforts
Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin is on-board
Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston mentions the USCCB on his blog
Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando has written at length
Archbishop John Nienstedt of Saint Paul/Minneapolis challenges Pelosi's statement
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, President of the US Bishops, has weighed-in
Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, OR publishes in the Catholic Sentinel
Bishop Jerome Listecki of La Crosse, WI responds in a word document
Bishop Richard Lennon of Cleveland, OH will comment in his September 5th column (PDF)
Bishop Ralph Nickless of Sioux City, IA has one of the very best responses I've read
Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco has invited Pelosi to a "conversation"
Bishop Glen Provost, LA: "Catholic Church clear on when human life begins"
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn: "Judging the Candidates"

{Last updated on September 10th.}

Notes:

Previous #23 has been removed. Bishop Joseph Gossman of Raleigh, NC is actually the bishop emeritus, and the new bishop, Michael Burbidge has not, to my knowledge, made a personal statement.
Previous #16 has also been removed, it was an erroneous duplication of current #13.
#26 was added September 10th, although he published his column September 6th

“I didn’t think there were any Catholics left in Europe. The church has no influence in Spain France or even Italy. I think Poland is the only Catholic country left.”

You made my point. They’ve had a 60+ year political alliance with the Marxists in Europe on “social justice” and, like I said, they “won” in politics, along with their Marxists allies and the potential new generations noticed there was no distinction between the Catholic position and the socialists position, on nearly every social issue, and concluded since the socialists shared the moral point of view with Catholics, then why bother with being a Catholic.

The Church survived in Poland as a protest against the Communist dictatorship. Give them a couple generations in the constant intellectual embrace of western Europe and the Polish Parishes will be empty too.

The prognosis for the Church in Poland is brighter than nearly anywhere else in Europe, since it escaped having its hierarchy dominated by the political elites as in much of the rest of Catholic states on the Continent, or becoming entangled in revolutionary social movements as in Ireland.

Nations with historically republican tendencies like Poland may prove to be the healthiest soil for Catholicism over the long run.

Catholics are not allowed to vote pro-abortion are they?

That is my understanding and this has been reiterated by the Pope and several bishops recently. Unfortunately, there are some who ignore this. Abortion is a mortal sin, it is not justifiable under any circumstances -- despite what some would have us believe, there is no "grey area" here.

Aren’t they disinvited from communion if they do?

Theoretically, a Catholic can excommunicate themselves through certain actions, I'm not sure where this falls into that. A Catholic voting for a pro-abortion politician is somewhat different from a Catholic politician voting to support abortion.

I would love to see a priest publicly refuse to give Communion to someone like Biden and Pelosi. It would be a seemingly insignificant act, but it would open the eyes of millions of voters including many non-Catholics.

I’ll vote for McCain .. but mostly for SARAH

I was leading prayer meetings just prior to the Bush/Gore election from 8 years ago.

Listening to others and the voice of God in the room, I encounter principles that have guided me through politics and politicians.

Instead of nit-picking every detail of a candidate, Look for these high-road principles - 1) Do they support the country of Israel? 2) Do they support life for the unborn child? and 3) What is their position and life message about the Lord Jesus Christ?

I have found that everything else that I value will line up under these principles.

The Obama campaign is just the current leading edge of the same course the Catholic left wants to take here.

In that case you should have no trouble naming a few Bishops who publicly support Obama's position on abortion, or who even hint that a vote for him is permissable.

Why should they go to a protestant church when the Catholic Church is more then willing to accept them as they turn a blind eye?

I am not Catholic but I do not understand how any true Catholic could or would support Nobama.

Because the Catholic Church openly supports socialism. There is no basis for this support in the Bible since the Bible states the Church should do charity in Jesus name, and the last time I looked the government did not do socialism in Jesus name....but then I come from a church that takes the Bible word for word, I mean if it is really Gods word then picking and choosing what you want to follow out of it makes no sense.

Because the Catholic Church openly supports socialism.

Source, please.

“In that case you should have no trouble naming a few Bishops who publicly support Obama’s position on abortion, or who even hint that a vote for him is permissable.”

No, it is you who should have no trouble naming each and every U.S. Roman Catholic Bishop that has come out and said, publicly, Obama’s position on abortion is wrong, and not just in some mealy-mouthed statement of what that position is without saying anything about those in high office who oppose it. Silence is the speaker, when “social justice” is preferred over pro-life. That’s the way it was done in Europe and that’s the way it’s being done here.

See #44.

I do understand how a true Christian (Catholic or otherwise) can vote for Barack Hussein Obama, despite his noxious ideologies (which may include some that have not been made public, such as his true relationships with Christianity and islam).

Very many Americans are panicked by their personal financial situations, and the financial situation of the nation and the world. When people are panicked, they close their eyes and vote for change. It’s that simple.

Of course, the “religious left” (whether Catholic or otherwise) would vote for Hussein no matter what. But the trend towards Obama seen in the polls in recent weeks is driven by panic, not by agreement with Obams’s leftist and globalist ideology or his dubious connection to Christianity.

Even more to the point: The Ten Commandments.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s, wife, nor his ox nor sheep, nor anything else that belongs to him.

Covetousness—the basis for class envy and the foundation of marxism. ‘We want what you worked hard to achieve, so we’ll take it from you and give it to us’

The entire socialist/marxist philosophy is based on sin.

My 2 cents.

As a former ELCA Lutheran who was recently received into the Orthodox Church (I will have been Orthodox for six months later in October!!), but who still participates in online traditionalist Lutheran lists, I have a slightly different perspective.

An increasing number of openly noncelebate gaysbians are being ordained in the ELCA all the time, using the “restraint from discipline” loophole. It’s not even news when a new one is ordained. To me,they are “what’s his name from Atlanta”, “what’s her name from Texas”, etc. Whatever happens at the Churchwide Assembly next year, this issue has already been decided.

Moreover, new elections of ELCA synodical bishops over time are replacing traditionalist bishops with revisonist “bishops”. This happens in some cases even in what are considered Red States. The new “bishops” support the entire revisionist agenda, not just the “gay” issue.

Above all, the disgustingly feminazi “Evangelical Lutheran Worship” (”ELW”) liturgy and hymnal continues its satanic, erosive work. “As we worship, so we believe.”

A very astute article in a recent issue of “First Things” concluded that the “mainline” protestant church (and its function of providing the cultural bedrock of American culture) is dead. The ELCA is no exception. (Even Roman Catholics are affected.) It’s time to migrate to tradionalist church bodies, whether as individuals/families or as congregations. The WRONG way to do things is to drop out from church altogether, as many are doing.

Of course, I believe that the Orthodox Church is Home for Lutherans and for others. I may have been pushed out of the ELCA by “ELW”, but I was also drawn into Orthodoxy by relaizing that I was basically Orthodox already.

“Updated: American Bishops who have spoken against Pelosi”

Like I said, the silence on Obama is THE KEY. They think they can get away with it because he’s not a Catholic and people like Pelosi and Biden are. They KNOW what they are NOT doing. It was the same in Europe.

reagandemocrat: “The entire socialist/marxist philosophy is based on sin.”

True. True. As you wrote, it is based on greed (covetousness).