We now have some Catholic bishops in the Catholic Church in America. Unfortunately, the people who have been conditioned by the hippie-dippie-flippie bishops of the past do not know what a Catholic bishop is.
If these people understood the bishops to be saying that, if you vote for a mass murderer for public office, you will go to hell—good. At least that means the letter was written at an appropriate (probably Fourth-Grade) reading level.
I see no reason for Mr. Archer to be offended. If his bishop is wrong, then his(the bishop’s) statements mean nothing. Of course, if he’s right...........
Gee, I don’t recall anything in the Scriptures or in the Catechism of the Catholic Church about how believers must be protected from being “offended.” If there’s some passage of Scripture that says abortion is okay and bishops shouldn’t say otherwise, someone should point it out because the rest of us missed it.
I think that the bishop told you to set aside your personal interests and greed and think about what your vote means. As to going "to hell," those are your words.
By turning a blind eye to morally reprehensible behavior in order to put forward some other agenda item, our country has endorsed a culture of death. Have you noticed? Do you plan to take action? Or, in your way of thinking, does it not matter, really, as long as you get your goodies?
Even if you're an atheist, if Obama gets into office, you're going to realize that hell does exist - right here on earth. Those who cannot remember Jimmy Carter are doomed to repeat the 1970's.
I was extremely proud of the Bishops for taking the long overdue step of explaining to the congregation that supporting evil in any form is morally indefensible. They should not stand Idly by and watch their flock destroy itself.
Wow! Bishops saying what needs to be spelled out for many Catholics.
Beautiful video by Catholic Vote 2008:
If that's the dogma the church teaches I don't know why he has a problem with it.
I've never understood pro-abortion Catholics. A church has rules. That's pretty much standard for every church. If you don't like the rules, leave the church. It's not like they're not a thousand others out there.
Why is this so hard to figure out?
Thank you, bishops!!!!! I have not received this letter yet, nor was it read at my parish, but I look forward to seeing it in the Texas Catholic newspaper.
I’m glad the Dallas area finally has such a bold bishop.
“I was personally offended,” said Phillip Archer of Dallas. “My bishop basically told me that if I vote for Barack Obama, I will go to hell.”
The letter by Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Diocese of Dallas and Bishop Kevin Vann of the Diocese of Fort Worth says in part: “To vote for a candidate who supports the intrinsic evil of abortion or ‘abortion rights’ when there is a morally acceptable alternative would be to cooperate in the evil – and, therefore, morally impermissible)
Sounds to me as if your Bishop gave instruction as to what the Word of God would require a Christians position to be.
If you have a problerm with that then maybe you are not a Christian.
Well, I’m personally offended that a Presidential candidate has so little regard for human life that he would vote to deny life saving care on human babies that survive botched abortion procedures. In fact I’m a lot more offended than the poor person that was read the letter. Actually I’m outraged. Seeing red. Climbing the walls.
Why can’t anyone understand if you don’t want to be Catholic then don’t be one ? Why can’t anyone see this is friggin murder ? Why can’t we prioritize the hierarchy of grievances here ?
Perhaps not hell but double Puratory.
Being an Evangelical Presbyterian, I am not one who would normally believe in Purgatory. However, in the case of wrong minded Christians who vote for Obama, I'd give my protestant approval of such a place. Catholics can have the better parts of double Purgatory, the worst I'd gladly reserve for "Evangelicals for Obama".
"Republicans for Obama" would be free to bypass Purgatory and go straight to Hell.
“I was personally offended,”
I’m offended by this person’s stupidity.
“”That letter from the bishops is basically telling us that if we vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights, we are basically immoral and our souls are imperiled.” “
DUH!!!
My mom told me about this (I haven’t been going to Mass as much as I should), and we were really excited. Catholics know the rules—that’s one of the reasons I love my faith. The church shouldn’t pander to moral delinquents, and I’m glad it’s finally being vocal about such things.
You should be offended at your own ignorance, Phillip.
"As a Catholic, we're taught about being independent moral agents with free will," she said. "That letter from the bishops is basically telling us that if we vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights, we are basically immoral and our souls are imperiled."
Ms. LeBlanc is a mistress of the obvious.
The bishops have a moral obligation to instruct the flock, or their souls will be imperiled. If these people hear the words and reject them, they are certainly taking a big chance with their souls.
What hypocrites these liberal Catholics are! They supposedly care about the poor, the weak, and the oppressed but they don’t care one bit about the poorest, smallest, and weakest members of society—the unborn. They supposedly want to change the world with their glorious liberal agenda but they can’t change the political party they belong to, they can’t change its official support for abortion and they won’t even try. How committed to social justice are these people, really?
I say that they aren’t committed to social justice at all, that they are more than willing to vote for pro-abortion politicians and to deny the right to life to the unborn as long as the liberal agenda is advanced.
The bishops never said that Catholics who vote for pro-abortion politicians are going to hell. However, I don’t know how these Catholics are going to account for themselves on the Day of Judgment, how they are going to explain away their tolerance and even acceptance of abortion. Jesus said that whatever we do to one of these “least ones” we do to Him. Those who ignore the plight of the unborn are really turning away from Christ and they will have to account for that when they appear before Him.