Posted on 01/28/2009 12:34:04 PM PST by wagglebee
ROME, January 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A document of the US Catholic Bishops is partly to blame for the abandonment of pro-life teachings by voting Catholics and the election of the “most pro-abortion president” in US history, one of the Vatican’s highest officials said in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com.
Archbishop Raymond Burke, the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, named a document on the election produced by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that he said “led to confusion” among the faithful and led ultimately to massive support among Catholics for Barack Obama.
The US bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” stated that, under certain circumstances, a Catholic could in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports abortion because of "other grave reasons," as long as they do not intend to support that pro-abortion position.
Archbishop Burke, the former Archbishop of St. Louis Mo. and recently appointed head of the highest ecclesiastical court in the Catholic Church, told LifeSiteNews.com that although “there were a greater number of bishops who spoke up very clearly and firmly ... there was also a number who did not.”
But most damaging, he said, was the document “Faithful Citizenship” that “led to confusion” among the voting Catholic population.
“While it stated that the issue of life was the first and most important issue, it went on in some specific areas to say ‘but there are other issues’ that are of comparable importance without making necessary distinctions.”
Archbishop Burke, citing an article by a priest and ethics expert of St. Louis archdiocese, Msgr. Kevin McMahon, who analyzed how the bishops’ document actually contributed to the election of Obama, called its proposal “a kind of false thinking, that says, ‘there’s the evil of taking an innocent and defenseless human life but there are other evils and they’re worthy of equal consideration.’
“But they’re not. The economic situation, or opposition to the war in Iraq, or whatever it may be, those things don’t rise to the same level as something that is always and everywhere evil, namely the killing of innocent and defenseless human life.”
Archbishop Burke also cited the work of the official news service of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, that many pro-life observers complained soft-pedaled the newly elected president’s opposition to traditional morality.
“The bishops need to look also at our Catholic News Service, CNS, they need to review their coverage of the whole thing and give some new direction, in my judgment,” he said.
To whom it may concern
(I hope it concerns the Archbishop):
In light of Madame Speaker's outrageous proposal regarding the funding of abortion as a fundamental part of the new Administration's stimulus package, and her continual protestations that she is "a loyal Catholic," may we expect SOME comment, ANY comment, from her Archbishop expressing - NOMINATIM - the Church's condemnation of such egregious error?
The silence, so far, is deafening.
Even Bishop Fellay of the Society of St. Pius X found his voice regarding his Bishop Williamson's disgusting anti-Semitism.
Surely the Archbishop is not more afraid of Nancy than Fellay is of Williamson?
Waiting!
Here's the response I got. You could NOT make this stuff up!
Hello,
Thank you for writing.
San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer is on a pastoral visit to Vietnam and he will not return until early February.
Please know that I will make your concerns known to him.
Maurice Healy, Archdiocese of San Francisco
I'm sure the faith in Viet Nam will be all the stronger for the visit of so courageous an Archbishop.
NOT!
That's one reason I'm a Catholic homeschooler.
That is exactly what we all need to start doing. Sending well thought-out, charitable letters to the shepherds. With charity and respect, call them to task.
I wish I could say the same... it makes my skin crawl to see Obama-Biden bumper stickers in the Southern Baptist Church I attend. And worst of all this district has voted Conservative for the last 40 years.
Excellent idea!
That is a great acronym.I think the S for slippery is well deserved.We all know how they try to divert attention from abortion.They sometimes use capital punishment.Recently that ‘esteemed” bishop of Albany got all excited about Guantonimo. I thought I was listening to the head of the Democratic party.
Oh, I am sure there are a few, but none of them dumb enough too admit it. I did not see one Osama sign in our area. Only saw two in all and they were out side our area. Did see a few on cars, but the majority of those as expected.
This is one of many recurring topics I think about and just yesterday, for instance. There is no greater evil than abortion. Just as the right to life, is first on the list of INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, logically and coincidingly, abortion is first on the list of GREATEST evils.
thank you
for finding G-d's Word. NAsbU Deuteronomy 5:17 'You shall not murder". Three cheers for the Vatican.
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai
***One of the greatest jobs we as Catholics can do is put the USCCB out of business.***
The Orthodox have easier and faster ways to deal with bad bishops. We need to learn from them. The old saying is that the floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops. In our case, we have some suitable candidates.
This is the late Cardinal Bernardin's "seamless garment" theory although I don't see his name mentioned in the article, most likely because the good Archbishop doesn't want to speak ill of the dead. However, it has wrought havoc in the Church and still continues to do so.
His toxic ideas have completely undercut traditional Catholic teaching in many areas, not least of which is the life issue.
I can sympathize. My youngest is a junior at a Catholic HS and one of the RELIGION teachers is a die-hard O supporter. She made her religion class watch a re-run of the inauguration. Many of the students and their parents were extremely angry. I am tempted to write the bishop and complain. I can't believe they can't find a religion teacher that actually teaches and supports the faith.
WHY doesn’t the Pope discipline these Bishops and their apostate church members? Good God, has even the Pope been co-opted by Obama???
When you factor that in with the large number of Creaster catholics it makes the vote count understandable although very disappointing.
I remember my alarms going off when the doofus bishop read that line when he presented their "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship". It was so clear that they inserted the "racism" to muddy the waters.
First of all what in the world does that word mean? In reality,whatever it means it does not equate with taking the life of an innocent,I am going to search and find the bishop responsible for that piece of turkey-do and place him in a prominent position on my list of bad bishops,that'll fix him.
Imagine,equating murder with having an ugly attitude,the USCCB is a waste of time and a source of confusion.
All the Catholics I personally know always vote democrat, as well as the Baptists. So far what I have discovered is the Graham/Warren Baptists are majority democrat voters and some worked very hard to get Bama elected.
All of these peoples believed totally and completely in the MSM agenda of painting 'evil' all over President Bush.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What is a “Creaster” Catholic?
One that goes to Mass on Christmas and Easter.
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