Posted on 06/21/2009 7:50:22 AM PDT by presidio9
The Roman Catholic bishops who attacked President Obama's recent appearance at Notre Dame and who've called for pro-abortion rights politicians to be denied communion constitute a minority. Most of the roughly 275 U.S. Catholic bishops have kept quiet about both controversies.
Liberal Catholics claim this silent majority disagrees with strident public pronouncements from outspokenly conservative bishops. Most U.S. bishops, they say, think Notre Dame was right to invite the presidentand that Catholic elected officials should receive communion regardless of their stance on abortion.
Catholic scholar David O'Brien makes the case in the latest National Catholic Reporter:
As Catholic bishops gather in San Antonio this week, they face some tough questions. Their most recent engagements with politics sharpened divisions within the church and left the bishops shaken, even embarrassed....
The shrill reaction of many bishops to President Obama's election and visit to Notre Dame reflected a grim image of an embattled church hunkered down against hostile enemies....
Only a few seem able to resist. One who does so is retired San Francisco Archbishop Emeritus John Quinn. As the ugly rhetoric heated up this spring, Quinn argued that even "where there are grave divisions as there are on abortion," Catholics should recognize that it is in "the interest of both the church and the nation to work together in civility, honesty, and friendship for the common good."
Here's my question to Catholics, like O'Brien, who allege that outbursts of anti-Obama sentiment by some bishops has left the majority of U.S. bishops " shaken, even embarrassed": Is there any hard evidence for that case?
O'Brien cites one retired bishop who publicly broke ranks with the anti-Obama-at-Notre Dame bishops. That's a thin reed on which to claim that most Catholic bishops reject the hard-line anti-Obama statements coming from some of their ilk. I'd like to see some real evidence for this theory, widely held by liberal Catholics. For me, the silence of most U.S. bishops doesn't suffice.
That's interesting (and probably true, which is the reason they have tried so hard to keep it quiet).
I think Bambi at ND was a lead-in to the Abomination of Desolation. He has appointed a nitwit as the ambassador to the Vatican, but a very left-wing nitwit who is going to be connecting with all of the other factions in the Vatican that want to get rid of BXVI and install the Great New Leader, whoever he may be, as part of the URI (United Religions Iniative).
A Catholic can not be a Rat.
Abortion is a strong reason, perhaps the strongest.
Of course the gay plank in the Rat party is also a deal breaker.
But the Rats and socialists make envy a sacrament, exactly wrong, it is a vice.
Lastly, in Genesis, God told Adam and Eve, before throwing them out of the Garden, "By the sweat of your brow will you earn your bread." Which says it all to me... a commandment against socialism in all of its forms.
http://www.collinsreport.net/2009/05/08/rasmussen-or-gallup-who%e2%80%99s-wrong-on-catholic-support-for-obama%e2%80%99s-speech-at-notre-dame/
http://www.collinsreport.net/2009/04/27/notre-dame-the-catholic-potemkin-village-nice-on-the-outside-fake-on-the-inside/
These are just a few of the Collins Report’s essays on Obama at Notre Dame.
"The shrill reaction of many bishops to President Obama's election and visit to Notre Dame reflected a grim image of an embattled church hunkered down against hostile enemies...."
Actually, it wasn't that shrill and many of the protests and criticisms were very moderate. As for those who remained silent, they will have to answer to God and explain themselves. It's possible that most are heretics, fruitcakes, and liberals who adore Obama and approve of his policies. Others may just have been timid. Others may have concluded they should not get involved in politics or the internal affairs of a university. These are wrong conclusions but much of the institutional Church effectively is in schism.
This is another example of people pointing to liberal modernism and claiming this is the mainstream of Catholicism. Heresy gives rise to scandal.
In point of fact it is very clear that giving Obama an honorary doctoral degree and a podium to advance his anti-life views is contrary to the official policy of the church and even spelled out by the USCCB. Pro-abortionists are not to be given awards, honors, or a forum to advance abortion or embryonic stem cell research. If most bishops thought it was OK this hardly supports Notre Dame or Obama. It just shows how corrupt the modernist church hierarchy in the U.S. has become.
Anyone who supports Obama or votes Democrat is an accomplice in the murder of millions of innocent babies. This is a right or wrong issue. There is no middle ground in the confrontation with evil.
how does one logically appeal to the authority of the Bible and at the same time deny the authority of the Church which by divine guidance formalized the canon of Scripture?
there have been frauds in the Church since shortly after its birth (”even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light”); and on FR we see almost daily the quote of bishops’ skulls lining the floor of Hell; thus, there should be no surprise regarding the existence of false shepherds today
thank you for your witness to life
Mine are not cheap shots at Catholism but only shots at some of the people who are Catholic and who hold some beliefs that I find sickening.
Don’t worry, LCJ, no matter what you say, if it’s against a Catholic they will pounce on you. It can be the absolute truth and they will attack you for it. Speak truth.
Well said, and absolutely correct.
My parish here in WA is having a hard time meeting the Catholic Appeal pledges this year and I think it is due to disgust with the pro-obama at ND bishops. In about 10 more years all the “I marched with King in Alabama” priests (if I had a nickel for every professor I knew that claims it, almost like saying “Wahington slept here” and I am hearing many priests say this too) will be retired and more traditional priests will rise up in the parishes.
The Good People are nothing you want to fool with.
That reminds me, midsummer eve is in a couple nights, isn't it?
Lets say this once and for all....If you are a Catholic that supports Obama, then you are no Catholic. I dont know what you are, maybe you are a Pagan or a Satanist, but you are not a Catholic.
Anyone who supports a President that supports abortion and says they are a good Catholic is a dirty rotten low down sleazy floor flushing dirtbag.
/////////////////////
yep
>>What do you find sickening?<<
The advocacy for socialism: not voluntarily through charity but an outright appeal and championing for government to handle the charitable functions.
What is your sect?
>>What is your sect?<<
I do not follow your question. I am a Roman Catholic who lives in the Atlanta metro area. ‘Sect’ is a new one on me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.