Posted on 10/10/2020 7:26:03 AM PDT by ebb tide
October 9, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Robert Barron has joined a small chorus of prominent faith leaders and “conservative” voices obscuring the clear choices Catholics and other people of faith face in the rapidly approaching presidential election.
And while their chorus is indeed small — mostly high-profile “Never Trump” academics — they have large megaphones with which to spread their confused, off-key messages.
Barron published a murky, equivocating commentary on what he describes as the “intense dilemma” Catholics face with regard to their vote.
For pro-life Chrisitians, there is no “intense dilemma,” as explained with uncompromising clarity by Bishop Joseph Strickland, Fr. James Altman, and others.
“Which of the two parties is more ‘Catholic’?” asked the Los Angeles auxiliary bishop. “It seems to me impossible to adjudicate the question in the abstract.”
“A Catholic in good conscience could never say that she will vote for Joe Biden because the Democrat is pro-choice, and by the same token, a Catholic in good conscience could never say that he will vote for Donald Trump because the Republican is for capital punishment,” asserted Barron.
“In the political calculus of a Catholic, opposition to abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment should take pride of place,” said Barron, finally allowing that “the number of those threatened by abortion and euthanasia is far greater than the number of those under threat of capital punishment.”
However, by the end, the vagueness of Barron’s commentary overwhelms this glimmer of moral clarity. The choice is not “impossible to adjudicate,” “political calculus,” or “complicated politically.” It is crystal-clear.
“To vote for a candidate for president is to have an infinitesimal effect on the outcome of the election, but to wholly determine whom one wills to be president,” asserted Ramesh Ponnuru and Prof. Robert P. George, writing at National Review.
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PETITION UPDATE (9/29/20)
Cardinal Raymond Burke has stated that Democratic candidate Joe Biden should not receive Holy Communion because of his support for abortion.
In an interview for Thomas McKenna's Catholic Action for Faith and Family podcast, Cardinal Burke states the following (starting around 5:00):
First of all, I would tell him [Biden] not to approach to receive Holy Communion, out of charity toward him, because that would be a sacrilege and endanger the salvation of his own soul.
But, also, he should not approach to receive Holy Communion because he gives scandal to everyone, because if someone says, 'I'm a devout Catholic," and, at the same time is promoting abortion, it gives the impression to others that it's acceptable for a Catholic to be in favor of abortion.
Of course, it's absolutely not acceptable, and never has been, and never will be.
We give thanks for Cardinal Burke's frankness and clarity. And, we call on every U.S. Catholic bishop to follow Cardinal Burke's lead and call out Joe Biden for his bloody-minded hypocrisy on the issue of abortion.
To reiterate: You cannot be a Catholic and support abortion.
Thank you for continuing to sign this urgent petition.
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PETITION UPDATE (8/17/20)
The Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, keeps claiming to be Catholic but has said he will do everything in his power to support abortion.
And, with his pick of California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, Biden has just cemented abortion into the Democrats' 2020 presidential ticket.
Indeed, Harris is vehemently pro-abortion.
During her time as attorney general of California, Harris played a key role in defending Planned Parenthood over its sale of aborted baby parts (which violated multiple federal laws, according to undercover video of abortion industry personnel).
And, last year, Harris unveiled a plan to essentially force pro-life states to seek permission from the federal government before pro-life laws can take effect.
Additionally, Harris has dangerous views on religious liberty and freedom of speech.
Harris displayed anti-Catholic bigotry in the confirmation hearings of Judge Brian Buescher. Harris cited his membership in the “all-male society” the Knights of Columbus and its stances against abortion and same-sex “marriage” as grounds for rejecting Buescher for a federal district court in Nebraska.
And, David Daleiden, head of the pro-life investigative group Center for Medical Progress, wrote that from his firsthand experience, he considers Harris the “greatest threat to First Amendment civil rights our country has ever seen.”
Joe Biden has seriously erred by taking on Kamala Harris as his running mate, further distancing himself from the truths of the Catholic Faith, especially that every life is sacred from conception till natural death.
Please CLICK HERE to read an article which details one U.S. bishop's warning about the Biden-Harris ticket.
And, please continue to SIGN and SHARE this petition.
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Of course, these two things are incompatible: you cannot be Catholic and pro-abortion.
And, a "Catholic" politician's responsibility in this regard is absolute: On pain of serious sin, he or she can never promote abortion because abortion is the wilful murder of innocent preborn human beings, and also because doing so causes grave scandal to the Church and the faithful.
Please SIGN this urgent petition asking the bishops of the United States to refuse to give Holy Communion to Joe Biden until he publicly repents from his scandalous promotion of abortion.
Biden recently promised to “codify Roe v. Wade” as president, adding, "my Justice Department will do everything in its power to stop the rash of state laws that so blatantly violate a woman’s protected, constitutional right to choose."
And, since starting his latest run for the presidency, Biden also flip-flopped against the Hyde Amendment, saying that he would allow federal funds to be spent on abortion - a position he claimed to be against for more than 40 years.
In short, Joe Biden will do everything in his power to enable and defend the wilful murder of innocent preborn human beings.
So, this should not be a hard decision for our U.S. bishops. In fact, in another circumstance, it was already done by an Illinois bishop.
Indeed, Bishop Paprocki, of Springfield, Illinois, invoked Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law to withdraw Holy Communion from two Illinois state politicians who had worked to enact radical new abortion legislation in 2019.
Canon 915 states: "Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."
Of course, no-one, least of all the bishops, wants anyone to be deprived of Holy Communion.
A politician who publicly and obstinately advocates for the murder of innocent preborn babies puts himself out-of-communion with the Church and her teaching.
Pro-abortion politicians should not think that they can advocate for the murder of the unborn and receive the Body of Christ at the same time. This would be to defile the Eucharist while giving scandal to the faithful.
Depriving politicians of Holy Communion is not just meant to prevent scandal; it is also designed to bring a grave public sinner to repentance. In this way, such an action is meant to be for the good of their souls, too.
Thank you for SIGNING this urgent petition which calls on the U.S. Catholic bishops to refuse to admit Joe Biden to Holy Communion until he publicly repents from his scandalous promotion of abortion.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Joe Biden: I support abortion ‘under any circumstance’ - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/joe-biden-i-support-abortion-under-any-circumstance
Catholic priest denies Joe Biden Holy Communion for pro-abortion stance - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-priest-denies-joe-biden-holy-communion-for-pro-abortion-stance
Cardinal McCarrick and the Concealing of Rome’s Position on Denying Communion - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-mccarrick-and-the-concealing-of-romes-position-on-denying-communio
**Photo Credit: Joshua Roberts / Getty Images
Ponnuru is a senior editor of National Review. Prof. George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and the director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.
Their assertion echoes the words of Matthew Franck, whose animosity toward Donald Trump was so great that in 2016 that Franck urged, “Vote as if your ballot determines nothing whatsoever — except the shape of your own character.”
Franck is also associate director of the James Madison Program and lecturer in politics at Princeton University, working alongside Prof. George.
“Neither of us has endorsed Donald Trump,” admitted Ponnuru and George. “Both of us have been intensely critical of him on issues of personal character and, in some cases, public policy.”
These two towering figures in the world of concervative Catholicism then offered cover for Catholics to vote the “pro–abortion up until the moment of birth” Democratic ticket, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris:
We do not claim, as some have claimed, that Catholics and other pro-life citizens have an obligation to cast their ballot for him. The premises of the argument against abortion do not by themselves compel such a stance. People who share the view that the abortion license is a profound injustice on a massive scale that must be resolutely opposed can reach different conclusions about whether Trump deserves their vote.
Professors George and Franck are senior fellows at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. Witherspoon’s weekdaily publication, Public Discourse, recently ran a series of short essays by Catholic and Evangelical thinkers offering a “variety of perspectives on the difficult prudential question of how social conservatives should vote this November.”
And although, according to the editors at Public Discourse, “these authors all share a core commitment to Biblical and natural law morality,” three of the four were Never-Trumpers, rolling out the red carpet for Public Discourse’s conservatice Christian readers to vote for Biden-Harris:
“Christian Witness Demands That We Defend Truth — and Reject Donald Trump,” blared the headline for Dr. O. Alan Noble’s article.
“To support Trump would require me to support four more years of epistemological chaos,” said Noble, associate professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University and editor-in-chief of Christ and Pop Culture. “To vote for four more years of this is to welcome and condone the further decay of our nation, and to accept the use of unmitigated propaganda.”
Brandon McGinley offered “A Christian case for not voting for either presidential candidate in 2020.
“The options this November, and the trajectories they promise, are not acceptable, and in choosing between them we risk forsaking our calling by soiling our witness,” said McGinley.
Charles C. Camosy, associate professor of theology at Jesuit-run Fordham University, then offered a rationale for voting for the American Solidarity Party, which begins with an unself-conscious litany of unsubstantiated accusations:
Donald Trump is totally incompetent at running the executive branch, a coddler of dictators, and an excuser of the Chinese genocide of Muslims. He gives comfort to racists and has lived his life as a disgusting sexist. I agree with Bishop Flores of Brownsville, Texas that his immigration policies constitute cooperation with intrinsic evil. He is now so associated with pro-life, anti-abortion activism and religious liberty that it will take decades for these movements to recover, particularly among young people.
We should, therefore, not vote for Trump-Pence.
Even the sole essay offering support — tepid support at best — for President Trump’s re-election bears the half-hearted headline, “Donald Trump and Our Heritage: Confessions of an Anti-Anti-Trumper.”
“‘Can this appallingly immature and vicious person really be my president?!’ I thought, as I rubbed my eyes,” wonders Ralph Hancock, professor of political science at Brigham Young University, in his opening paragraph.
“Our friends at Public Discourse ... are acting as if their goal is to split the religious conservative vote for Trump so that they can get Biden/Harris elected,” wrote Prof. Robert Gagnon in a searing critique posted on Facebook.
“They did a little symposium of articles, free of critique, on the coming presidential election in which 3 of the 4 invited contributors were variations of Never-Trumpism. Yet they didn't find that imbalanced, apparently. Getting Biden/Harris in the White House may not be their goal; but it sure is the effect,” continued Gagnon, professor of New Testament theology at Houston Baptist University and former associate professor of the New Testament at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
“This isn't even balanced from a neutral perspective, let alone sensible given what's at stake,” said Gagnon. “Apparently they think this is a nice academic exercise without devastating consequences for Christians should Biden/Harris get in power.”
“What a disappointment,” he declared.
Grassroots conservative Catholics and Evangelicals — those kneeling in the pews, not standing behind lecterns at prestigious universities — have become, quite remarkably, clearer thinkers than many in the hand-wringing conservatives of the academic and media class.
Their contrived justifications for voting for anyone but President Trump fail to hide their naked, seething contempt for him.
They’ve discredited themselves, condemning the non-egghead pro-life, pro–marriage and family Christians who plan to vote for the President’s re-election for having soiled souls, while their souls are spotless.
Although they’ve assiduously avoided using the term, like Hillary Clinton, they regard trump supporters as “Deplorables.”
Ping
Heretic Barron Ping
Hmm. Well, Barron, our Bishop showed up at church last Sunday to tell us that abortion is the absolute pre- eminent issue in regards to voting. Said there is no moral debate that the unborn are the most innocent and vulnerable in society and it is our moral obligation to defend them . I’m sure he angered a lot of Barron /Biden Catholics who are federal employees and teachers at our church.
The church was destroyed from within when Benedict was ousted and Francis was installed.
No *true* Christian would consider voting for today’s Rat Party! Not for a millisecond!
Excellent
Democratic platform is a Romans 1 platform. Indeed “haters of God”.
What I know about Benedict is that he was JPII’s preferred candidate. That’s enough for me.
Well, I very clearly remember being on FR during his entire papacy, and I didn't see a SINGLE positive post about him from any protestant FReeper during that time. Mostly they'd just mock how old he was, call him "nazi pope" because Benedict had been forced to join Hitler Youth when he was a young child, and post memes comparing him to Darth Sideous.
Now, they retroactively claim they "liked and respected your LAST Pope"
Reminds of me leftist DemonRats retroactively insisting they were "anti-war" when Clinton was bombing aspirin factories.
The ten states with the highest Catholic populations (measured as a % of the total population) are:
1. Rhode Island
2T. Massachusetts
2T. New Jersey
2T. New Mexico
5T. Connecticut
5T. New York
7T. California
7T. Illinois
Meanwhile, the states where Catholics comprise less than 10% of the total population include:
Alabama
Arkansas
Georgia
Mississippi
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Utah
West Virginia
Notice a trend here, folks?
“The church was destroyed from within when Benedict was ousted and Francis was installed.”
The Church was neither destroyed nor can it be. That is Biblical promise from Jesus Christ.
What Protestants thought about Benedict is a separate issue. What’s at stake here is the Catholic vote, and how Francis’ minions and the world press are influencing low-info and left-leaning catholics.
It's more important to make sure that Joek Biden and Kammy Harris install Satanist atheist federal "judges" who will order Catholics to sodomize their own children on the very altars of their churches.
"An anonymous Federal judge-president from the district of Lower Bugtussle today made a nationwide ruling that Catholics must convert their churches to temples devoted to Ba'al and Moloch. And commence sacrificing their children on the brazen blood-stained killing slabs."
“Not even at gunpoint”.
Stark comparison:
never Trumpers is an accepted term, but birthers is not.
Especially when only one of them supplies evidence.
rwood
Pro-life, pro-Israel, pro-God, pro-Constitution, pro-justice.
That leaves only one choice for president.
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