A bishop’s unjust attack on Paul Ryan

Washington Post ^ | 04/23/2012 | Marc A. Thiessen

[SeekAndFind]

President Obama attacked Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget as “nothing but thinly veiled Social Darwinism.” That is not surprising. What is surprising is that the chairman of a major committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a similar scathing attack against Ryan, a faithful Catholic who says his budget work is informed and guided by the social teaching of the Church.

Using Obama’s campaign rhetoric, Bishop Stephen Blaire, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, recently wrote to Congress declaring that Ryan’s budget “fails to meet [the Church’s] moral criteria” because it does not require “shared sacrifice,” which Blaire [like Obama] defines as tax increases and cuts to “unnecessary” defense spending. Some of the proposed spending cuts in Ryan’s budget, Blaire said, are “unjust and wrong.”

Blaire has it backward. What is “unjust and wrong” is this bishop’s attack on a good Catholic layman.

Put aside for a moment the fact that “shared sacrifice” appears nowhere in the catechism of the Catholic Church. It is a reelection slogan for the Democratic Party. Put aside, as well, the fact that the bishop of Stockton, Calif., has near-zero competence to judge what military spending is necessary or unnecessary. The fact is Ryan’s budget does not cut spending at all — it simply slows the growth of spending. As Ryan explained in an interview on the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), “our budget increases annual spending by 3 percent a year instead of the president’s proposal to go to 4 ½ percent a year.”

[Scotswife]

While I have read bible passages concerning charity & love for the poor, I have yet to see where forced “shared sacrifice” comes into it.

I have yet to see the scripture that describes government beauracracies as the proper vessel for distributing money to the poor.

I’m tired of these guys pretending they have any better understanding of economics than the laypeople in the pews.

[icwhatudo]

What is surprising is anyone who still does not know that any committee with the word “justice” in it is just a haven for leftist ideas.

Little by little they are cleaning house, this too (hopefully) shall pass.

[Machavelli]

The Bishop should educate himself. This whole concept of social justice being the shared purvue of the state and the Church is incredibly destructive and will eventually lead to a state run church. Personally, I do not believe that a self serving politician (is there any other kind?) is actually capable of performing a charitable act. If indeed charity begins with God the credit is God’s also. I think that Pope Leo addressed some of this in 1881 ? in his encyclical.

[bert]

The poor share nothing. The poor are the cannon fodder for salaried government workers who accomplish nothing at a great cost.

After the riots and calamity, those left living will learn to be self reliant or perish

[A.A. Cunningham]

1878

QUOD APOSTOLICI MUNERIS

[Flintlock]

The Commies took over the RC Church-—LONG AGO!

So, what’s new with you?

[Flintlock]

The Commies took over the RC Church-—LONG AGO!

So, what’s new with you?

[stockpirate]

too bad their leaders do not adhere to that doctrine

[A.A. Cunningham]

One needs to distinguish between ignorant prudential statements made by individuals and the actual teaching of the Church.

[Mach9]

It’s taking the American church, like all behemoth corporations, an awfully long time to correct past mistakes. In this instance, the mistake was swallowing the poison-spiked pablum served up by Vatican II “mediators.” And Blaire, as a life-long Californian, just ate it up.

[Notwithstanding]

We should ignore all “justice and peace” -niks unless they make it a point to decry abortion as the number 1 injustice in the world. If they are active pro-lifers then I will gladly listen to what they might have to say about other things.

[Mercat]

And one of the scariest things about this man is that he’s named Peter.

One Of These Men Will Be The Next Pope

1/16

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson

AP
Country: Ghana
Position: President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
Age: 63
Likelihood: Highest odds according to Paddy Power: 2/1, which seems way high to us even though he is a very strong candidate.
What His Election Would Mean: That the Cardinals recognize the future isn’t in Benedict’s Europe but in the explosive growth of the Church in the “global South”
Reasons He’ll Get Elected: He is a superstar in the College of Cardinals, a great communicator, and symbol of the global reach of the Church.
Reasons He Might Not Get Elected: The Catholic Church in Africa can be very disconnected from the Church that the majority of the European Cardinals live in. In Africa the top issues aren’t sexual politics and theological disputes, they are exorcism, animism, the growth of Islam, and condemnation of Western economic policy.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-man-who-will-be-the-next-pope-2012-4#cardinal-peter-kodwo-appiah-turkson-1#ixzz1sxfR4yLo

[RoadTest]

Comrade Blaire, Socialist.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

If these leftie bishops want “shared sacrifice,” how ‘bout they start with paying taxes on all church properties? Give up your tax exempt status, padre, instead of being a hypocrite.

[G Larry]

I’ll have to write the Bishop a little letter pointing out that government theft is no substitute for charity.

[The Sons of Liberty]

If the Bishop tended to church business first, instead of getting involved in politics, perhaps there wouldn’t have been as many pedophile priests running around.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: The Commies took over the RC Church-—LONG AGO!

That’s NEWS to me. Just over two decades ago, Pope John Paul II together with Reagan and Thatcher helped usher in the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.

When did that happen and where’s your evidence?

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Ryan’s budget “fails to meet [the Church’s] moral criteria” because it does not require “shared sacrifice,”

This is why the Catholic agenda is never going to get anywhere in America. The church has a clear, moral position on abortion and fights the good fight, sometimes alone, on Right to Life issues.

Then they go and make an incredibly stupid, ignorant statement like this. Does this bishop not know how much spending has freakin INCREASED over the past decade???? Does he not know the percentage of taxes already paid by "the rich"????? Its knee jerk stupidity to make a comment like he made.

[Tribune7]

Bishop Stephen Blaire, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, recently wrote to Congress declaring that Ryan’s budget “fails to meet [the Church’s] moral criteria” because it does not require “shared sacrifice,

Just asking but what kind of lifestyle does Bishop Blaire have? He's demanding sacrifice but what is he willing to do about it? How new is his car? What model is it? How often does he go out to restaurants? Where does he go on vacations? How many rooms does his house have? Does he have a maid? etc.