Metmom, if you are getting flcak, I think the problem may be one of perception. When you see your family, you see “practicing Catholics” who inexplicably vote for a clearly Socialist, pro-abortion liberal even though they claim to follow what they believe to be the “Catholic position” on things. I’m sure this is frustrating for you, as it is for me.
As a Catholic myself, when I hear about your family, I “see” Catholics who have been led astray by the very men who were assigned to guide them, and whose souls I fear are in danger because of it. The bishops in charge of these dioceses have much to answer for, IMO.
In all honesty, and even though I regularly rail about the blindness of Catholics who simply do not see (or who do not wish to see) the illogic in their voting habits, I actually pity them. If only they heard the REAL Catholic positions on things, they might think differently, because there is no question that it is Conservatism and not Liberalism that is in line with AUTHENTIC Catholic teaching. The bishops need to hammer home the danger of voting for pro-abortion candidates EVERY WEEK if necessary, and they need to embrace the principle of subsidiarity to handle other domestic problems.
Now if we could get those pesky liberal bishops to preach on THAT instead of the “social justice” claptrap...well, we might just see a change in voting patterns.
Try to take heart! There is a small but growing number of traditional Catholics who are on fire both spiritually and politically, and I assure you, they are as Conservative as all get-out.
Regards,
The problem with this polemic is that Scripturally speaking, (Ja. 2:17,18) the REAL Catholic position is not simply the official line, but how it is interpreted, and what is effectually conveyed, which can be quite different than how some assert the former teaches, as has been shown earlier on this thread (40, 68, 89,)
And thus you have the Traditional Catholic groups and schisms, and the many examples of Rome treating “notorious, unrepentant sinners” as members in life and in death (resulting in defenders of the strict interpretation having to argue they all could have secretly repented before the took of the “Eucharist,” or before they died). .