Posted on 11/18/2012 3:09:30 PM PST by NYer
WASHINGTON--The Catholic Church--a politically and ethnically sprawling institution--has no natural home on the American ideological spectrum. Neither major party combines moral conservatism with a passion for social justice. So Catholic leaders have often challenged Democrats to be more pro-life and Republicans to be more concerned about immigrants and the poor.
But President Obama's first term was a period of unexpected aggression against the rights of religious institutions. His Justice Department, in the Hosanna-Tabor case, argued against the existence of any "ministerial exception" to employment rules. Obama tried to mandate that Catholic schools, hospitals, and charities offer insurance coverage for contraceptives and abortifacients. His revised policy still asserts a federal power to declare some religious institutions secular in purpose, reducing them to second-rate status under the First Amendment.
On top of this, Obama ran a stridently pro-abortion re-election campaign, seeking culture-war advantage on an issue he seldom mentioned four years ago.
The Catholic hierarchy and more traditional Catholic laymen reacted as you'd expect. Bishops issued pastoral letters in defense of religious liberty. Conservative and pro-life groups organized in battleground states.
The result? According to the first cut of exit poll analysis by the Pew Research Center, Obama's support among white Catholics fell to 40 percent--seven points lower than four years ago. It was one of the largest swings of any portion of the electorate. John Green of the University of Akron argues that the religious liberty issue came to "encapsulate other concerns such as abortion and marriage" among many regular mass attendees.
In a close election, this reaction might have made all the difference. But the election wasn't particularly close. And the trend among white Catholics was partially offset by Latino Catholics moving in the opposite direction for reasons unrelated to abortion or religious freedom. (Obama gained three points among Hispanic Catholics and took three-quarters of their votes.) In the end, Obama won the total Catholic vote by a small margin.
This result reveals a tension at the heart of the Republican coalition. The portion of that coalition that is pushing away Latino Catholics is making the political work of conservative Catholics far more difficult.
There's an interesting statistic we have not seen before.
I am a strict-constructionist fallen-away catholic agnostic who couldn’t disagree more. The Constitution needs to be re instituted. Belief in this deity or that is meaningless as it pertains to our drain-circling republic.
Pandering to any group should be a no.
GOSPEL Mk 13:24-32
Jesus said to his disciples:
"In those days after that tribulation
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
"And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds'
with great power and glory,
and then he will send out the angels
and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.
"Learn a lesson from the fig tree.
When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves,
you know that summer is near.
In the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that he is near, at the gates.
Amen, I say to you,
this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.
"But of that day or hour, no one knows,
neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
I wish I could have recorded our priest's homily this week. It was as stark and dire as I have ever heard from a priest. He was bluntly telling us, correctly, that we are heading into a time of persecution, but also that this will be a great time for Church renewal. We will have to evangelize again, and starting with ourselves.
“So Catholic leaders have often challenged Democrats to be more pro-life and Republicans to be more concerned about immigrants and the poor.”
Gentlemen do not discuss the unspeakable in public, and thus I ignore the above sentence content dealing with Democrats.
However, the part about “Catholic leaders” challenging Republicans to “be more concerned with immigrants and the poor” deserves a critical review.
“Catholic leaders” are assumed to live as examples of, and act in light of what G*d is said to have given Man as recorded in the Old & New Testaments. Therein is the line about ‘having the poor with you always’.
And, Jesus was supposed to have said that those who would not work would not eat. But, what did He know.
Unwilling to accept Divine perspectives on poverty and sloth, the activists/commies/queers in the Catholic Church decided that they were wiser than the alleged source cited in the Old/New Testaments and struck off boldly where not only did angels fear to tread, as even the angels were forbidden to tread that path.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, theft was theft. Likewise, that Man had to work after expulsion from the Garden of Eden was once accepted as the will of G*d. But, what did He know? Interpretation of the Scriptures led to exactly where was predicted.
“You shall teach these laws diligently unto your children” was considered to mean what it says, and people and theologians alike knew the difference between “teach” and “interpret”
Liberation Theology was, in essence, socialism. Socialism violates a certain Commandment regarding the Divine prohibition against stealing. Try as I have, I could find no phrase in that Commandment which can in any way be taken a justification or authorization to use government to steal for either oneself or another.
Along with rampant homosexual takeover of seminaries, the Catholic Church embraced “Liberation Theology” which was merely small ‘c’ communism with a flavor of theology.
Public rejection of the Church (but not the Scriptures) has become widespread, and another Reformation is occurring as we watch. Interestingly, the Soviets repressed the Church for nearly a century, and in the end, the Church is growing and the Soviet Union is gone (more or less).
Social justice is bull crap. What it really means is Marxism, unions and confiscating money from people and companies and shipping it off to irresponsible “charities,” which year after year give money to third world dictators that continue to starve their people.
Can someone name one country that we’ve given all these aid and comfort to that has turned around? They all continue to be a mess.
Whatever, I’m just here for the conservative politics. Discussing unprovable entities just seems like a waste of time to me.
Then you somehow missed the post election threads (plural) trying to blame white evangelicals for losing the election because they only 79% voted for Romney. And yet even weekly Catholic attendees did not come that close.
And thus if anything, GOP's salvation lies in being more historically 'Evangelical'
Then you somehow missed the post election threads (plural) trying to blame white evangelicals for losing the election because they only 79% voted for Romney. And yet even weekly Catholic attendees did not come that close.
And thus if anything, GOP's salvation lies in being more historically 'Evangelical'
The Russian Orthodox is growing as the State church, and as in history past, consistent (Gal. 4:29) with the overall institutionalized unregenerate nature it is using the arm of the flesh to persecute the "competition."
Church Demolished: Russia's Fading Religious Freedom
Russia's minority Christians fear return to Soviet era persecution ...
Authorities Target Baptist Churches in Lipetsk, Russia | The ...
Russia Fines Christians For Meeting For Worship « Persecution News
Are you saying that Christ and the Church he founded are unprovable?
I don’t think so.
This has nothing to do with “pandering.” Unless, of course, you consider a statement of principles to be pandering (to what?).
The GOP abandoned its principles, picked an anti-constitutionalist, pro-abortion, pro-gay, non-Christian inherited wealth guy...and they wonder why Catholics didn’t vote?
“Please God, favor the diocese I’m in with a courageous priest like Vince has.”
You know what I heard today? A treatise on the word “provoke”. Yes.
With all the heavy prophecy spoken, by Jesus Himself, directly to His disciples, we get a treatise on the word “provoke”. I could sit there and cry of starvation for lack of being fed, but for the scene it might cause.
I’m dyin’ here, and angry! The blind are in the Church and too many are priests.
The republicans have won the Catholic 5 times in history, possibly 6 if 1956 is accepted.
They may win it once or twice more, but possibly never again.
Taking care of the poor is a mandate from Jesus to individuals, IOW, the CHURCH, not the government.
Church people of any denomination have, and had, NO business whatsoever of voting away their responsibility as individuals to care for the poor.
They have abdicated their responsibility before God and that is what has gotten us into the mess we're in.
And they/we will have to answer for it.
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