The media were tipped off about his intended "homily". One of the irate parishioners turned to him and yelled, "This is not a homily, this is a political speech."
I wish I had a dime for every time either of the Clintons,Al Gore, the "Rev." Al Charlatan or Jesse Jackson stood before the congregation of a black church and preached politics. I'm glad these people spoke up, and am disgusted by the priest tipping off the news media.
I Kings 21 Naboth's vineyard
Genesis 38 Judah and Tamar
II. Standing With the Oppressed, the Weak, the Hurting
Isaiah 58:6-12 True worship and God's promises
II Samuel 9 King David Welcomes Mephibosheth
Matthew 25:31-46 Judgment of the nations
This is what I pray for every night. I too have had the unpleasent experience of walking out of mass because a liberal priest went on a rampage. It worked out OK though. I walked out in the middle of the homily, got in the car, and drove to the next closest church in my area. That church was doing the annual fund raiser and having the people fill out envelopes, so when I got there, I picked up right where I had left off in the previous mass. I didn't miss a thing(lol).
On the subject of "putting the flag before Jesus". I think there are alot of Catholics (including our Archbishop here in LA Ca ) who put their socialist dreams before Jesus,( even to the point of supporting pro abortion people) and try to pass off socialism as the will of the Almighty Father, but, I know this isn't answering the question of the flag before Jesus..
I have struggled with this. I think there is a reason why the stories of scandals broke BEFORE the War. The sex scandals revealed a moral paralysis in the Church. They couldn't handle evil when confronted with it. As with the sex scandals, after 9/11, they sputtered and were indecisive about what to do.
The conclusion I have reached is that we are trying to confront evil and free the Iraqi people, not to mention protect ourselves, and the world, from bio, chemical, and nuclear weapons. Our soldiers have been brutalized and killed in the attempt. You only have to watch a few minutes of the nightly news coverage to see that Saddam is evil. He keeps committing more and more atrocities against, not just our people, but his own people. Not to mention all the atrocities he and his regime committed before the war started, like torturing and murdering children while their parents are forced to watch, dropping people in acid, or, putting them feet first into a plastic shredder, numerous rapes exc.. This is pure, black-hearted EVIL. I do not beleive that Jesus wants people to "turn the other cheek" in this case. I ask WWJD in the good samaritan parable if HE came upon the man being beaten by thugs, who the Samaritan man helped. If HE(Jesus) witnessed the man being beaten would HE stand there and do nothing? Would HE wait until they were finished beating up the man and then merely bind up his wounds? We are not being lukewarm in our response to Saddam. We are not in Iraq because of our flag. We are trying to free the Iraqi people from Husseins brutality. May God help us achieve our goal.
As a final concern, I have considered leaving the Church. I have a HARD time getting to mass ( that's partly because I work on both Saturday and Sunday). I expect to be upset on Sundays now. But, I go because that is what God asks us to do, regardless of weather the priest is annoying. I have alot to be thankful for in my life . I want to give thanks and continue to pray for our troops, nation, and President Bush. I continue to pray for guidance for all of us. We need God now more than ever before. And, I have my back up plan of driving to the other Church if if gets too bad. I'm not saying we shouldn't confront out of control liberal priests (I think they do a terrible mis-deed to our military and their families when they go off like this) but don't leave the whole Church over it