Catholic bishops make last-minute pitch for Romney

[cbayer]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/catholic-bishops-make-last-minute-pitch-for-romney/2012/11/01/af08f1ce-2461-11e2-92f8-7f9c4daf276a_story.html



By David Gibson| Religion News Service, Published: November 1

A number of Roman Catholic bishops are making forceful last-minute appeals to their flock to vote on Election Day, and their exhortations are increasingly sounding like calls to support Republican challenger Mitt Romney over President Obama.

The most recent example: a letter from Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky accusing the administration of an unprecedented “assault upon our religious freedom” and implying that Catholics who pull the lever for Democrats who support abortion rights are like those who condemned Jesus to death.

“Since the foundation of the American Republic and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty than the present,” Jenky writes in the letter, which he ordered priests in his Peoria diocese to read at all Masses on Sunday (Nov. 4).

In the letter, Jenky blames Obama and the Democratic majority in the Senate for trampling on the Catholic Church’s rights and moral convictions by requiring health insurers to provide contraception coverage. Jenky also compares abortion rights supporters to the Jewish crowd in Jerusalem that pledged loyalty to the Roman Empire and demanded that Pontius Pilate crucify Jesus.

more at link

[avebury]

1. I hardly think that church that protects child molesters

is in a position of claiming the moral high ground on anything.

[thelordofhell]

2. Cut off their nose to spite their face

So they're voting for the Mormon over the Christian..............

[Larkspur]

3. 98% of Catholic women use birth control already, so

I don't see them heeding their bishops pleas.

[hockeynut57]

4. it's time for ALL churches to lose tax exempt status nt

[Angry Dragon]

5. +129

[cbayer]

8. Watch what you wish for.

Many churches and religious organizations provide services to the poor that the government does not. Until they holes are closed, the poor in this country are dependent on those services.

Also, the exemptions given to churches are the same given to other non-profits. Are you willing to make the argument that all non-profits should lose their tax exempt status or just churches?

[hockeynut57]

10. seperation of CHURCH and STATE

i see so many examples of "clergy" becoming personally wealthy from the donations of their flock. and using the pulpit to further a political cause

[cbayer]

11. And I agree with you that the rules need to be more clearly interpreted.

Clearly if someone is becoming personally wealthy, the question of whether they are truly a non-profit becomes very important.

Preaching political causes from the pulpit is legal. Promoting specific candidates is not. Many churches preach progressive/liberal social causes. Do you wish to silence them?

[hockeynut57]

12. i dn't wish to silence anyone

ut i also don't want to give any money making organization a free pass just because their product is spiritual in nature, i 've done more than a few sound system installs of over $100,000 for churches. this money was not spent feeding the poor, but used to satisfy a pastor ego

[cbayer]

13. The only case I am trying to make is that it is important to distinguish between

those that are doing good, are truly non-profit and operate at the financial margins and those that are not. To eliminate all tax exemptions would hurt the first group, and the poor that they serve, more than it would the second.

While I agree that the issue needs to be addressed, I object to blanket statements that all tax exemptions for all churches should be revoked.

[hockeynut57]

15. t i see your point

i st don't see many churches around here fall into that category, but i am happy tp hear they do exist. i think we willboth agree that there are many more loopholes that need to be closed before non profits

[cbayer]

17. We agree. Not sure where you live, but you may want to look into food banks,

shelters, housing and other programs for addicts in recovery and those coming out of prisons, domestic abuse victims, etc.

Our government is woefully inadequate at serving these populations.

Nice talking with you.

[hockeynut57]

19. i drive for a local RTA in ohio real familiar withe holes in the system

peace my friend , see ya down the road

[patrice]

6. There are voices in the flock who are taking a stand for the primacy of individual conscience:

The National Catholic Reporter is following this issue and also doing good reporting about issues having to do with female religious orders within the RC church:

http://ncronline.org/node/37926

[cbayer]

9. Good news there. I think the bishops are only continuing to distance themselves from

many Catholics.

[Angry Dragon]

7. I see he is blaming the Jews again

It is strange because that was gods' will for his son to die so they were just doing the work of god
How do they expalin that??

[LiberalEsto]

14. TAX THEM NOW!

This is not a church, it's a political coercion organization.

[demosincebirth]

16. I read that 60 percent of Catholics, which I am one, are voting for Obama. Think of the future and

the sixty percent who are, with us, in voting for Barack Obama.

[cbayer]

18. Agree. Despite this, I think most Catholics will go Democratic as they traditionally have.

[Swede Atlanta]

20. Catholic bishops supporting Robme?

Abortion and gay marriage aside, Robme shares no common values with traditional catholic values.

Catholics have historically championed the poor and the sick. Robme wants to starve the poor and push the sick to the emergency room (which is not healthcare).

Robme is not a Christian by any definition of the word. Robme believes in Elohim living hear the planet Kolob (has this been identified by any astronomer?). They don't believe in the Trinity or that Jesus is the savior.

So if they are taking this according to their core beliefs they are abandoning those in favor of some belief that Robme abhors abortion and hates the gays.

[cbayer]

21. Pretty ironic, isn't it? Deal with the devil?

[dimbear]

22. Just because Mormon scripture refers to the Catholic church as great and abominable and compares it

to the Whore of Babylon is no reason to hold a grudge. The Mormons haven't done anything seriously wrong, like, oh, giving women equality.

[rug]

23. Then it's a good thing there are 456 U.S. bishops and 64 million U.S. Catholics.

[pinto]

24. Here's the letter -

MOST REV. DANIEL R. JENKY, C.S.C.
OFFICE OF THE BISHOP
DIOCESE OF PEORIA

OFFICE OF THE BISHOP
419 N.E. MADISON AVENUE
PEORIA, ILLINOIS 61603
PHONE: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

Election AD 2012

By virtue of your vow of obedience to me as your Bishop, I require that this letter be personally read by each celebrating priest at each Weekend Mass, November 3/4.

Dear Catholic Believers,

Since the foundation of the American Republic and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty than the present. Neither the president of the United States nor the current majority of the Federal Senate have been willing to even consider the Catholic community's grave objections to those HHS mandates that would require all Catholic institutions, exempting only our church buildings, to fund abortion, sterilization, and artificial contraception. This assault upon our religious freedom is simply without precedent in the American political and legal system. Contrary to the guarantees embedded in the First Amendment, the HHS mandates attempt to now narrowly define and thereby drastically limit our traditional religious works. They grossly and intentionally intrude upon the deeply held moral convictions that have always guided our Catholic schools, hospitals, and other apostolic ministries.

Nearly two thousand years ago, after our Savior had been bound, beaten, scourged, mocked, and crowned with thorns, a pagan Roman Procurator displayed Jesus to a hostile crowd by sarcastically declaring: Behold your King. The mob roared back: We have no king but Caesar. Today, Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord. They are objectively guilty of grave sin.

For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel of Life. God is not mocked, and as the Bible clearly teaches, after this passing instant of life on earth, God's great mercy in time will give way to God's perfect judgment in eternity.

I therefore call upon every practicing Catholic in this Diocese to vote. Be faithful to Christ and to your Catholic Faith. May God guide and protect his Holy Church, and may God bless America.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C.

BISHOP OF PEORIA

[cbayer]

25. Ugh. I wonder how many will actually read this to their congregations.