Who Wins Catholic Hearts and Minds - Nuns on the Bus or Paul Ryan and the Bishops/Pope?

[yellowcanine]

Or am I wrong to pose it this way?

To me it looks as if NOTB have set themselves up as the Catholic counterweight to the influence of the conservative Catholic establishment on U.S. politics. Who wins this battle for U.S. Catholic voters?

[CurtEastPoint]

1. the nuns, hands down

[cbayer]

2. Agree.

I think they more accurately represent the social justice positions of American Catholics.

[progressivebydesign]

3. Don't forget the Friars.. they're pissed at Ryan, too. n/t

[cr8tvlde]

4. The Bishops, at least some of them, denounced his Budget Plan...

I don't think that's much of a endorsement.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/222003-catholic-bishops-criticize-ryan-budget-cuts-to-food-stamps

[DesertRat]

5. Sister Simone and the nuns on the bus. nt

[Drunken Irishman]

6. If it comes down to a battle between the Pope & the nuns? The Pope...

And it won't even be close. I think a lot of Catholics will support Obama, but the nuns don't hold near the clout with average members as the Pope and Bishops do - at least, that's from my experience.

But I don't think that's what this debate is about. The Pope won't come out and endorse Ryan or his plans and neither will the Bishops. The nuns? They're more vocal against Ryan than either the Pope & the Bishops are in their support...

[pnwmom]

7. My experience has been the opposite of yours. It's the nuns, hands down. n/t

[Drunken Irishman]

9. Yeah?

That's awesome. I wish it was the case with Catholics I speak with. Nuns are respected, but when the leader of your church says something, you listen. Most Catholics I come across respect the nuns and sympathize with their plight, but at the end of the day, the Pope is the leader of the Church - not the nuns...or even the Bishops.

[pnwmom]

10. Most Catholics I know like their parishes and dislike Ratzinger. (Pope Benedict)

And they all know the nuns who help out in the parish and none of them have ever spent any time with a Bishop.

[CurtEastPoint]

11. As a Catholic, I agree. The bishops and Pope lost their credibility and influence a long time ago.

At least for US Catholics and I tend to think elsewhere, too.

[rbrnmw]

8. The nuns al the way

[Motown_Johnny]

12. The Nuns, but the Bishops are against his budget too.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/08/13/683291/why-religious-leaders-have-condemned-the-ryan-romney-budget/

^snip^


-Catholic nuns, priests, and friars have called the Ryan budget “immoral,” a “severe failure,” and the “height of hypocrisy.” Sister Simone Campbell led a 17-city “Nuns on the Bus” tour this summer to visit faith-based social service programs that would be hurt by cuts proposed in the Ryan budget. Last week her organization, NETWORK, and the Franciscan Action Network invited Mitt Romney to spend a day with them visiting the poor in order to meet the people who’d be affected by their budget cuts. NETWORK issued a statement after the Ryan-VP announcement saying, “We agree with Catholic Bishops that Paul Ryan’s budget fails the test of Catholic Social Teaching since it deliberately harms people at the economic margins.”

– Catholic bishops have called the Ryan budget “unjustified and wrong” and failing a moral test. In April the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a public letter to the House of Representatives saying that the federal budget must “protect poor, vulnerable people.”