Catholic --- and voting for Kerry for president

[juajen]

This letter to the editor was published in The Daily Advertiser, Lafayette, Louisiana on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2004. It's a wonderful letter and I wanted to share it with my DU pals.

CATHOLIC -- AND VOTING FOR KERRY FOR PRESIDENT

This Catholic is voting for John Kerry! Pro-life, I respect all life -- fromm conception to the moment of natural death.

Some candidates talk pro-life, but oppose programs to assist the poor, the oppressed, minorities and young mothers. They talk pro-life but won't spend a nickel on life.

Some politicians talk pro-life but spend billions of tax dollars not on life, but on capital punishment, wars of choice, and on the culture of fear and death.

Some politicians talk pro-life and use (actually they misuse) scripture verses to justify arrogance and hatred.

They've learned that one can be mean-spirited, hate filled, angry, cheap -- one can even kill -- all in the name of religion, and not feel guilty. They use and misuse religion.

John Kerry, on the other hand, consistently votes for life; he votes for fully funding prenatal care -- that is pro-life; he votes to fully fund medical care for young mothers and their newborns. Kerry votes for universal healthcare for all Americans -- especially for America's working poor. Kerry votes to fund programs ensuring our elders lives of dignity and self-respect. Kerry puts his money where his mouth is and is a pro-life Catholic (in its truest sense).

As I age, I better and better understand the lesson of the cross. Hanging on the cross, Jesus did not die to placate Satan or the Father; He died to placate and awaken us. Jesus crucified teaches -- Look at me! When you think that violence solves problems, gaze upon the cross. This is what happens when you fail to forgive. This is what happens when you think that you alone are right; Look at Jesus crucified. That's what happens when we seek simple-minded answers to complex questions.

I am voting pro-life. I am voting pro-family. I am voting for John Kerry for President.

Ron Bodin
Erath

[JohnKleeb]

1. Catholics will go for Kerry

It's those damn protestants that we have to worry about :).

[harris8]

8. Well, a LOT of (maybe most?) Catholics will go for Kerry!

At least, I will - but I'm just one Catholic. I wasted way too many hours trying to counter the lies spewed on the freeper-infested politics forum (http://forums.catholic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27) at Catholic Answers, where you might get the strong impression that "ALL CATHOLICS MUST VOTE FOR BUSH, THE ONLY PRO-LIFE CANDIDATE!" :puke:

Check out: http://catholicsforkerry04.org/ and http://www.catholicsforkerry.net/

[newyawker99]

20. Hi harris8!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Xipe Totec]

2. Catholics Are More Supportive of Church/State Separation

Than the general population, and more opposed to having Catholic doctrine used for political purposes. To the question:

"Do you think it is appropriate for Catholic bishops to refuse to give communion to elected officials who publicly disagree with the Church's position on issues like abortion, or is that not appropriate?"

72% of the population said not appropriate, but a greater 78% of Catholics said not appropriate.

http://www.pollingreport.com/religion.htm

The Bushistas are barking up the wrong tree again.

(on edit, bon jour to our Cajun friends, "laissez le bon temps rouler!" )

[juajen]

3. I thought the letter was interesting and moving

I live in a very Catholic area, South Louisiana, and, unfortunately, I think the majority will go for Bush. I hate this, and loved the letter. Hope it makes a difference in our area, though not sure how many people read the letters to the editor, or even the newspaper regularly here anymore.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Question Regarding Iraq,

Do you know how many of the soldiers that have died in Iraq hail from Louisiana? And do you know how many of them are Catholic?

I'm wondering if we as Catholics should hold a mass for them on All Saints Day, Nov 2nd.

[Maeve]

6. One dead would be enough for a mass

Nice idea!
Minor correction--All Saints is Nov 1--Nov 2 is All Souls.

[Xipe Totec]

17. Yes, I meant All Souls

I was rushing out the door as I was typing and messed up.

My Idea was for each parish where a soldier has died to hold a memorial service on all souls day, remembering the lives lost in Iraq over this war.

(On edit):

I should add that this could hold a special significance in Mexican-American communities where the Day of the Dead, "All Souls Day", is an important cultural event. Mexican-Americans are overwhelmingly Catholic. We want to raise their conciousness of the war dead as they head for the polling booths on November 2nd, especially in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, New York, and Illinois.

[juajen]

9. I don't know. Our reserve unit has only recently gone to Iraq

and two boys from our local high school have already been killed. One is certainly a Catholic, not sure about the other. BTW, I have a lot of respect for catholics since living here for over 20 years, but I am not Catholic, nor do I belong to any organized, or disorganized religion. For many years now, I have lived with God inside me, not inside a designated building. I have been disappointed and discouraged too many times with organized religion. I respect individual religious beliefs, however, except when they are damaging to society.

[bunkerbuster1]

27. taking minor, poite issue: they're not really barking up the wrong tree.

The Bushistas are barking up the wrong tree again

you'd think so, but it's even worse than that.

Yes, those ratfuckers put front and center every / any hillbilly priest who wants to deny Kerry communion for his pro-choice voting record. That's supposedly to deter Catholics from voting for Kerry.

There's two problems with this supposition:

1) as mentioned earlier, Catholics have been living with the contradictions of church teachings and reality for years. They routinely ignore teachings on birth control, for example. This isn't the source of great internal conflict in those Catholics I've known--it's just part of life, and they deal. So dealing with a candidate that's not perfectly in harmony with church dogma isn't a big deal for most Catholics.

2) it's not to deter Catholics as it is to REMIND EVANGELICALS THAT KERRY IS CATHOLIC. As in, a "Mary-worshipper." As in, NOT a "real" born-again Christian like (supposedly) Bush the Lessor.

it is to barf. but it is.

[faithnotgreed]

4. that is awesome. bush uses Jesus in the most false and blasphemous

way. i dont know what will happen to bush (im not talking about the election), and that really is not my judgment or my business. but i do feel strongly that he consistently makes a mockery of who God really is and who God has shown Himself to be to those who will see.


thank you ron bodin.

[Nicholas_J]

7. There are a number of Catholics

Who are doing a great deal to try to push Catholics towards voting for Bush, nasingf this on the abortion issue.

If you visit the EWTN web site, and go into the FAQ's section you will see that a number of the modeators answering the question clearly favor Bush, and also try to do a great deal to influence the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in America in order to get them to firmly state that voting for a candidate who is not openly anti abortion is a sin for Catholics, though by and large, most of the chruch leadership in the U.S. has stated that one issue alone cannot be given greater weight than others. A large number of Catholic Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals have stated that one must consider the Social Encyclicals of the Church and the Pope as much as one considers the Pro-Life encyclicals. The stance is that as long as a Cathoic does not vote for a candidate because they are not anti abortion, that this should not be considered a sin. If one chooses to vote against Bush and for Kerry based on the fact that Bush's policies have driven many people into poverty, have caused people to die for lack of access to health caredue to lack of health benefits, that this is a valid choice.

There has been an ill wind blowing in the Catholic Church lately, in that a large number of ex-evangelicals have converted to the Catholic Church, as well as a large number of Evangelical and Protestant ministers also converting. The rules of the Catholic Church allow a married minister of another denomination to become priests and still remain married. These cross-over priests have brought a lot of political attitudes and political agendas of the evangelicals over to the Cathoic Church, which until recently, left political decisions to the conscience of the voter, and did not attempt to create an issue driven agenda, in which one issue is used to drive out all other considerations when it comes to voting for a candidate.

In fact, this small, far right, right to life driven group of new converts to the Catholic Chirch have been infuriated by the recent statements of a number of Bishops who have stated that all aspect of the Catholic faith must be considered in choosing a candidate, not one, and that issues of social justice must be given equal weight with the right to life issue.

In fact, it would be a good idea for active Catholics who support Kerry and the Democratic Party's agenda to looks at some of the things going on in the Church and in particular look at the web site of EWTN to get an idea of how this very small, but vocal minority in the Catholic Church are esentially trying to seize control of the American Catholic Church on order to bring it in line with the agenda of the likes of Pat Robertson and the Religious Right, and so divest the Catholic Church of fighting for issues like Social Justice, Government responsibility to care for the disabled, the elderly and the poor, and turn the American Catholic Church into another mouthpiece for free market economics and "personal responsibilty" when it comes to government supported social programs and tax breaks for the rich.

The attempt of the far right to eliminate or ignore the Catholic Church's views on social justice is one of the more frightening, yet rarely looked at aspects of the agenda of the Religious Right.

Given enough time, Catolics could see the nomination of Pope Jerry Falwell the Second, if they do not pay attention to what is going on.

[juajen]

10. Egads, they're like kudzu

Ya'll know what kudzu is, doncha?

Thanks all of you for your very insightful posts. I hope the good Catholics kick them right out of their beautiful cathedrals and hearts.

[Nicholas_J]

11. Yup . Sure do.

I live within spitting distance of the Georgia Border.

[juajen]

12. For those of you who aren't familiar with kudzu

It goes everywhere, is unremovable and squeezes the life out of a lot of things, suffocating flora. Mostly in the south, or is it spreading upward? Sorta like the fundies, eh?

[Nicholas_J]

13. Sort of like

Republicans

[juajen]

15. Exactly like pugs, but

fundamentalism even more so. It's insidious and dangerous to everyone on the planet, no matter the religion. This fundamentlism has been with us so long, you'd think we would have noticed how bad it is for the planet. One inquisition was not enough, we just keep repeating it! Is there no solution to this? Will we always be fighting it and/or succumbing.

[saveournation]

25. "Social justice"

Are you describing "social justice" as being synomomous with government redistribution of income as in, for example, the former Soviet Union or Cuba and in fact the U.S. currently? And in the U.S. you are simply not satisfied with the formula or rate of redistribution?

[Maeve]

26. If you want to understand "social justice" in the Catholic sense

Start here: http://www.thesocialagenda.org/index.html

[saveournation]

29. Thank you

I will take a look.
Strange thing is when you go to the link and hit "Article 5 The Welfare State" they have taken down the link.

[indypaul]

14. Another Catholic voting

for John Kerry and John Edwards except not much to
offer in Indiana. We must ask every minister, priest or
rabbi who feels they must deliver a message about
voting from the pulpit that complies with tax laws
to maintain their non-taxable status.
They should all be asked,
"Is your message from the pulpit intended to be religious
with political overtones or political with religious
overtones?" I too am tired of these holier-than-though
judgmental creatures that crawl out from under a rock
every four years, wrap themselves in the bible and
violate every commandment known the the God they
supposedly worship and follow. Think the All-Souls
Day idea has much merit and certainly should be done
throughout the nation. It is certainly true that
there is more sympathy and admiration from persons
opposing our position in Iraq than from those persons
in authority who placed these casualties in harms way.

[juajen]

16. Yeah, and they have such strange leaders

They inevitably look phoney, and even if they look reasonably good, when they open their mouths, out spew maggots. So many of them are not well versed enough in the Bible, to even know how un-Christlike they are.

I had a young man at my dinner table unexpectedly. He apologized and expressed concern that there would be enough to eat. I told him my dinner table was like Christ's fish; it expanded to meet the needs of the people at my table. He had never heard of Christ and the fishes and wine story, and he studied at one time to be a priest. I generalize, I'm sure, but I wonder how they can justify their actions as being Christlike if they know their Bible.

[shrike]

24. I find that one hard to believe

I'm not questioning your account, but hell, the loaves and fishes story was one of the first ones I learned about in Catholic school. Makes me wonder about that guy.

[juajen]

30. I'm sorry

I was laying down on the job (a long heavy sleep). I know it is unbelievable, but this was a 30 year old raised in a Catholic home who at one time wanted to be a priest. I was sorta shocked too.

[vinnievin777]

18. I am Catholic and I will be voting for Kerry

What the Media Should Be Focusing On And Why I support Kerry for President




Those of you who know me, know I really don't care much for politicians or the media and this year is no different. However I care about my country too much to be silent and in addition to all the reasons listed in my book last year I will list the major reasons I think for the good of the country this miserable failure of a president has to go:

The very first and most important reason I support John Kerry for President is the war in Iraq and the deceit of this administration along with the media which worked hand in hand to sell us this war and justify this war for 2 years----- giving this president I am sure all would agree a free pass for up until August for what he calls a miscalculation.--------- And yes I believe the media owes the public an apology as well as the president for trying to cover up this war. I am not just talking about Fox which we all know is pretty much government run television but also the rest of the networks that tried to divert attention every which way they could. Especially CNN which still has in their employ Bob Novak, who in a most traitorous way released the name of Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife (a CIA agent ) because Mr.Wilson exposed the fact that there was no yellow cake connection between Iraq and Africa.

The second and when I think about it I will change my mind and say this is the first and foremost reason I am against Bush's reelection and that is the hateful atmosphere this administration has created that has divided this country and the 1984 type of intimidation ---and the arrogance that has made us look like the "ugly Americans" in the eyes of the world and brought back the divisive hatred we all but eliminated in modern time. Everything from Freedom Fries to the firing of a graphic designer for heckling Bush to the arresting of people wearing T-shirts saying "love America, Hate Bush". But the most troubling feeling was the making Peace a dirty word (scaring even Warner Bros. into taking out Amanda Bynes showing a peace sign) and saying if you are against Bush you are Un-American as the keynote speaker of the Republican National Convention spewed in his dixiecrat speech. It is an Orwellian administration that keeps getting scarier.

The second reason is the economy. The very first thing Mr.Bush did after Sept. 11th is give billions of our tax money to big business and he called it a" stimulus" package. He did this at a time when companies CEO's stole from the stock holders, doctored the books and gave massive layoffs while they turned billions in profits --He did this instead of giving it to the people who were keeping the economy alive, the consumer.
He recently passed a bill that took overtime away from 6 million workers, a bill many good legislators tried to block (for 2years) but he finally got it through. You may be affected and not know it because the media of course did not give this bill much attention so I highly recommend you goggle who is exempt from overtime ---and his original proposal which was much worse. Also the energy crisis that his buddies in Enron caused along with the tax breaks for companies that outsource is the reason our economy is in the shape it is in.
And yes the president's policies do affect our economy.


The fact that he turned a record surplus into a record deficit should be enough but:
If he had used that surplus to fix social security and Medicaid he wouldn't be trying to privatize social security and you wouldn't be worrying about your grandparents who are 65 getting government assistance when they are 80 and you wouldn't be worrying if you are in you fifties even being eligible for social security. By the way the AARP agrees with Kerry's plan to save social security by taxing the richest 2 percent.

Education, well of course you wouldn't expect Bush to be on the side of education. We all know his record there. Teachers now are exempt from overtime (as stated above) and the no child left behind is a joke. Not to mention if your child's school gets money from the No Child Left Behind they now have access to all school records. So don't be surprised if your child when they turn of age are meeting with someone from the armed forces. And the 4,000 dollar college tuition break introduced by the Kerry administration should help out a lot of underprivileged and middle class families.



Environmentally Ill


In the realm of reason as far as Bush philosophy goes you must provide for the general gratification of big business especially coal, oil and mining industries. So it is no surprise he eliminated the tax on oil and chemical industries, thus putting the burden that they cause by polluting on the taxpayer and he will probably do the same to the Iraqi people after his buddies set up shop.


One of the first things Bush did after becoming president was to order a comprehensive six-month review in hopes of turning around Bill Clinton’s proclamation to designate four national monuments covering 540,000 acres.

He then postponed work on the Clean Air and Water Acts and reversed himself on a campaign pledge to reduce acceptable levels of carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. He championed lobbying to weaken Clean Air Act Enforcement so just like under his auspices in Texas where he had more than twice the industrial plants violating clean air rules than any other state he would corrode our nation as a whole. And lets not forget the public was against his stance that it was okay to have higher levels of arsenic and other toxins in drinking water so they forced him to change his mind on that one. But then again being environmentally ill for this administration is only natural.


These are just a few reasons amongst the chapters I wrote about last year.

For the good of our nation whether you are republican, democrat or independent this miserable failure of a president has to go.



May this find everyone out there happy and well,

Vinnie

http://www.vinnievin.com/


PS You may repost.

[juajen]

19. A wonderful post. Thank you

I have said all of this incessantly for the past three or so years, but never as succinctly as you put it. It is very hard to accept that so many of our families, friends and neighbors would vote for this corrupt administration. It is a sadness in my life that just won't go away. Thanks again.

[vinnievin777]

31. Thank you

You made my day!
Vinnie
http://www.vinnievin.com

[newyawker99]

21. Hi vinnievin777!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[vinnievin777]

32. Thanks for the toast.

And I sure will.
Vinnie
www.vinnievin.com

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mrs_Beastman]

22. Catholic and voting for Kerry also

As a Catholic, the issue of social justice is more important by far

[juajen]

23. Thanks every body for your posts

This was an interesting topic to me, glad some other agreed.