One Of My Best Friends Got Angry At His (Catholic) Church's Anti-Obama Newsletter

[JimGinPA]

So fo the last couple of weeks he's been donating what he would have put in the collection box to the Obama campaign. He & his wife were big Hillary supporters during the primary too. I know he's sent a lot of money to MoveOn over the years, but this kind of tickled me.

[ShortnFiery]

1. Good! We switched to a more liberal Parish after we received the "Anti-Kerry" letter passed down

from our Bishop the SUNDAY before the 2004 Presidential Election. Our Parish, unlike the one we originally joined, does not allow the passing out of campaign literature in the parking lot. :eyes:

[ingac70]

2. I would quit going.

the Church would stop trying to insert itself in elections if people told them to fuck off when they did interfere.

[pnwmom]

8. Bad advice. The Church needs every liberal voice it has if it is ever

going to change. Pope Ratzinger has a different goal in mind -- he's on record as preferring a smaller, purer Church. Every liberal or progressive who leaves helps him toward his goal.

[ingac70]

10. A smaller church sounds cool to me...

it will just die off that much sooner. And it will be easier to keep up with molesters.

[TornadoTN]

If people want to leave - that would be fine. Maybe it will lead to a split in some churches

It's happened throughout history and we've seen the rise of different denominations and sects. All it would take is a few enterprising individuals who are fed up enough with the church(s) to start their own religious movement that is more liberal and more closely adherent to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I'm non-religious, but I wholeheartedly support those who practice responsibly and for the betterment of mankind.

[olegramps]

15. Well Benedict, know all about smaller churches.

Go to Europe, including Italy, and you will see empty churches by the hundreds. There is no laity and if they did come there wouldn't be any priest to say mass anyway. The Catholic Church in Europe is for all purposes dead and only awaits burial. One of the strongholds of the Catholic Church is the United States, but the laity are at odds with the Vatican on a number of issues and most people just choose to believe what ever suits them; especially in matters regarding sexual conduct. It has always fascinated me how people could be so diametrically opposed to what the Catholic Church teaches, yet continue to belong to it.

[pnwmom]

16. Because they aren't diametrically opposed to most of what the Church teaches.

There are just certain issues on which their consciences tell them the current Church leaders are wrong.

[msedano]

3. ingenious. next step...

tell the priest and the whole parish about this action.

[JimGinPA]

12. I Told Him He Should Put A Note In The Collection Basket...

And he said that was a good idea.

[rurallib]

4. exactly what some friends of mine did here in Iowa.

[hedgehog]

5. We Catholics are increasingly facing the problem that our priests tend

to be aging old men who have received only adulation since the day they were ordained. I've encountered some good men who happened to be priests, but I've also encountered too many who confuse their personal opinions with the Word of God and who use the pulpit and parish bulletin as their private soap box.

Tell your friend to get involved with a group such as Voice of the Faithful or Women Priests.

[Cha]

6. This is my country not

their church.

[northernsoul]

7. I still can't understand how that institution can claim any moral credibility

Between aiding and abetting the rape of children and depriving Africans of their most realistic means of stopping the spread of AIDS, the Catholic Church has a hell of a lot nerve to presume it has the moral authority to tell you how to vote. Liberal Catholics remind me of battered spouses who stay with their abusers "for the sake of the children."

I'll climb into my asbestos suit now. Let the flaming begin.

[progressivebydesign]

11. no flames from me. ... n/t

[zbdent]

9. did he send in the newsletter to the FEC, and the IRS?

[Arugula Latte]

13. I wish people would stop propping up these backwards, medieval, anti-women

institutions like the Catholic Church.

Stop attending, stop donating, and let them wither on the vine.

[goodgd_yall]

14. That's totally inappropriate for the church

If it really is the church's newsletter and it really was explicitly anti-Obama, I'd contact the IRS about them.