Bishop has men arrested for handing out pro-life pamphlets

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paul_Folbrecht
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Well, the Church unfortunately has to protect itself - my understanding is that the Church can lose its tax-exempt status if it turns to partisan politics… That’s the entire idea behind not allowing priests or bishops to endorse political candidates. And the message in the material being handed out was clearly political - “Don’t vote for Obama.” There is a fine line between “Don’t vote pro-choice” and “Don’t vote for Obama.” The first is permitted, the second is not. Having looked at the material, I think it’s a stretch to say that it was not political in nature. The headline in your link says it pretty clearly: “Pro-Life Activists Arrested at Cathedral for Handing Out Anti-Obama Literature.”
 
The Church absolutely has to be careful about not giving the perception of cooperating in such a thinly-veiled partisan act.

I wish the guys could have avoided jail by being removed from the premises. The Church could have then made a public statement renouncing the act.

It could have been a good opportunity to clarify the Church’s pro-life position, the importance it places when considering candidates, etc. while affirming that it does not support a candidate or party.
 
gvogt4 said:
I wish the guys could have avoided jail by being removed from the premises.
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I know Fr Dauses, and I have every reason to believe – I would bet all me dubloons :twocents: – That the gentlemen in question were requested to leave church property, and must have refused.

I do not know Randall Terry, and cannot imagine why he is choosing to push this envelope (cf. A “Humble” Plea)? I also find him sadly disingenuous to claim his agents are distributing “Catholic literature” – I have seen no imprimatur?

:twocents:
tee
 
tee_eff_em said:
I also find him sadly disingenuous to claim his agents are distributing “Catholic literature” – I have seen no imprimatur?

:twocents:
tee
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Good point there. I think it is a good practice to ensure that all literature available at churches have a imprimatur or nihil obstat to ensure that they do indeed fall in line with Church teachings. Aye, mate? 🙂
 
Is this a traditional issue? I must be missing something here.

'chelle
 
strugglingalong said:
So we lose our tax exempt status. Oh well - might make for a purer church.

Pax Christi tecum.
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What!!!

So we can take away money used to minister to souls and give it to a government who is the number one contributor to baby killing Planned Parenthood?
 
strugglingalong said:
You know what though, babies are dying. Is partisanship that important and loss of tax-exempt status? Catholics are going to vote for Obama, sadly. Why not alert them of his pro-abortion record?
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Why not hand out literature on the public sidewalk next to the church, where anyone is free to do so, instead of on the church’s property, where none are so allowed?

tee
 
michelle_p said:
Is this a traditional issue? I must be missing something here.

'chelle
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🤷 the church has constantly taught that abortion is intrinsically evil … all the way back to the foundations … now that sounds TRADITIONAL [a surprise to Pelosi and Biden] … 😉

but I know what you mean … not a traditonal liturgy type of topic …
 
I followed the link and could not find anything about the Archbishop of Balitmore having someone arrested. Why was this asserted in the title of the thread?
 
JKirkLVNV said:
I followed the link and could not find anything about the Archbishop of Balitmore having someone arrested. Why was this asserted in the title of the thread?
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The Bishop is quoted in the article, about the pamplets and why they were arrested … perhps the OP assumed that the Bishop sanctioned the arrest and as such was the ultimate authority … from the story …
The Archdiocesan bishop also said in a statement that “the distribution of materials that encourages Catholics to vote for one candidate over another is a violation of the guidelines governing all non-profit organizations, including churches.” Sean Cain, speaking on behalf of the Archdiocese, said the pamphlets were problematic because there was “too much of a grey area” to argue that they were not advertising a political party.
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tee_eff_em said:
Why not hand out literature on the public sidewalk next to the church, where anyone is free to do so, instead of on the church’s property, where none are so allowed?
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Perhaps they wanted to be arrested. Both men were arrested at the Democratic National Convention in another Randall Terry demonstration.
zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080827/UPDATES01/80827003

And one of the men, Joseph Landry, was arrested outside a Florida cathedral earlier this year, also in a Randall Terry demonstration.
suncoastpinellas.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/22/221714/anit-abortion-activists-arrested-st-petersburg-chu/
 
Hello,

I apologize if the thread title was a little misleading - I was going by the gist of the LS story.

I for one would like to know that every attempt was made to persuade the men to leave before resorting to calling the police. I mean, come on - Catholic authorities calling the police to arrest peaceful pro-life demonstrators? To avoid losing non-tax-exempt status?! (The church would have to be proven to be actively supporting a political candidate before such a thing would even be considered!)

On the other hand, maybe they did simply want to be arrested, and there are details we don’t know. I wasn’t making a strong judgment by posting the thread (though perhaps the title suggests that) - just throwing it out there.
 
Paul_Folbrecht said:
I for one would like to know that every attempt was made to persuade the men to leave before resorting to calling the police.
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tee_eff_em said:
Political literature gets two arrested at basilica
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“Their literature was patently partisan, focusing on individual candidates, rather than issues,” said Father Jeffrey Dauses, pastor of the basilica. “At no time were they inside the basilica, but they were on the patio in front of church.
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After repeated requests to leave church property, from security, a sacristant and myself, two of the four complied.
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The other two refused and were arrested.”
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I don’t know how much more effort could be expected?

tee
 
I honestly didn’t read the article carefully enough before posting.

If this thread is a waste of time, I have no objections to closing it.
 
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