Bishops finally exercising their teaching role - Dem Pols get spanked

[Lux_et_veritas]

This should be in every paper and I would call on people to write their local newspapers to ask why this kind of thing is not considered news. How many of them carried the Catholic Democrat Politicians statement, but have not covered the response from Catholic Bishops?

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031001845.html

I’ll reiterate - consider writing your local newspapers and ask them to cover this story. The politicians are the tip of the iceberg here. We need lots of everyday Catholics to read what the bishops have to say.

I must say, this was a real breath of fresh air.

There comes a time when being too charitable in not saying anything, becomes uncharitable to those needing correction. And, in this case, to the innocents being slaughtered.

 

[rlg94086]

Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), who spearheaded the letter on Capitol Hill, said in a statement that she appreciated the bishops’ response but did not address the bishops’ rejection of Catholic lawmakers’ request to respectfully disagree with the church on abortion.

Do you think she really appreciated their response?

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

rlg94086:

Do you think she really appreciated their response?

No, she was hoping for a wimpy response (or even no response) and even divided bishops on it.

I am glad to see the bishops finally standing up against this sort of thing.

 

[Beaver]

Three came in the name of the Lord…

 

[maryj]

“ask and you shall receive” it just might not be the answer you were hoping for. GO BISHOPS!!!

 

[Brain]

Yeah, mega points for the bishops.
I like it, as I think many of the faithful do, when they act as a moral voice rather than politicians with pointy hats.

 

[Maranatha]

Today, their Excellencies have proven they deserve that title.

:tiphat:

 

[Della]

I found this little tidbit buried on the Fox News website: Democrats Threaten Washington Cardinal, which might have prompted the bishops to come down hard on the Dems, provoking the exact opposite response they had thought to get by employing such a ill-advised threat.

 

[Maranatha]

Full text of the Bishops’ New Release

 

[Traditional_Ang]

My Question:

When are the Bishops going to back up the Words in the letter with the Deed of withholding Communion from politicians who support a woman’s right to murder her baby?

If they do, then I’ll join Maranatha in saying they’ve fully earned their titles. Until then, I’ll just say that words aren’t worth much without the deeds to back them up.

The Democrats have promised a persecution if our Bishops do this. Ket us pray that we are ready for it, and that the Bishops have the courage to do what is right.

A threat is only effective if those being threatened fear what is being threatened.

In Christ, Michael

 

[Brain]

Traditional Ang:

The Democrats have promised a persecution if our Bishops do this. Ket us pray that we are ready for it, and that the Bishops have the courage to do what is right.

when/where did they [dems] say that? I belive you and it sounds VERY typical of them but I’d like the quote for my own purposes.

 

[frommi]

I didn’t get a ‘spanking’ feeling from the bishops letter. It sounded more like a very thoughtful critique of the statement. It extoled those things about the statement that were laudable, and pointed out where it fell short, and where they hope improvement will be made.

 

[Brendan]

Here is a bit more on the subject

It was a spankin’

catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=6224

the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights – for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, **is not defended with maximum ** determination….”

The Bishops are pretty much letting them know that their defense of all other rights is false and illusionary if the right to life is not defened to the maximum!. That’s about as firm of a statement on the subject as could be asked.

“abortion is a grave violation of the most fundamental human right—the right to life…”

 

[Brendan]

Also note the respons to the Dem’s “Primacy of Conscience” mantra
Dems:

``In all these issues, we seek the church’s guidance and assistance but believe also in the primacy of conscience

Bishops:

As the Church carries out its central responsibility to teach clearly and help form consciences, and as Catholic legislators seek to act in accord with their own consciences, it is essential to remember that conscience must be consistent with fundamental moral principles. As members of the Church, all Catholics are obliged to shape our consciences in accord with the moral teaching of the Church.

 

[Maranatha]

Traditional Ang:

My Question:

When are the Bishops going to back up the Words in the letter with the Deed of withholding Communion from politicians who support a woman’s right to murder her baby?

If they do, then I’ll join Maranatha in saying they’ve fully earned their titles. Until then, I’ll just say that words aren’t worth much without the deeds to back them up.

The Democrats have promised a persecution if our Bishops do this. Ket us pray that we are ready for it, and that the Bishops have the courage to do what is right.

A threat is only effective if those being threatened fear what is being threatened.

In Christ, Michael

I agree that our Bishops need to back up their words with actions but the news release is a balanced, Catholic, response to the dissension of the elected Catholic representatives.

 

[Franze]

It´s time to make excomunnions, they are a scandals for faithful catholic people.

 

[oat_soda]

many republicans should also not recieve communion. lets not make this out to be that democrates are all bad and republicans are all good. while there are many fine things the republican party has stood for, and the democrat, both do not meet the standards of catholicism. abortion issue aside, there isn’t much of a difference between the two.

in fact, president bush is not pro-life. he supports abortion in times of rape and inscest and he and republicans in general don’t want to overturn roe v. wade. he also is responsible for untold suffering in iraq. God punishes sinful nations with poor leadership. bush and clinton are as bad as this country has seen since kennedy and johnson.

 

[rlg94086]

Bush is also not Catholic…that enough should lead a priest to deny him the Eucharist!

Remember, we are talking especially about Catholic politicians. You are correct that this is a non-partisan issue and we are all sinners; but, I would guess you would find that republican Catholic politicians are probably more in line with Catholic doctrine. I know some would argue about their stances regarding the war and capital punishment, but those are arguable positions for all Catholics.
oat soda:

many republicans should also not recieve communion. lets not make this out to be that democrates are all bad and republicans are all good. while there are many fine things the republican party has stood for, and the democrat, both do not meet the standards of catholicism. abortion issue aside, there isn’t much of a difference between the two.

in fact, president bush is not pro-life. he supports abortion in times of rape and inscest and he and republicans in general don’t want to overturn roe v. wade. he also is responsible for untold suffering in iraq. God punishes sinful nations with poor leadership. bush and clinton are as bad as this country has seen since kennedy and johnson.

 

[trustmc]

The 55 Catholic Democrats who signed the initial statement justifying their pro-abortion position are:

Rosa L. DeLauro
David R. Obey
Wm. Lacy Clay
Hilda L. Solis
James R. Langevin
Bart Stupak
Anna Eshoo
Bill Pascrell
Betty McCollum
Gene Taylor
Raul M. Grijalva
Carolyn McCarthy
John B. Larson
Ed Pastor
Joe Baca
William Delahunt
Tim Ryan
Silvestre Reyes
Mike Thompson
Linda T. Sanchez
Charles A. Gonzalez
Xavier Becerra
Diane Watson
Michael H. Michaud
Nydia Velazquez
Jim Marshall
Frank Pallone
John T. Salazar
James P. McGovern
George Miller
Tim Holden
James L. Oberstar
Dale E. Kildee
Patrick J. Kennedy
Cynthia McKinney
James P. Moran
Michael Capuano
Richard E. Neal
Mike Doyle
Peter A. DeFazio
Maurice Hinchey
Dennis A. Cardoza
Joseph Crowley
Jim Costa
Lucille Roybal-Allard
Loretta Sanchez
Robert Brady
Marty Meehan
Grace Napolitano
Luis V. Gutierrez
Jose Serrano
Stephen Lynch
Edward J. Markey
Nancy Pelosi
Lane Evans

Click here to read commentary by First Things’ Joseph Bottum in today’s Wall Street Journal on this statement and the bishop’s response. The article contains links to the two original statements. Bottum writes:

All the talk in the “Statement of Principles” about individual conscience is intended really as a demand that Catholics legislators not get beaten up anymore for supporting abortion: “We . . . agree with the Catholic Church about the value of human life and the undesirability of abortion,” the statement reads, and that word “undesirability” leaves a peculiar taste in the reader’s mouth. Abortion, murder, and thermonuclear war are undesirable, it’s true. They are even unfortunate and less than optimal. But somehow one wants a little more oomph in the word chosen to describe them…

In one sense, this is just another entry in the Democrats’ general attempt to reclaim religion. But in its peculiar Catholic iteration, the problem of abortion wrecks the logic of the statement from its very first moment. Until the Democrats find a genuine way to be pro-life, they will not be able to deploy Catholic intellectual resources–or claim the prestige of doing so.

Mike

 

[Franze]

oat soda:

many republicans should also not recieve communion. lets not make this out to be that democrates are all bad and republicans are all good. while there are many fine things the republican party has stood for, and the democrat, both do not meet the standards of catholicism. abortion issue aside, there isn’t much of a difference between the two.

in fact, president bush is not pro-life. he supports abortion in times of rape and inscest and he and republicans in general don’t want to overturn roe v. wade. he also is responsible for untold suffering in iraq. God punishes sinful nations with poor leadership. bush and clinton are as bad as this country has seen since kennedy and johnson.

Of course, the governor of California or Giuliani, for example.