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RosaryFan
Guest
KENNEDY AND PELOSI???!!! I would sooner have bamboos shoved down my fingernails than use them as an example of “good strong Catholic”. HA!
I can’t think of one right now, but boy, oh, boy, do we need them.
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I can’t think of one right now, but boy, oh, boy, do we need them.
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St_Francis
Guest
OK I had a great Catholic boss, 2 in fact, because a married couple owned the business. Altho they only had a tiny business in a vacation area,'so they weren’t Bill Gates, they really exemplified being Catholic leaders, because they really cared about their employees and were willing to sacrifice.
They offered me a raise if I changed a bad habit (which I unfortunately still have). they trained us to do a really good job and be good employees: they didn’t
just say do this or that, they said, show pride in your work, pay attention, and they did everything that they asked us to, for two shifts every day.
They also gave us savings bonds. Now,'I said this was a vacation place, so during the off-season, there wasn’t enough business to stay open. They totally did not need to give us savings bonds; that money came out of what they lived on, and the husband in this family worked doing really hard work during the off-season so he could support his family. They could have used that money for the bonds they gave us for themselves, but they didn’t. They shared their profits with us.
So, the main thing is,'they wanted the best for us8, which is what love is.
Anyway, not famois or rich, but truly great Catholic leaders.
M
Mark77
Guest
**Did Jesus seek public office?
Did He want popular acclaim or fleeting temporal power???
NO, NO & NO!!!
To be a “secular leader” you must forfeit all moral honesty & Truth to appeal to the masses.
You must accept personal gratification at the cost of others pain…
**
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus, Nunc et in Hora Mortis Nostrae.
mark
Did He want popular acclaim or fleeting temporal power???
NO, NO & NO!!!
To be a “secular leader” you must forfeit all moral honesty & Truth to appeal to the masses.
You must accept personal gratification at the cost of others pain…
**
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus, Nunc et in Hora Mortis Nostrae.
mark
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estesbob
Guest
I am afraid that both of these. Kmiec especially , are examples of catholics who let their politcs trump their faith. Great examples of catholic leaders who stuck to their faith would be Henry Hyde and Rick Santorum
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St_Francis
Guest
I disagree with those who think that a Catholic cannot be a good political leader in the US. He or she may not be able to transform the US into a Catholic nation with Catholoc laws, but I see what the small Socialist Party did, and I think it would be great to have a lot more Catholics.
What did the Socialist Party do? They proposed stuff that was socialist of course. So then everyone was all bent out of shape, but the discussion was pulled to the left. So even if you only got a quarter of what you asked for, that’s a quarter that you wouldn’t have gotten if you hadn’t been there.
And it’s the same with abortion laws. Yes, we want to see a 100% ban on this evil practice, but we’ve at least gotten some limiting laws, and in the past few years we’ve gotten laws that 30 years ago no one would have thought would make it through, and becuase of the discussion, we have a majority of Americans who are against unlimited abortion.
It’s a slow process. But if we have good Catholics in the government working slowly and carefully and going out and explaining why he’s advocating this or that, then people will also gain a better idea of so much!!! Because his thinking wouldn’t be willy-nilly.
So maybe Catholic politicians will be defeated from time to time; and maybe they might resign rather than do something that would be bad, but the more visibility in society of truly good people, based on good moral philosophy, the better off our nation would be. Right now it seems like materialist leftists have the moral high ground, because there are so many of them and they are great with the sound bites. But the Church has a great, coherent, and moral vision for society, and to have people showing where the US goes off the road to the right, and where it goes over the center line (and now I am analogizing with the political directions!) for a better foundation for our nation.
What did the Socialist Party do? They proposed stuff that was socialist of course. So then everyone was all bent out of shape, but the discussion was pulled to the left. So even if you only got a quarter of what you asked for, that’s a quarter that you wouldn’t have gotten if you hadn’t been there.
And it’s the same with abortion laws. Yes, we want to see a 100% ban on this evil practice, but we’ve at least gotten some limiting laws, and in the past few years we’ve gotten laws that 30 years ago no one would have thought would make it through, and becuase of the discussion, we have a majority of Americans who are against unlimited abortion.
It’s a slow process. But if we have good Catholics in the government working slowly and carefully and going out and explaining why he’s advocating this or that, then people will also gain a better idea of so much!!! Because his thinking wouldn’t be willy-nilly.
So maybe Catholic politicians will be defeated from time to time; and maybe they might resign rather than do something that would be bad, but the more visibility in society of truly good people, based on good moral philosophy, the better off our nation would be. Right now it seems like materialist leftists have the moral high ground, because there are so many of them and they are great with the sound bites. But the Church has a great, coherent, and moral vision for society, and to have people showing where the US goes off the road to the right, and where it goes over the center line (and now I am analogizing with the political directions!) for a better foundation for our nation.
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RosaryFan
Guest
AMEN!!! We need good Catholic leaders. But where are they???
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sandomenico
Guest
Our leaders are here. Why are we always looking for others to do the job that has been entrusted to us all? John 15:16 - “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” We are Catholic for a reason: because God created us in His Providence as the ones strong enough to bear the weight of His Cross and the Light of His Gospel. He has given us the commission. We must choose to bear it out. And the lack of good Catholic leaders is the sad revelation of how many of us are refusing that invitation to be like Christ.
We must accept the pain, the separation from this world; we must do it because He has done it. John 15:18-21 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all this they will do to you on my account, because they do not know him who sent me.”
“Because they do not know him who sent me.” What could be more obvious. The world will hate us because they do not know God. I am sure we have all felt anger welling up within us at the world’s hatred of God - because of how it affects us. Would we feel anger if we truly understood the Blood of Christ’s sacrifice? Indeed not. We would rather, with Christ, feel the deep compassion He felt and cry aloud with Him: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
And there will be others, others who do not wish to know God, and prefer to hate Him in anonymity. They require all the more prayers from us, while being left to the mercy and wisdom of God, Who desires above all else, the salvation of every soul. Meanwhile, these sorry souls will be content to ridicule us and our God. Perhaps, they will even physically harm us. Yet, all these things have been endured by God, in the Person of Christ: Isaiah 53:5 - “[H]e was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.”
So “Be not afraid: open wide the doors to Christ” (Blessed John Paul II). We must not forget what we have seen and what we have been called to do. Upon us is laid the Cross of Christ and the salvation of the world. Will we accept it, and “make up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ,” or toss it by the wayside, thinking that we are called to other things? Yes, we are all leaders, in the way God has prepared for us; and He will give increase to our efforts, perhaps not in the way we expect, but in the manner that is best. He will not abandon us. As St. Alphonsus Ligouri has said: “God is crazy with love for us.” We only need to go forward: to try. As Christ Himself promised: “Behold, I am with you always, until the consummation of the world.”
“For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar–the LORD of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in your mouth, and hid you in the shadow of my hand, stretching out the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people’.” Rouse yourself, rouse yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl of staggering. . . . Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: ‘Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, “Bow down, that we may pass over”; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over’." Isaiah 51:15-18, 22-23
God love you,
sandomenico
We must accept the pain, the separation from this world; we must do it because He has done it. John 15:18-21 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all this they will do to you on my account, because they do not know him who sent me.”
“Because they do not know him who sent me.” What could be more obvious. The world will hate us because they do not know God. I am sure we have all felt anger welling up within us at the world’s hatred of God - because of how it affects us. Would we feel anger if we truly understood the Blood of Christ’s sacrifice? Indeed not. We would rather, with Christ, feel the deep compassion He felt and cry aloud with Him: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
And there will be others, others who do not wish to know God, and prefer to hate Him in anonymity. They require all the more prayers from us, while being left to the mercy and wisdom of God, Who desires above all else, the salvation of every soul. Meanwhile, these sorry souls will be content to ridicule us and our God. Perhaps, they will even physically harm us. Yet, all these things have been endured by God, in the Person of Christ: Isaiah 53:5 - “[H]e was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.”
So “Be not afraid: open wide the doors to Christ” (Blessed John Paul II). We must not forget what we have seen and what we have been called to do. Upon us is laid the Cross of Christ and the salvation of the world. Will we accept it, and “make up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ,” or toss it by the wayside, thinking that we are called to other things? Yes, we are all leaders, in the way God has prepared for us; and He will give increase to our efforts, perhaps not in the way we expect, but in the manner that is best. He will not abandon us. As St. Alphonsus Ligouri has said: “God is crazy with love for us.” We only need to go forward: to try. As Christ Himself promised: “Behold, I am with you always, until the consummation of the world.”
“For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar–the LORD of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in your mouth, and hid you in the shadow of my hand, stretching out the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people’.” Rouse yourself, rouse yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl of staggering. . . . Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: ‘Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, “Bow down, that we may pass over”; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over’." Isaiah 51:15-18, 22-23
God love you,
sandomenico
V
valentino
Guest
If what you are saying is true why is it that these supposedly good leaders(many Catholics)support immoral laws?the whole bloc of democrats (nancy pelosi,the vice president just to name 2)vote to allow abortion,don’t try to curtail pornography,fail to see the effects of socialistic programs on America,ect.)When one achieves the status of senator all Catholic morals or christian morals seem to take a backseat.Whatever the country supports its Aok with them.Reps.aren’t any different.They may vote to end abortion for one reason or another(mostly because PPP is a gov.program and costs too much)but to enter an unjust war for oil,to remain the world power,ect.they vote yea.I say you can’t be a good christian(much less a good Catholic) and be in the Senate.You have to sacrifice some moral of yours if you want to stay in.
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stceolfrithtx
Guest
A good Catholic can be a secular leader if and only if he is unwilling to do evil that good may result. He can’t put a desire for re-election above this principle. Consequently, I don’t think there are many good Catholic politicians in high places. So be it.
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Ridgerunner
Guest
I don’t think it’s impossible at all for a good Catholic to be a good national leader. I am going to get shot between the eyes on here for saying this, but George W.Bush was as close to a truly “Catholic leader” as this country has ever seen, notwithstanding that he is a Methodist. Whatever anybody wants to criticize him for, and I could certainly criticize him for a number of things myself, one has to admit that he is a man of faith, made no secret of it, and acted on it to the extent he was able to do it. He made it clear from the start, which, I believe, is one of the reasons the hard left hated him as violently as they did, and still do. Does anybody really think he appointed Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court unaware of what they are and what they believe in? He appointed them because he believed they shared the values he, himself has.
J
JRKH
Guest
I have to wonder if we need to, or even should be, thinking primarily in terms of “political” leader types. Obviously these people must weigh many factors and viewpoints and this makes "compromise’ a necessity.
Those outside of the “elected official” sphere are another matter.
It seems to me that some of the most influential leaders have NOT been political in the sense of trying to get elected, but rather they touched something in the social conscience. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi both fit this idea. Neither was a politician yet the power and moral right of their views, along with their courage, charisma and dedication - (along with being in the right time and place) made them FAR more influential than any of the politicians of their day.
And of course there are others who are highly influential but aren’t really in the spotlight either. William F Buckley might fit this mold. Brilliant mind, good Catholic, very influential with a large following.
Others?
Peace
James
Those outside of the “elected official” sphere are another matter.
It seems to me that some of the most influential leaders have NOT been political in the sense of trying to get elected, but rather they touched something in the social conscience. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi both fit this idea. Neither was a politician yet the power and moral right of their views, along with their courage, charisma and dedication - (along with being in the right time and place) made them FAR more influential than any of the politicians of their day.
And of course there are others who are highly influential but aren’t really in the spotlight either. William F Buckley might fit this mold. Brilliant mind, good Catholic, very influential with a large following.
Others?
Peace
James
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stceolfrithtx
Guest
First of all, may we disagree with you without being preemptively set up as violently radical? Thanks for setting up that imagery. Reasonable people might also disagree with you.
I’ve heard it said that GW Bush might be more accepted in future generations than he was today b/c of the “results” he got with his homeland security policies. I sincerely hope that future generations are NOT more accepting of giving up civil liberties for the sake of “gaining” security and safety. B/C as the famous saying goes, if you give up a little liberty for your safety you’ll lost both liberty and safety. You don’t have to be a liberal to be critical of Bush.
I’m sure if you look back far enough there are better choices for Catholic-ish presidents.
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stceolfrithtx
Guest
Depends on the politician’s definition of compromise and when it’s a necessity. I think if more politicians were less convinced of the necessity of their re-election for the good of the people, we might have a more trustworthy government.
D
DanielJohn
Guest
During an adulterous generation, such as the one of Jesus’ day, it is impossible for a good strong Catholic to be a secular leader. That’s because very few people will vote for that person. People tend to vote for leaders that are similar to themselves.
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sedonaman
Guest
You are looking for a saint like Mother Theresa working in a religious vocation, not a politician. This is not to say there are no outstanding Catholics in public life. Four justices of of the current SCOTUS are Catholic.
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Rock_Happy
Guest
A good leader sets a standard and inspires people. I strong spiritual grounding can be valuable. I good leader must also be flexible, and adaptable, and able to see others’ point of view. Political leaders often must give up one fight in order to win a more important one. None of these characteristics are reserved only for Catholics, nor precluded for Catholics.
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TEPO
Guest
Well I got “let-go” yesterday from my job. 
I’m having trouble finding a balance point between being charitable to others, and being a pushy, productive leader. Maybe it’s okay to step on other peoples toes when we’re working as long as we act charitably to our family members and friends out of work…? I don’t know.
I guess the lesson I’ve learned is that even though we’ve all been graced with God’s friendship -we’re all still animals here on earth. And in the animal world, good actions are only those that produce good results in the end.
In other words, if being pushy and insencitive towards others brings profits, then that is how we’re expected to act on the job… On earth, the ends does justify the means.
I’m having trouble finding a balance point between being charitable to others, and being a pushy, productive leader. Maybe it’s okay to step on other peoples toes when we’re working as long as we act charitably to our family members and friends out of work…? I don’t know.
I guess the lesson I’ve learned is that even though we’ve all been graced with God’s friendship -we’re all still animals here on earth. And in the animal world, good actions are only those that produce good results in the end.
In other words, if being pushy and insencitive towards others brings profits, then that is how we’re expected to act on the job… On earth, the ends does justify the means.
T
TEPO
Guest
Well, I only addressed the question in terms of “Catholics” because as a Catholic myself, I know that obedience to God and to Church teaching is mandatory. Catholics must follow the rules. This is not to say however that non-Catholics are any less pius than Catholics.
The issue I have is not with being flexible or inspiring people, I’m good at that. My problem is forcing others to do what I want… Which is what my superiors demanded of me.
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TEPO
Guest
It’s been said that one cannot serve two masters. Do you think it’s possible to be a good Catholic and a worldly leader at the same time…?
Should someone even try to lower themselves enough to find this balance point…?
A
angelic06
Guest
So what do you suggest? We leave the government of the land to the ungodly?
Then may God help us and save us.
The bold—this is nonsense.
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