C
cecelia
Guest
Fellow Catholics,
In today’s virulently anti-Catholic newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times there was an editorial which ran: “Church vs. State; Religion’s Role in Politics Is Being Changed By A More Interventionist Catholic Church.” The editorial has over its title the large images of Pope Benedict and President John Kennedy facing forward as though participating in a debate. Welcome to another edition of Crossfire, the editorial begins. The thrust of the editorial is that the Catholic Church is dictating public policy to its members and not respecting the concept of the separation of Church and State. If Kennedy were running today, the editorial opines, he would have been denounced by the likes of the reactionary, Pope Benedict. “In 2004, a presidential candidate’s Catholicism was again thrust into campaign controversy by robed men in pointy hats – not Protestant Klansmen, this time but Catholic clergy.” That the Times would use ad hominem attacks against Mother Church by comparing her clergy to Klansmen is horrific and allows us to see that unadorned hatred of the Church has now replaced any pretense to objective journalism. The Times wants its readers to believe that the “big evil Church” is now coming in and imposing its rigidity upon all freedom-loving people everywhere. They never thought this day would come and now, they rue, it’s here. Please take the time to go to The St. Petersburg Times website, read the editorial and voice your displeasure regarding this scurrilous screed. It’s damaging, distorted, and derogatory. We understood that the honeymoon would be short, but we had no idea that that it would end so abruptly.
In today’s virulently anti-Catholic newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times there was an editorial which ran: “Church vs. State; Religion’s Role in Politics Is Being Changed By A More Interventionist Catholic Church.” The editorial has over its title the large images of Pope Benedict and President John Kennedy facing forward as though participating in a debate. Welcome to another edition of Crossfire, the editorial begins. The thrust of the editorial is that the Catholic Church is dictating public policy to its members and not respecting the concept of the separation of Church and State. If Kennedy were running today, the editorial opines, he would have been denounced by the likes of the reactionary, Pope Benedict. “In 2004, a presidential candidate’s Catholicism was again thrust into campaign controversy by robed men in pointy hats – not Protestant Klansmen, this time but Catholic clergy.” That the Times would use ad hominem attacks against Mother Church by comparing her clergy to Klansmen is horrific and allows us to see that unadorned hatred of the Church has now replaced any pretense to objective journalism. The Times wants its readers to believe that the “big evil Church” is now coming in and imposing its rigidity upon all freedom-loving people everywhere. They never thought this day would come and now, they rue, it’s here. Please take the time to go to The St. Petersburg Times website, read the editorial and voice your displeasure regarding this scurrilous screed. It’s damaging, distorted, and derogatory. We understood that the honeymoon would be short, but we had no idea that that it would end so abruptly.