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Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, as the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, has helped to direct the conference’s response to the First Amendment threat posed by the federal Health and Human Services’ contraception mandate.
In this capacity, he has testified before Congress and worked with constitutional scholars and other religious leaders to mount a broad interfaith challenge to the mandate in the federal courts and from the pulpit. Since his installation as archbishop of Baltimore in May, he worked to secure the Maryland referendum to strike down same-sex “marriage” legislation that passed in March. Just days before the first presidential debate on Oct. 3, he spoke with Register senior editor Joan Frawley Desmond to update readers on the Health and Human Services mandate fight, analyze recent polls on Catholics attitudes about the mandate and same-sex “marriage,” and present the Church’s solution to the polarized politics that have defined this campaign season.
You arrived in Baltimore while you were also directing the U.S. bishops’ national effort to overturn the HHS mandate. Since then, while you’ve spent time getting to know your priests and local Catholics, you have also jumped into the Maryland referendum battle on same-sex “marriage.” What has sustained you? What gives you joy?
What always gives me joy in life is being a priest — offering the sacrifice of the Mass, visiting the sick, hearing confessions — all those things the Lord has called me to do in his goodness and mercy. I have been sustained by spending time with the Lord in prayer and by the wonderful support of priests, religious and lay faithful. I can say the Lord has stretched me, but he has not left me unattended. I am content and joyful.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a self-identified Catholic and a leading advocate for legalizing same-sex “marriage” in the state, says the law protects religious freedom. But many constitutional scholars who support “marriage equality” acknowledge that it poses a direct challenge to the free exercise of religion.
The ballot language is frankly deceiving. It is dressed up in religious-liberty language, but there are almost no protections for religious liberty if the law goes into effect.
Some people will think that simply not requiring priests and ministers of churches opposed to same-sex “marriage” to solemnize such marriages will protect religious liberty.
The real threat lies in the area of licensing of Catholic Charities’ adoption agencies and accreditation of schools and universities that maintain their support of traditional marriage.
Most people don’t realize how pervasive marriage is in federal and state law. We won’t recognize the consequences of redefining it until some years and many lawsuits down the road.
While the HHS mandate has been front and center, I’m even more concerned about the possibility that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) will be overturned. It is not unthinkable that defending traditional marriage will be regarded as bigotry and hate speech and that all kinds of strictures will be placed on our schools.
After opponents of same-sex “marriage” in Maryland got enough signatures to challenge the state law and put it on the ballot, the names of the petition signatories were posted on several websites. Are public-disclosure laws being used to enforce political correctness?
Recently, I spoke with a gentleman and asked him to support this effort. I told him, “Your donation is not tax-deductible.” I said, “It will be made public, and I can’t guarantee there won’t be harassment.”
He told me, “My wife and I want to stand up for marriage.” Sometimes bearing witness is costly.
Am I concerned? Yes. I don’t want anybody to be subject to harassment for stating their convictions in public as both citizens and believers.
What’s the status of the U.S. bishops’ campaign to overturn the federal contraception mandate?
One important update is that additional lawsuits have been filed: most recently, by the Diocese of Nashville, the Nashville Dominicans and Hobby Lobby, a large, family-owned retail chain.
One can never guarantee how a lawsuit will turn out, and, in some cases, the administration has filed against [these legal challenges] on procedural ground. We have responded in a thorough and competent fashion.
On the public-advocacy front: An effort has been made to see that a question about the HHS mandate is asked during the presidential debate. We will see if that effort is successful: It would be good to cut through the public-relations fog created since the start of the year.
The bishops have launched a Marian prayer campaign to help raise awareness, and we will be at the [Basilica of the] National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception [in Washington] on Oct. 14 at noon.
We’ll have a Marian pilgrimage for life and liberty that will include a Rosary and Eucharistic procession. It will be broadcast on EWTN, and I’ll be preaching.
Any overtures from the Obama administration?
No. It would be surprising if they were to be made now, in the heat of a presidential campaign and following the emphasis on this [issue] during the Democratic National Convention. But, again, we remain open to any constructive discussion that might be possible.
Is there a way to make this religious-freedom effort less partisan, disentangling it from a party-loyalty issue, and help Catholics and other Americans see it as a stand-alone issue?
It isn’t red; it isn’t blue. This transcends party politics and goes to what is fundamental about being an American. It’s also fundamental to human dignity: The right to religious liberty is a gift from God. Unfortunately, what is lost in so much of public discourse and all the sound bites is the ability to think at the level of principles, at the level of what is foundational. One reason our country is so divided is our seeming inability to do this.
The New Evangelization and our excellent social teaching can help lead the way for thinking in a principled way about this and then inject such thinking into the political process.
It used to be that people in public life could cite Catholic social teaching chapter and verse, and there was even concern about how public policies might match up with it.
Led by the Holy Father, the Church is involved in a long-term effort to re-propose what it believes and teaches. This principled way of thinking is being lost in all the rhetoric assaulting us today.
A recent Pew Research Center poll found that about 50% of Catholics who regularly attend Mass support the president’s policies, including the HHS mandate. Some say such polls show that the U.S. bishops and their allies have failed to get their message out. What is your take on these polls?
Polls do matter. But to get an accurate picture of the situation, one needs to study many different polls and understand their methodology.
Polling, focus groups and other such tools frame the enormity of the challenge: Namely, many people, including many Catholics, probably don’t really understand what the HHS mandate and same-sex “marriage” portend for religious liberty.
These tools can help us better present our messages and foster a principled discussion of faith and reason. And they help us understand the importance of laypeople who can present the message in an attractive way.
The Church’s fight against the mandate comes at a time of high anxiety for American Catholics and the West in general. The economic crisis hasn’t lifted, and activists want to redefine marriage. Many fear the country is moving in a dangerous, unpredictable direction. Our complacency has been shaken.
We do find ourselves in a new situation. An aggressive and Godless secularism has overtaken our culture. It has always been a secular culture, but it is newly aggressive, and that presents multiple challenges.
But one reason why legal challenges have been mounted against religious freedom and the family is that these things have already become broadly acceptable in the culture.
We must and do struggle against these things legally and politically. But there is a more fundamental task before us: It is the New Evangelization, and it is about re-proposing the truths of reason and Revelation to a secular and hardened culture using a new apologetics.
The way that Pope Benedict exercises the papal magisterium provides a model for how we might do this. He has announced the Year of Faith to help us address the more fundamental task at hand.
Those of us who are in the Church need to go deeper than knowing what the Church teaches. We must study why the Church believes and teaches what she does. With prayer, reflection and mutual support, we can reach the conviction that what she teaches is not only true, but it is good, beautiful, coherent and utterly necessary — not only for our lives, but for the lives of those around us and for our culture.
Despite secularism, people still care about the essential questions: Why am I here, and how can I find true fulfillment? People wonder, In the midst of having it my way, why do I still feel so empty?
There are many openings for the Gospel, but we cannot defend traditional marriage, for example, without engaging the New Evangelization. Yet, in an election year, we have a tendency to drop everything else to focus on the campaign, to exaggerate both the importance of victory and the dangers of defeat.
Recent violence in the Middle East, linked to a video attacking the prophet Muhammad, prompted an apology from the administration, but some commentators have argued that only the threat of violence leads secularists to respect religious beliefs. How can Catholics effectively address this issue?
We need the Beatitudes. You cannot defend Gospel values using any means that are opposed to the Gospel. You cannot defend religion using tools that are anti-religious.
Pope Benedict wrote in the first volume of Jesus of Nazareth that the Beatitudes are like the “veiled interior biography of Christ himself.” As we do a lectio divina of the Beatitudes, we understand that the more we absorb them and become like Christ, the better equipped we are to present the true face of religion to the world. In doing so, we will sometimes meet with persecution, but we will also win over adherents to Christ and to membership in the Church.
The Beatitudes guide our path to civility in the public square. Civility is a civic virtue. But, on a deeper level, the Lord talks about the “pure of heart” and the “peacemakers.” It doesn’t mean we back off on what we believe in, but that our public witness arises from a heart and mind shaped by Christ himself.
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The good Archbishop doesn’t get it. He continues to speak like a true politician of the Church. Fire without heat! Form without Substance! Words without Actions! 501(c) vs taxable status etc…
Perhaps Bishop Paprocki could give him (and ALL USCCB Bishops, with a few exceptions) a few pointers on manning up, leadership, moral courage, clarity,and teaching the Truth…to wit…if you vote for politicians who support intrinsic evil(s)you are complicit, commit grave sin and risk your eternal soul. Pretty straight forward. Don’t have to be a theologian to understand that.
Still time to upset people with the Truth. We deserve no less from our spiritual shepherds….NOW!
I have observed what the good Archbishop means when he refers to poll methodology. I once took a university course on canvassing and had the meaning of his words driven into my heart when the instructor showed us a video of a political debate. It got to the point where her political leanings were confirmed solidly by her candidate and she turned off the video just as his opponent was about to offer his views. We would never see the rest. This was a prime example of the “aggressive secularism” dominating our culture today. She had it her way, and that was that, leaving us hanging, dumbfounded and empty with no other recourse. Experiencing lack of freedom along with intellectual persecution within a school environment was eye-opening.
BTW, in case you have forgotten…
The 8 Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12)
1 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2 Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.
3 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
4 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
5 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
6 Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.
7 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God.
8 Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven.
(Douay-Rheims)
Catholics who vote for a politician who supports abortion and same sex marrieges are putting their souls in jeopardy and will have to answer to GOD, they should not recieve holy communion until they confess their choices, it is a mortal sin to choose someone who goes against the teaching of the catholic church. May GOD give Mitt Romney speicial graces tonight at the debate.
jacobum, I understood every word the Archbishop has spoken. The message is clear to all who will listen and consider. If you are looking for a charismatic leader who people will follow without thinking or one who will threaten and people will fall into line out of fear, I believe you are proposing that the Church behave in the same manner as our current governmental leadership.
I think it is important, especially now that polls show more support for gay and lesbian marriage etc., that a full page ad from the Archdiocese of Baltimore in the Sun Paper, reflect what another Roman Catholic Bishop said recently regarding voting and support for those who espouse intrinsic evil and the potential adverse consequesnces to each individual’s soul by this support. This information needs to happen now and continued to election day in all forms of media!
I concur with the three you have commented before me, and in particular jacobum.
I agree with jacobum. Archbishop Lori does not speak with enough fire in the belly. One can remain dignified and polite but greater passion and conviction is required by Lori and other Bishops. This was made clear to me on Easter Sunday when Lori was on NBC’s Meet the Press with David Gregory. Archbishop Lori was on the panel with a few other Protestant and Evangelical Ministers speaking of the HHS mandate and religious liberty. Archbishop Lori seemed weak and paled in conviction to his fellow clergymen on the panel. No doubt he is a sincere man, but we need more forceful people speaking on behalf of righteousness to convincing.
I agree with jacobum above. No doubt Archbishop Lori is a nice man, but he fails the “fire in the belly” test. He is not the best spokesman because he demonstrates no passion of conviction in his demeanor. This was made clear to me earlier this year at Easter. Archbishop Lori was on NBC’s Meet the Press hosted by (left wing) David Gregory along with a panel of Protestant and Evangelical Ministers discussing the HHS mandate and religious liberty. Lori was the weakest voice on the panel and had no vigor in his comments. He is polite and surely a man of integrity, but his style was unconvincing. We need stronger men to speak on behalf of righteousness. When you fail to stand firm or when the enemy perceives you are weak, they will run roughshod all over you. This is what Obama and his people have done to America. By nature, Catholics and Evangelicals are not people who “attack” others. As a result, though, American people of Christian faith are now under severe threat because we have not stood our ground squarely and with effective spokesmen.
“When you fail to stand firm or when the enemy perceives you are weak, they will run roughshod all over you.”
Will the devil cower when we “man-up”. Our strength is our faith and our mission is to convince the unconvinced not to appear strong or to frighten. Does the one with the loudest voice convince best?
To Howard:
You don’t get it. We all understand what AB Lori is saying. But he is preaching to the choir. The problem is the rest of “Catholics” who don’t know NCR from Jeopardy. When dealing with people and souls, everything comes down to “leadership” not only as a Bishop but in just about anything important. You can have the greatest product in the history of mankind(as we do); you can know that product inside out , backwards, forwards, all the benefits, all the arguments for and against, all your competition and their tactics, but if YOU CAN’T SPEAK AND EFFECTIVELY SELL IT TO THE PUBLIC, then you are misplaced in your position. A kind man for sure but he is better suited to teaching in a seminary than taking on the likes of hit men on the talking heads shows and in the media. Again, not to be disrespectful, but to criticize those who want to see more passion from our shepherds is like saying “the Truth of Christ, His Church and the eternal salvation of souls is no big deal”.
Howard, bet you a dollars worth of donuts that if you win the PowerBall over the weekend…You might get a little excited and passionate.
Me thinks the message delivery of Truth and eternal salvation from the ordained shepherds of Christ’s Church warrants at least some level of similiar passion. At this point a 10% level of winning PowerBall would do wonders in the Church and society at large.
For the first time in my 85 years the coming election will either reaffirm or destroy America – the final battle in our nation between good and evil, between Christianity and Socialism/Islam. A vote for Obama will destroy liberty and religious freedom in our nation. Only a traitor to our nation could vote for him. We have had him four years and he has been an abject failure. Caveat emptor.
Howard, it’s not about frightening people, it’s about stating clearly what Catholic doctrine says with conviction and, yes, enthusiasm. Cardinal Dolan himself admitted that the bishops have ducked on Humana vitae for 40 years out of fear and naturally the clergy followed suit. While the culture trashed marriage, the Church was largely silent. It is time to play a very difficult game of catch up on all fronts and pray, pray, pray.
Gay so-called marriage must never be written or spoken as if the term is acceptable! Abortion must never be wirtten except as a horrific evil beyond compare!
The Bishop tends to lose sight of the way God sees these issues and the reality that God’s sight is clear to all men who are open to truth.
The Bishops seem unbelievably fearful of speaking out as Jesus did when confronted by such insults to God - or am I crazy!
If you lose your tax exemption, Bishop [insert name here] SO WHAT! WILL WE NOW PROCLAIM A NEW PARAGRAPH IN THE CATECHISM OF THE CHURCH? What will that paragraph say? Perhaps:
“CCC Para 9999, Catholics must always be subservient to civil authority with regard to issues which threaten the protections of that authority as to maintenance of Catholic institutions and facilities”
I feel as angry as I think Jesus did when He VIOLENTLY threw out the money vendors from His Fathers House!
@Howard
“Does the one with the loudest voice convince best?”
No, but someone better than Lori and most all of the bishops. Why do I say that? Because over 50% of Catholics voted for the first pro-abortion, pro-infanticide president 35 year Roe v. Wade! Somebody is not getting the message. Or the messenger is not conveying it properly. If our “strength” is in “our faith,” then how do you explain 52,000,000 murdered unborn babies Catholics profess to believe were created by God, and who pray for God’s “will be done on earth” standing before the Holy Eucharist in Mass on Sundays, yet give their names and votes to the decadent, Democrat Party? What kind of “faith” is that? What kind of “faith” is it when over half of the Catholic clergy are still registered in pro-abortion party 39 years after Roe, and whose party is now in support of same-sex marriages as well as birth control of all types mandated to be included in all health insurance programs?
With respect to comment posted by jacobum on October 2 . . . Amen! You couldn’t have said it better. Thank you.
The time has come to speak the Truth plainly and with humility and love. The Shepherds of America have got to realize that their job is to defend the Faith and to protect the souls of their flocks. Speak clearly,that intrinsic evil means there is no good but complete evil in certain acts such as homosexual acts, abortion, euthanasia and contraception. People don’t get the grave seriousness of these activities. Tell them that their immortal souls are imperiled by such activities. And that if they should die with any one of these on their souls they would deserve the never ending torment of hell! To speak like that is a mercy and while no one wants to hear this, it is the loving thing to say to help them! Be Men, not limpid weak kneed whimps! Amen
@Howard: One does not always need to have a loud voice to convince people. Lori’s style, however, does not inspire confidence. But as for loud voices and conviction, it seems Jesus got pretty loud Himself and violent chasing the moneychangers in the Temple. Now THAT was convincing. Why are you trying to be difficult about this?
Thank God for humble articulate penetrating Christian thinkers and leaders. I wish we had men like him 10 years ago.
“Fire in the belly”, i.e., enthusiasm, certainly is important. But it is the intelligence which is the form of the will, and it is an informed free choice which should be the basis of every faith-filled Catholic’s approach to problems in the public square, because the language of the public square is reason. That is why I personally think Archbishop Lori is such a fine person to be a leader in the bishops’ campaign for religious freedom.
To all our friends on this discussion, may I suggest that everyone go back and look at or listen to ANY of Archbishop Sheen’s presentations and his delivery of the faith on ANY subject. Reason,Passion, Seriousness and a pixie Humor are on full display. Watch him closely. Then close your eyes and listen with your heart through your ears. Everything comes from within. You just can’t turn it on and off like a light switch. He is a true Shepherd with an absolutely firm belief system enunciated from an inner joy and passion for the Truth and saving Souls.
Not to pick on AB Lori but now go listen to him or just about any of today’s Bishops? Tell me are you listening and watching a politician or a true Church Shepherd?
Now please mentally survey the moral collapse of America and the simultaneous decline of the Church. It’s all about the collapse of leadership in the Country and The Church over the last 50 years.
How’s that all worked out you say? Disaster!
We all know the answer to the problem. We need leaders at all levels that can effectively deliver the Truth with passion and humility. Bishops are called and entrusted with that mission.
Case closed.
@James Swetnam, S.J., There is no doubt Archbishop Lori is fine and respected person. The problem remains, however, promotions and appointments within the church hierarchy typically have to do with spirituality. There are enough examples of promoted clergy who possess weak administrative and fiduciary management skills. As for Lori, surely the church has more effective clergy who are capable of commanding a stronger “presence” in the public square and with the ungodly media.
Jesus Christ at times acted forcefully, like that when He drove out the moneychangers from His Father’s House. But at times, He acted coolly, like when He said: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” And then there are these 8 Beatitudes, which illustrate the blessedness of the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourners,the hungry, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted. Jesus Christ was successful in these two leadership styles shepherding His flock. Archbishop Lori, suitable to his personality, is following the second leadership style of Jesus Christ. With fervent prayers, perseverance and sustained enthusiasm Archbishop Lori in due time will be successful as well.
I’ll go back to the question I’ve asked here numerous times regarding the bishops, publishers of their diocesan newspapers: Why aren’t you demanding that your editors run substantive articles on the non-negotiables, etc.? Do the social justice infiltrators have sway there, too?
Why can’t some of our more articulate bishops, such as those who’ve been educating viewers with their homilies during EWTN’s 9 days of Masses and novena, take their arguments to secular shows like Hannity and O’Reilly? There doesn’t seem to be any discussion at all on these shows about the threat to the poor that will surely result if Catholic institutions must shut down rather than obey the intrinsic evil required by the HHS Mandate.
I have criticized our bishops for not speaking in public about Catholic issues, and when they do I refuse to criticize any of them for their perceived personal faults. Our faith is not defined by our fellow parishioners, it is what was given to us by Christ. Besides the outburst at “my father’s house” his method of teaching was to declare truths.
Our common enemy seeks to divide us. I doubt that many of you would not be tempted to criticize you favorite Catholic speaker for not providing the results you expect. Many of us jump from one dissatisfaction to another in a natural rhythm. Christ gave us our bishops to teach the faith, not run for office or be picked first in a friendly game on the basketball court.
The laity outnumber them many times to one. We have been given the Gospel and were told to live it and spread it. As Catholics argue over perfect representation as seen by each of us, the enemy smiles or joins in .
@Howard
“Christ gave us our bishops to teach the faith….”
The bishops decided to change the teaching on Pro-Life, which was
the word coined to mean “anti-abortion” soon after Roe v. Wade to counter the pro-aborts calling themselves “pro-choice,” 28 years ago to include prudential judgment issues that had nothing to do with the murder of unborn babies. They called the combination of those distinctly different issues, (intrinsic evil issues vrs prudential judgment issues) “A consistent ethic of life.” This was supposed to bring bring more people into the “pro-life movement” leading to a Constitutional Right to Life Amendment. 28 years have passed since that change and Catholic are still the biggest, single voting block for the pro-abortion party.
Do you think the bishops have done a good job as teachers of the faith?
@stilbelieve: Great post. No, they have done a poor job as teachers because—-they are not interested in teaching. @Joanne S: Demanding anything from those who control diocesan newspapers is a waste of time. The editorials are all skewed toward socialism (yes, socialism) justice and the Chancery offices are all in the tank for the USCCB. The Bishops do not care what pew people think. And THATS’s a fact,—Jack. My diocesan monthly paper is filled with NOTHING concerning Christ and the gospel. However, there sure is plenty about awards, photos of clergy glad-handing with the movers, shakers and high rollers of the diocese, clergy with politicians, photos of dinners, banquets and clergy wearing fancy vestments on parade. But of course, if you make any criticism, someone will say—“you’re not ‘really’ Catholic.” On the blogs you will likely be called a troll for speaking the truth. We are to follow Christ, not men temporarily in charge.
“Do you think the bishops have done a good job as teachers of the faith?”
They have pointed us towards scripture at every Mass. We have the Deposit of the Faith. We have and have had a Catechism. We have our own minds and commands from God. The info is there. Have we done a good job of learning?
Before you complain about the clergy, always remember that Jesus put Simon Peter in charge.
Howard
“We have our own minds and commands from God.”
What does that mean?
“The info is there. Have we done a good job of learning?”
With that said, then who is the correct moral choice for President if one has a properly formed conscience?
“We have our own minds and commands from God.”
What does that mean?
I means what it says. You, along with non-Catholics, have the ability to reject or accept what Bishop Lori is saying. We all have the ability to learn or not. The teaching that comes from the Church is not difficult to understand. If you have understood correctly it is incumbent upon you to help spread this knowledge to unbelievers and not pummel the clergy for a failure to fully overcome the very popular and powerful forces of post-modernism. The “I know better” form of discontent is rampant. Personal attacks against those that have the guts to be out in front are rampant. To discount a thin, quiet, fragile looking man as inept is to not listen to his words. We don’t need cheerleaders or salesmen or P.R. firms, we need good arguments that will change people.
To Howard: “We don’t need cheerleaders or salesmen or P.R. firms, we need good arguments that will change people”
You need BOTH my friend. One with out the other is like being a one legged man in an A.. Kicking contest. We live in a media driven world whether we like it or not. Today, the modern St Paul would have been the internet, tv and all social media outlets, smartphones, etc etc. Check on the directives for the “New Evangelization” It’s the message and the media. Church is playing catch up. It is behind badly at present but we will catch up. Everyone has a role to play. Just because one is a Bishop does not make him qualified to be an effective media communicator. The Church does not build churches using unqualified contractors. It should do no less than when dealing with the media.
Howard,
What’s your answer to the second question?
jacobum, if you haven’t noticed radio and television are being used, EWTN globally, Vatican radio and television, have been used, B. Sheen, Marconi was consulted when the Vatican first installed radio, we are now reading an internet newspaper where A.B. Lori is quoted, I regularly comment on religious blogs and so do clerics, my source for the catechism is vatican.va, we have USCCB.org, the Pope flies in Shepherd 1, his encyclicals are published on modern presses, etc.
The methods I referred to have characteristics of emotional drumbeating and arm twisting and downright lies.
stilbelieve, this isn’t “Jeopardy”, stick to the subject. How one translates what is being taught into action is a matter of your concience. Has God failed because you have not listened, can he fail?
Howard, what I learn from are examples. What does your conscience decided is the person you should vote for for President? I’m trying to learn from someone who has listened to God.
Riiiiight.
“I’m trying to learn from someone who has listened to God.”
stilbelieve, this implies that you have not. I would suggest A.B. Lori and the other successors to Peter and the Apostles.
The Church teaches us the moral principles to follow. You are expected the then pay attention to the biography, voting record, ability, associations, speeches and personal references of a candidate and make a decision. To mimic my choices in any area of life isn’t the correct idea. If you are Catholic, I don’t know if you are, and are unsure about your choices as they relate to Catholicism, I would refer you to:
“Politics is about values and issues as well as candidates and officeholders. In this brief summary, we bishops call attention to issues with significant moral dimensions that should be carefully considered in each campaign and as policy decisions are made in the years to come. As the descriptions below indicate, some issues involve principles that can never be violated, such as the fundamental right to life. Others reflect our judgment about the best way to apply Catholic principles to policy issues. No summary could fully reflect the depth and details of the positions taken through the work of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). While people of good will may sometimes choose different ways to apply and act on some of our principles, Catholics cannot ignore their inescapable moral challenges or simply dismiss the Church’s guidance or policy directions that flow from these principles. “
http://tinyurl.com/usccb-org
@Howard: [“stilbelieve, this implies that you have not. I would suggest A.B. Lori and the other successors to Peter and the Apostles.”] Howard, let me understand your position correctly. Your position is that every Catholic priest is a true successor to the Apostles? What the man is, what he believes is immaterial so long as he wears a Roman collar? This is your position?
Howard,
“While people of good will may sometimes choose different ways to apply and act on some of our principles, Catholics cannot ignore their inescapable moral challenges or simply dismiss the Church’s guidance or policy directions that flow from these principles.”
Garbally gook.
The above quote only illustrates the lack of direction in instructing Catholics in how to acquire a properly formed conscience. “People of good will?” What does that mean? Does that enable a person to sin or make the wrong decision in their decision based on what they believe was
“good will?” People need examples of the “correct” decision for one with a properly formed conscience. You can’t teach 2 + 2 = ? = based on one’s properly formed conscience + their “good will.” Right is right; wrong is wrong. What is the right decision in this election for President based on your understanding of Church teaching? Right know the majority of Catholics support voting for Obama again. And of Church-going Catholics, of at least once per week, 41% of them support Obama. How does a properly formed conscience reach the conclusion to vote for Obama after he’s attacking the Constitution and the Church’s freedom of religion, let alone the wholesale murder of unborn babies and homosexual marriage?
Casting Crowns & stilbelieve, bishops are the successors.
We seem to be getting further away from this article. I am not interested in your dissatisfactions with religion in general or Catholicism in particular.
I would suggest “Catholicism For Dummies” as a start or a theology course and another forum. I have said what I have to say regarding A.B. Lori.
Howard, thanks to you and some priests and bishops I have talked to, I am beginning to think Catholicism IS for dummies. One must become a simpleton and leave his thinking to someone one else who thinks he knows better than them. We have to have a “New Evangelism” and a “Year of Faith” so that we will know WHY right is right and wrong is wrong and then we will be able to develop a properly formed conscience and make the right decisions. How did we ever survive this long without it?
No, Howard, some of us Catholics already know what is right and what is wrong, and why. But the bishops just can’t be honest and talk to us man to man because it will offend those other Catholics, which by the way includes maybe half the clergy, including the bishops themselves. You see, we know where the problem is coming from in secular society and why. It’s coming from the liberals who now have been taken over by the leftist and are concentrated in one organization.
Now, organizations can be for good and they can be for bad. Organizations like the KKK which promotes racism. It is a “intrinsic evil” to support racism according to Fr. Deck who was the guest speaker at the Mission Basilica, San Juan Capistrano, last night to explain the bishops’ “Faithful Citizenship.” I brought with me my two books on the teachings of the Church in which they say that it is a sin to have racial prejudice, and religious prejudice, also. It is “particularly a sin to join an organization” that promotes the “denial to any person her or his rights.” And used as examples in my newest book, were “the KKK and the Nazi Party.” Denying one their human rights are sins against the 5th Commandment according to Catholic teaching which Cardinal George confirmed are still the teachings of the Church. I found those teachings in two instruction books entitled “Life in Christ,” one published in 1958 and the other in 1995.
Do you know what organization was missing from those teachings on “denying one their human rights” in the newer 1995 book? The Democrat Party was not mentioned. Why, if denying one their human rights based on race or religion is a sin against the 5th Commandment, and “particularly so in joining an organization that does that,” is joining the Democrat Party not included? After all, the Democrat Party denies the most important human right of all, the right to life. If anything was a sin against the 5th Commandment, certainly joining the Democrat Party, which is solely responsible for the continued murder of human life, totaling 52,000,000 and still counting should be a mortal sin.
All the intrinsic evils of the secularization of the culture rest in that one organization which the U.S. Bishops refuse to do anything about, allowing them to continue on without challenging them directly. Thus we Catholics have to “understand” how to develop a “properly formed conscience” that enables us to feel good about ourselves being members of the Democrat Party, the party of slavery, Jim Crow, the KKK, the welfare state, abortion-on-demand, same-sex marriage, and soon euthanasia.
Father Deck, a Jesuit, felt the need to spend a long, laborious time “educating” us on how Catholics were once the poor in America and had a long battle to be accepted and that legacy is important to understanding how to have a properly formed conscience. That is the reason we must resist individualism, found in Republicans, and work for the “common good” which is our history.
Something else I saw last night in Fr. Deck’s smug, power point lecture; supporting Capital Punishment is an intrinsic evil. I questioned him on that, and he insisted that that is the teaching of the bishops. It’s not. It never has been. And it will never be a sin to support or participate in carrying out capital punishment.
Yeah, we all need to go through a “re-education camp” in order to have a “properly formed conscience” provided by the Decks and the Howards in the Church.
Stilbelieve, I can see from your last two posts that you are passionate about your beliefs and willing to resort to demonizing people in order to force your views upon others. This is self defeating.
I agree with you that the Democratic Party have moved towards a very evil agenda. You are correct that capital punishment is not an intrinsic evil, unjustified killing is, which may be the case in California death cases - that is a judgment call.
Step back from the nearness to the issues and see history from a broader perspective. The duty of the Church is to teach Christ’s message and spread the Gospel. Your duty as a lay person is to act on that message, we outnumber the clergy tens of thousands to one. The danger of the Church presenting specific detailed recommendations about voting is that it is very complex and the parties or the candidates are not clearly all evil or all good - as are us all. The candidates in all elections also are not always clearly defined. The quagmire that would ensue today would drag the Church into arguments that are clearly a matter of judgment. Too dwell in that realm would relegate it to the position that you and I are in now with other voters, she would be indistinguishable from the rest of us.
I am an active participant in the Right to Life Movement. People of “good will” do disagree with me, people who have advanced degrees, people that I have known all my life. There is no doubt that they believe they are promoting good and not evil. Good will does not mean that you are not doing evil, it means that you do not will evil. Any psychologist will tell you that the hardest thing to do is to change a persons mind. In order to see an issue differently often takes more that a passionate argument. You can be the example you desire others to be, but, you will turn others away with brow-beating.
In my conversations with other Catholics I have noticed in some a tendency to resort to force or compulsion, almost entirely from men.
@stilbelieve: Great post. Just what we need,—more liberal Jesuits (the high brow snobs of the church). We are too stupid to be able to think on our own and thus require the Jesuit progressive slant for our “enlightenment.” As for the USCCB, they have turned into nothing more than a fraternal organization like the Elks Club. The media focused on one CA priest against the CA Death Penalty on the Novevmber ballot and now all Catholics will think the official CC position is to be against the Death Penalty.
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