American Catholic Bishops Reverse Political Course
American Roman Catholic bishops who had become radically right wing over the last 20 years, suddenly reversed course this week when thousands of parishioners became terrified of a Cheeto Jesus presidency. In 2008 and 2012, the American condpference of bishops actively electioneered from pulpits all over the country, calling a vote for Obama a sin. Now, when they see the terror in their parishioners eyes since last Tuesday.
Now, isn’t there a Bible verse that says something about “reaping what you sow?
Actually, it’s “reaping what you sow,” but your point is clear. It’s too late to save the just completed election, but let’s hope they remember next time.
1Yes, but I think people generally reap what they sow. You can’t really harvest clothes and linens.
2Buyer’s remorse when Donnie’s track record was out there for all to see is yet another bitter pill to swallow. “He’ll change after the primaries.” “He’ll change after the election.” Welcome to he’ll without the apostrophe. The dude is 70 and not that much into learning.
While not scared, this election sure shook my confidence. Clinging to what little hope there is with all naivete and a remaining scintilla of optimism. Not ready to concede to all the damage Donnie and the snacibupeR can do in 2-4 years, but this will be a heavy lift for the Democrats in the Senate to achieve. That Joe Manchin is one of the Ds in the Senate doesn’t add to that hope feeling.
If Donnie is confronted and removed for all his misdeeds, there’s the specter of Mike Pence being next with Lyin’ Ryan in line behind him is definitely my wake up call. But what to do at this juncture is still escaping me.
3Before the pastor at my church became a priest, he was a Wall Street finance guy. He had dealings with the Donald. Back during the primaries before it was known who would get the Republican nomination, this priest stated very clearly in one of his homilies that through personal experience he knew Trump was a liar–all the time about everything. He had no comments or recommendations on who to vote for, but that was his personal experience. Not all Catholic priests are bad.
4Or “reaping what you sow”.
5This paragraph is telling: “More than one-third of American Catholics are now Latinos, and many others are immigrants from dozens of other countries. Latinos represent the future of the church: Sixty percent of Catholics in the United States younger than 18 are Latino, and 90 percent of them were born here.”
So what do the US Catholic Bishops do if a good portion of their members ‘disappear’. Wonder what this group will do beyond sending ‘strongly worded letters’ to Trump.
And, I doubt they have ‘reversed course’ on their other basic tenets….just this one that hits directly at their source of funding.
6Tax the rat-b*****ds. (Sorry Momma)
7Too little too late. The vast majority of Catholics vote on one issue only: Abortion
8Uh, I just want to point out that Catholics are NOT the KKK’s favorite people, you think maybe that may be it?
9“The bishops of the United States recognize the presence of Latinos in our community, in our country and also in the church”
As Mel pointed out (above), what the bishops recognize is soon to be empty pews if they don’t do something about the new situation. Muslim Kenyan Obama wasn’t a direct threat to the Catholic Church business model, he was a convenient boogeyman, sprinkled into services with the occasional brimstone reference.
10Carol, true. History and history of the Church are not in my wheelhouse, so please feel free to correct and flesh out what was and if anything has changed with the KKK. Their first exposure to Catholic immigration was post slavery, when predominantly Italian Catholic immigrants arrived to do the work the KKK wouldn’t do. Seems the KKK was about as grateful to the new labor as they were to the slaves; not at all. Hundred years later JFK was elected as the first President. Would I be reading too much into things to take the fact he was assassinated that not everyone accepted that fact? Then we elect the first African American, President Obama, which probably riled them up, too. No doubt the Catholic Hispanic immigration of the past 40 or so years confuses them to the nth degree. (we really do need a better term than Hispanic to to express the diverse number of locations and cultures represented by the word Hispanic) Not that the KKK would distinguish between an El Salvadoran, Cuban or Puerto Rican. They and Donnie are all too content to use “Mexican” as an all purpose pejorative.
Anyway, a wide range of melanin, possibly with accents, and Catholic will for not good reason set off the KKK. Forget that on some issues there might be common ground, when race and religion dominate the ‘thinking.’
Rumor had it that progress was made in the 1960s. Thoughts about that and where we are being dragged?
11My parish must have been perhaps the one and only parch that did not tell anyone how to vote. Because of our proximity to the National’s Capitol, there were often elected people in the pews and most certainly at the church fair held each year just two months before election day. We had one young pastor, an immigrant I might add, who cautioned everyone about ayatollahs at home. Sadly, I did grow up in a church post World War 2 that was heavy on condemnation of everything and everyone. One very famous preacher priest got his collar yanked by the bishop for ignoring an official stop order. No more radio show for him! My own parents had not use for anyone using the pulpit to politicize and we weren’t the odd ones out. Frankly, I can say that should massive police state round ups take place count on seeing a lot of buys in white dog collars on the front lines. I Jose and Josefina are to be unjustly arrested, they will be, too.
12Please forgive the spell check. It knows not what it damn does!
13Well this is another fine mess we gotten ourselves into:
Vote against abortion
OR
Vote against deportation/labor exploitation
May the Lord be with all his children
14I don’t care what religious persuasion you are, if you voted for Trump you are a disgusting human being. You will never convince me that you are a decent person.
15Truthfully, we Catholics are a divided lot. Yes, the Pro Life folks carry a lot of weight, but we also have a strong social justice message as well. My wife has been wont to call the local brand Baptist-Catholics because they tend more towards the preaching and carrying on. I like the church because of its balance towards focusing inward.
16It’s true there are some wonderful Roman Catholic Churches. If you are Catholic, but not wedded to having a pope, try one of the other Catholic churches- American Catholic, United Catholic, Liberal Catholic, Progressive Catholic, New Catholic or one of the other Catholic denominations. The Unitarian Church and the United Church of Christ have always been focused on social justice and do not discriminate against anyone for any reason. The Metropolitan Community Church is a denomination created for and by the LBTG community but they welcome straight people too. Good luck.
17PKM, I don’t think it was Catholic *immigrants* the KKK (and many Americans) were especially reacting against. There had long been a strong anti-Catholic bias in Britain and thus among Protestant British settlers in the US. The KKK and others hated “papists” in general.
As in any other denomination or religion, Catholics range from the fundamentalist-style right-wing to the liberal left-wing. Some take social justice seriously, others not so much.
18Um. I hadn’t heard that the bishops called voting for Obama a sin. I’d like to know how they rationalized that statement.
And I’d ESPECIALLY like to know how they rationalized calling a vote for Obama a sin and NOT calling a vote for Trump a mortal sin.
Oh, and one more: how do churches do what they did and maintain their tax exempt status, please?
19My husband of 46 years was a Benedictine for over 2 decades. We know many priests who are good guys and some who are impossible (narrow and mean) shits. Support the good ones, it can be a lonely job.
Some one here listed churches that welcome everyone. Add to that Quaker meetings. We aren’t a church, we have no “home office” that tells us what we must believe. We’re a society of people who humbly seek truth. And we look out for each other and others outside our meeting. We support the sanctuary movement. We don’t proseltize (sp?) but we do welcome eveyone who cares to come and share our silence (no preaching), and of course our potlucks (Quaker communion). = :o)
20Two crows: Look up the Freedom from Religion website (ffrf.org),and read the FAQs to answer your questions.
21Has anyone noticed that Donald Trump was not asked about his religion. Should he not be held to the same standard as President Obama? We should be raising hell with Republicans over this, shame the daylights out of them.
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