2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumSome very important comments on the Catholic Bishops:
In this metaphorical sense, the "Catholic" political style is strongest among evangelical Protestant voters, not actual Catholics. The eagerness of Catholic bishops to jump into a fight over contraception, for example, does not reflect that attitudes of their parishoners, but it gets strong support from evangelicals. Similarly, in one recent poll more than two-thirds of Catholic voters supported some sort of legal recognition of gay couples' relationships, with 44% favoring same-sex marriage; in very sharp contrast, an outright majority of evangelical voters said there should be no legal recognition of a same-sex relationship.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-schweber/the-catholicization-of-th_b_1298435.html
. The bishops' anti-gospel political behavior is radically harming the Catholic church in the U.S., a large percentage of whose members are (for gospel reasons) unwilling and unable to follow the bishops' lead as they attack women's rights to basic health care and try to undermine the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian persons;
2. The bishops' anti-gospel political behavior is harming the Catholic church in its witness in the public square, since a large percentage of the public recognizes that the right of religious groups under canons of religious freedom to believe and practice what they choose to believe or practice does not translate into a right to undermine the human rights of others and fracture the common good.
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one of the ironic results of the choice of the U.S. Catholic bishops to ally themselves (and the American Catholic church) politically with the religious right in recent years is that they--and Catholic politicians such as Gingrich and Santorum--now have stronger support among right-wing evangelicals than among Catholics themselves. A sizable percentage of American Catholics are outright embarrassed by the bishops' political behavior and have distanced themselves from this behavior.
http://www.bilgrimage.blogspot.com/2012/02/bishop-spong-on-catholic-bishops.html
I think that Mr. Schweber misunderstands the historical meaning of "catholic", but that is understandable since he is taking his lead from today's crop of bishops. Mr. Lindsey's blog is a good roundup of observations about the increasing struggle within the Catholic Church.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)align themselves with the crazy right. But then again the Bishops, Cardinals are all about power. Catholics should stop giving their money to the church.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)Many of us have.
libinnyandia
(1,374 posts)southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)I was raised RC (I left RC and all religion behind a very long time ago) and I credit RC for helping instill in me a very strong sense of social justice .... with that said the Catholics I know and love (my family) ... look at the Santorums of the world as very "un" Catholic.
"... now have stronger support among right-wing evangelicals than among Catholics themselves." ....this is certainly true with the Catholics I know
vaberella
(24,634 posts)Yeah...that's what I always thought. Catholics are pretty liberal people in general---excluding Santorum. Evangelicals not so much...I can see them switching over to Catholic sides and the Catholic diocese never ever passes an opportunity to abuse a group of dimwits.
meow2u3
(24,768 posts)The common thread linking right-wing political beliefs with some Catholic bishops: Opus Dei, better known as Opus Diaboli (work of the Devil). Every single outspoken, right-wing bishop has ties to that secret society.
http://vaticanisti.blogspot.com/2005/09/american-opus-dei-bishops-outed.html
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/5/10/84720/6065
And with whom, according to to Bishop Finn, are we at war? Well, none other than Notre Dame University President, Father Jenkins - and, of course, his guest of honor, President Obama!
Prior to Bishop Finn leading us into war, we last discussed Bishop Finn upon his arrival at the Diocese of Kansas City-St, Joseph. At the time he was making his authoritarianism known. He sees his diocesan flock -- as well as non-Catholics -- not as much as living as citizens in America democracy, but as part of "a kingdom." Biological issues such as opposition to LGBT rights, abortion and embryonic stem cell research now take precedence over long-standing concerns such as distributive justice or universal health care.
Opus Dei-Affiliated Bishop Indicted For Failure To Report Suspected Child Abuse
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/another-us-opus-dei-bishop
Just google "opus dei bishops united states" for more results.