No, that’s not my belief. However, it is the “theological position” of Catholic Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois. And he makes no rosary beads about it, telling Catholics in his diocese that they will put their eternal soul at risk should they vote for Barack Obama and other Democrats for elective office this November.
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield, Illinois, is warning that the Democratic Party has endorsed “intrinsic evils” and consequently, voters who back Democratic candidates have put their eternal salvation at risk. In the Catholic Times, the official newspaper of the Springfield diocese, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki uses the manufactured controversy about mentioning “God” in the Democratic Platform to argue that the Democrats are hostile to faith, and went on to attack Democrats for endorsing gay rights and opposing the criminalization of abortion. He said those two planks demonstrate that the Democrats “explicitly endorse intrinsic evils,” while noting that he has “read the Republican Party Platform and there is nothing in it that supports or promotes an intrinsic evil or a serious sin.”
Ah yes, intrinsic evil. I wonder if Bishop Paprocki agrees that the Catholic Church’s support of General Franco’s murderous regime in Spain that resulted hundreds of thousands of deaths and other human rights atrocities participated intrinsic evils, especially since these Church officials gave Franco their support in able to solidify their own position and power in the country.
When Franco took power he converted Spain into the past. He outlawed anything that did not agree with catholic beliefs; this included contraceptives, homosexuality, practice of any other religion, prostitution, and divorce(all are presently legal). Franco even went as far has outlawing any other language than Spanish and took away all rights given to the autonomous regions of Spain. At this time church and state of Spain were one body and it was the responsibility of both to enforce the change towards unity. All forms of education and censorship were directed by the church. Franco was given the power from the Vatican to elect church officials, a rare privilege given by the Vatican. Isolation was another concept that described Spain.
Franco even slaughtered Catholic Basques, but no matter, the Church stood firmly in Franco’s camp. Did the officials in the Catholic Church in Spain who supported his murderous and oppressive regime condemn their souls to eternal damnation, Bishop Paprocki? Did the Catholic Church that under Franco participated in a massive baby trafficking scheme suffer the fate that you claim will happen to Obama and Democratic voters?
Up to 300,000 Spanish babies were stolen from their parents and sold for adoption over a period of five decades, a new investigation reveals.
The children were trafficked by a secret network of doctors, nurses, priests and nuns in a widespread practice that began during General Franco’s dictatorship and continued until the early Nineties.
But the women, often young and unmarried, were told they could not see the body of the infant or attend their burial.
In reality, the babies were sold to childless couples whose devout beliefs and financial security meant that they were seen as more appropriate parents.
Inquiring minds want to know. You see, Bishop Paprocki, the Catholic Churches support for right wing dictatorships all over the world, not just in Spain, constitutes intrinsic evils to me far more heinous than the simple act of casting a vote in a democracy. But what do I know? I’m not even Catholic, for which I am eternally grateful after reading the claptrap you published in a silly and ugly attempt to frighten your followers into voting for Romney and Republicans. Shame on you for misusing your position is such a petty and nasty display of what we like to call around here, voter suppression.
Apparently you’d rather have as President a man whose party’s goals are to destroy our country’s safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society, a party who rejects investing in America’s economy so millionaires and billionaires can make more profits and cause more misery for your parishioners by outsourcing their jobs overseas, destroying our elementary and secondary education system through cutting funds and demonizing teachers, and making it harder for their children to attend college by slashing government aid for students. You’d rather they vote for a Presidential candidate who thinks the Emergency Room is an adequate health care provider for the poor, and whose whose party’s stated goal is to eliminate President Obama’s health care reforms, making it ever more difficult for all but the uber-upper classes to obtain and afford decent health care. You’d rather scare them into voting for Republican politicians who care more about corporate people than real ones, and who think starting a third war in the Middle east by a attacking Iran would be a great idea, after our failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended up killing and hundred of thousands if not millions of innocent civilians for a lie.
To be honest Bishop Papracki, it sounds to me as if your actions have far more in common with the “intrinsic evils” you rail against than anyone who votes for Obama and other Democrats this Fall. To which I can only say, if there is a hell, you sir certainly belong there. I’m not exactly sure where Dante would place you, but somewhere in either the 8th or 9th circles would seem appropriate, based on your hypocrisy and malicious and fraudulent actions. It’s Christians like you that have perverted the message of peace, social justice and forgiveness preached by Jesus into just another malevolent cult.
In Ireland the institutional Catholic Church has almost collapsed in the wake of the Episcopal cover-up of child sexual abuse. If Bishop Papracki has his way, the Catholic Church in the USA will soon be reduced to being part of the religious right wing of the GOP.
His problem is that the more the state does for people in need, the less need there is for institutions like the RC Church. His hold on his flock is based on their grief, fear, guilt, anxiety and emotional and material needs. Address those needs through secular institutions and he’s out of a job, or reduced to a purely ceremonial role.
Count me in on that!
As I have said here before, I have no quarrel with the words of Jesus of Nazerth as highlighted in red in the New Testament they gave me as a boy, but I have HUGE problems with his followers starting with “Saint” Paul.
So now a Catholic Bishop is exhibiting signs of Gantryism? That disgusting disease must be highly contagious with a dormancy feature that can activate randomly any time it senses power and wealth is on the wane. Wonder if he’s also planning an IPO for a new and improved brand of snake oil? Also curious as to wheather the diocese has an online newsletter with comments enabled? Probably not, but one can dream.
It’s just not the present home state of the President. Here in Boo’s neck of the woods, it’s the same. The Archbishop of Philadelphia is spouting the same garbage. In fact, Boo can go watch it live a week from Saturday if he wants to see for himself. The Archbishop will be about(my guess) 15 minutes or so from Boo’s place.
Thing is, though, that the flock appears not to be buying it, at least according to Pew:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/27/pew-poll-obama-opens-up-lead-over-romney-among-catholics/?h
pt=hp_t2
The Church of the Infinite One Commandment (“Thou shalt not have sex unless it’s non-consensual with young boys”) strikes again, forgetting about idolatry, letting money control theology; pious vanity; leaving the elderly mothers and fathers to fend for themselves; Wall Street theft; the murdering in war, capital punishment, and terrorism against doctors who perform abortions; telling outrageous lies; and coveting the power of the people and the limelight of the media.
What a piece of anti-First Amendment pious crap.
In the 1960s, I was uncomfortable with a preacher who preached a sermon endorsing Lyndon Johnson because Goldwater was so scary. (It wasn’t Goldwater who turned out to be scary, it was the “true believers” still smarting from the defeat.)
But this sort of meddling was exactly what the Baptists (now the Bishops’ best buds) warned us would have if John F. Kennedy got elected. (And folks in 1980 told me that if I voted for Jimmy Carter, I would be freezing in the dark; I did, and likely come winter I will be. And if I voted for Al Gore the national debt would triple; I voted for Gore. See how that works.)
I hope so!
Usually when the bishops or the Pope do this sort of thing, it is self-defeating in the sense that it reveals how little their flock actually listens to them.
Must be from the Cardinal Spellman wing of the US RCC. If Spellman and his good buddies Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, and Anastasio Somoza Garcia are in heaven, then company in hell is surely better.
This sound like endorsing not only a candidate but an entire party in a political campaign. If this does not end their tax exempt status, what will?
Short answer: Nothing. The churches are too deeply established to give up their get-out-of-taxes-free cards without a bloody fight, and no politician is willing to take them on.
This is not some battle for politicians. This is the law!
http://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Charitable-Organizations/Exemption-Requirements—Sec
tion-501(c)(3)-Organizations
To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.
Who ya gonna get to enforce it?
Maybe we get some help from 1000 pastors who want the court to rule on this. I also think this is why the IRS sends warning letters then drop the cases as they get close to court.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/23/more-than-1000-pastors-plan-to-challenge-irs-by-endorsing-pres
idential-candidate/
We would do best to get rid of the tax exemption and KEEP the muzzle on the clergy – and actually enforce it – doing both on First Amendment (disestablishment) grounds.
If you expect a federal bench stuffed with conservatives to rule remotely your way on this you are mistaken.
They are more likely to allow the tax exemption to stand in defiance of disestablishment and ALSO allow the most overt clerical politicking in alleged deference to First Amendment freedom of speech.
I like my reading of the First Amendment better than we will like theirs.
The tax exemption is the only muzzle possible and it’s not working because the government is afraid the Citizens United Supreme Court will do exactly what you say, overturn the Johnson Amendment, keep the tax exemption then call this protected free speech to add yet another dimension of crazy to our politics. Maybe we are wise to wait until the Supreme Court balance changes, if ever. Elections matter.
Don’t over look the deal the catholic church made with Mussolini in the early 1930’s. That is how they got Vatican City.
Not to deny anything you have said about Franco or the Church, the fact is the Spanish Republic was dead on the day of the generals’ revolt in Africa.
Inside Spain, no one took its side but anarchists and communists.
And so the same was true internationally.
And when the time was right, Stalin had the communists destroy the anarchists after which the generals promptly won.
No good outcome was possible.
My ire here is not confined to the Catholic Church, rather all religious leaders in the U.S. who use the pulpit to foist their political views on to their “flock”. My view is that anyone doing so would forfeit their churches tax exempt status from that day forward. If they don’t “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s”, then they need to participate fully in the government they try to mold. Pay the tax!
Many Catholics like myself are voting Democratic and ignoring the bishops, who have lost all moral authority. A lot of us stay not because of the bishops, but in order to give witness against their positions.