Comments on: US Bishops Urge Voters to Give Priority to Life

By: mrteachersir

mrteachersir — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:04:35 +0000

St. John Chrysostom once remarked that the floor of hell is littered with the skulls of bishops and priests. This does not mean that we need to be disrespectful of our bishops all the time. Have they erred? You betcha! They are, however, the Successors to the Apostles. They have been consecrated (not merely blessed).

Since the 2004 Presidential Election, we have seen a number of Bishops, like Archbishop Burke, publically remind the faithful that voting for abortion is completely against our Faith. Cardinal Egan’s reprimand of Giuliani was public…a brilliant move at publicizing the gravity of voting for abortion. And we have this document, which at the very least says very clearly that not all moral issues are of the same weight.

Are these things strong enough? That is up for debate. Perhaps, we are seeing a subtle shift. I think it is telling that recently, the President of the USCCB, Cardinal George, celebrated an ordination Ordinary Form Mass in Chicago this weekend in Latin, facing ad orientum…keeping in line with the liturgical tradition and orthodoxy of the Church. With the liturgy goes the doctrine (is there any surprise that the Bishops we hear so many unorthodox things from are hesitant to embrace the liturgical traditions of the past?).

By: troymartz

troymartz — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:28:07 +0000

The reality is that the problem lies directly with many of the Bishops themselves. How hypocritical of these people to spend a few days pretending to care about these issues only to return to their dioceses and embrace and excuse the pro-abortion politicians.

They have spent so much of the past few decades being “pastoral” that they have neglected to protect the flocks from the the wolves — whether it be predatory pedaphiles, liberal politicians, or heterodox dissident priests.

Frankly, the USCCB will have more credibility when they hold their own accountable for obedience to the Church.

By: SolaGratia

SolaGratia — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:31:36 +0000

This isn’t going to accomplish anything because the vast majority of Catholics are never going to see or hear about it – as per usual. The average Catholic – even those who are fairly devout – does not have time to keep track of what documents the bishops’ conference is putting out. I don’t even have time to keep up with our less than edifying diocesan paper & I am one of those who tries to keep an ear to the ground.

So the bishops as a collective group do not make any serious efforts to inform or educate us because they have not developed an effective means of getting the really important information to the people in the pews,

Plus these crafty pols latch onto snippets from these documents to publicly spin it into whatever they want it to say & no one corrects them publicly so people who want to believe what they say are left comfortable in their errors.

Also because we’re so busy embracing the “Big Tent” theory that we have celebrated “diversity” to the point that we’re too fragmented to be a cultural force anymore (diversity has trumped unity as a new mark of the Church),

AND because the bishops write it like legal jargon & our modern attention deficit society (yes,I include myself here) does not have the attention span to wade thru it & try to figure out what the heck they’re really saying.

Seriously, my mind totally balked at reading this article (due to past experience with the bishops on this topic) & I never even made it all the way through – sure enough, the brain tuned out as soon as it started quoting from the bishops document.

I am a college educated professional & an avid reader who watches very little TV (EWTN & old movies). If it has this effect on me, I doubt the average “Joe 6-pack” is going to react much differently…

By: tednkate

tednkate — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:01:52 +0000

I hate to say this, but I don’t think the lay Catholic can be entirely to blame for their failing to put pro-life issues above all, Fact is, many pro-abortion politicians announced their intention to attend the recent Papal Mass beforehand, and then proceded to take communion. No one prevented it, and to the best of my knowledge, no heads rolled over this (although Guiliana was belated taken to task for it).

There is an old saying: actions speak louder than words.

By: fw1952

fw1952 — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:57:50 +0000

A copy of this document should be given to all Mass-attending Catholics. Whether we leave them in the bulletins, place them on windshields, or physically hand a copy to each person entering or leaving Church, we all have a responsibilty to spread this word.

Some Catholics will wiggle out of their responsibility, but most will read it and factor it into their voting habits. And when Catholic democrats begin to vote pro-life, abortion will end.

By: dennisofraleigh

dennisofraleigh — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:05:24 +0000

An excellent effort by the U.S. Bishops. However, U.S. Catholics, being U.S. Catholics (I count among them the millions who only *occassionaly* attend Sunday Mass yet consider themselves “good Catholics”) will proceed to pretty much (as is their “thing”) *ignore* whatever the Church teaches and follow whatever political whim moves them. Otherwise how do you explain the past voting patterns of those states with the highest number of Catholic registered voters also electing (and re-electing. Does the name “Kennedy” have a familiar ring?)lawmakers whose positions on the sanctity and dignity of human life are waaaaaaay off the mark when stacked up against Church teaching.
I have my serious doubts that this “Faithful Citizenship” statement will be any more persuasive at moving Catholic voters away from anti-life candidates than previous statements, as good as this most recent one is in articulating the critical importance of “life” issues in the litany of “social justice” issues Catholics are called to consider. And that is presuming most Catholics will even take the time to *read* the thing. Most won’t, unfortunately. This culture is in the firm grip of what Pope Benedict once characterized as the “dictatorship of relativism.” And our Catholic brothers and sisters seem quite comfortable goose-stepping to that relativist drumbeat all the way to the polling stations.