Boycott Clinton speech, Catholic bishop says

CBC ^ | Thu, 24 Aug 2006

[presidio9]

A southern Ontario bishop is urging Catholics to boycott an upcoming fundraiser featuring former U.S. president Bill Clinton, saying his views don't reflect the church's beliefs.

Clinton is set to deliver a speech Nov. 8 during a $500-per-seat fundraising lunch for the Catholic Family Counselling Centre in Kitchener.

But Rev. Gerard Bergie, the auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Hamilton, says Clinton is an inappropriate guest speaker, the Waterloo Region Record reported.

Clinton's support for abortion, his marital infidelity and promotion of condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS go against Catholic Church doctrine, said Bergie.

He says he's received complaints from Catholics across the country.

"They find it difficult to reconcile the fact that an organization that calls itself Catholic has extended an invitation to an individual whose views … go against the Catholic church," he told the newspaper.

Cathy Brothers, a spokeswoman for the centre, said it is a non-denominational agency and that the fundraiser is "not about our Catholicism."

Clinton is a regular on the guest-speaker circuit, drawing as much as $350,000 per speech. Brothers wouldn't say how much it cost to bring Clinton to Kitchener.

The counselling centre plans to use the money raised to expand services for victims of domestic abuse.

[yoe]

Bishop or Ayatollah?

[bboop]

"His support of condoms ... does not reflect our Catholic teachings." Then there are the cigar tricks.

[Suzy Quzy]

OMG!! Cathy, you better examine your conscience for inviting Bill Clinton to a CATHOLIC anything....you are dancing on the trap door of hell.

[presidio9]

ping

[Gunny P]

Agree with Rev. Bergie.
Brother Bill has demonstrated himself to be what we used to call "White Trash". RC priests have enough of a problem with morality and ethics without inviting him in.

[ladtx]

Kinda like inviting Bin Laden to speak at a NYC Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

[Emmett McCarthy]

I don't know what your comment is supposed to mean, but, as I understand it, this agency has the word "Catholic" in its name and the Bishop is acting quite appropriately in pointing out the inconsistency of having someone who teaches things contrary to the Catholic faith. If this agency wants to drop "Catholic" from its identity, fine, but I bet they wouldn't be willing to do that because it's a major help in fund-raising.

[Obie Wan]

How about we just boycott Clinton altogether ???

[Apercu]

Your anti-Catholic bigotry is showing.

[bray]

Catholics are Pro-Abortion, right??

Pray for W and Our Troops

[BaBaStooey]

Cathy Brothers, a spokeswoman for the centre, said it is a non-denominational agency

Then why is it called the Catholic Family Counselling Centre???

[sgtbono2002]

What a generous man Bill Clinton is, Coming to hlp this worthy cause raise funds, and for a mere pittance of $350,000 dollars. What a philanthropist. I am sure its because the family counseling sevice counseled Bill during his life crisis , after he got caught stuffing cigars up his girlfriend and beating off in the sink.

A Family Crisis Center that would even allow this thief, rapist, pervert to enter the door ought to be closed down.
To call itslef Catholic and allow this POS to appear is a sin that cries out for excommunication.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Actually, it's worse than that.

During the Vietnam War BILL CLINTON actively supported our Terrorist Enemy, Communist North Vietnam Dictator HO CHI MINH, against us and Freedom for Vietnam.

Then when President, BILL CLINTON refused to bring our Terrorist Enemy OSAMA bin LADEN to America when offered him 3 times by the Sudan, acting against our own Freedom.

When still President, BILL CLINTON publically stated that America fought on the wrong side against the CASTRO-Backed Communists trying to take over Central America during the 1980's.

When being impeached, BILL CLINTON went to Europe to publically state that all the countries of the world should all be playing on the same level playing field, instead of there being just 1 Superpower above all = US.

When no longer President, BILL CLINTON publically stated that there may not even BE an America around in 300 years.

As he has been doing all that he possibly can all along to make it so.

For...
...the Enemy is now within,
...and always has been.

.

[muryan]

I understand the complaint, but because of his stance on condoms...? I think thats one thing the catholic church needs to change its stance on. Being anti-contraceptive is something that is going to turn away my younger generation on a consistent basis.

[yoe]

Agreed and you would think people would stay away in droves however, the Bishop's statements come across as an edict IMHO. Frankly I wouldn't throw water on Clinton if he were on fire and I surely wouldn't give $500.00 to listen to him...an attitude not only Catholics but all right thinking people will take. Send the money directly to the Catholic Family Counselling Centre in Kitchener and stay home would be my advice.

[ladtx]

I think thats one thing the catholic church needs to change its stance on.

That will never happen. One would think that people should conform to the Church; the Church should not conform to the whims of the people.

[presidio9]

I think thats one thing the catholic church needs to change its stance on. Being anti-contraceptive is something that is going to turn away my younger generation on a consistent basis.

Two questions:

Are you a Catholic?
Do you understand why the Church opposes birth control?

[Protagoras]

Bishop.

Did he do something wrong?

[yoe]

...the Church should not conform to the whims of the people.

One has only to look at what happened to the Episcopal Church to see what happens when whims become more important that Church Law or the Holy Bible.......

[Dionysius]

Big difference #1 (there are many): If this were an Ayatollah, all those attending would be beheaded.

[cinives]

Absolutely - when you give up on principles, all else is just opinion, leading to moral relativism.

[netmilsmom]

>>Being anti-contraceptive is something that is going to turn away my younger generation on a consistent basis.<<

LOLOLOLOL!

Come to my parish!!! Your eyes will be openned!
Young people are discovering that they are very blessed when open to life. The average in our parish is 4 children but 10 and 12 are not unknown.
We have been told for years that you "Can't" afford to raise more than two kids. If one breastfeeds, the cost of another child is in the diapers. All clothes are recycled, toys are recycled.

I think you've been listening to the MSM too long!

And there is nothing better than a house full of people who love you!

[Emmett McCarthy]

Well, the Bishop's job is to act as a shepherd for his flock. If that comes across as an "edict", it's one that has no force of compulsion for the general populace and not even on a lot of Catholics. If the agency didn't call itself "Catholic", that would be a different story. What if some group advertised itself as the "Baptist Pedophile Society" or the "Methodist Jihad Group", wouldn't the leaders of those denominations be correct to publicly announce that those groups weren't representing the teachings of the respective churches?

[Mrs. Don-o]

Bishop. Catholic.

[Tax-chick]

Being anti-contraceptive is something that is going to turn away my younger generation

Not a bit of it, although to the extent that young (or old) people are pro-contraceptive, that's a sign that they need to be catechised and, above all, evangelized.

The prophets used a figure of speech, "uncircumcised in mind and heart," to describe Jews whose "faith" didn't reach into the nitty-gritty of their lives. It might be more useful today to say "contraceptive in mind and heart," unwilling to give and receive life.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Hmmm.... Are you suggesting that ayatollahs now support honest religious labeling, truth-in-advertising, and voluntary boycotts, to achieve their goals?

If that's the case, I'd say you've run into a better grade of ayatollah than most of us are familiar with.

[B Knotts]

This site has really come full circle.

Years ago, we (rightly) denounced Bill Clinton in unison.

Now, we have people defending Bill Clinton against the Catholic Church.

Just wonderful.

[Tax-chick]

Maybe some people find Bill Clinton's lifestyle worthy of imitation.

[linda_22003]

Or, they can just quietly ignore the Church's teachings on the subject, as previous generations have done.

[Mrs. Don-o]

You wrote: "OMG!! Cathy, you better examine your conscience for inviting Bill Clinton to a CATHOLIC anything....you are dancing on the trap door of hell.

I don't know about dancing on the trap door of hell, but I'd say she's definitely cha-chaing with a charlatan --- swinging with a satyr ---

[ZULU]

"Clinton is set to deliver a speech Nov. 8 during a $500-per-seat fundraising lunch for the Catholic Family Counselling Centre in Kitchener. "

FAMILY COUNSELING????!!!!!!

What a laugh.

What moron or groups of morons invited this serial sexual predator to such an event?

His view of Family Planning is to have sex with any attractive or semi-attractive female he can intimidate or seduce.

[armydoc]

I understand the complaint, but because of his stance on condoms...? I think thats one thing the catholic church needs to change its stance on. Being anti-contraceptive is something that is going to turn away my younger generation on a consistent basis.

Do you really think that the Church's teachings on this matter are turning people away? The stats suggest otherwise:

Confirming the results of earlier polls, dissent from Catholic teaching was most pronounced in the responses to a question on contraception. To the statement, "it is morally wrong to use artificial methods of birth control", 57 percent strongly disagreed, and another 16 percent mildly disagreed, yielding an overall 73 percent rejection of Catholic teaching.
http://www.adoremus.org/397-Roper.html

The Roman Catholic Church is the only major faith institution in the U.S. to forbid the use of contraception. However, most Catholics disagree with the prohibition; 75% of Catholic women of childbearing age who are sexually active use a contraceptive method forbidden by the church, according to the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth.
http://www.rcrc.org/calltojustice/religion_contraception.php


Catholics, at least American Catholics, seem to have no problem warming the pews while thumbing their nose at Church teachings. The inaction of the Church hierarchy suggests that they have no major problem with the situation, either. Protestants are often ridiculed regarding their "10,000" denominations, while Catholics are supposedly united in one Faith. Hardly. Rather, the diversity of Catholic beliefs is quietly tolerated. There are at least 10,000 "denominations" within Catholicism.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The prophets used a figure of speech, "uncircumcised in mind and heart," to describe Jews whose "faith" didn't reach into the nitty-gritty of their lives. It might be more useful today to say "contraceptive in mind and heart," unwilling to give and receive life.

Excellent point! I promise to plagiarize it and use it widely!

[Tax-chick]

No attribution needed :-).

[Mrs. Don-o]

You wrote: ".. the diversity of Catholic beliefs is quietly tolerated. There are at least 10,000 "denominations" within Catholicism."

Yes, and more's the pity. This reflects, on the part of the laity, infidelity to the faith and morals they supposedly profess every time they mouth the words of the Creed or renew their Baptismal Promises at Easter. The precise term for it is "religious hypocrisy," and it is clearly an ecumenical, inter-church phenomenon.

On the part of the lax clergy, who neither teach, govern, nor sanctify, this is all-of-the-above plus pastoral malpractice.

That's one of the reasons why the greatest of Catholic artists (e.g. Dante and Michelangelo) depicted some bishops as damned souls; and the greatest of Catholic saints (e.g. St. John Chrysostom) said that "the floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops."

[franky]

A short historical perspective.

What contraception has wrought:

The first true test for contraception was in the Griswold v. Baird decision that made contraception legal 40 years ago. It was at that time that not only was contraception legal throughout the U. S., a whole new philosophy sprung up. The philosophy of "free sex" or what is called "Family Planning".

Under the guise of "Family Planning", it was not until the mid 1960s and 1970s that these philosophers really started to manifest themselves. What is coincidental and significant is that during that time moral degeneration, led by such happenings as Woodstock, Timothy Leary’s free drugs and many other things, the United States’ social mores started to decline to what we have today.

A question arose at the time: Did this same family planning and contraceptive society thinking cause the United States’ social mores to decline to today’s lows or is it all just coincidence ? If it is coincidence then the following must be coincidental:

-As divorce is above 50% of all marriages, it was reported by Creighton University’s Center for Marriage and Family, “That the main causes for divorce are infidelity, and frequency of sexual relations were of greatest concern to those ages 29 and under.”

-Other startling statistics show children of divorce are twice as likely to drop out of school as those from intact homes.

-Children of divorce (whose parents divorced while they were children) are 62% more likely than children of non-divorced parents to no longer identify with the faith of their parents when they grow up. Divorced adults quadrupled from 4.3 million in 1970 to 17.4 million in 1994."

Is it not strange that contraception runs parallel to the Country's moral decay?

A contraceptive society certainly takes away what is Gods and surely breaks the first commandment when man uses his own capacities to play God. It is why contraception will never work.

[kenth]

Cathy Brothers, a spokeswoman for the centre, said it is a non-denominational agency

[Jacquerie]

Aren't the cases Griswold v Connecticut and Eisenstadt v Baird?

[franky]

Thank you. My old memory gets older.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"A southern Ontario bishop is urging Catholics to boycott an upcoming fundraiser featuring former U.S. president Bill Clinton, saying his views don't reflect the church's beliefs."

Well, what a relief for a prelate to exhibit skill in logic, critical thinking, and moral theology.

And all in one press release! Is this the new "springtime" of prophecy? :)

[toddlintown]

Bill Clinton? Hmmm. Didn't he dirty up the Oval Orifice?