Posted on 11/06/2008 9:59:35 AM PST by NYer
Talking nonsense and calling it Catholicism has long been a specialty of Father Thomas Reese who said today that a majority of Catholics voted for Obama but if Obama actually supports the Freedom of Choice Act then he will have "betrayed" Catholics, according to Boston.com. What?!
That will be a betrayal? That? Fr. Reese, the guy voted three times for infanticide. Infanticide! The guy has promised that the first thing he would do in the White House is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. His signing that would not be a betrayal. That would actually be keeping his word.
The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, last night e-mailed his analysis, saying, "Catholic voters ignored the instructions of a group of vocal bishops and delivered 54% of their vote for Barack Obama as president of the United States." He cited a number of factors -- the importance of the economy, the endorsement of Obama by a few highly visible anti-abortion lay Catholic intellectuals, the presence of Biden on the Democratic ticket, and Obama's support for abortion reduction. But, Reese warned, "Will the abortion debate rise up again in four years at the next presidential election? A lot depends on President Obama and the Democratic Congress. If they push through the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), then they will have betrayed their pro-life Catholic supporters. This will make it nearly impossible for these people to support them again. On the other hand, if they make a priority the enactment of an abortion reduction bill, then it will be more difficult for the bishops and the Republicans to portray the Democrats as the pro-abortion party."Look, this is a classic example of drawing a new line in the sand every time it's crossed and then saying, "this time I really really mean it." No more evidence is needed that Barack Obama is not simply pro-choice. He is pro-abortion. Recall if you will his "punished with a baby" comments. If Fr. Reese chose to play ostrich this election year, that's his choice. He shouldn't generalize his lack of clarity to all Catholics.
Ping
He's pro-infanticide.
Fr. Reese is playing dirty pool by advocating Obama for his "social justice" (i.e. socialist) leanings, and then trying to fob off his sinful support on some kind of supposed intention on Obama's part to suddenly become anti-abortion.
He's a mere tool. His bishop should chastise him.
What is the evidence that a majority of Catholics voted for Obama? In my state there is a secret ballot, and voters are not asked to state religious affiliation or lack thereof when registering to vote. If Obama got 52% of the vote, and that included getting 95% of the black vote, of which only a small percentage is Catholic, it would seem that of the remainder of the electorate, McCain would have at least a plurality among Catholics.
True, but nothing prevents anyone from stating religious affiliations as part of the usual exit polls.
The mental gymnastics Catholics have to go through to justify their vote for infanticide makes me dizzy.
Father Reese has too many counterparts in the priesthood.
Reese (a Jesuit, by the way: no bishop to discipline him and IMAGINE the Jesuits doing so!) has never recovered from being sacked as editor of AMERICA, reportedly upon orders of the then Cardinal Ratzinger.
His recent article about the election is rife with logical errors.
Who cares what the percentage is of US Catholics who did NOT listen to those (relatively few, but THANKFULLY growing number of) bishops who dared to write pastoral letters and/or speak the truth about Catholic teaching during this election cycle? Unlike the Episcopal Church and other Protestant groups, the Catholic Magisterium is not a matter of majority rule, nor the success of its exercise a matter of marketing to a majority percentage of the Catholic populace.
In the article, he refers to Biden as “an experienced Catholic senator with working class roots.” PLEASE! The man has lived for years in a gated compound. He was driven from presidential politics years ago by shameless lifting a speech from a British economist and trying to pass it off as his own. He famously told a peon-challenger that he was sure that “my IQ is higher than yours” and claimed he went to school on a full scholarship and graduated in the top percentile of his class. In fact, the scholarship was partial and need-based and he was near the bottom of (at least) his law school class. And he has built his career, in part, on public and persistent dissent from the Church’s Magisterium. The nut didn’t fall far from the tree either: his battle-axe mother famously admonished him before the Holy Father’s visit, “DON’T YOU KISS HIS RING!” What kind of “Catholic” is that?
And the little slam at Sarah Palin being an “ex-Catholic evangelical” is laughable. She was 12 or so when HER PARENTS left the Church. And when was the last time a Jesuit complained about someone doing THAT? Apparently it’s only a problem if you leave us for something more conservative!
What Reese and the others of his ilk are upset about is that just as this election might sift the wheat from the chaff in the Republican Party, so it might do the very same among Catholics in the United States. To the RINOs we say: Good Riddance! And we should do the same to the CINOs, the Catholics In Name Only.
In fact, we might tempt them with the offer of a free year’s subscription to AMERICA !!!!
This election has actually had a plus side. I hope the Holy Father is taking names, these CINO’s who have used their public status to advance infanticide can’t seem to keep their mouths shut thus supplying the ammunition for their own excommunication. That’s just a little dream of mine.
I am afraid that many do not listen to the Holy Father andalso have protectors among the bishops and their staffs. There is so much sophistry out there. The simple fact is that the national elites imposed new law on a population that abhored the thought of abortion on demand. But there had always been a pent-up demand for east abortions, and many took advantage of their new freedom. Over the years, their numbers increased, until a substantial part of the Catholic population was complicit in these deeds. Confronted with this, priests began to back away from total condemnation of the deeds, and to look upon mitigating factors as justifications. They no longer lead their flocks in this matter but wre led by them.
They argue in favor of Obama because they call him a moderate. George W. Bush is a moderate; it is the greatest of falsehoods to say that he is a man of the right. To call Obama is a moderate is absurd, excerpt that they have redefined moderate to be what Obama says.
Reese is delusional if he thinks they would ever do this.
Which is only a portion of why I don't do that. Vertigo in the choir gallery is bad enough.
I am thinking the message here is: “Look BO, Catholics voted for you in spite of bishops turning up the heat. The heat is going to get worse and it will be very difficult to repeat this support so you better find some plausible excuse not to enact this. then you will be more likely to repeat your 54% support and we can justify or vote for you because we stopped foca”
I believe reese is right. i doubt foca becomes law unless republicans become complicit, which they won’t.
Our choir loft has a steep rake and the front row is pretty scary. The cantor stands in a little bumpout next to the organ console (which itself is in a little bumpout over the aisle). Fortunately I am not afraid of heights (low tight places give me the grues though) and I don't have a difficulty even standing out there in midair cantoring, but there are a couple of people who can't sing in the choir because they can't deal with the steep rake or the far too plain view of the hard stone floor waaaayyyy below. The organist has a rear-view mirror so he can see what's going on at the altar, but our man has a disconcerting way of leaning out over the rail to see when the entrance procession is starting. The rail is way too low -- obvious nobody consulted OSHA!
"Are you a GOOD Jesuit, or . . . the other kind?"
I guess we know the answer to Glinda's question!
The choir gallery is three stories off the floor and has a three foot ledge, but I still can't stand next to it. I can do the risers, though.
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