Posted on 09/23/2009 5:22:23 PM PDT by NYer
September 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a recent interview with CNSNews.com, Cardinal Roger Mahoney declined to answer a question about whether or not he agreed with Cardinal Justin Rigali that the Obama health care bill should include language explicitly excluding any public funding of abortion. "This is way beyond my field," the cardinal responded.
"My field is immigration," said Mahoney, who is the archbishop of Los Angeles. "I really haven't kept up on that, and I spend all my time on this other. You have to get somebody who spends time on that."
When asked whether he believed abortion should be funded under the health care bill, Cardinal Mahony said: "No, but that's what the president said, too, so."
Cardinal Rigali, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' pro-life committee, has spoken out against Obama's healthcare plan as currently formulated, due to the fact that it would use taxpayer money to pay for abortions.
In a letter to legislators on behalf of the U.S. Catholic bishops, Rigali wrote that, under the plan, "federal taxpayer funds will subsidize the operating budget and provider networks that expand access to abortions. Furthermore, those constrained by economic necessity or other factors to purchase the 'public plan' will be forced by the federal government to pay directly and specifically for abortion coverage."
The President and the White House have consistently denied that the health care reform would include funding for abortion. In a recent address to a joint session of Congress, President Obama said: "One more misunderstanding I want to clear up - under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place."
However, this claim has been dismissed by pro-life leaders and legal analysts as little less than a fabrication. The Associated Press, as well as the non-partisan FactCheck.org have both confirmed that the healthcare plan would indeed funnel public money to abortion.
In response to concerns about the Obama healthcare bill and its effects on the right to life, the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) on Monday issued a letter expressing its formal opposition to the legislation. "We must ensure that well-intentioned efforts to bring about 'change' are not exploited to create a federally controlled system that promises health care for all, but creates an oppressive bureaucracy hostile to human life and to the integrity of the patient physician relationship," wrote the Catholic organization.
According to a list compiled by Catholic blogger Thomas Peters of AmericanPapist.com, so far over 40 U.S. Catholic bishops have explicitly spoken out against Obama's healthcare reform for a number of reasons, the most prominent of which is the funding of the killing of unborn children with public money.
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: If they make a mistake, I dont want them punished with a baby.
Speechless ping!
For crying out loud. He is a Roman Catholic Cardinal and he refuses to articulate the church’s position on abortion? What is wrong with this picture?
When does he reach retirement age???
If this apostate cannot figure out whether or not taxpayers should be forced to pay for the American abortion holocaust then he needs to be defrocked and excommunicated.
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It’s always awkward to remove a Cardinal Archbishop from office. The Vatican would usually prefer to let time do its work.
But I really think this heretic has got to go.
Somebody had a “Mahony Retirement Clock” on the internet not too long ago. I think he’s got about 2 years to go.
For those of you who haven't seen it, it was built with resale value in mind. It is almost entirely void of any semblance of sacred ground.
It could be an art gallery, a movie set for a Sci Fi flick, or a gym.
Now, the Cardinal who would approve such a building, has no thought to inspiring his flock nor does he have any respect for the Church and its teachings. It is all about him.
I wish B16 would give him early retirement.
Don't know about this Mahoney jerk, just sayin'...
Abortion is beyond his field? Gee Cardinal, you are living proof that you are no smarter than a 5th grader!
Immigration is one of those social/political issues much farther down on the list.
I'm counting the days until his retirement, and praying for a good CATHOLIC bishop to replace him.
Last week the LA Crimes quoted some guy who workind in Mahoney’s office who was ordered by Mahoney not to reveal to the DA any info about the child molestations. This guy should have been “retired” 7 years ago. Instead, during that time he got his Cardinal’s cap.
Cardinal Mahony Retirement Clock...521 days to go:
This moron needs a call from his immediate boss - in Rome. Hopefully that will happen before the big Boss loses patience.
Oh good grief!! What happened to men with backbones? Where are they? I know you guys exist! No more hiding! Come out, come out wherever you are!!
He'd be claiming - like Frederic the Pirate of Penzance - that he was only eighteen!!!!!
Utterly disgusting behavior from a bishop of the Church.
His comment about, “immigration is my field” is wrong in two ways.
One, the innocent among us is everbody’s field, especially a priest.
Two, your “field” Mahoney, and I refuse to call him Cardinal or Father, should be teaching the Gospel of Christ and saving souls. That is where you are off your tracks and lining the path...
Just another heretic in a long line of heretics.
Paging Tomás de Torquémada.
This is disgusting.
Cardinal Mahoney - you are an ass.
An ass.
Yes, a devout Catholic, who respects your office and your priestly faculties, and who will no longer give you the benefit of the doubt that has been given to you for decades, now realizes definitively and clearly that you don’t respect your own office and priestly faculties.
You should resign your episcopacy and spend the rest of your life in a monastery praying for forgiveness and for all who have been killed and otherwise harmed by the evil of abortion.
Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
"It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government"
--Thomas Paine
Well you know what Mother Angelica said about him to his flock.
Zero obedience to the man.
She then apologized for offending him but still defended her first and only Love, Jesus Christ Himself.
Are we sure this man is even Catholic?
(I like your idea of spending the rest of his life in a monastery)
I’m going to be charitable and try to put the best face on this absurd and loathsome statement by guessing the Cardinal is suffering from dementia.
Or rather... this is madness ping.
AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
I am trying SO HARD to not violate the potty language rule on the Religion Forum!
Ok, would his Eminence PUHLEEZE explain to me how the instrinsic evil that is abortion NOT be a focus of his....but freakin’ immigration is! Somebody tell him YOU’RE IN THE WRONG FIELD!!!!!!!!
How long until he retires?????
“This is way beyond my field,” the cardinal responded.”My field is immigration,”
********
Instead of politics, maybe he should try God and spirit.
Reasons why I will never be Catholic.............
Your list includes ignorance, correct?
I can't stand that these guys don't have the courage of the convictions of their faith they're suppose to represent to the Catholics around them!
He also knows damn well that money for health care will be supporting abortions.
What does Christ say to those who lead others astray? Woe to them. This Cardinal is one of those Pharisees that Christ railed against.
How do they not see that?!
27 February 2011 - 496 days.
How about a B-17? ; )
Don Corleone Mahoney.
I'm proud to say he is my Cardinal.
Not killed mind you, just enough to make him see the light so to speak.
I could have sworn the priest had a smile on his face, but it still cost me two Our Fathers
I think the Holy Father should be knocking heads.
It's just maddening that we as a lay people try so hard to do what is right in obedience, and yet some of those in authority don't seem to care anything in regards to bedience to God or the church.
I suppose that is the crux of the liberal philosophy. They answer only to themselves.
They create scandal within the church.
I am glad the Pope Benedict is there. Perhaps in time...
Blessings to you. (Are you familiar with Father Corappi?)
LOL, my prist knew I was going to DC on the 12. His comment to me when he saw me on Sunday was,”I see you were not arrested” and he grinned at me.
Kafka
Because they are corrupt and their souls are corrupt.
For a man of the cloth to not even comment against the evils of abortion, and simply shrug off the issue as something totally unrelated to the most fundamental Christian tenets - the killing of the unborn - is despicable.
When asked whether he believed abortion should be funded under the health care bill, Cardinal Mahony said: "No, but that's what the president said, too, so."
So you don't care! People like him are an embarrassment to the Catholic Church.
I pray that Mahoney is forced to retire early. This is outrageous.
Translation: He doesn’t want to disrupt the flow of Democratic administration government dollars flowing to his church by speaking out against abortion.
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