Posted on 11/11/2011 1:10:14 PM PST by NYer
Edited on 11/11/2011 8:34:03 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
[snip Getty]
America’s Catholic bishops are planning how to strategically engage in the politically-charged issues of gay marriage, and access to abortion and contraception during their annual fall meeting.
A portion of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ three-day meeting starting Nov. 14 in Baltimore will be used to strategize their already-tense relationship with the Obama administration and the public. Maryland was one of the first states to protect religious freedom.
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan recently warned President Obama that his decision to not defend a federal ban on gay marriage could “precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions,” the Religion News Service reported.
Leading members of American bishops shared similar concerns to Vatican officials this week amid unease among leaders of the the Catholic community that religious freedoms are being eroded. Just this past week, Maryland’s Roman Catholic bishops sent a 16-page statement to parishes throughout the state, saying legalizing same-sex marriage is threatening religious liberty.
“Religious liberty – a right rooted in our human dignity and protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution – is being silently and subtly eroded,” the report said.
A new religious freedom panel along with two full-time staffers, have been employed to spearhead the issues. RNS reported why the hierarchy’s “internal political dynamics” have led to the decision to focus on the narrow topics of same-sex marriage, abortion and contraceptives:
“For one thing, the bishops badly want to move beyond the sexual abuse crisis that has sapped their energies and credibility over the past decade...Moreover, the bishops are too divided to produce landmark documents on war and the economy as they did in the 1980s, insiders say. Opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion are simple, black-and-white issues that all the bishops can get behind.”
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops have been vocal before about their stances on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Daniel Avila resigned from his job with the association earlier this month when he wrote in a newspaper column suggesting the devil may be responsible for homosexuality, sparking condemnation from gay rights groups.
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USCCB Fall General Assembly Mon. Nov. 14 at 9 AM & 1 PM ET & Tue. Nov. 15 at 9 AM & 2 PM ET The annual Fall General Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Baltimore, Maryland. |
Oh, cripes...
what’s to “discuss”?
I got a bad feeling about his...
When the governor of Maryland is still allowed to receive communion,
Is it any wonder why no one listen to you anymore?
(Sign idea)
Who in blazes says they have to?? If they'd just speak where the bible speaks, and be silent where it is silent, they wouldnt be in the immoral mess they are in.
How to keep DOMA intact; how to respond to threats against religious freedom if that effort fails. Keep in mind that the regime is officially branding opposition as "bigotry" at this point.
Apparently not, because the Catholic Bishops in MS couldn't even bring themselves to get behind the Personhood Amendment. They could have been a force to alleviate some of the confusion sown by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, but they simply told Catholics to 'vote their conscience'. Excuse me? Doesn't the latest Voter Guide mention support for abortion as one of the NON-negotiable issues? I was just appalled when my b-i-l told me his Bishops essentially sat out that vote.
The Bishops have no business writing papers about war and the economy, because Catholics are not bound by their pronouncements on those issues. Because of the Bishops' forays into those 'social justice' topics, Catholics are being confused, then ignoring the Bishops on the issues that DO touch on moral issues, and those issues regarding doctrine and dogma.
“what’s to “discuss”?
“How to keep DOMA intact; how to respond to threats against religious freedom if that effort fails. Keep in mind that the regime is officially branding opposition as “bigotry” at this point.”
My thoughts exactly. The laity in the pews also need to educated as to the WHY and HOW of all this...perhaps along the same lines as the great effort to prepare for the improved changes in the liturgy. To assume that they alredy understand all this would be a grave error.
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