America's Catholic bishops have been allies of the Republican Party for almost four decades.
The Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 launched the cooperation as Republicans quickly proclaimed themselves forever opposed to abortion. President Nixon and others thought it was a very good political strategy. They were right. Evangelicals,
many Catholics, and the bishops came to the Republican side.
Republican Party leaders have done nothing to change the court decision but they always said the right things and were properly indignant. In return, they received votes and money
from their religious allies.
The bishops would of course never tell their parishioners to vote Republican, but they left little to the imagination. Priests would preach at mass about the necessity of voting only
for pro-life candidates. They would harangue against same sex marriages and occasionally a pro-choice Catholic would be publicly denied communion.
Events of the last month indicate the bishops are going to take an even more aggressive stance against Democrats than normal. Catholic priests in literally hundreds of churches have been attacking President Obama on a weekly basis since last fall. The priests got their marching orders from the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops which, at a November meeting, decided that "religious freedom" would be their theme for the year.
Many Catholics thought this a strange decision. But the bishops had their reasons.
They were angered at losing a federal grant to provide assistance to victims of sex trafficking.
Importantly, they fought back against an HHS decision that mandated Catholic hospitals and colleges to provide contraceptive insurance to employees.
Many Catholics agreed that this was a case of violation of conscience and protested.
The Obama administration quickly realized its mistake and worked out a compromise that satisfied the religious women who work in the hospitals, influential Catholic publications such as "America" and the "National Catholic Reporter" and virtually every other health-based Catholic group.
But not the bishops. They were still angry and continued the ongoing weekly attacks at mass. Some analysts thought this was an approach the bishops felt would help regain some of the credibility lost in the child abuse scandals of the last decade.
The bishops have, however, raised the stakes in the last 10 days.
The USCCB chair, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, went on the right wing talk show host Bill O'Reilly's broadcast to accuse the Obama administration and its allies of trying to divide the Catholic Church in America. Such a charge from a Cardinal and USCCB Chair would normally get headlines. But not this time. It appears the ongoing attack by the bishops was becoming old news.
And so Dolan turned to another conservative outlet -- being interviewed in the Wall Street Journal on March 31. His approach was the same as in the O'Reilly interview. Dolan likes to present himself as an apolitical and simple priest. He conveys the idea that he is respectful of the president and did not want to have a battle. People who know him often say he is a moderate and is ousted to extreme positions by other bishops. But that's not what a close reading of the interviews shows. Dolan went after President Obama hard, leaving his interviewer saying the president was deceitful.
Dolan is hardly the innocent he portraits himself as. He was not slated to be the USCCB Chair but was elected to that post when a 50-year plus tradition of elevating the number two officer was overturned so the much more conservative Dolan could be elected.
Dolan is also a friend of Rep. Paul Ryan, Chair of the House Budget Committee, whose budget would cut 3.3 trillion in low and moderate income programs.
As aggressive as he is in the issue of religious liberty, Cardinal Dolan has been very kind to his friend Ryan and no comment has come from the USCCB despite the Church's long tradition of social justice and support for the poor.
Cardinal Dolan is certainly the most visible of the bishops taking pro-Republican positions.
Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport is chair of the USCCB Committee on Religious Freedom. He was a witness at the now infamous House Operations hearing on Womens' Health. You remember that one -- it had no women. Lori has since been promoted to Baltimore Archbishop.
We also learned this week that Anna Maria College in Massachsetts has revoked an invitation to Vickie Kennedy, widow if the late Senator Edward Kennedy, to receive an honorary doctorate and give the commencement speech at the May graduation.
The reason? Bishop Robert McManus applied pressure to Anna Maria because Mrs. Kennedy was "too liberal."
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Catholic (Christian terminology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But that threatens your business model, doesn't it?
Try it, you may like it.
Both of your assertions have been debunked.
Time for some new material.
"A survey published in September by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 52 percent of Catholics support marriage equality and 69 percent support civil unions."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-catholic-case-for-same-sex-marriage/2012/02/13/gIQAl4cwDR_story.html
These figures mark Catholics as one of the demographics most favorably inclined towards marriage equality, particularly among large, religious demographics. There are other demographics which are far more supportive of marriage equality, such as younger people and better educated people, but that is not surprising. Catholic laity support for marriage equality exceeds that of the population as a whole, and that is surprising.
Name your poll with the source that debunks the one I have cited. Include the url so we can all evaluate it fully.
Franco Catholics have complained about the Guttmacher finding that almost all adult, Catholic women use birth control. Fine. Perhaps it isn't 98% who do. It would still be "almost universal" even if the figure were lower. Give me your major, national poll or study and what percentage it comes up with, with the url.
Remember as you reply: Lying is against the Ten Commandments.
Or is reading bad news not one of the church's ancient teachings?
By the way the theological basis for the birth control ban is very weak. I would love to see Dolan debate that in an open forum with someone well versed on the the subject medically, historically and philosophically. Might be interesting to see what would happen when Dolan could not control the stage like the bishop in Bridgeport does.
You just don't get it - contraception is a sin within the Church and has been that way for quite some time. It matters little whether you agree or not.
The freedom to practice religion is not contigent upon your approval.
Please explain why God, in the Old Testament of all places, strikes down a man for 'spilling his seed'.
Here's what it tells you - that the civil authorities were agents of & directed by the church; and your distinction is disingenuous.
Which is pretty much what I expect of you.
Why give the church more relevance then it actually has....let it croak in peace.
They are dying off, like the Catholic church in general, but for an election or two they may be enough to make a difference. And all those old ldies vote.
Lovely paraphrase from the emperor Nero - thanks.
if you were serious, you'd pawn all that material wealth, and do your philosophizing on your coffee breaks, like all the rest of us.
Or maybe that was part of the ancient teachings.