About 30 years ago, while employed as a very young elementary school teacher in a Catholic school in poor parish school in the Bronx, I was riding in a car with four other faculty members, three of them nuns. At one point our conversation turned to a child in my class. The boy had a few siblings in the school, an extremely young mother and no father in the home. "Doesn't she know about the pill?" one of the nuns exclaimed. This exasperated nun was well over 60 years of age at the time and was, by any other measure, a nun I'd describe as "old school." It shocked me that the same nun who required seventh and eighth graders to kneel for the hemline length test (for Catholic skirts) would say such a thing.
In the 30 years that have elapsed, I've observed over and over again how such departures from Roman Catholic doctrine (It is not just nuns either; I more often observe it in priests) are not unusual. It comes as no surprise to me that our Vice President should be in favor of same-sex marriage, that Georgetown would contract Kathleen Sebelius to address its community, that Andrew Cuomo should sign off on same-sex marriage. So rogue are most Roman Catholics when it comes to papal teaching, that Catholic dissidence often seems the norm. When a discerning Catholic breaks with doctrine, it is generally seeking acting accordance with his or her conscience, which, according to Ratzinger's own words, "has to be obeyed first of all, if need be against the demands of church authority." ( "Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II", ed. Vorgrimler, 1968, on Gaudium et spes, Part 1, Chapter 1.)
Some confusion surrounded the question of whether Catholic Charities' supported the passing of ObamaCare in the immediate aftermath of the ruling on the plan structured by (Roman Catholic) Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius. Catholic Charities first appeared to support the plan, but later claimed otherwise. (Catholic Charities, which is affiliated with, but not run by the Roman Catholic Church, helps to feed, shelter, educate, employ and otherwise support the indigent and disabled throughout the U.S.) My experience in Roman Catholic Social Justice ministry tells me speculating about this is silly. Even if Catholic Charities does support Obama's plan, there's nothing to be gained by announcing it. As it does in so many areas of Roman Catholic practice and ministry, in this instance, "don't ask don't tell" applies.
In her Feb. 16 piece in Mother Jones, "What War on Religion?" Stephanie Menciner demonstrates not only that Barack Obama is not religion-averse, but that he has conducted himself as a president who very much trusts and values faith-based programs:
But all the outrage about religious freedom has overshadowed a basic truth about the Obama administration: When it comes to religious organizations and their treatment by the federal government, the Obama administration has been extremely generous. Religious groups have benefited handsomely from Obama's stimulus package, budgets, and other policies. ... The USCCB, which has been such a vocal critic of the Obama administration, has seen its share of federal grants from HHS jump from $71.8 million in the last three years of the Bush administration to $81.2 million during the first three years of Obama. In fiscal 2011 alone, the group received a record $31.4 million from the administration it believes is virulently anti-Catholic, according to HHS data.
Read 'United States Catholics: A Church Divided' in its entirety on Indie Theology.
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The government has the power to enslave you, errant Catholics do not.
It is also the subject of the first 2 comandments.
I could provide other references, without it I suspect one is simply looking for an excuse not to practise it. ("I know I, just saw it........ I even had a bookmark on it....").
Many of those (fellow Catholics) you call "THEY" believe that Catholics who think it proper to decide who the "true" Catholics are -- are not, themselves, practicing authentic Catholicism. Catholics are called to discern. The church is not a club.
I thank you for the comment.
MMS
Obama's law allows the dissenters to follow their consciences, but it doesn't allow the rest of us to follow ours. Surely even those who support birth control can understand how forcing others to disobey their consciences is wrong?
She may have been offering counsleing services for women seekingabortions.
Male-dominated = check! Money driven = check! Manipulating for personal gain = check! Divide and conquer ~ THEM vs US = check!
I rest my case.
"Even if the he were to do an about-face on contraception, abortion and "gay marriage," he wouldn't win much new support among conservative Catholics because the small percentage of Roman Catholics who oppose contraception are the same conservative, Republican Catholics who don't want a black man in the Oval Office."
Hit the nail on the head. It doesn't matter how moderate Obama is, these people will never be on his side unless maybe he suddenly revealed he'd been wearing shoe polish all this time.
Personally, while I'm generally an Obama fan, I think he has been far too friendly with and accommodating of religion. Anyone concerned that his administration is conducting a "war on religion" should listen to the complaints about Obama from the secular community.
The crackdown on the LCWR and the excommunication threats to moderate and liberal politicians are nothing but a diabolical abuse of Church doctrine as a political weapon against anyone to their left. The bishops forgot they're supposed to be servant leaders, not dictators. And they wonder why so many Catholics are leaving.
http://www.opus-info.org/index.php?title=Catholic_Sects:_Opus_Dei
http://www.opus-info.org/index.php?title=Opus_Dei_as_a_Political_Force
http://www.rickross.com/groups/loc.html
Whenever an American Christian screeches about being "persecuted", he's really whining that the LAW is preventing him from persecuting citizens with his "Christianity".
"The small percentage of Roman Catholics who oppose contraception are the same conservative, Republican Catholics who don't want a black man in the Oval Office."
It's untrue, poor in taste and it ought to be removed.
And now for the short rant:
I am part of that "small" percentage of Catholics who oppose contraception. I don't *care* what the president's race or ethnic background is. I don't care what party the president is of, nor the age, gender or orientation of the president. I *do* care about contraception, abortion and gay marriage and how the president approaches them.
I do not know how small this segment of the Church is, but from what I can tell we are still a significant part of the voting population. We still hold large numbers and the president should at least consider our position. Many of the younger brothers and sisters in the orders seem to be of a more conservative bent, and many of my catholic classmates (I am nineteen years old and attend a public university) seem to have grown more in line with Church teaching over the years. Pastors (at least in my diocese) seem to be preaching more socially conservative and economically liberal sermons; attendance has grown in the past few years, especially among people of my generation.
I appreciate the bill's attempt to ease suffering, but I can't support the contraceptive and abortifacient portions of this bill.