Fr Greeley says Catholic Church is NOT Rightwing

[ieoeja]

Most of my family is still very Catholic. And hearing bishops making national headlines backing Bush for President had convinced them that the Church wanted them to vote Republican. Therefore, I began sending them links to Father Greeley's weekly articles published in the Chicago Sun-Times on Fridays.

Fr. Greeley generally takes the other viewpoint. He points out that higher ranking bishops, cardinals and archbishops of the United States Roman Catholic laity have denounced those lesser bishops for talking out against Democratic politicians. But that doesn't make national press.

For a month's worth of articles, go to: http://www.suntimes.com/index/greeley.html

[LittleApple81]

1. I have news for him. The Vatican group (those surrounding the Pope

and the group from which the next Pope will be selected) ARE EXTREMELY CONSERVATIVE, pro Oligarchies, against anything that is progressive.

So maybe he should say: a proportion of the Catholic church's hierarchy (maybe a large proportion, I realy don't know) is not right-wing.

[Hunter_1253]

5. If the church supports...

one candidate over another, they have crossed the line of separation and need to lose their tax exemption. Notice how separation is only a good thing to the religious community when it comes to keeping their money.

[ieoeja]

7. Since the Church doesn't ...

I guess it has nothing to worry about.

[Cannikin]

13. Hmmm...they're just anti-Kerry and anti-gay.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. Jesuits are Reform/Progressive minded folk. They are a rarity among....

the heirarchy of the Catholic Church.

[lovedems]

3. For all of the human rights abuses that have gone in Iraq, Afghanistan

and Gitmo, the Catholic Church should NOT be endorsing the chimp.

For all of the people who have lost health insurance or struggle to pay for the increasing costs, the Catholic Church should NOT be endorsing the chimp.

I am a strong Catholic Democrat and I don't want my church taking political stands. I oppose this!

[ieoeja]

6. The Catholic Church is NOT endorsing the chimp.

The official Church line is that THEY, not some government stooges, represent Catholicism. Politicians are elected to represent a state or congressional district that will likely include people from a mulititude of religious backgrounds.

That is the Church's official position.

[lovedems]

10. They can say anything they want to officially but pointing the finger

at Kerry and denying him communion is one of those "actions speak louder then words" moment.

There are a multitude of Catholic republicans (Guiliani, the Gropenator are 2 examples) who are pro-choice and ironically, they are absent from the argument.

I am a Catholic and for the most part I love my church and parish. I don't like them playing politics and singling out John Kerry to set as their example.

I also find some irony in the fact that the chimp asked the Pope for help and it appears some Bishops want to oblige.

[Colin Ex]

4. My unrequested opinion on these Catholic clusterfucks

I was raised Catholic, so I've been through all this before. The guilt, the threats of hell, and so on. The breaking point for me was hearing the priest say one Sunday morning that voting for pro-choice politicians was a mortal sin. When those words came out of the priest's mouth, I thought "I don't think this is the religion for me." And now I am happily agnostic.

One thing that's bothered me for a long time about the Catholic Church and American Christianity in general is the way they threaten hell and punishment, as if they themselves know the will of God. The Catholic Church has been able to restrain themselves pretty well from it usually, but then the Coloraldo cardinal said what he did, and I'm not sure that's the case anymore.

Not that it illuminates anything. Just sharing some personal thoughts.

-C

[LittleApple81]

8. I reached the same conclusion for different reasons. I hope more

thinking humans see that most of the religions in the world have been started and led by MEN. Fallible, power hungry men. They don't have a direct line to God. Rudshie got in trouble with the Muslim fanatics who wanted to kill him because, in his book, he dared say (and remember, this is a work of fiction) that the guy who took dictation from Mohamed (who apparently did not know how to write) noticed that he could change words and Mohamed would not notice. and the Koran is supposed to be WORD by WORD coming from God.

[ArkDem]

9. But the Pope is a Gephardt supporter...

[Nadienne]

11. My family is very similar...

And, not surprising, they are very susceptible to e-mail chain propaganda.

Thank you for the link!

[President Jesus]

12. Greeley 's campaign donations in detail

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=IL&last=Greeley&first=Andrew

[noonwitch]

14. Greely's a liberal, plus he writes raunchy novels

Greely's one of the good ones. He's not a pedophile, believes in serving the congregants, and is an overall good priest. He has a lot of enemies in the church, however. He's never been censored or anything, like Matthew Fox was, because he doesn't preach or write about a radically different theology.