Wow. Joe Biden. The Catholic. Or Not. Pope John XXIII is absolutely reeling in his grave as Biden asserts in an interview with the Delaware News Journal that on the issue of abortion, he is not a Pope John Paul guy, he's a Pope John XXIII guy. Okay - let's assume for the moment that we are the every man, and that we have never read a papal encyclical, or at an even more basic level, we don't know the first thing about the Catholic Church. From this statement, by a nominatively (please, please put extra emphasis on the word nominatively) Catholic man in a position of leadership, very much in the public eye, the general public is left to assume that Catholics in general, to say nothing of the head of the Roman Catholic Church on earth, have the ability, nay the authority, to pick and choose among the teachings of the Church! Bring on the smorgasbord Catholics! I'll have some social justice, a dash of Real Presence (but not too much please), hold the death penalty restrictions, and serve it up with a nice side of "women's rights". Um, not so much.
Perhaps the good Senator might want to familiarize himself with a little document the Vatican likes to call Mater et Magistra (that would be Mother and Teacher for the Latin-challenged). In this document, Pope John XXIII, with whom Biden explicitly identifies himself, writes, "human life is sacred...All men must recognize that fact...from its very inception it reveals the creating hand of God. Those who violate His laws not only offend the divine majesty and degrade themselves and humanity, they also sap the vitality of the political community of which they are members” (paragraph 194). **With credit to Headline Bistro
Well I, for one, sure am glad that Biden is a "John XXIII guy". Maybe I need to reconsider his candidacy. Maybe there's more there than meets the eye. Or not. The more likely scenario - in fact, the only likely scenario - is that Biden is simply doing what politicians do (in fact, his wanna-be boss does it like almost no other), and putting words and ideas in the minds of the sheeple. The sheeple hear something and they buy it. Heaven forfend that they actually go out and do the research for themselves. God forbid that they do a little thinking on their own. They hear that Pope John XXIII apparently had relaxed standards on abortion, and they begin to think that this darn Catholic Church really is going to Hell in a handbasket - doesn't it have any sympathy for the plight of women at all?? Supposedly, according to Biden anyway, at one time it did!
Politicians have such a great responsibility. Their words carry so much weight. At one time, the information costs for the average political consumer were great. The most they had at their disposal was a newspaper. The advent of radio news was a great advancement, but it was still difficult to seek out all the information that one might desire in order to make an informed decision about a candidate for public office. Now, however, the information is there for the taking. If you hear that McCain is taking money from Medicare, go to his website and read his plan! If you read that Obama is increasing taxes on the wealthy, go to his website and read his plan. Heck, in this day and age, you don't ever have to read an opinion that contradicts your own if you don't want to, which actually presents another type of information cost all its own.
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3 comments:
Yes! This is why I get so irritated at polls of "Catholics". If a person just grew up Catholic, that doesn't make one so. A person needs to be a practicing Catholic and accept the tenets of the faith such as: CCC2270"Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception".
Unfortunately, in the same interview (from 2007 but just published for the first time), Biden asserts that he *is* a practicing Catholic. That whole accepting the tenets of the faith thing seems to have passed him by, though. Of course there is the fallback position of every Catholic politician: naturally in my private life, I obey the dictates of my Church, but I could never force my beliefs on anyone else! In the words of my three-year old daughter: ugh.
I read that article in the News Journal when it came out and felt quite ill by the end. Not only was he trying to rewrite church teaching, he was also spinning circles all over the place.
Unfortunately, I know far too many people who call themselves Catholic, but their actions speak otherwise. My mom has former co-workers from their parish school voting for Obama because of the social justice issues saying that they can't vote solely on abortion. Obviously, some of these practicing Catholics turn a deaf ear to Church teachings on all the moral absolutes. And, I don't think certain politicians in the Democrat party only strike out on abortion.
I suppose I should be thankful that my parents, husband and one sister are all following what the Church has said. Another sister is a strong Democrat, in part because our dad is a strong Republican.
I really wish more parish priests and Bishops would take firm stands and let these people know that they are NOT in communion with the Church. It has happened before and the individuals involved had to decide whether to walk the walk or just keep walking elsewhere.
Okay, enough typing before my head wants to explode thinking of how so much of life today is the cafeteria approach and how we can't speak the truth for fear of offending someone.
Thanks for starting this blog as you put some of my thoughts into words more eloquently than I could at the moment. I'll be praying over the election and hoping that the polls are just reflecting media influence at the moment.
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