Punditry

A reader sent me a link to the Maryknolls called "U.S. Elections 2008: Loving our neighbor in a shrinking world" pdf This is quite an excellent document. I really like how it informs the Catholic voter about such important issues such as abortion, euthanasia, cloning, ESCR, and homosexual marriage. It does a great job of making the difference between topics that are intrinsically evil and things such as government supported social programs that are prudentially decided upon. It is great to see a document that talks about loving our neighbors that includes both the financially poor and the unborn without any kind of moral equivocation. I am quite impressed.

And if you believe anything I wrote above about this document then you know nothing about the Maryknolls. The part I mentioned about "abortion, euthanasia, cloning, ESCR, and homosexual marriage" is of course totally missing with no reference whatsoever.

I bet the majority of my readers know what topic their "voting guide" starts off with – of course global warming. Yes organic farming and talking about the dangers of nuclear power are fundamental parts of Catholic social teaching. Though this guide like other progressive religious guides condemns corn-for ethanol subsidies though doesn’t mention why. I totally agree with this since it makes food prices rise, but ironically of course it came about mostly because of the global warming crowd. Even when I was a bleeding-heart liberal environmentalist I never understood the massive opposition against nuclear power. That somehow Japan was able to become the third largest user of nuclear power and we continue to stigmatize it since it is “nuclear.”

Then we get the typical boilerplate on immigration and while I agree with part of it, the impetus is always on the U.S. instead of the countries that are contributing to poverty through their policies. The reform called for is always on our side.

The section on HIV/AIDS could be written by any Democratic organization and there is nothing specifically Catholic about it and it is pretty much all on the medical side without a word about how teaching the truth of Catholic moral teaching on human sexuality. Like other parts of the document they once again blame racism for problems and ask "How would you address the racial disparity in HIV/AIDS prevention and services in the U.S.?" I guess if you just say something it must be true. Must be the racist administration, you know the same one that signed a $14 billion dollar international HIV/AIDS bill and has spent more in Africa than any previous administration.

Than some more boilerplate on the military and a call to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now I was quite dubious on the war in Iraq in the first place, but I don’t see how pulling out now will lead to peace. Afghanistan certainly seems to fulfill all parts of just war theory and once again I don’t see how pulling out will lead to peace. Even sillier is to "Begin immediately to convert the U.S. military budget to conflict prevention. … and peace education." Though I totally agree with them about ending torture in all its forms and circumstances.

But mainly what gets me about documents of this type is what they ignore and what they emphasize. There are many areas where Catholics can prudential disagree on something and it is usually these very areas that progressives seem to dogmatize as "social teaching." But to totally ignore abortion and all the other threats to life involving an innocent human person is quite another thing to do. It is like sitting in the middle of a concentration camp with people being slaughtered amongst you and then demanding that prisoners be fed from organic gardens. 45 million and counting people killed in abortion and yet that doesn’t even get a mention. Somehow the preferential love of the poor doesn’t seem to apply to the innocents in the womb. Somehow trying to create a non-violent culture does not include killing the unborn via abortion, euthanasia, physician assisted suicide, and ESCR. We need to preach the whole Gospel and not a gospel that runs along party lines – a lesson that needs to be learned by members of all political parties.

It seems to me that the USCCB’s statement on Sen. Joe Biden is something rather historic. Has there ever been such a statement on a person who is on a national presidential ticket? This is quite an interesting development considering that in the past that the same types of things said by Sen. Joe Biden have been previously said by countless others with no comment.

As Thomas at American Papist noticed there is pretty much a news blackout on this by the media. Look at this Google news search and only one story talks about the bishop’s statement. Maybe this will change as time goes on, but the bishop’s statement on Speaker Pelosi got plenty of coverage right away.

Since I had previously referenced Archbishop Niederauer lack of response to Nancy Pelosi, it is nice to see the actual column that was promised. The column is mostly quite good, though I agree with the comments Father Z made in his look at the document.

I especially liked:

Authentic moral teaching is based on objective truth, not polling. For instance, in 1861, as the Civil War began, a majority of the residents of Massachusetts opposed slavery, a majority of the residents of South Carolina approved of slavery, and in Missouri people were sharply divided on the issue. Does that mean that, in 1861, slavery was immoral in Massachusetts, moral in South Carolina, and something of a moral "wash" in Missouri? Sound moral teaching demands much more good sense than that.

Abortion is all about moral relativism so this is a great point. Morality by vote should be mocked.

I regret the necessity of addressing these issues in so public a forum, but the widespread consternation among Catholics made it unavoidable. Speaker Pelosi has often said how highly she values her Catholic faith, and how much it is a source of joy for her. Accordingly, as her pastor, I am writing to invite her into a conversation with me about these matters. It is my obligation to teach forthrightly and to shepherd caringly, and that is my intent. Let us pray together that the Holy Spirit will guide us all toward a more profound understanding and appreciation for human life, and toward a resolution of these differences in truth and charity and peace.

While I am rather skeptical such a meeting will take place, but you never know about the paths of grace so we should pray that not only does it happen but that their is a change of heart involved.

And while the Archbishop is inviting people for conversations may I recommend Gavin Newome.

San Francisco’s “Catholic” mayor will join tomorrow in the official launching of the “No on 8 – Equality for All Campaign” at the old Tower Records store on Market Street.

In early January, on the occasion of his inauguration to a second term, Mayor Gavin Newsom and his family attended a Mass at the historic Mission Dolores Basilica. And to this day he continues to describe himself as Catholic.

Newsom, said to have his eyes on the governorship, will be acting in open defiance of California’s bishops, who have officially endorsed Proposition 8 and have urged Catholics to support it.

But Newsom is no stranger to defiance of Church teachings or to thumbing his nose at prelates. It was Newsom who provoked a constitutional crisis in 2004 by granting marriage licenses to 4,000 same-sex couples in a case that eventually led to the May 15 California Supreme Court decision upholding same-sex marriages. Proposition 8 would undo that 4-3 ruling by amending the state constitution.

In 2006, the divorced San Francisco mayor, who describes himself as a “lifelong Catholic,” abruptly canceled a trip to Rome for the installation of former San Francisco Archbishop William Levada as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Newsom said at the time that he decided to boycott Levada’s installation in protest over the Church’s prohibition on homosexuals adopting children.

In a February 2008 interview with The Santa Clara, the magazine of his Jesuit-run alma mater, Santa Clara University, Newsom said he “still has tremendous admiration for the Church and very strong faith.”

Joining Newsom at the Northern California headquarters of the No on 8 Campaign tomorrow at 10 a.m. will be Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, also a San Francisco Democrat, as well as County Supervisor Tom Ammiano, Equality California executive director Geoff Kors, and National Center for Lesbian Rights executive director Kate Kendell, according to a flier announcing the event.

"With only 59 days to go, everyone needs to work to protect equality for all!" said a flier announcing the event. "We have come too far to let it slip away."

President Clinton committing adultery and having sex with an intern – Media says move along.

Presidential Candidate John Edwards committing adultery while his wife has cancer – Media says move along.

Sarah Palin’s 17 year old daughter committing fornication and keeping the baby – Media says what a moral outrage and front page story!

When an artist wants to be provocative and to "start a conversation" they all seem to be provocative in the same way. The banality of being provocative. Yes to push the envelop your "art" must:

1. Use a crucifix in some way (bonus points for using urine or a corpus made out of chocolate)
2. Substitute the people in the Last Supper with your own figures (bonus points for nudity or making Jesus a woman)
3. Mock some other form of sacred art especially of Our Lady (Bonus points for using excrement preferably from a large gray animal with a trunk)

Artists are a lot of teenager who often rebel in exactly the same way and wear/pierce/tattoo exactly the same things as a sign of their "individuality."

An Italian museum has defied Pope Benedict by refusing to remove a statue of a crucified green frog clutching a beer mug and an egg.

The Vatican had condemned the modern art sculpture as blasphemous.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano voted it was a work of art, however.

Of course we get the typical hyperbole with Pope’s fury as crucified frog statue goes on display at Italian museum.

I knew television commercials havr gotten really bad, which is why I pretty much record everything so I can skip through commercials. Last night I caught a bit of some Clint Eastwood movie on AMC only to be treated to a commercial for Trojan’s Vibrating Touch a masturbation aid for women. It was so bad it made me long for erectile dysfunction commercials instead.