Meanwhile, in Rhode Island:
Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has forbidden Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy to receive the Roman Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion because of his advocacy of abortion rights, the Rhode Island Democrat said Friday.I don't care too much if the Republican party wants to continue its forced march into the dumpster of history. The politicians that are purged by the party of Hoover will find a home elsewhere. Eventually, a center-right party will form and the decline of the GOP will become a subject of PhD theses which, like most other theses, will be read by nobody.
The Catholic Church is, on the other hand, playing with fire. One of the oldest and most durable anti-Catholic biases has been the point that the Pope is the head of a foreign state. If the Church is going to start trying to force American Catholic politicians to follow Church doctrine, the question will be once more asked whether Catholic politicians will be loyal to the Church or to the United States of America. It will raise the question as to whether Catholic judges, particularly the six who sit on the Supreme Court, are basing their rulings on American jurisprudence and principles or are they basing their rulings on Church doctrine.
The same questions as to "can one be both a good Muslim and an American citizen" may start being directed towards adherents of the Church of Rome. Islam only has a holy book while Catholicism has a human chain-of-command that leads directly to a foreign potentate. They are playing with fire.
It will also re-open the old question of why the Church was so quiet in the 1930s and 1940s when fascism was washing over Europe.
How the fuck do they still have tax exempt status? And how do I change that?
ReplyDeleteAlso, for a good spanking of the Catholic's head honcho, go to Youtube and look for Sarah Silverman's "Sell the Vatican" video. Funny, sensible, and a clear demonstration that the church is NOT interested in humanitarian aid.
Christopher Hitchen's piece on Mother Teresa is also an eye-opener.
Yes, JFK had to deal with the "Catholic issue" prior and during to his term in office.
ReplyDeleteTo me the problem has always been the Holy Roman monarchy and the idea of worshiping a man.
Eck!
i love the idea of a more selective republican party. they're doing the hard work for us... separating the zombies from the nutjobs.
ReplyDeleteEck!, Catholics are not supposed to worship the Pope. That's just another bit of silliness like the silliness that Catholics worship statues. Uhm, no. There's a lot to dislike about the Catholic church. We don't need to make shit up.
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Catholic Penguin