Roberts "Devout", Not A "John Kerry Catholic"

[sandnsea]

That was the pronouncement of L. Brent Bozell III on Sean Hannity’s radio show yesterday.

“..he's a devout Catholic, he's not a John Kerry Catholic, he's a devout Catholic.”

So now the Republican Party has declared itself the arbiter of the worship of Catholics and who is and isn’t within the bounds of the Catechism??

These people are truly getting out there.

Rick Santorum, who I’m sure Bozell would also classify as a “devout Catholic”, has recently come under fire for blaming the pedophilia scandal, that has plagued the Church in all parts of the country, on Boston “liberalism”. This has been in addition to his comment comparing homosexuality to man on dog sex and his most recent mindbenders, that a woman controlling her own reproductive health is equivalent to a slaveowner owning a slave; but the state has the right to legislate the use of birth control. Further, should a woman choose to have a child and send her child to public school, she ought to consider, according to Santorum, that this is an “aberration” and it will be amazing if her child turns out normal “considering the weird socialization they get in public schools."

Now I can’t say that the other Catholics on the Supreme Court; Kennedy, Scalia and Thomas, or even Roberts himself; would agree with either Santorum or Bozell. It certainly isn’t within my Catholic upbringing to make such condemning proclamations; one can never know the soul of another. Perhaps the justices were reared in the same manner, so I wouldn’t want to put these crazy ideas on any of them, or even Roberts himself.

But if they think these statements are ludicrous, then they need to find the opportunities to say so. The “devoutness” of any Catholic is between that Catholic, his priest and his God. It has always been that way. I don’t believe Pope Benedict has consulted with L. Brent Bozell to change it.

The National Catholic Reporter has called Santorum preposterous and wrong. Catholics For Faithful Citizenship have called on Santorum to apologize to “the good Catholics of Boston whom he has offended.” I would encourage them to chastise L. Brent Bozell as well. It is one thing to disagree on matters of faith and politics, it is another for partisan hacks to judge the validity of anyone’s religion.

LINKS:
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=1290

[TayTay]

1. There are also specific groups that have been set up to

fight this. There are some excellent talking points about Progressive Catholics and the Social Justice movement. We need to cull these sites for much better, consistent and powerful arguments for why John Kerry (and others) are not 'bad Catholics.'

http://www.networklobby.org/

http://www.catholicdemocrats.net/ (This one was fouded by that just lovely Boston Doc who is a Pediatrician at Children's and teches at Harvard Medical. Wow. A social conscience, a Dem and a cutie to boot. And he had that shy smile. Hmmmmmmm. Where was I? Oh yeah)

http://liberalcatholic.blogspot.com/

Fight Back! This is from the Catholic Democrats site:
http://www.catholicdemocrats.net/on_manipulating_christianity.php

Facts regarding the Bush Campaign's approach to manipulating Christianity for political gain:

1.Even as the Bush Campaign began a massive effort to register voters at Catholic churches after masses across the country, their chief advisor for Catholic outreach resigned from the Campaign on August 18 because of a personal indiscretion with a student when he was a philosophy professor at Fordham University. Summarized at http://www.beliefnet.com/story/151/story_15158_1.html

2.Every Catholic should grieve the grave dishonor brought on our faith by one who claims that Christ has “changed my heart,” and then did so much to throw the world into a state of violence and turmoil.

3.By his prolific use of Christian language, this Christian-in-Chief more closely identified his Administration’s policies with his supposed religious beliefs than any previous President. Like a rude driver who prominently displays his college’s name on the back window of the car, Mr. Bush has done more to stain the Christian message than any major leader of the last century.

4. People around the world now equate Christianity with pre-emptive war, with public vengeance in the form of a haphazardly-implemented death penalty, with widening of the gap between the wealthy and the rest, and with the despoilment of the environment for personal profit.

5. Mr. Bush tacitly endorsed anti-Catholic bigotry by speaking at Bob Jones University prior to the South Carolina Primary in 2000. One measure of the philosophy of BJU are the published remarks of Bob Jones on the death of Pope Paul VI, whom he called “the archpriest of Satan, a deceiver and an anti-Christ, (who) has, like Judas, gone to his own place." Mr. Bush offered no public apologies for his actions.

There is more. See the site. Again, get informed, get better talking points and fight back. I do not cede this moral arguments to a bunch of war-mongering, pverty enhancing, worker crushing bigots. Not now, not ever.

[sandnsea]

2. More links here

There's some more links along these lines at the bottom right:
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/conscience.htm

Not a "John Kerry Catholic"?? Wow. The audacity continues to shock me, just when you think you've seen it all.

[paulk]

3. the arrogance of these people

is jaw dropping.

Even though I no longer subscribe, I was raised Catholic. And the idea that these pipsqueaks think they can tell the members of the Church who is a "proper" Catholic and who is not...

I don't know what to say.

[elshiva]

4. Why does Right Wing equal devout? I thought going to church

regularly or praying regularly was devout...

[blm]

5. Has Bozell ever called Giuliani or Ahnold "Kerry Catholics" or Scalia and

Freeh "Robert Hanssen Catholics" on record?

[sandnsea]

6. We need those talking points too

Instead of the DLC taking pot shots at Michael Moore, they'd do us all a great service by shaming Giuliani and Collins and Snowe into standing up for the right to believe what you want and legislate at the same time.

[Island Blue]

7. This is offensive to me on so many levels.

I'm not Catholic or even particular religious in any organized kind of way, but who the hell are they to judge what is in another man's heart and soul? Who are they to question another man's faith? When Judgment Day comes, somehow I don't think it's gonna be Sean Hannity or Brent Bozell doing the judging.

And thanks Tay Tay and Sandnsea for the links - those are great.

[TayTay]

8. Catholic Democrats on the Roberts Nomination

http://editorials.arrivenet.com/pol/article.php/5222.html

This is the guy who founded Catholics for Kerry and now is head of Catholic Democrats.

Good talking points in here to counter those who say lefties are 'bad catholics.'

[JohnKleeb]

9. Thats outrageous crap

God I hate Catholics who do this, thankfully most Catholics arent like this.