Category: Politics

Below is a photo depicting the Mount Vernon High School Young Republicans, circa 1989-90. At that time, I was just beginning my faith journey toward Republicanism. Pope Bush I was on the throne. As the arrow indicates, I am the one with the Rolling Stones t-shirt and the unshaven face.

By the way, Schultz boys — I’ve got the yearbook open. You want me to scan in some pics of you?

Our current gadfly, Nathan, has been hounding us to declare that we are more Republican than Catholic for a while. At first, he gave actual reasons for this, but now he says “just admit that if the Church ordered you to vote Democrat tomorrow you would still vote Republican, and we can all move on.”
Well, his forcefulness has worked. I am switching my religious allegiance from Roman Catholic to Neo-con Republican. My baptism, effected by the sprinkling of coins on my forehead, is scheduled for next Monday, the beginning of the capitalist work-week, at the moment the New York Stock Exchange opens for trading.
I hereby embrace the solemn teachings of the Republican Party, as defined in its party platform, which I have not read yet, but my faith, like my love for Republicans, is blind.
Saint Calvin Coolidge, ora pro nobis thou shouldst deign to offer intercessions to the Most High on our behalf!
Zionist masters of Israel, what is it you require of me?

Rev. John B. Ardis will give an invocation later this week at the DNC. He’s director of the Paulist Center, a progressive Catholic church and outreach center that focuses largely on social justice income redistribution and hugs. Eric posted about the center recently, commenting on a piece by Jonathan V. Last. The Paulist Center is John Kerry’s home parish faith community.

Father Ardis on pro-aborts receiving communion:

…it is “contrary to the meaning of the Eucharist to use it as an instrument of division and as a weapon in political battles” and that it would be a “misuse of our authority” to do so.

Father, I reply respectfully that the Eucharist is not a metaphor, it is a Person. The Eucharist is not only a shared meal; it is the sacrifice of Christ who gives Himself freely in atonement for our sins. Christ came to free us from sin, a freedom we find tangibly in the Sacraments. But freedom from sin is not free. We cannot accept so great a gift without an understanding of its demands and implications. We must accept those demands in we are to received Our Lord worthily. Otherwise we eat and drink judgement on ourselves.

I agree with Eric that the Center knows precisely what it is doing. “Woe to those who lead the little ones astray! Better they had died in their mothers’ wombs than to walk the earth to destroy souls.”

Here’s a scuplture of a dead tree and a man hanging from the ceiling and the mission statement of the Paulist Center.

The mission statement reads: “Attentive to the Holy Spirit, we are a Catholic community that welcomes all, liberates the voice of each, and goes forth to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Liberates the voice of each? As I said, the freedom from captivity that Christ preaches in the Gospel is freedom from sin, not freedom from or of conscience. Freedom of conscience at present means license to do whatever one wants, and this leads to the very enslavement Christ wishes to liberate us from.

Are the Paulist Fathers are getting many vocations these days? No, their order is contracepting vocations with this perversion of the Gospel. They squander and profane our greatest treasure, Chirst in the Eucharist. Where are the post-concilliar reformers as there were after Trent?

No, I haven’t been watching the Dems’ convention live, but later Monday night I saw some clips from Bill Clinton’s speech. He was talking about how John Kerry volunteered to serve his country in several capacities, and his refrain was that each time, John Kerry said, “Send me.” The former president was speaking in his “preaching” style, and he made that refrain sound like a little echo of Samuel the prophet. Of course, Clinton himself used to say something like that: he told the state troopers, “Send me that woman over there.”

Alison Schieber of St. Joseph, Missouri, has taken me up on the first wager I offered. I say that Senatory Kerry will mention abortion in his speech; she does not. Alison thinks Kerry he will mention the Supreme Court, but not abortion by name. However, she wins as long as abortion (including obvious synonyms like “reproductive rights” or “choice”) is not mentioned. Of course, no politician will say the actual word “abortion” at either convention, at least not while television cameras are running.
Lest you think she is hoping that Kerry mentions abortion, Alison hastens to point out that she is not a liberal, and that she likes Catholic Light; therefore, we at Catholic Light like Alison.