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| Minneosta Archbishop John Nienstedt |
The Catholic Church in Minnesota is continuing a dangerous precedent:
Archbishop John Nienstedt sent a letter to every priest in the state at the start of October urging them to put every Catholic church in Minnesota to work passing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
“It is imperative that we marshal our resources to educate the faithful about the Church’s teachings on these matters, and to vigorously organize and support a grass roots effort to get out the vote to support the passage of the amendment,” the letter read. It went out on Oct. 4 to every priest in the state.
The archbishop said it wants priests in every parish to identify a “church captain” in order to create an “ad hoc committee” in every church in the state. The “church captain” is a component of the Schubert Flint strategy used in 2008′s divisive Proposition 8 battle in California.
The strategy mirrors a similar one used by conservative Christians in California to pass Proposition 8 and end marriage rights for same-sex couples.
. . . According to Nienstedt’s letter, the church captains will be organized by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Catholic church, which will in turn report to the Minnesota for Marriage coalition for statewide efforts. Minnesota for Marriage is made up of the Minnesota Family Council, MCC and the National Organization for Marriage.
“A major issues will be placed before the State of Minnesota in the November 2012 election. a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Nienstedt wrote. “The sanctity of marriage and vital role of the family is at stake. It is a firmly-held teaching of our church that a marriage is a union of a husband and a wife, and that they together are the ones suited to be a father and a mother.”
First of all, I wonder if this is legal for a tax-exempt organization to take such a role in the political process?
And even if it is, I am seriously disturbed by this latest development. I feel very uncomfortable when I think of the possibility of how deep the Catholic Church is putting itself into this state issue. I think people should vote as their faith dictates. However, I have a serious problem with a church official using his office or name to marshal large groups of people to vote in a particular way. And my problems become deeper when I realize that the church where that official belongs is tax-exempt.
Any entity flexing its power over how large groups of people should vote while being exempt from laws which cover this sort of thing is a dangerous entity in terms of manpower and money. Moreover this entity's actions is a slap in the face to an American core belief - the right to vote as your conscience dictates and not be threatened via implied threats, be they physical (you are going to be murdered) or spiritual (you are voting against God's law and will go to hell for it.)
It's definitely a license to create havoc. You may not think it's a big deal but it is. In fact, it is a nasty precedent. Today it's marriage equality. Tomorrow it could be another issue decided, not by individual choice, but by spiritual groupthink.
And in this case, the Catholic Church is teaming up with questionable allies. Earlier this year, the Minnesota Family Council was rightfully criticized after it was discovered that materials on the organization's website accused gays of pedophilia, bestiality, and the consuming of bodily wastes.
The idea that the Catholic Church would align itself with such a group represents a serious problem in judgement.
But regardless of that, this is a country ruled by the Constitution, not papal authority. And frankly any person who surrenders his or her vote to the whims of someone else - even if that person supposedly represents a "higher power"- needs to examine themselves.
Furthermore, I don't think that any entity which assumes tax-exempt status should be allowed to take such a role in a political vote - at least without being taxed.
No group should be above the laws of this country, even if that group is of a religious nature.
The Catholic Church may think that it is working in God's name, but those truly working in God's name never have to stoop so low.
7 comments:
I say tax the bastards. They hold on to a goodly chunk of valuable real estate.
In my city alone there's LaSalle Academy, several elementary schools, and several churches all sitting on prime property.
Make em' pay if they want to play in the political.
Ok, this is silly,,The Bible is the word of God-NOT the Catholic church which is on very thin ground. All humans are or should be born equal [in Gods eyes] Catholics celebrate what is essentially recycled pagan ceremonies and call it their own using any and every opportunity to prance about in what is drag. No they should not become in politics and if they decided too they need to look closer to home first by rooting out all the molesting clergy. There is no equality amoungst humans until all humans are equal.
Seriously. Our team really needs ads that call the Catholic Church out for child molestation.
I'm tired of them changing the subject to our civil marriages. I'd like to see an honest ad that says "Hey, priests diddle your little kids but forget about that, we need to pay attention to faithful gay people!"
They've taken tax breaks and the innocence of children, and all they've given back is centuries of guilt.
Maybe the recent indictment of Bishop Finn and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese for harboring a known child porn priest and not reporting it, will grab their attention long enough to turn the confession booths from rape stalls back into confession booths! More than likely it is the priests who need to onfess to the people rather than the other way around. Yes, sue the bastards until you can see through the Halloween outfits they call vestments.
I absolutely agree with Scott that we need ads that question the moral authority of the Catholic Church. That would certainly make me feel good. I suspect, however, that "experts" in political advertising would say that such ads would prove to be counterproductive, perhaps alienating some potential allies. The problem is that while the hierarchy of the Catholic Church are our bitter enemies, Catholic laypeople are the most glbtq-supportive religious demographic in the country. So the trick is to call out the hierarchy without alienating those in the pews or those who think of themselves as cultural Catholics.
The Catholic Church supported Trump -the same man that raped several women and Trump stated in these words ," I can grab a woman by her "pus_ _ because I am a celebrity." The Catholic Church is a clear and present danger to Democracy.
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