Saturday, June 19, 2021

The Catholic Bishops' Hypocritical Political Act

 

The headline at Balloon Juice yesterday on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's action targeting Catholic Democratic political leaders, President Biden in particular, who support a woman's right to choose by denying them communion:

Child Rape Enablers Want to Deny Biden Communion

Hypocrisy laid bare with brutal honesty.

In another Balloon Juice post, Adam Silverman writes about what he believes the Conference's true target is:

... The USCCB is top heavy with senior bishops and archbishops who entered the seminary and advanced through the Church hierarchy during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It is far, far, far more conservative, if not outright reactionary, than the majority of American Catholics. And it is certainly far, far, far more conservative, if not reactionary, than Pope Francis. This conservatism is largely built around one issue, the one issue that Jerry Falwell, Sr hoped would prevail when he partnered with C. Everett Koop to build an alliance with the leadership of the Catholic Church in the US to create Christian religious opposition to Federal actions on civil rights. The issue he used was abortion and reproductive rights, which, until that point, was not a significant issue for evangelical Christians... [snip]

[Pope Francis] has been challenged, however, by a group of traditionalist Catholic leaders whose political, social, and religious views mirror, and are in some cases more extreme than, those of the popes who selected them. Some of these clerics have been weaponized by Steve Bannon in his attempts to either overthrow Pope Francis in pursuit of his neo-fascist national populism or to create a new schism and split the Church...[snip]

... Today’s actions are not the end of this dispute and controversy, but just one important step towards advancing it. The next step is for the USCCB to vote on the measure in November, just as the 2022 midterm election cycle is beginning. And even if they do vote to put this into action, it cannot prevent any specific bishop from providing President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, or any other Catholic politician or public figure who tries to separate their faith from public policy from receiving communion. Frankly, denying them communion isn’t really the goal. The goal is to create controversy, because to quote the old professional wrestling adage, controversy creates cash. It also creates attention and political opportunity. The real fight here is not over whether President Biden or Speaker can or cannot take communion. The real fight is whether Pope Francis is legitimate if his papacy is not focused on the exceedingly conservative and revanchist pet issues of the Church’s reactionary episcopate.

It's the U.S. Catholic hierarchy promoting culture war, here and with the Vatican.

A few choice reactions:


 

 

 

 

 

 

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