Supporters say ‘partisan’ charge misses point of bishops’ efforts
Tags
Related Posts
About the author
Critics who accuse the U.S. bishops of “partisanship” have misunderstood their motives by viewing religious questions in secular terms, supporters of the Catholic hierarchy say.
“The media has no quibble at all when the bishops issue a statement questioning some aspects of Paul Ryan’s budget, or when they express their support of recent decisions on the part of the Obama administration relating to immigration,” Church historian Dr. Matthew Bunson told CNA.
“It’s only when the bishops decide to exercise their authority in areas the media disagrees with” – such as marriage, sexuality, or theological orthodoxy – “that the bishops are suddenly ‘reactionary.’”
The charge of partisanship has surfaced during 2012 in the fight over the federal “preventive services” mandate. Created under the federal health care reform law, it is opposed by the bishops for requiring religious employers to provide contraception, sterilization and abortion-causing drugs.
Bunson, editor of the Encyclopedia of the American Catholic Church, said the bishops’ critics seemed obsessed with judging their actions by secular standards of “left” and “right,” rather than viewing their words and deeds in light of the Church’s non-partisan social teaching.
There is an element of “selective memory,” he said, in portraying the bishops as servants of a right-wing agenda. In the service of this narrative, critics must ignore important aspects of the hierarchy’s public policy work and the Church’s teaching.
In their coverage of the U.S. bishops’ religious liberty initiative, the June 21-July 4 “Fortnight for Freedom,” outlets like USA Today and National Public Radio suggested that the Church’s religious liberty effort could be a veiled campaign against President Obama.
“Feeling Under Siege, Catholic Leadership Shifts Right” was the title of NPR’s July 4 story on the fortnight. While acknowledging the Church’s concern for religious freedom, the story highlighted the “many Catholics” who “view the controversial campaign as an anti-Obama move in an election year.”
On NPR’s website, the story was accompanied by a large photograph of protesters holding signs with slogans such as: “Bishops! You don’t speak for me!” and “I love the Church, I hate the politics.” [More]
SOURCE
CNA/EWTN News
Leave a Comment
Photo Archive
-
May 24, 2013 7:00
Historic vote to accept gays as Boy Scouts draws mixed faith response
-
May 24, 2013 6:55
Faith-Healing Churches linked to 2 dozen child deaths
-
May 24, 2013 6:51
Clergy campaign for indigent care
-
May 24, 2013 6:46
Five more come forward alleging abuse by Hawaii Catholic priests
-
May 23, 2013 1:58
Religious freedom reports see little improvement in troubling countries
-
May 23, 2013 1:43
LGBT Catholics find a new supporter: An openly gay priest
-
May 22, 2013 1:37
Tornadoes exact deadly toll; region needs ‘a lot of prayers right now’
-
May 22, 2013 1:32
State Dept. report says countries have repressed religious freedom with laws
-
May 22, 2013 1:23
2 lawsuits filed against Maine Catholic church
-
May 21, 2013 1:32
Church Whistle-Blowers Join Forces on Abuse
16 Comments
If the bishops were not partisan, and were just ignored when they spoke(whispered at best?) about Ryan’s budget, then why the fortnight of freedom only for Obamacare?They are whispering objections to GOP measures against Catholic social teaching, but shouting from the rooftops their objections to Democratic measures .
They are so partisan that either they are liars when they say they are not or are simply delusional. I am going with delusional because there are so many other issues out there today that they are not dealing with coherently either. What a shame. The Catholic Church used to have such brilliant thinkers. Over the years of John Paul II and Benedict, all the original thinkers have grown old, died or been ignored. The ones promoted are the company line men who cannot think for themselves. At best, second rate minds. What a pity.
Mary — what is on the line here is religious freedom in the USA. That is the gravest possible threat to the Church in the USA. They SHOULD be shouting from the rooftops about this matter. And, truth be told, no good Catholic can vote for Obama anyway — he is the most pro-choice president we ever have had; not to mention that he is killing this country with a mountain of debt. HE IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE USA.
Mary, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have a publication,”Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.”
May I suggest you read this prior to voting, and let your conscience be your guard.
Mary — as an addendum to what Sister posted: make sure you read the entire section of the Catechism that discusses conscience formation. It clearly states that one’s conscience must be PROPERLY formed — not formed in your own image and likeness, but formed in the image and likeness of God.
Jim: If the Church runs a Hospital, school or any other public service, they are also an employer and they have a moral obligation to bargain collectively with their employees and provide them with full health care benefits. For an employer to impose their religious beliefs on their employees is wrong.
Absolutely not, terrorist. The fact is that every employer has the right to employ who they want. And, your reasoning is specious — and you have a doctorate? Apparently, you never took a course in logic. A Catholic employer imposes nothing on its employees when it won’t fund contraception — the employees are free to follow their own religious beliefs. All the employer is doing is following THEIR religious beliefs. You have a hard time seeing the viewpoints of others, don’t you, pseudo-doctor terrorist?
Mary — I’m guessing from your post that you support “brilliant thinkers” who are in favor of contraception. If so, you need to rethink your position.
And, with regard to being partisan: the bishops are NOT partisan. But truth be told, until the Democratic party takes their pro-choice plank out of their platform, no Catholic in good conscience can vote for a Democrat. So yes, Mary, you are not a Catholic in good stead.
Right on Mary. The problem is public perception when the bishoops are so strident attacking Obamacare when the Health Care law serves much good. If they focused only on the mandate and offered acceptable solutions they might be better heard
Peggy — your information is coming from the liberal media, so be careful before drawing conclusions about what the bishops want. The bishops actually favor some kind of health care bill (I do not, and I think the bishops are wrong in their position), but they want it modified to protect the first amendment right to the free practice of religion. So again, the bishops don’t oppose the general idea of the legislation; they simply want it modified (easy enough to do) to allow religious freedom.
Thus, with regard to offering solutions, the bishops clearly have offered solutions to fix the regulations as currently written; it is the Obama administration stridently opposing these simple fixes. Start watching Fox News and EWTN’s The World Over with Raymond Arroyo if you want to know the truth more accurately; also, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website: http://www.usccb.org. ABC (All Barack Channel), CBS (Continuous Barack Coverage), NBC (Nothing But Communism), CNN (Continuous Negative Negativity), The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, etc. all have one agenda: a liberal, anti-Catholic agenda, and they will not present the bishops position accurately.
Yes, what a pity that your thinking is so shallow and bigoted that you can’t see the wisdom of the churches teachings and the constant persecution that she has to endure from the media and people like you in this country. Typical Liberal Democrat! A party that I used to admire and belong to when it authentically helped the poor and needed, but whose policies keep the poor, poor and the needy, needy so that they can have a base to vote for them. Unfortunately, the days of JFK and FDR are over. Those where, “The Happy Day” and I can assure you that they are not here again. The Democrats should rename themselves, “The Liberal Socialist Party.” I’ve said enough. Now I belong to no party. I’m independant. I have my problems with the Republicans as well, but not as much as with the Democrats.
We need to embrace yet again Vatican Two, plus we need Vaticans Three, Four, Five and Six.
Michael Joseph Francisconi supports terrorist Bill Ayers. Here’s the evidential link: http://keywiki.org/index.php/Michael_Joseph_Francisconi
Catholic check list for you, pseudo-doctor terrorist and treasonist: (1) are you pro-life in every case without exception, incluiding rape and incest?; (2) do you believe artificial contraception is always wrong?; (3) are you against gay marriage? Scoring: three = Catholic; less than three = cafeteria Catholic; zero = you’re not even Christian, let alone Catholic.
NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The NY Times, et al. ARE DISPICABLE. They are subverting democracy in America, and have been doing so for years, by slanting the information presented to Americans.