Bishop Paprocki warns of ‘intrinsic evils’ in Democratic platform
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Drawing particular attention to the Democratic Party platform’s support for “intrinsic evils” like abortion and “same-sex marriage,” Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Ill. has said Catholics need to “think and pray very carefully” about their votes in the upcoming election.
“My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote. But I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues,” Bishop Paprocki said in his Sept. 23 column for the Catholic Times diocesan paper. “I would be abdicating this duty if I remained silent out of fear of sounding ‘political’ and didn’t say anything about the morality of these issues.”
He said that voting for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are “intrinsically evil and gravely sinful” makes a voter “morally complicit” and places the eternal salvation of his or her soul in “serious jeopardy.”
There are “many positive and beneficial planks” in the Democratic Party platform, the bishop said, but some promote “serious sins.”
In 2008, he noted, the platform dropped its call for abortion to be “safe, legal and rare” in favor of the language “safe and legal.” It now supports abortion “regardless of the ability to pay.” He said this means either taxpayer funding for abortion, mandatory insurance coverage, or coercion of hospitals to perform the procedures for free.
Bishop Paprocki added that the Democrats’ national platform supports “same-sex marriage,” deems gay rights to be “human rights” and calls for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman in federal law. [More]
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16 Comments
The catholic church is “full” of intrinsic evil which has nothing to do with the Democratic Party. I am a cradle catholic who believes the church should clean up it’s own house. Before you take a broom to the DNC, begin sweeping in your own house.
What’s becoming super-evident is that the Catholic laity do not agree with their bishops on “pelvic issues” such as same-sex marriage, contraception and much more. Yet bishops such as Paprocki of Springfield in Illinois are attempting to gain majority status for their platform by playing the M(orality) card followed by the I(nfallibibity) card. Fatal flaw is the the bishops lost their C(redibility) card a long time ago, hence are no longer playing with a full deck.
Florian your comment was the best.
very well said…
yes, well said Florian – the Bishops have lost their credibility and those like Paprocki are doing nothing to help restore it.
Upon reading this, I wondered whether bisgop mentioned the Republican platform or candidate. I followed the link to the full text in the Springfield Catholic Times, and I urge all readers to do the same. The bishop found nothing in the Republican cause that promotes “an intrinsic evil or a serious sin.” Apparently he does not find it a serious sin to systematically exclude help for the poor? The CNA summary was misleading in omitting this part.
and that the Bishop does not mention the intrinsic evil of abandoning the poor – the central issue of the social teaching of Jesus- is exactly why the Bishops have lost their credibility. How can you possibly exclude a message that was driven home time and time again in the Gospels by Jesus and believe that you are going to be taken as a credible follower of Jesus?
Well indeed might you and we all be concerned about the way so many of our bishops have portrayed themselves as political bed-fellows with the more right wing elements in our society. Even being perceived to be supporting the likes of Romney and siding with the Evangelicals in the Republican cause will ultimately cause enormous grief.
Characters in the Catholic hierarchy like Paprocki have lost the plot and have fallen into the delusional world of conspiracy theory and paranoia.
A couple of years back at an exorcism conference in Baltimore, Paprocki blamed the public media revelations about clerical child sexual abusers on the devil!
Even the very conservative Fr John Richard Neuhaus had the courage to name the beast and it wasn’t 666 but clericalism and episcopal cowardice.
I agree, Ann. The American bishops seem to have forgotten “Economic Justice for All.” And Bishop Paprocki’s toeing the party line is somewhat sad–he was seen as progressive, back in the ’70s.
The Bishop has spoken the truth. Sadly, American has become such a liberal, Atheist, secular country that they can’t hear his message. What is so frightening is that this is the last shot for America. If Obama gets in, America’s creed will be “Self-will run riot.” I’ve got my i-pad, computor, I don’t need God. There is no more moral compass. Religion is now the enemie of America
He is not right. Properly understood, Catholic teaching is that it is wrong to support a candidate for the wrong reasons, i.e. voting for Obama because you like the HHS mandate, abortion, etc. However, it is not immoral to support Obama for the right reasons, ending an immoral war in Iraq, aid to the poor, stewardship of creation. Same is true of those who support Romney because he would reduce support for the poor, would be in moral error; while supporting him for his most current stand on abortion would be supporting him for the correct reasons.
These outspoken bishops will end up inadvertently electing President Obama to another term. They are going to accomplish exactly the opposite of what they are attempting to do. They just don’t get it.
It’s a matter of credibility. The Bishops have lost that. When a Bishop speaks of evil of one person and not another there is also a matter of credibility. So far the Bishops do not understand that and so they just become a noisy gong that irritates people but has no real power.
Romney supports abortion.
The Bishop should also talk about romneys evil in this area and the areas Tony mentioned.
If the bishop feels so strongly perhaps he should give up the tax exemption he and the church have been getting.
What about the evil of poverty, the evils of war, the evil of permissive gun control the evil of capital punishment, the evil of torture that some Republican administrations have practiced?
Hi again Tony.
How much of this crap is the Catholic hierarchy going spit out.
Maybe it is time to consider switching to another more compassionate religion.