Comments for Voting Day at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 12 out of 12 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:24:32 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14234 Please, no tears! Mary promised that if men did not reform their lives, empires would fall. WW I brought the end to the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian empires. WW II brought the end to the British, French, German and Japanese empires. Now it is America's turn. Did anyone think that we were going to get away with fifty years of divorce, contraception, abortion AMONG CATHOLICS? Last night we were delivered the bill. Eighty years ago, the German people were delivered the "Austrian corporal" named Adolf Hitler, whom they thought of as a crank. What harm could he do? We were delivered the man of mystery for the second time. In his first four years he showed us the harm he could do. Now he will do it.In 1969 Fr. Joseph Ratzinger.who had served as an advisor at Vat II, wrote "Faith and the Future" in which he forecasts a very small Church which would eventually be restored by people searching it out.Why did he write this then? Because all the naifs who served as the Fathers of the Council were shocked at the European student riots of 1968 which did not compute with the minds of the Fathers.In their naivete, the Church was supposed to learn to from the World. Aggiornamento! We are going to be learning a lot from the "world" over the next four years. - Manfred Wed, 07 Nov 2012 01:51:29 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14232 We should never give up, but it is important to take stock of some of the institutions of The Church in the U.S. And it is difficult to take stock of oiur institutions, because there is little/no visibility into them from the outside. For instance, what exactly is Catholic Charities? Is it funded primarily by Catholic charitable giving, or is it funded largely by government programs? If the latter, why is The Church funneling government money (not mainly Catholic money?) to other organizations (not Catholic organizations?). Are we being asked to give alms at Mass, etc for an effort that is mainly Catholic, or is it mainly a government program dressed in Catholic colors? Is there transparancy and accountability here? What is the state of our Seminaries and what are they teaching? These days we hear general assurances that the bad stuff from the 1970s-90s is fixed now, but how can we be assured of that? If our Catholic colleges have slipped away from Christian morality and apostolic faith and theology, what assurance do we have that the same forces inside Catholic colleges are not in play at Catholic seminaries? Surely there are good and bad seminaries out there, but the danger is, we have little/no way of knowing what's what. What parent wants to send their son with a priestly vocation into such dangerously uncertain territory? There are horror stories out there of faithful young men getting sifted and repulsed in some of our seminaries. Yet do practicing Catholics have any means of visibility into what is going on in our seminaries? Why can a priest in the Archdiocese od Washington, DC be removed for trying to defend the integrity of Holy Communion, while others can get away with publicly defying the Bishop's teaching to defend mariage? - Chris in Maryland Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:47:10 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14229 If Obama and the various "culture of death" referendums wins tonight with a required substantial support of practicing Catholics; what does that say about the Catholic in the pew today, the parish priest who quivered and hierarchy? The unprecedented effort by the USCCB to protect its institutions in the United States have failed for they waited years too long. They danced with the devil at far too many Al Smith dinners over the years to recognize the character they courted. That character is political progressivism which lead us to a moral relativism to even practicing Catholics. - Matthew Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:11:08 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14228 Excellent article but rather unfair to Germans voters of 1932-33. Were there any indications that the Nazis would go on stripping Jews of Natural Rights? The Political Rights are another matter and it is only a liberal dogma that all residents have equal political rights. - Gian Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:31:06 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14227 In my experience the indifference I encounter in the Church is not only to abortion, but to the those children no longer raised in families (see Murray's COMING APART), to learning supplanted by indoctrination, to the sexualization of children, and to the futurelessness that too many American children and young adults face. At vigil Mass this past weekend I listened as Monsignor gave a sermon in which he acknowledged the divisions in his parish and said that at least we could be united in prayer. Praying for what? Does God allow us to ask for anything, including a president so pro-abortion and so contemptuous of religious liberty that he lies to the presiding bishop knowing there will be no consequences for his deceit? One sensed an atypical resignation in the monsignor's manner and voice. Atypical but infectious. I left church demoralized. Perhaps the Catholic Church in America is the Democratic Party at prayer (echoing what used to be said of British Tories and the Church of England). I voted this evening resigned in the knowledge that at least half of my fellow Catholics were indifferent to path our country has now chosen -- in the voting booth, in the sanctuary, in the workplace, in the classroom, when we read a novel or go to a movie or watch a TV show. It just seems as if people just don't care anymore. Whatever happens tonight, I have become wary of the Church's motives whenever the bishops speak en banc. I don't see the America they see or live in the America they seem to live in. It reminds me of what Justice Scalia said about his colleagues on the bench creating "a Constitution for a country I no longer recognize." - Graham Combs Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:09:09 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14226 LBJ's 1960's Great Society - supported to this day by many Catholics who consider it "charitable" -- expanded the welfare state's reach into family life. When the "take-a-hike-dads" aid regulations coupled with the Sexual Revolution, the Black family and the communities they made up were shaken to the very core. Then the corrosion of that perfect storm began to destroy the foundation of all families. There is nothing charitable about making dads optional or obsolete. And most women heading for the abortion clinic do not have a committed, loving husband to father their child. Both the overweaning federal/state aid programs and the Sexual Revolution told boys they need never become REAL men but rather stay a hybrid of Peter Pan and Hugh Hefner. Hey guys, either drop off your latest pregnant "relationship" at the clinic or let the chump taxpayers try to "raise" your kid with an aid check. Later the chumps can be taxed even more to pay for the kid's emotional problems and criminal record. Therefore I don't buy the dilemna of deciding BETWEEN scaling back abortion and scaling back so-called programs for the poor more truthfully called "perpetual employment for bureaucrats" programs. During my lifetime, I have found one to be hopelessly entwined with the other. - AvantiBev Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:38:24 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14224 in hurricane Sandy fall-out, i waited with my husband and mother over 2 hours to vote on Sunday. what a great grace to be surrounded by a sea of many cultures who turned out. i do not recall ever waiting more than 10 minutes except the very first time i cast my vote for Ronald Reagan. i do not relish the whole political fray, yet i know i have a responsibility and privilege to do what i can, namely, fast, pray, learn the facts, share what i know and vote. God's will be done in all hearts throughout our land and the whole world. at least in the USA we still have this right. for how much longer, i wonder? - debby Tue, 06 Nov 2012 11:03:37 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14219 Along with attributes and failures of portions of society, we Catholics must account for the attributes and failures of "college-educated" voters who are baptized Catholics. We will see the outcome, and it will teach us something about our fitness as a people to serve The Lord as "Salt of the Earth" and "Light of the World." Holy Mother of God, pray Your Son to enlighten our minds and open our hearts. - Chris in Maryland Tue, 06 Nov 2012 05:47:09 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14218 All I have to say today is John 16:33! - Louise Tue, 06 Nov 2012 05:29:40 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14216 Thank you for an excellent article describing the attributes and failures of a democracratic society which, in order to be effecive, has to be homogenized vis a vis intelligence.You cannot have millions of children passing through urban schools without ever being given an I.Q. test because the results would be so embarassing when compared to suburban students or recent immigrants from S.E. Asia. We saw one minority person waving her recently received "Obamaphone" which she had been given free. Her profound judgement was that Romney "sucks". Romney was correct when he stated that 47% of our population could not manage their lives, and they would not vote for him. The more astute Catholic American, as you well point out, sees him/herself looking into the void which may very well extinguish our way of life. We have only to look to Canada where Same Sex Marriage has been law for ten years. The E.U. and U.N. are applying tremendous pressure to force all of Europe to be liberalized as well. The Mother of God said to the seers at Fatima "Only I can save you." - Manfred Tue, 06 Nov 2012 03:28:30 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14215 Thank you for your insightful perspective Proffesor. May God have mercy on this great Nation and its people this day. - Ray Hunkins Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:59:48 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/voting-day.html#comment-14213 Mr Arkes, Perhaps one of the best articles of this "Election" season.I wanna thank you! Jack - Jack,CT Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:19:01 +0100