Yes. The immigration plan that congress had when Biden was president was going to pass but Trump stopped it. Because he knew he could only win on Immigration. If this bill had passed. We would not be having these gestapo tactics. Every time I have a chance say to Catholics who voted for Trump, Pope LEO says this is wrong. They don’t know what to say.
Yes I know all too well about that. I am a cradle Catholic. I left the church but my sister is very Catholic. She listens to religious networks, The ones that criticized pope Francis. They still talk about him. My sister was listening to one today the women commentator was talking about Pope Francis the way we talk about Trump. She said all he did was lie. I said to my sister, I thought that commentator was talking about Trump. Remember when Hitler was getting started the German Catholic Church went along with it because inflation was bad and the church thought they would get more power. Things haven’t changed.
They question the Holy Spirit's choice for who sits on the Throne of St. Peter, and they call themselves devout Catholics? Oh, the irony is so delicious!!!
Yes but now my sister who voted for Trump is devastated on what he has done and how millions will suffer. Every time Trump picked an evil person she said”Trump doesn’t use good judgment.” I said he was always like that. She was convinced by someone in the to vote Trump. It would have been different if we had Pope Leo before the election.
Infallibility? It has to be declared. The person in my family who's a cradle Catholic was taught by excellent nuns straight out of Catholic colleges. Look-up Monika Hellwig's earliest version of her key book.
"Infallibility" was, in fact, declared only a few times. Catholics are, however, obligated to think about the rest of church teachings with a "well-reasoned conscience".
Well-reasoned could include your never having an abortion yourself,
Yet, contrary to MAGA, it could also include an understanding there's no 11th commandment saying you must punish and vilify people who do have an abortion.
Instead of punishments for doctor and parents, a well-reasoned conscience might send money to homes for unwed mothers, so they don't need abortions. It might mean allowing food stamps and welfare so destitute mothers finding they are pregnant again don't need abortions.
Well-reasoned might include reading Luke's Beatitudes (his Blessed be's). It might require understanding why his Beatitudes require more commitment by the US and by other rich everywhere, than would John's easier Beatitudes. It might include understanding the point of the Good Samaritan story, as it applies to immigrants.
Only a few times was infallibility declared. A big declaration regarded Mary, mother of Jesus.
My understanding--If people wanted to remember the mother of Jesus fondly, inspired that she raised him and did not desert him at the end, it was OK. If they wanted to celebrate days for her, if they wanted to believe certain things about her, they could do so. It is OK.
IMPORTANT--This did NOT require all of us to do so. It only required that we not speak against those who wish to do so. There is a difference.
The red beanies were caps we were required to wear to Mass and Communion every morning. Some of us would fold them in half and use "bobby pins" to attach them. Found on the internet: Zucchetto. Still in production.
Valerie, too liberal was also used against the Paulists, the Jesuits, and oter sets of Catholics. Might start a note on the Klan, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-Morman, religion hatreds beyond the recognized terrible racism.
The whole of Europe was torn apart after years of war . . . fear and prejudice were brought with settlers in the "New World."
Settlement did not begin at Plymouth Rock. But, the narrative derived from English Settlement dominates our History. Papists were denied religious freedom in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It is no coincidence that violence against Catholics flared in Massachusetts - the Ursuline Convent was burned to the ground.
The Ursuline Convent in Quebec and New Orleans still stand. Both convents were managed by women who were superiors. Priests celebrated Mass.
All took a vow of poverty including the main investor of the Ursulines in Quebec, Sillery a wealthy diplomat. He also funded a village with a school for Native Americans.
There was hatred of Papists. Hatred of Catholics because they were cannibals who ate the body of Christ (communion). Hatred for the expenditure of great Cathedrals. Distrust and hostility for women who crossed the Atlantic alone, lived in communities of women and took vows of poverty and chastity. In this way, women could teach and serve others.
The burning of the Ursuline Convent in Massachusetts becomes a symbol of the deep hatred of Papists and the suspicions of those with a deep distrust of women. Think back to the Witchcraft Craze in Europe - the majority of those sentenced were women - widows were most common.
On the vow of poverty . . . contrary to the "law" of Manifest Destiny invented AFTER the brutal war against native Americans and the seizure of land. A myth that gives a tacit approval to every form of greed imaginable and a justification for the slaughter.
Marcel Mauss studied "the gift" in the exchange economy of the Pacific Northwest. The great leader is known for giving in a series of exchanges that are circular and bind the community together.
The perfect representation is the Three Graces.
I have absolutely no understanding of the Klan (sometimes Catholics were members, lapsed Catholics); no understanding of hatred that allows a man to kill a child, load people in trains or airplanes. I know that Robespierre rounded up "the enemies" for slaughter . . . Just as Jews have been a convenient scapegoat since the crucifixion.
Interesting about the Pequot Indians and Williams.
Think one source might be "off"? Wife says Rhode Island ended highly Catholic and tolerated them early. Know that a Baptist woman shunned for proselytizing in old Boston (Ann Hutchison?) was granted a right of religious freedom for herself and other Baptists IF they'd go to Rhode Island's colony and IF all religions were tolerated there. That was pre-Revolution. (Ironic that the anti-Catholic Baptists were allowed to be un-persecuted Baptists only if they tolerated Catholics!)
Early Rhode Island leaders were not always saints. Some Baptists allowed slavey. Slaveowners with "plantations" were allowed in pre-Revolutionary Rhode Island.
Slaves there, however, were said to be treated more kindly than in the South, the slavery still disliked by teh slaves. An example given-- many allowed to eat seated at the supper table, alongside the owning family. Looked laws up--Rhode Island slowly made slavery illegal. First laws passed earlier, but a final act in 1784, Revolutionary era, said children born after March 1 were automatically freed (assume some adults still enslaved?).
A state constitution written in 1843 (circa Irish famine time) confirmed slavery to be illegal in RI. Many ministers, by the 1840s, were asking the other hold-out states to give up slavery. Their secession was then promoted by anger over that and not being allowed to expand freely into the western states and sell slaves there.
In 1852, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister named Lyman Beecher wrote a mind-changing book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (she was Harriet Beecher Stowe). A review is at eHistory.OSU.edu She was not a saint either. Derogatory, she proposed that ex-slaves be returned to Africa, even if wanting to stay here. (See www.HarrietBeecherStoweCenter.org/uncle-toms-cabin) Her father Rev Beecher was virulently anti-Catholic, so did not set a good example
Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were banished from Massachusetts. Catholics were not allowed in Mass. and other New England States . . . but not explicitly banned in Rhode Island. Anne Hutchinson was tried and convicted of Treason (?) . . . she escaped with her children. Killed in NY by Indians. Roger Williams agreed to allow the Pequot Indians to serve as slaves and/or they were banished to an island plantation. Williams actually helped hunt down escaped Indian Slaves, he took one side in the Indian War, later he actually killed a Native . . finally he professed as a Baptist. H also started a plantation on land that owned - slave labor was a benefit.
My wife and I are different religions and come from families that had married across denominations, so religious hatred seems so unneeded and strange to us. (Have concluded mixing tends to work against hatreds. Both of us have families that came through Mass., the Irish famine changed Boston, gave it lots of Irish Catholics.)
One of our own branches was out of the Protestant Puritans around Boston. Was surprised when looking our Puritans up, when I learned Plymouth Rock was not Puritan, but Pilgrim.
Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock thought the Puritans up around Boston were too liberal. A set of Pilgrims marched up the coast at one point and burned a trading post. (That was punishment for the post's owner having a May Pole celebration for the fishermen taking cod back to Britain. The fishermen were said to be the earliest British settlers around Boston, before the religious dissidents came.)
Pilgrims were more radical, called "separatists" as, unlike Puritans, they tolerated no mixing. By the convent burning, they were supposedly less radical than their ancestors and had moved north.
The Ursulines came out of French Canada? Their convent burning was later than the trading post burning.
Had not heard of it, so looked it up. At north end of Boston (Charleston) in 1834, so before the famine migrants came, a riot appeared to be started by a rumor, a bricklayer named John Buzzell said to be the arson ringleader. The vicious rumor was that a a nun was held against her will and maybe murdered.
Ursulines were organized in France. The first covent was in New Orleans, Quebec and then Boston.My husband was not a Catholic; but, he and the Parish priest were good friends. He died in 1999. . . he was one of the best humans ever!
t's FOOLS never know what to say when challenged on any of their favorite diatribes in opposition to anything even vaguely caring for anything but themselves -- just like him.
Well, consider that the Catholic Church also enthusiastically supports the GOP position on banning abortion, and continues to deny women life-saving health care through its purchase of secular hospitals which then have to abide by Catholic dogma.
Spare me the "seamless web of life " spiel. Women are second class citizens in the Catholic Church.
Agree. And always has been. I could list all the personal reasons for leaving the misogynistic creeps years ago -- starting with my mother's wedding in 1936, but nobody cares these days.
Yes they are. Actually they are suppose to be against birth control. We know most don’t follow that. I was told that every time I had sex with my husband and used birth control I was committing a mortal sin. I am not joking.
I was never told that. I was told it was between myself and God. Not all priests treat women the way you experienced, although I certainly agree that many of them do.
My wife's experience matched MaryMcC's, most priests very good to women. told her morality between her and God. She's northern.
Joanne's experience might be southern? priests educated locally only, more exposed to semi-converts from the MAGA-leaning evangelicals?
The international orders and their Catholic colleges are largely northern, she thinks, with southern priests more likely to be what's called a "diocesan priest". That means just one Bishop, himself maybe diocesan, so LOCAL parties only control such priests' education.
The ones with flavors not diocesan, more northern, are Jesuit (seen as intellectual), Franciscan (humble, reject wealth), Benedictine (God's role in creation matters, seen as preserving the environment), Christian Brothers (good wine! good parish ministries), Paulist ("reaching the unreached" and the "fallen away", know in-and-outs of culture, so "modernist" and at times accused of heresy by rigidly dogmatic conservatives), Maryknoll (missionaries), Dominican (preachers), etc
Jerry Norman you are exactly right! Order priests are far less rigid and judgmental than diocesan priests. I hadn't really realiized it that way but the priest who told me "it was between myself and God" was an order priest.
Both my daughter and I were lapsed Catholics. She died unexpectedly from a heart attack during covid. The wonderful Salvatorian priet here had no issue with holding her funeral, and her ashes are buried on the grounds of the church. The church he serves is considered a mission church due to it's location in a Southern State. She had substitute taught there and he knew her character and ethics. He is a wonderful man and sometimes counsels me in my grief journey. No pressure to attend Mass regularly, although he has made it clear I'd be welcome. He knows me well and my charater and spirituality. I may return as a practicing Catholic somewhat because of him and another order priest I knew in another southern state, but I have a lot of issues with the Church. Pope Leo also seems like someone I can willingly follow.
Happily, birth control is not on the list of infallible viewpoints, did not even exist until science published on the egg vs the sperm. Most Catholics understand well-reasoned, so violate dogmatic advice with a good conscience.
I believe you. I know of a couple of loveless marriages that limped on because the couples were devout Catholics who couldn't divorce-better to live in misery
Catholics have been allowed to divorce for all of my 74 years of life. They are just not allowed to remarry unless they go through an anullment, which I consider quite rigorous and intrusive.
Much conversion in foreign places was connected to mother of Jesus NOT being deemed a second class citizen. Also, there's no requirement to regulate others on abortion, only oneself. Helping others so they won't need abortions is a better approach.
Yes, excellent from Sue Dalling, "Every time I have a chance say to Catholics who voted for Trump, Pope LEO says this is wrong." Yes, reaction will be "They don’t know what to say."
People could not predict how FAST Pres T started building his kill-ratio, going after USAID immediately. Two contradictory policies by him, (A) His killing of immigration to the uS, (B) His killing whatever might make their current countries better so there would no need to immigrate, about to get worse as his tariff escalations target smaller and poorer countries
... And yet the IRS just ruled that churches can endorse candidates from the pulpit but remain as non-profit. Not holding my breath to see if such endorsements will now be for or against MAGA candidates...
I'm a long time member of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The "pastors" of the religious right, especially the "prosperity Jesus" TV preachers, have been grumbling for decades about not being able to endorse from the pulpit. The preachers ignore that for the same decades, reliable polling has shown that 70-80% of Americans don't want "pulpit politics."
Yes, thanks Steve, 70-80% of Americans don't want "pulpit politics." Never heard of "prosperity Jesus" until this year. T's minister is who, exactly? What do they think Jesus meant when he said "It's harder for a rich man to get into Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of the needle"?
NOTE: The eye of the needle was the name of a gate too tiny difficult for camels to easily go through. Not impossible, but hard. Riches are easily achieved immoral ways, easily spent immorally, ignoring Luke's Beatitudes.
Thanks, Hugh. Didn't know that. A new IRS (revised as under a Trump appointee?) now says it's OK to endorse from the pulpit? WOW, No longer separation of church and state, as taught in Gr 8 Civics?
Does this make its way to the Supreme Court? Or do all the religions seeing what's wrong with Pres T go against him big time, next election? Think added up they might outnumber clerics who are MAGA-vangelism.
They did . . . Pope Francis wrote books and published encyclicals.
He traveled around the world speaking to millions. He was very engaged; but, the medium was not electronic/ I suspect that is changing now.
Tat said, the last time little jd met with Pope Leo, he was given the cold shoulder.
The little man arguing the "rules" - we are put on earth to serve and care for others.
Care for others. . . not let the Food Aid rot in semi-trailers rather than allow the starving to eat. There will be no compromise with Pope Leo. Thank God. I don't need to worry about Trump paying off the church . . .these are TERRIBLE times.
Let’s not forget the far right American bishops were a thorn in Pope Francis’s side for years. He had to call them out more than once. Glad to see some Catholic leadership finally speaking out on this inhumane mass deportation abomination.
My take on why JD doesn’t go to mass. He’s booed and protested everywhere he goes. Might he be shunned by his fellow parishioners?
While I wish you were right about "mounting an opposition" (it is about time some organization did that; the Do Nothing Caucus is not), I hear only verbal protests about specific issues that are antithetical to Church dogma. I see, hear, and read no calls for opposition to the government that is bringing this mess to mass, nor anyone in the government who professes to believe in Catholic teaching doing anything to show that their minds and morals are where their mouth is, certainly not Jettison Donald Weather Vane (for some reason my keyboard refuses to add the "c").
Rick, Remember, in addition to "balance of powers" we have "separation of church and state". You said "They should have done this before the election " They were SAYING plenty before, plenty of good examples by Pope Francis and more, the principle of "human dignity" key. Those respecting our constitution cannot NOT say who to vote for. I'm thankful they don't DO that.
Thanks for this article. I think Catholic Church stance also reflects biblical teaching. There are many passages in the Bible how we are supposed to treat “strangers” and “sojourners” among us like “love them as yourself.” A priest recently said that ICE grabbing people in church parking lots is “against the Gospel.”
There are two different philosophies. After 12 years of Catholic school my education was primarily on the gospel of Christ. The old testament as we called it was used sparingly. The combination of the two can make the teachings harsher and less forgiving. Any professed Catholic who does not rely on Christs’ teachings as most important is not serving their faith well.
well umm. Jesus himself was a sojourner... to Egypt as an infant and then back. And back and forth between Judah and Galilee (separate administrations). But of course nationalistic immigration policies are only a very recent thing. <sadly>
I did not say that the old testament said nothing about welcoming strangers and travelers. However the discussion about homosexuality was never mentioned nor was abortion by Christ.
Jesus taught from the "Old Testament". There wasn't a "New Testament" to teach from. At any rate, he cleared that all that up with his "Judgement of the Nations" speech, Matthew 25: 31-46.
Come on; for the Felon, the Bible is a book he can sell to the rubes to take more of their hard-earned money for his own pocket, nothing more, maybe even something less.
I think its irresponsible of you to give Ted Cruz's statement about the floods in his home state without mentioning that he gave those statements from his European vacation, which he is still on.
That's what's crucial, not the place and the timing of his vacation. He had no way to know that this tragedy in Texas would occur during a no-doubt long-planned-for trip, but he damned well did know that cutting the budget for NOAA and the NWS would cost lives!
Clayton, I didn't see a comment about Ted Cruz's statement on this thread. But I did see him pontificating (as he does) on tv yesterday. He was in Texas; he appeared at the update given with the mayor, police, etc. (I am in no way 'sticking up' for him, I just saw him on tv - for all I know, it could have been AI).
It may be too little too late on the part of the Catholic Church. But at least they have come a long way in the past 9 months since the Al Smith Dinner which featured cardinal Timothy Dolan schmoozing Donald Trump and a member of the Catholic Charities leadership making the Sign of the Cross over him. Now the hierarchy and clergy need to be in the front lines of every protest against this morally bankrupt and truly evil administration.
Yup, along with many church related organizations. But of course far right Samaritans Purse (Franklin Graham and big buddy of Trump) got their aid budget restored. Yeah for equal treatment (not).
Thanks, I didn't know that. I thought the far-right Christian crowd has been too quiet about potential cuts to *their* favorite charities. Word apparently got around that there was no need to fuss -- Daddy T was making sure that "we got ours."
As a 62 year old cradle Catholic who was brought up going to Mass every week, taught religious education classes to my own child and then other children after mine were grown and who served as a Eucharistic Minister, I feel I can say that there is nothing that Pope Leo has said that sounds any different than anything I've heard from the Church my entire life. It is not radical liberal ideology, it is basic Church doctrine. The question is, will people listen?
Hi Joe. I'm responding to your question about why I am a Bulwark member. First off, I'm old. My first prez vote was for Ford and I went right on through voting Republican straight ticket through the first Bush II presidency in 2000. I was horrified by the invasion of Iraq and switched teams in 2004 by voting for Kerry and voted Democratic ever since, not entirely straight ticket as first, but after 2016 I vowed never again to vote for a Republican, and also never set foot in an evangelical church, which as an evangelical, or should I say, former one, was kind of a tough ask, but, hey, I pulled it off and have no regrets about my political and religious decisions. Besides the Bulwark, I now get my news from Slate, Mother Jones, Salon and the Guardian, so have done a 180 on the type of news/commentary that I grew up with, and ingested for a large part of my adult life.
So why the Bulwark? Maybe 44 years of being a political conservative and 58 years of being a religious one. Conservative politics and religion are not in and of themselves bad, but when they go off the rails, they really go off, and so the Bulwark reminds me of what used to be the type of conservatism that can counteract unrestrained liberalism. We need both, provided both are healthy, and right now, neither are not, I think as I see not a whole lot of difference between us and Germany in the 1930's, while the Democrats simply refuse to see that we are sliding deeper and deeper in fascism. This is not the type of activity that we need to see from either party, and yet it is what we have.
And so the Bulwark is my counter balance to Mother Jones and the publications like her. I sometimes roll my eyes at your publication, especially Bill Kristol, and yet we are all fighting the same fight and it is nice to think that a lot of that fight is coming from former Republicans, so good job on that.
Keep up the good work, Joe. My subscription is money well spent. Thanks!
I disagree that the Democrats don't see how we're sliding further and further into fascism. If you don't hear US lawmakers using the term fascism, I think that's because it doesn't seem to help their cause. But maybe I'm naive?
Every Christian Church should part ways with the Trump agenda. We should think about the teachings of Jesus, and let Him be our guide. Believe it or not I am not a “Church Going Christian,” but I do believe in being the best person I can possibly be. The Catholic Church has its flaws—after all it is made up of humans who are not perfect. Other Christian Faiths should take another look at what they endorse.
Thanks Joe, as a lapsed Catholic, I have to offer a couple of worthless takes: 1. It’s more likely that some substantial portion of those Americans identified as members of the Catholic faith follow their Red Hat algorithms as opposed to supporting and embracing the Church’s position regarding the harsh practices of the Trump Administration. 2. The Catholic Church didn’t really over themselves in glory the last time a world fascist takeover took place - Google “Cardinal Stepanic” if your stomach can bear it.
True, The fight again fascism was almost non existent. Hopefully the lesson has been learned and will make Catholics understand their faith and act on it.
Suggest you read "Church of Spies" by Mark Riebling. There was quite a bit going on against fascism behind the scenes, and many were tortured and killed.
The reviewer looked at things from a military view, said the Pope had a tricky job working against Hitler, building networks to "plan a regime change in Germany, through assassination if necessary. [A German Catholic called Josef Muller important.] Müller carried messages between the regular German army and the Vatican".
There thus was a party inside the German Army willing to thwart Hitler. "Acting as an agent for the intelligence chief Adm. Wilhelm Canaris, Müller took extreme risks by flying sport planes between Germany and the Vatican."
Wiki says, "Initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, Canaris turned against Hitler and committed acts of both passive and active resistance during World War II following the German invasion of Poland in 1939."
"Understanding the political sensitivities and the nature of the Nazi Party allowed Pope Pius XII to act and lead in a manner that prevented Adolf Hitler from using the pope’s words and deeds as a reason to begin executing Catholics."
Why should a "One leader controls all" not approve of at least some of Fascist philosophy? And this is not directy at ONLY Catholicism, as all religions, to my knowledge, have a single individual (oddly enough, usually male) who guides the way.
Maybe the Hindus have that part right- a few hundred “specialists” who come around when they’re needed and when you ask them nicely -and then going back to whatever Gods do when they’re not needed - { Backgammon, anyone? First God to get to 3 Trillion gets to ride “shotgun” on our next visit to Earth!}. But then again, ultra religious zealotry between two nuclear armed belligerents might not work out that well for either them, the Pakistani’s or for us, for that matter.
Hitler was said to deeply resent that he was part Jewish. His sister (half-sister?) later said he'd been abused by his step-father. As a grown man, he drifted into a variant of spiritualism called "Theosophy", promoted by a Helena Blavatsky (aka Madame Blavatsky, definitely not Catholic).
Children were often saved from Hitler by being issued Catholic identity papers. Three better-known ones were half-Jewish, the theologian Monika Hellwig and her two sisters. (Hellwig ended up in DC teaching at Georgetown, living with her adopted children in Maryland.) Catholics saved her and two sisters from Hitler after their non-Jewish father was already deceased. The sisters' Catholic papers let them go to Belgium with their Jewish mother and then to Britain without their mother. They were adopted there, not completely clear when or where their mother died, nor by whose hand.
Catholic clergy who resisted were sent to Nazi concentration camps. Names from Wiki--
"The massive Catholic opposition to the Nazi euthanasia programs led them to be quieted on 28 August 1941.[111] Catholics, on occasion, actively and openly protested against Nazi antisemitism through several bishops and priests such as Bishop Clemens von Galen of Münster. " (Von Galen has his own article at Wiki.)
"In Nazi Germany, political dissenters were imprisoned, and some German priests were sent to the concentration camps for their opposition, including the pastor of Berlin's Catholic Cathedral Bernhard Lichtenberg and the seminarian Karl Leisner.[112]" (Lichtenberg and Leisner also have separate articles at Wiki)
Thanks, Timothy! A Stepinac found. Did not know about him. Wiki said he was not in Germany, but Yugoslavia. Was a Roman Catholic (western Catholic) in aSlavic-speaking place, with Yugoslavia's Orthodox (eastern Catholics) under attack. That the Orthodix were in danger makes sense.
Hitler's "glittering generality" of "Liebensraum" was his propaganda about creating more "living room", but only for people Hitler preferred. It was to be achieved by eliminating people he deemed inferior. Jews were to be first, he made it pretty clear Russians were likely to be the next target after the Jews were extinguished.
Timothy says this next part Wiki has wrong:
Wiki says Stepanic "advised individual priests to admit Orthodox believers to the Catholic Church if their lives were in danger..." Any pseudo-conversion let them "return to their faith once the danger passed".
OH! And, you are welcome, Jerry. I’m an old man with a head full of (mostly) useless facts. So I am pleased you did a little digging. I use WIKI a lot myself, but w/regards to the Former Yugoslavia, and Armenia, well, there’s a ton of info that just can’t be condensed into a WIKI page. It’s an area that has spent most of history being run over by Empire (s). The Russian Empire, The Austro-Hungarians, The Ottoman, the Nazi’s, back to the Soviets, etc., and has always been damned by its geographical location. Fascinating to look at somewhere that sits in the middle of everything, and has had everything thrown at it. That’s enough outta me
I am pretty sure he was Croatian, who basically was all in with the Nazi’s as long as the Nazi’s only targeted Jews as well as “Orthodox” Christians, who in the immediate area were most ethnic Serbians (hence the everlasting hard feelings between Croats and Serbs). The Croats were part of Hitler’s Axis allies. One of Cardinal Stepanic’s credo’s was to honor the Sabbath- but he basically viewed the other six days of the week as a need to support the, ‘Independent State of Croatia’ as an ally of Hitler. Anyhow, not a real shining example of helping anyone other than his fascist government and of course, Der Furher. You can see why there was a great degree of bottled up hatred and angst in Tito’s Yugoslavia that really blew up when Yugoslavia fell apart into revenge, slaughter, genocide, all that and more. Tito had kept a lid on a part of the world where Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Roman Catholicism all converged. And when the lid came off, there was a lot of steam that blew up in every direction
"damned by its geographical location" Not terribly familiar with that part of the world. So...Croatian, as Nazi allies With Serbians Orthodox, targeted by the Nazis, as were the Jews "hence the everlasting hard feelings between Croats and Serb".
Thanks, so sad. So Wiki got it wrong that he tried to save anyone, too bad.
"Yugoslavia fell apart into revenge, slaughter, genocide, all that and more. Tito had kept a lid on a part of the world where Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Roman Catholicism all converged. And when the lid came off, there was a lot of steam".
Sounds hopeless. Maybe we are lucky to be where we are, still with hope.
Why is it so important to explain what a person's religion is? Trump doesn't even have a religion.
Unless you count his worship of gold and money.
Describing JD Vance as a "devout" Catholic makes me laugh. He's already changed his name 3 times. He "landed" on Catholocism after forging through other religions. Not sure why. He wasn't raised Catholic. Maybe his voters are primarily Catholic.
There have always been extremes in all religions over their histories. So maybe now is just one of those times. AS far as I'm concerned, Trump will never be a "christian". Satanic, maybe.
I don't see all the terror and horror he has inflicted through his Executive Orders and his Cabinet members as anything but EVIL Personified.
We used to ask, What Would Jesus Do? Certainly nothing that has come out of this White House.
All you need to do is study some history of the 1500s of how bad it can get mixing politics and religion. Just left Belgium where I learned about the horrible things the iconoclasts did, like throwing 30,000 books from a Benedictine monastery into a river. Now in The Netherlands where I hear about those horrible tyrants the Catholic rulers of Spain were, telling folks how and what to believe.
Peter Theil probably thought it was politically advantageous. All too convenient and it is my understanding he didn't even go thru RCIA which is a strenuous course in preparation for becoming Catholic.
We should all be embracing the Trump as President TV show. Written, directed and staring DJ Trump. The four year show has many, many exciting episodes conceived in the "brain" of DJT. For example:
- DOGE incapacitated the Federal Bureaucracy. People die. It's Biden's fault.
- Watch the White House become a TESLA
showroom
- How America gets richer through Tariffs. (Part 1) US trading partners are begging for mercy.
- Pres DJ trashes the Constitution. Why? Because this is his show. Everyone else, including SCOTUS, are just reading their lines.
- DJ declares himself KING.
- The KING gets a gilded 787..
- RFK Jr. is "wild" and destroys US healthcare, especially for children.
- Musk is kicked off the island!
- Illegal, undocumented aliens are snatched off the street by hooded secret police
- Iran is "secretly" bombed into oblivion
- The Federalized national guard and the marines save LA.
- The Trump/Miller concentration camps are launched in the Everglades.
- Trump pushes the most avaricious budget bill in US history across the finish line. The top .01% of wealthy Americans get a lot richer. The poorest Americans pay for it with healthcare cuts. Generations of wealthy GOP donors come back from the dead to applaud DJT.
- Tariffs return today (Part 2)
STAY TUNED...THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!
In case you think things have changed in DJT's
brain, below is the ad he took out in 1989 attacking the Central Park 5.
"Many New York families - White, Black, Hispanic and Asian - have had to give up the pleasure of a leisurely stroll in the Park at dusk, the Saturday visit to the playground with their families, the bike ride at dawn, or just sitting on their stoops.... Mayor Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts. I do not think so. I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer ... Yes, Mayor Koch, I want to hate these murderers and I always will. ... How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their Civil Liberties End When an Attack On Our Safety Begins!"
I wasn't shocked when Republicans blamed cloud seeding for the tragic flooding in central Texas. I heard this theory just 2 weeks before this disaster when my dentist was gluing on my crown while theorizing that cloud seeding had caused the massive floods in Dubai last Spring. I can't even remember how we ended up on the conservation, b/c I'd totally forgotten about that flood.
So yeah, my dentist might be a little cuckoo for coco puffs, but the crown is doing great!
You're too kind, and give the Republicans credit for more scientific knowledge -- and intelligence -- than they showed. They didn't blame "cloud seeding", which is a thing; they blamed "chemtrails", which is not.
All of us are looking for hope, so we get hopes up for every potential clash that Trump may have ahead. But if you believe that the Catholic Church is going to be a disrupter of the Trump agenda, don't hold your breath. Starting with Antonin Scalia and the following onto today's Catholic right-wing justices, bundled together with the whole Catholic New Right who were architects of Project 2025 - they are part and parcel of this mess.
Those are people who are not following Christ’s teaching and should not call themselves Catholic. The Pope is the leader of the Catholic Church not random priests, bishops and cardinals.
It seems that the majority feel this way or we wouldn’t have had Pope Francis and now Leo. Dolan is a vp perfect example of “Little Princes”.
"And we can’t discount the possibility that Rep. Jeffries’s hips bring powerful transdimensional forces to bear on the environment around them"--I laughed.
What if the photo WASN'T doctored? What if Jeffries has a personal Reality Distortion Field, and unwittingly revealed it? Maybe we can start a new conspiracy theory.
I don't often agree with MTG, but she is 90% right on this one. Something the current administration is actively promoting that we put into the air IS in fact modifying the weather, it's just that it's GREENHOUSE GASES, not chemtrails.
...and go Pope Leo! sending him love from Chicago!
Glad the Church is mounting an opposition. They should have done this before the election - Trump’s deportation policy was central to his campaign.
Yes. The immigration plan that congress had when Biden was president was going to pass but Trump stopped it. Because he knew he could only win on Immigration. If this bill had passed. We would not be having these gestapo tactics. Every time I have a chance say to Catholics who voted for Trump, Pope LEO says this is wrong. They don’t know what to say.
Some Catholics believed Pope Francis was wrong. They argued he was to liberal!!
Yes I know all too well about that. I am a cradle Catholic. I left the church but my sister is very Catholic. She listens to religious networks, The ones that criticized pope Francis. They still talk about him. My sister was listening to one today the women commentator was talking about Pope Francis the way we talk about Trump. She said all he did was lie. I said to my sister, I thought that commentator was talking about Trump. Remember when Hitler was getting started the German Catholic Church went along with it because inflation was bad and the church thought they would get more power. Things haven’t changed.
They question the Holy Spirit's choice for who sits on the Throne of St. Peter, and they call themselves devout Catholics? Oh, the irony is so delicious!!!
You are so right.
Sometimes, you can talk all day long . . .
My sister said that she did not “agree” with Pope Francis.
He was the teacher and the leader of. . .
She also voted for Trump for the tax cuts. . . she said something about entitlements.
Coal miners are entitled . . . I am a radical.
Berrigan Brothers and Thomas Merton . . .
Yes but now my sister who voted for Trump is devastated on what he has done and how millions will suffer. Every time Trump picked an evil person she said”Trump doesn’t use good judgment.” I said he was always like that. She was convinced by someone in the to vote Trump. It would have been different if we had Pope Leo before the election.
At least she has recognized her mistake (abet too late for it to make much difference).
I guess she forgot about the "infallible" part we were taught decades ago. LOL
Infallibility? It has to be declared. The person in my family who's a cradle Catholic was taught by excellent nuns straight out of Catholic colleges. Look-up Monika Hellwig's earliest version of her key book.
"Infallibility" was, in fact, declared only a few times. Catholics are, however, obligated to think about the rest of church teachings with a "well-reasoned conscience".
Well-reasoned could include your never having an abortion yourself,
Yet, contrary to MAGA, it could also include an understanding there's no 11th commandment saying you must punish and vilify people who do have an abortion.
Instead of punishments for doctor and parents, a well-reasoned conscience might send money to homes for unwed mothers, so they don't need abortions. It might mean allowing food stamps and welfare so destitute mothers finding they are pregnant again don't need abortions.
Well-reasoned might include reading Luke's Beatitudes (his Blessed be's). It might require understanding why his Beatitudes require more commitment by the US and by other rich everywhere, than would John's easier Beatitudes. It might include understanding the point of the Good Samaritan story, as it applies to immigrants.
Only a few times was infallibility declared. A big declaration regarded Mary, mother of Jesus.
My understanding--If people wanted to remember the mother of Jesus fondly, inspired that she raised him and did not desert him at the end, it was OK. If they wanted to celebrate days for her, if they wanted to believe certain things about her, they could do so. It is OK.
IMPORTANT--This did NOT require all of us to do so. It only required that we not speak against those who wish to do so. There is a difference.
Yes I remember that .
I am a red beanie Catholic:-)
What's a red beanie Catholic?
The red beanies were caps we were required to wear to Mass and Communion every morning. Some of us would fold them in half and use "bobby pins" to attach them. Found on the internet: Zucchetto. Still in production.
Valerie, too liberal was also used against the Paulists, the Jesuits, and oter sets of Catholics. Might start a note on the Klan, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-Morman, religion hatreds beyond the recognized terrible racism.
Scattered Thoughts and Notes
The whole of Europe was torn apart after years of war . . . fear and prejudice were brought with settlers in the "New World."
Settlement did not begin at Plymouth Rock. But, the narrative derived from English Settlement dominates our History. Papists were denied religious freedom in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It is no coincidence that violence against Catholics flared in Massachusetts - the Ursuline Convent was burned to the ground.
The Ursuline Convent in Quebec and New Orleans still stand. Both convents were managed by women who were superiors. Priests celebrated Mass.
All took a vow of poverty including the main investor of the Ursulines in Quebec, Sillery a wealthy diplomat. He also funded a village with a school for Native Americans.
There was hatred of Papists. Hatred of Catholics because they were cannibals who ate the body of Christ (communion). Hatred for the expenditure of great Cathedrals. Distrust and hostility for women who crossed the Atlantic alone, lived in communities of women and took vows of poverty and chastity. In this way, women could teach and serve others.
The burning of the Ursuline Convent in Massachusetts becomes a symbol of the deep hatred of Papists and the suspicions of those with a deep distrust of women. Think back to the Witchcraft Craze in Europe - the majority of those sentenced were women - widows were most common.
On the vow of poverty . . . contrary to the "law" of Manifest Destiny invented AFTER the brutal war against native Americans and the seizure of land. A myth that gives a tacit approval to every form of greed imaginable and a justification for the slaughter.
Marcel Mauss studied "the gift" in the exchange economy of the Pacific Northwest. The great leader is known for giving in a series of exchanges that are circular and bind the community together.
The perfect representation is the Three Graces.
I have absolutely no understanding of the Klan (sometimes Catholics were members, lapsed Catholics); no understanding of hatred that allows a man to kill a child, load people in trains or airplanes. I know that Robespierre rounded up "the enemies" for slaughter . . . Just as Jews have been a convenient scapegoat since the crucifixion.
Interesting about the Pequot Indians and Williams.
Think one source might be "off"? Wife says Rhode Island ended highly Catholic and tolerated them early. Know that a Baptist woman shunned for proselytizing in old Boston (Ann Hutchison?) was granted a right of religious freedom for herself and other Baptists IF they'd go to Rhode Island's colony and IF all religions were tolerated there. That was pre-Revolution. (Ironic that the anti-Catholic Baptists were allowed to be un-persecuted Baptists only if they tolerated Catholics!)
Early Rhode Island leaders were not always saints. Some Baptists allowed slavey. Slaveowners with "plantations" were allowed in pre-Revolutionary Rhode Island.
Slaves there, however, were said to be treated more kindly than in the South, the slavery still disliked by teh slaves. An example given-- many allowed to eat seated at the supper table, alongside the owning family. Looked laws up--Rhode Island slowly made slavery illegal. First laws passed earlier, but a final act in 1784, Revolutionary era, said children born after March 1 were automatically freed (assume some adults still enslaved?).
A state constitution written in 1843 (circa Irish famine time) confirmed slavery to be illegal in RI. Many ministers, by the 1840s, were asking the other hold-out states to give up slavery. Their secession was then promoted by anger over that and not being allowed to expand freely into the western states and sell slaves there.
In 1852, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister named Lyman Beecher wrote a mind-changing book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (she was Harriet Beecher Stowe). A review is at eHistory.OSU.edu She was not a saint either. Derogatory, she proposed that ex-slaves be returned to Africa, even if wanting to stay here. (See www.HarrietBeecherStoweCenter.org/uncle-toms-cabin) Her father Rev Beecher was virulently anti-Catholic, so did not set a good example
Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were banished from Massachusetts. Catholics were not allowed in Mass. and other New England States . . . but not explicitly banned in Rhode Island. Anne Hutchinson was tried and convicted of Treason (?) . . . she escaped with her children. Killed in NY by Indians. Roger Williams agreed to allow the Pequot Indians to serve as slaves and/or they were banished to an island plantation. Williams actually helped hunt down escaped Indian Slaves, he took one side in the Indian War, later he actually killed a Native . . finally he professed as a Baptist. H also started a plantation on land that owned - slave labor was a benefit.
My wife and I are different religions and come from families that had married across denominations, so religious hatred seems so unneeded and strange to us. (Have concluded mixing tends to work against hatreds. Both of us have families that came through Mass., the Irish famine changed Boston, gave it lots of Irish Catholics.)
One of our own branches was out of the Protestant Puritans around Boston. Was surprised when looking our Puritans up, when I learned Plymouth Rock was not Puritan, but Pilgrim.
Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock thought the Puritans up around Boston were too liberal. A set of Pilgrims marched up the coast at one point and burned a trading post. (That was punishment for the post's owner having a May Pole celebration for the fishermen taking cod back to Britain. The fishermen were said to be the earliest British settlers around Boston, before the religious dissidents came.)
Pilgrims were more radical, called "separatists" as, unlike Puritans, they tolerated no mixing. By the convent burning, they were supposedly less radical than their ancestors and had moved north.
The Ursulines came out of French Canada? Their convent burning was later than the trading post burning.
Had not heard of it, so looked it up. At north end of Boston (Charleston) in 1834, so before the famine migrants came, a riot appeared to be started by a rumor, a bricklayer named John Buzzell said to be the arson ringleader. The vicious rumor was that a a nun was held against her will and maybe murdered.
Ursulines were organized in France. The first covent was in New Orleans, Quebec and then Boston.My husband was not a Catholic; but, he and the Parish priest were good friends. He died in 1999. . . he was one of the best humans ever!
t's FOOLS never know what to say when challenged on any of their favorite diatribes in opposition to anything even vaguely caring for anything but themselves -- just like him.
Well, consider that the Catholic Church also enthusiastically supports the GOP position on banning abortion, and continues to deny women life-saving health care through its purchase of secular hospitals which then have to abide by Catholic dogma.
Spare me the "seamless web of life " spiel. Women are second class citizens in the Catholic Church.
Agree. And always has been. I could list all the personal reasons for leaving the misogynistic creeps years ago -- starting with my mother's wedding in 1936, but nobody cares these days.
Yes they are. Actually they are suppose to be against birth control. We know most don’t follow that. I was told that every time I had sex with my husband and used birth control I was committing a mortal sin. I am not joking.
I was never told that. I was told it was between myself and God. Not all priests treat women the way you experienced, although I certainly agree that many of them do.
LOL -- MOST did and do mistreat women (just like t and his fellow felons). I never met one that said that, and I am 86!
My wife's experience matched MaryMcC's, most priests very good to women. told her morality between her and God. She's northern.
Joanne's experience might be southern? priests educated locally only, more exposed to semi-converts from the MAGA-leaning evangelicals?
The international orders and their Catholic colleges are largely northern, she thinks, with southern priests more likely to be what's called a "diocesan priest". That means just one Bishop, himself maybe diocesan, so LOCAL parties only control such priests' education.
The ones with flavors not diocesan, more northern, are Jesuit (seen as intellectual), Franciscan (humble, reject wealth), Benedictine (God's role in creation matters, seen as preserving the environment), Christian Brothers (good wine! good parish ministries), Paulist ("reaching the unreached" and the "fallen away", know in-and-outs of culture, so "modernist" and at times accused of heresy by rigidly dogmatic conservatives), Maryknoll (missionaries), Dominican (preachers), etc
Jerry Norman you are exactly right! Order priests are far less rigid and judgmental than diocesan priests. I hadn't really realiized it that way but the priest who told me "it was between myself and God" was an order priest.
Both my daughter and I were lapsed Catholics. She died unexpectedly from a heart attack during covid. The wonderful Salvatorian priet here had no issue with holding her funeral, and her ashes are buried on the grounds of the church. The church he serves is considered a mission church due to it's location in a Southern State. She had substitute taught there and he knew her character and ethics. He is a wonderful man and sometimes counsels me in my grief journey. No pressure to attend Mass regularly, although he has made it clear I'd be welcome. He knows me well and my charater and spirituality. I may return as a practicing Catholic somewhat because of him and another order priest I knew in another southern state, but I have a lot of issues with the Church. Pope Leo also seems like someone I can willingly follow.
Happily, birth control is not on the list of infallible viewpoints, did not even exist until science published on the egg vs the sperm. Most Catholics understand well-reasoned, so violate dogmatic advice with a good conscience.
I believe you. I know of a couple of loveless marriages that limped on because the couples were devout Catholics who couldn't divorce-better to live in misery
Catholics have been allowed to divorce for all of my 74 years of life. They are just not allowed to remarry unless they go through an anullment, which I consider quite rigorous and intrusive.
Thr couples I knew either could not afford to go through that process or chose not to.
AND expensive. So it is only for the wealthy like the rest of the R's world.
I think that is true of many religions.
Hmmm, you call yourself BitchyBitchyBitchy. Maybe it will help you to see yourself more kindly?
Much conversion in foreign places was connected to mother of Jesus NOT being deemed a second class citizen. Also, there's no requirement to regulate others on abortion, only oneself. Helping others so they won't need abortions is a better approach.
Please keep your religious beliefs to yourself, thank you.
Women have brains and moral agency. They can make their own decisions.
Yes, excellent from Sue Dalling, "Every time I have a chance say to Catholics who voted for Trump, Pope LEO says this is wrong." Yes, reaction will be "They don’t know what to say."
People could not predict how FAST Pres T started building his kill-ratio, going after USAID immediately. Two contradictory policies by him, (A) His killing of immigration to the uS, (B) His killing whatever might make their current countries better so there would no need to immigrate, about to get worse as his tariff escalations target smaller and poorer countries
I'm glad there has been more discussion of what is moral or immoral lately. About time.
It would have been nice if the Catholic Church had done this in Trump's first term when he was separating immigrant families and abducting children.
Too little too late, IMO. Trump couldn't care less.
I don't consider the Church speaking out 'too little to late' but only because I have to find hope somewhere during this terrible time in our Country.
... And yet the IRS just ruled that churches can endorse candidates from the pulpit but remain as non-profit. Not holding my breath to see if such endorsements will now be for or against MAGA candidates...
I'm a long time member of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The "pastors" of the religious right, especially the "prosperity Jesus" TV preachers, have been grumbling for decades about not being able to endorse from the pulpit. The preachers ignore that for the same decades, reliable polling has shown that 70-80% of Americans don't want "pulpit politics."
Yes, thanks Steve, 70-80% of Americans don't want "pulpit politics." Never heard of "prosperity Jesus" until this year. T's minister is who, exactly? What do they think Jesus meant when he said "It's harder for a rich man to get into Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of the needle"?
NOTE: The eye of the needle was the name of a gate too tiny difficult for camels to easily go through. Not impossible, but hard. Riches are easily achieved immoral ways, easily spent immorally, ignoring Luke's Beatitudes.
Thanks, Hugh. Didn't know that. A new IRS (revised as under a Trump appointee?) now says it's OK to endorse from the pulpit? WOW, No longer separation of church and state, as taught in Gr 8 Civics?
Does this make its way to the Supreme Court? Or do all the religions seeing what's wrong with Pres T go against him big time, next election? Think added up they might outnumber clerics who are MAGA-vangelism.
They did . . . Pope Francis wrote books and published encyclicals.
He traveled around the world speaking to millions. He was very engaged; but, the medium was not electronic/ I suspect that is changing now.
Tat said, the last time little jd met with Pope Leo, he was given the cold shoulder.
The little man arguing the "rules" - we are put on earth to serve and care for others.
Care for others. . . not let the Food Aid rot in semi-trailers rather than allow the starving to eat. There will be no compromise with Pope Leo. Thank God. I don't need to worry about Trump paying off the church . . .these are TERRIBLE times.
Let’s not forget the far right American bishops were a thorn in Pope Francis’s side for years. He had to call them out more than once. Glad to see some Catholic leadership finally speaking out on this inhumane mass deportation abomination.
My take on why JD doesn’t go to mass. He’s booed and protested everywhere he goes. Might he be shunned by his fellow parishioners?
While I wish you were right about "mounting an opposition" (it is about time some organization did that; the Do Nothing Caucus is not), I hear only verbal protests about specific issues that are antithetical to Church dogma. I see, hear, and read no calls for opposition to the government that is bringing this mess to mass, nor anyone in the government who professes to believe in Catholic teaching doing anything to show that their minds and morals are where their mouth is, certainly not Jettison Donald Weather Vane (for some reason my keyboard refuses to add the "c").
Rick, Remember, in addition to "balance of powers" we have "separation of church and state". You said "They should have done this before the election " They were SAYING plenty before, plenty of good examples by Pope Francis and more, the principle of "human dignity" key. Those respecting our constitution cannot NOT say who to vote for. I'm thankful they don't DO that.
Thanks for this article. I think Catholic Church stance also reflects biblical teaching. There are many passages in the Bible how we are supposed to treat “strangers” and “sojourners” among us like “love them as yourself.” A priest recently said that ICE grabbing people in church parking lots is “against the Gospel.”
"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me" Matthew 25:35, New American Bible.
Doesn't get more Catholic than that.
Agree
I have certainly heard ministers claim that this directive only applies to other Christians.
Interesting, What other Christians?
I'm not surprised, especially in recent years. I think that Tim Alberta, David French, Russell Moore, and others have commented on this.
There are two different philosophies. After 12 years of Catholic school my education was primarily on the gospel of Christ. The old testament as we called it was used sparingly. The combination of the two can make the teachings harsher and less forgiving. Any professed Catholic who does not rely on Christs’ teachings as most important is not serving their faith well.
Umm . . . the "strangers" and "sojourners" stuff comes mostly from the Old Testament.
well umm. Jesus himself was a sojourner... to Egypt as an infant and then back. And back and forth between Judah and Galilee (separate administrations). But of course nationalistic immigration policies are only a very recent thing. <sadly>
I did not say that the old testament said nothing about welcoming strangers and travelers. However the discussion about homosexuality was never mentioned nor was abortion by Christ.
Maybe judgmental is the difference.
Sorry: I said the same things in my post above -- having not read yours first. Agree 100%, Patricia.
I agree also Patricia. I, and my children, also received a Catholic education.
Jesus taught from the "Old Testament". There wasn't a "New Testament" to teach from. At any rate, he cleared that all that up with his "Judgement of the Nations" speech, Matthew 25: 31-46.
Christ created the new testament with his teachings his followers.
Come on; for the Felon, the Bible is a book he can sell to the rubes to take more of their hard-earned money for his own pocket, nothing more, maybe even something less.
I think its irresponsible of you to give Ted Cruz's statement about the floods in his home state without mentioning that he gave those statements from his European vacation, which he is still on.
And that he was instrumental in cutting the National Weather Service and NOAA out of the Big Brazen Budget.
That's what's crucial, not the place and the timing of his vacation. He had no way to know that this tragedy in Texas would occur during a no-doubt long-planned-for trip, but he damned well did know that cutting the budget for NOAA and the NWS would cost lives!
Exactly. It wasn’t an if, it was a when.
🥂 Reminds me of his trip to Cancun during a similar crisis in his State.
Clayton, I didn't see a comment about Ted Cruz's statement on this thread. But I did see him pontificating (as he does) on tv yesterday. He was in Texas; he appeared at the update given with the mayor, police, etc. (I am in no way 'sticking up' for him, I just saw him on tv - for all I know, it could have been AI).
It may be too little too late on the part of the Catholic Church. But at least they have come a long way in the past 9 months since the Al Smith Dinner which featured cardinal Timothy Dolan schmoozing Donald Trump and a member of the Catholic Charities leadership making the Sign of the Cross over him. Now the hierarchy and clergy need to be in the front lines of every protest against this morally bankrupt and truly evil administration.
Wasn't Catholic Relief Services one of the organizations being hurt by the destruction of USAID? I think so.
CRS was the top recipient of USAID funding. Earlier this year, CRS cut its staff in anticipation of losing half its overall funding.
Yup, along with many church related organizations. But of course far right Samaritans Purse (Franklin Graham and big buddy of Trump) got their aid budget restored. Yeah for equal treatment (not).
Thanks, I didn't know that. I thought the far-right Christian crowd has been too quiet about potential cuts to *their* favorite charities. Word apparently got around that there was no need to fuss -- Daddy T was making sure that "we got ours."
Yes, probably more so than Catholic Charities.
As a 62 year old cradle Catholic who was brought up going to Mass every week, taught religious education classes to my own child and then other children after mine were grown and who served as a Eucharistic Minister, I feel I can say that there is nothing that Pope Leo has said that sounds any different than anything I've heard from the Church my entire life. It is not radical liberal ideology, it is basic Church doctrine. The question is, will people listen?
"People" maybe; MAGAnuts, no way.
Theresa, I did all the things you did at my Church and I agree with you that Pope Leo speaks basic Church doctrine.
I don't know why all these MAGA people are surprised. I mean, I do know, but it is beyond ridiculous.
Hi Joe. I'm responding to your question about why I am a Bulwark member. First off, I'm old. My first prez vote was for Ford and I went right on through voting Republican straight ticket through the first Bush II presidency in 2000. I was horrified by the invasion of Iraq and switched teams in 2004 by voting for Kerry and voted Democratic ever since, not entirely straight ticket as first, but after 2016 I vowed never again to vote for a Republican, and also never set foot in an evangelical church, which as an evangelical, or should I say, former one, was kind of a tough ask, but, hey, I pulled it off and have no regrets about my political and religious decisions. Besides the Bulwark, I now get my news from Slate, Mother Jones, Salon and the Guardian, so have done a 180 on the type of news/commentary that I grew up with, and ingested for a large part of my adult life.
So why the Bulwark? Maybe 44 years of being a political conservative and 58 years of being a religious one. Conservative politics and religion are not in and of themselves bad, but when they go off the rails, they really go off, and so the Bulwark reminds me of what used to be the type of conservatism that can counteract unrestrained liberalism. We need both, provided both are healthy, and right now, neither are not, I think as I see not a whole lot of difference between us and Germany in the 1930's, while the Democrats simply refuse to see that we are sliding deeper and deeper in fascism. This is not the type of activity that we need to see from either party, and yet it is what we have.
And so the Bulwark is my counter balance to Mother Jones and the publications like her. I sometimes roll my eyes at your publication, especially Bill Kristol, and yet we are all fighting the same fight and it is nice to think that a lot of that fight is coming from former Republicans, so good job on that.
Keep up the good work, Joe. My subscription is money well spent. Thanks!
I disagree that the Democrats don't see how we're sliding further and further into fascism. If you don't hear US lawmakers using the term fascism, I think that's because it doesn't seem to help their cause. But maybe I'm naive?
Thank you Joe for writing on this.
I’m appalled at JD in so many ways.
This was not how I was raised.
Every Christian Church should part ways with the Trump agenda. We should think about the teachings of Jesus, and let Him be our guide. Believe it or not I am not a “Church Going Christian,” but I do believe in being the best person I can possibly be. The Catholic Church has its flaws—after all it is made up of humans who are not perfect. Other Christian Faiths should take another look at what they endorse.
Thanks Joe, as a lapsed Catholic, I have to offer a couple of worthless takes: 1. It’s more likely that some substantial portion of those Americans identified as members of the Catholic faith follow their Red Hat algorithms as opposed to supporting and embracing the Church’s position regarding the harsh practices of the Trump Administration. 2. The Catholic Church didn’t really over themselves in glory the last time a world fascist takeover took place - Google “Cardinal Stepanic” if your stomach can bear it.
True, The fight again fascism was almost non existent. Hopefully the lesson has been learned and will make Catholics understand their faith and act on it.
Suggest you read "Church of Spies" by Mark Riebling. There was quite a bit going on against fascism behind the scenes, and many were tortured and killed.
Thank you , I will definitely do that
Author of 2015 an Army intelligence person. A book review by a Lt. Col. Joe Schotzko was written in Jan. 2017, U.S. Army, at the time in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It's at ArmyUPress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/MR-Book-Reviews/January-2017/Book-Review-013/
The reviewer looked at things from a military view, said the Pope had a tricky job working against Hitler, building networks to "plan a regime change in Germany, through assassination if necessary. [A German Catholic called Josef Muller important.] Müller carried messages between the regular German army and the Vatican".
There thus was a party inside the German Army willing to thwart Hitler. "Acting as an agent for the intelligence chief Adm. Wilhelm Canaris, Müller took extreme risks by flying sport planes between Germany and the Vatican."
Wiki says, "Initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, Canaris turned against Hitler and committed acts of both passive and active resistance during World War II following the German invasion of Poland in 1939."
"Understanding the political sensitivities and the nature of the Nazi Party allowed Pope Pius XII to act and lead in a manner that prevented Adolf Hitler from using the pope’s words and deeds as a reason to begin executing Catholics."
Why should a "One leader controls all" not approve of at least some of Fascist philosophy? And this is not directy at ONLY Catholicism, as all religions, to my knowledge, have a single individual (oddly enough, usually male) who guides the way.
Maybe the Hindus have that part right- a few hundred “specialists” who come around when they’re needed and when you ask them nicely -and then going back to whatever Gods do when they’re not needed - { Backgammon, anyone? First God to get to 3 Trillion gets to ride “shotgun” on our next visit to Earth!}. But then again, ultra religious zealotry between two nuclear armed belligerents might not work out that well for either them, the Pakistani’s or for us, for that matter.
Hitler was said to deeply resent that he was part Jewish. His sister (half-sister?) later said he'd been abused by his step-father. As a grown man, he drifted into a variant of spiritualism called "Theosophy", promoted by a Helena Blavatsky (aka Madame Blavatsky, definitely not Catholic).
Children were often saved from Hitler by being issued Catholic identity papers. Three better-known ones were half-Jewish, the theologian Monika Hellwig and her two sisters. (Hellwig ended up in DC teaching at Georgetown, living with her adopted children in Maryland.) Catholics saved her and two sisters from Hitler after their non-Jewish father was already deceased. The sisters' Catholic papers let them go to Belgium with their Jewish mother and then to Britain without their mother. They were adopted there, not completely clear when or where their mother died, nor by whose hand.
Catholic clergy who resisted were sent to Nazi concentration camps. Names from Wiki--
"The massive Catholic opposition to the Nazi euthanasia programs led them to be quieted on 28 August 1941.[111] Catholics, on occasion, actively and openly protested against Nazi antisemitism through several bishops and priests such as Bishop Clemens von Galen of Münster. " (Von Galen has his own article at Wiki.)
"In Nazi Germany, political dissenters were imprisoned, and some German priests were sent to the concentration camps for their opposition, including the pastor of Berlin's Catholic Cathedral Bernhard Lichtenberg and the seminarian Karl Leisner.[112]" (Lichtenberg and Leisner also have separate articles at Wiki)
Please look up Cardinal Stephanic
Thanks, Timothy! A Stepinac found. Did not know about him. Wiki said he was not in Germany, but Yugoslavia. Was a Roman Catholic (western Catholic) in aSlavic-speaking place, with Yugoslavia's Orthodox (eastern Catholics) under attack. That the Orthodix were in danger makes sense.
Hitler's "glittering generality" of "Liebensraum" was his propaganda about creating more "living room", but only for people Hitler preferred. It was to be achieved by eliminating people he deemed inferior. Jews were to be first, he made it pretty clear Russians were likely to be the next target after the Jews were extinguished.
Timothy says this next part Wiki has wrong:
Wiki says Stepanic "advised individual priests to admit Orthodox believers to the Catholic Church if their lives were in danger..." Any pseudo-conversion let them "return to their faith once the danger passed".
OH! And, you are welcome, Jerry. I’m an old man with a head full of (mostly) useless facts. So I am pleased you did a little digging. I use WIKI a lot myself, but w/regards to the Former Yugoslavia, and Armenia, well, there’s a ton of info that just can’t be condensed into a WIKI page. It’s an area that has spent most of history being run over by Empire (s). The Russian Empire, The Austro-Hungarians, The Ottoman, the Nazi’s, back to the Soviets, etc., and has always been damned by its geographical location. Fascinating to look at somewhere that sits in the middle of everything, and has had everything thrown at it. That’s enough outta me
I am pretty sure he was Croatian, who basically was all in with the Nazi’s as long as the Nazi’s only targeted Jews as well as “Orthodox” Christians, who in the immediate area were most ethnic Serbians (hence the everlasting hard feelings between Croats and Serbs). The Croats were part of Hitler’s Axis allies. One of Cardinal Stepanic’s credo’s was to honor the Sabbath- but he basically viewed the other six days of the week as a need to support the, ‘Independent State of Croatia’ as an ally of Hitler. Anyhow, not a real shining example of helping anyone other than his fascist government and of course, Der Furher. You can see why there was a great degree of bottled up hatred and angst in Tito’s Yugoslavia that really blew up when Yugoslavia fell apart into revenge, slaughter, genocide, all that and more. Tito had kept a lid on a part of the world where Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Roman Catholicism all converged. And when the lid came off, there was a lot of steam that blew up in every direction
"damned by its geographical location" Not terribly familiar with that part of the world. So...Croatian, as Nazi allies With Serbians Orthodox, targeted by the Nazis, as were the Jews "hence the everlasting hard feelings between Croats and Serb".
Thanks, so sad. So Wiki got it wrong that he tried to save anyone, too bad.
"Yugoslavia fell apart into revenge, slaughter, genocide, all that and more. Tito had kept a lid on a part of the world where Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Roman Catholicism all converged. And when the lid came off, there was a lot of steam".
Sounds hopeless. Maybe we are lucky to be where we are, still with hope.
Religion and politics don't mix.
Never have.
Why is it so important to explain what a person's religion is? Trump doesn't even have a religion.
Unless you count his worship of gold and money.
Describing JD Vance as a "devout" Catholic makes me laugh. He's already changed his name 3 times. He "landed" on Catholocism after forging through other religions. Not sure why. He wasn't raised Catholic. Maybe his voters are primarily Catholic.
There have always been extremes in all religions over their histories. So maybe now is just one of those times. AS far as I'm concerned, Trump will never be a "christian". Satanic, maybe.
I don't see all the terror and horror he has inflicted through his Executive Orders and his Cabinet members as anything but EVIL Personified.
We used to ask, What Would Jesus Do? Certainly nothing that has come out of this White House.
All you need to do is study some history of the 1500s of how bad it can get mixing politics and religion. Just left Belgium where I learned about the horrible things the iconoclasts did, like throwing 30,000 books from a Benedictine monastery into a river. Now in The Netherlands where I hear about those horrible tyrants the Catholic rulers of Spain were, telling folks how and what to believe.
LOL! Trump worships himself.
Peter Theil probably thought it was politically advantageous. All too convenient and it is my understanding he didn't even go thru RCIA which is a strenuous course in preparation for becoming Catholic.
Trump and Vance are salesmen, and nothing in the US sells better than Jesus.
We should all be embracing the Trump as President TV show. Written, directed and staring DJ Trump. The four year show has many, many exciting episodes conceived in the "brain" of DJT. For example:
- DOGE incapacitated the Federal Bureaucracy. People die. It's Biden's fault.
- Watch the White House become a TESLA
showroom
- How America gets richer through Tariffs. (Part 1) US trading partners are begging for mercy.
- Pres DJ trashes the Constitution. Why? Because this is his show. Everyone else, including SCOTUS, are just reading their lines.
- DJ declares himself KING.
- The KING gets a gilded 787..
- RFK Jr. is "wild" and destroys US healthcare, especially for children.
- Musk is kicked off the island!
- Illegal, undocumented aliens are snatched off the street by hooded secret police
- Iran is "secretly" bombed into oblivion
- The Federalized national guard and the marines save LA.
- The Trump/Miller concentration camps are launched in the Everglades.
- Trump pushes the most avaricious budget bill in US history across the finish line. The top .01% of wealthy Americans get a lot richer. The poorest Americans pay for it with healthcare cuts. Generations of wealthy GOP donors come back from the dead to applaud DJT.
- Tariffs return today (Part 2)
STAY TUNED...THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!
In case you think things have changed in DJT's
brain, below is the ad he took out in 1989 attacking the Central Park 5.
"Many New York families - White, Black, Hispanic and Asian - have had to give up the pleasure of a leisurely stroll in the Park at dusk, the Saturday visit to the playground with their families, the bike ride at dawn, or just sitting on their stoops.... Mayor Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts. I do not think so. I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer ... Yes, Mayor Koch, I want to hate these murderers and I always will. ... How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their Civil Liberties End When an Attack On Our Safety Begins!"
You forgot about the US Citizens that have been snatched from the streets!
You beat me to it😊👍
Great minds think alike!
Thanks. Snatching innocent citizens off the streets by masked men with guns always makes for exciting episodes.
An extension of ICE Barbie’s cosplay.
Yes. To ICE Barbie all immigrants are just unruly puppies worthy of execution. Can any of us believe these misanthropes are running America?
And Trump hated the "Central Park 5" even more when they were exonerated.
I wasn't shocked when Republicans blamed cloud seeding for the tragic flooding in central Texas. I heard this theory just 2 weeks before this disaster when my dentist was gluing on my crown while theorizing that cloud seeding had caused the massive floods in Dubai last Spring. I can't even remember how we ended up on the conservation, b/c I'd totally forgotten about that flood.
So yeah, my dentist might be a little cuckoo for coco puffs, but the crown is doing great!
You're too kind, and give the Republicans credit for more scientific knowledge -- and intelligence -- than they showed. They didn't blame "cloud seeding", which is a thing; they blamed "chemtrails", which is not.
All of us are looking for hope, so we get hopes up for every potential clash that Trump may have ahead. But if you believe that the Catholic Church is going to be a disrupter of the Trump agenda, don't hold your breath. Starting with Antonin Scalia and the following onto today's Catholic right-wing justices, bundled together with the whole Catholic New Right who were architects of Project 2025 - they are part and parcel of this mess.
Those are people who are not following Christ’s teaching and should not call themselves Catholic. The Pope is the leader of the Catholic Church not random priests, bishops and cardinals.
It seems that the majority feel this way or we wouldn’t have had Pope Francis and now Leo. Dolan is a vp perfect example of “Little Princes”.
How are the 5 justices still even considered Catholic? JD has no credibility nor moral decency.
Jeffries photo is about the least of the issues in today's world. What a waste of space--leave the pettiness to social media.
try to have some fun every once in awhile
"And we can’t discount the possibility that Rep. Jeffries’s hips bring powerful transdimensional forces to bear on the environment around them"--I laughed.
What if the photo WASN'T doctored? What if Jeffries has a personal Reality Distortion Field, and unwittingly revealed it? Maybe we can start a new conspiracy theory.
Hit a nerve. Fun has been successful.
I was expecting a comprehensive breakdown of Jeffries' outfit.
I don't often agree with MTG, but she is 90% right on this one. Something the current administration is actively promoting that we put into the air IS in fact modifying the weather, it's just that it's GREENHOUSE GASES, not chemtrails.
...and go Pope Leo! sending him love from Chicago!
I gave up on the Catholic church decades ago, and kowtowing to Moron-in-Chief made me dislike it all the more.