Posted by
Michael Scotto on Thursday, August 07, 2008 5:17:32 PM
This is What the Founders Feared
I was quite shocked to see the
support for the Catholic Church telling its adherents how to vote at Hotair.com. I'm not shocked that the CC is telling them thusly, but I would have hoped that such a thing would stir the conservative Constitutionalist's soul. Despite Ed Morrissey's attempt at rewriting Catholic history and the nuance involved in the comment that the church's refusing communion to those who don't obey the commands of pope and bishop ("submit will and intellect" - Vatican II) is merely for their benefit, ignoring the absolute central role in salvation the Catholic Eucharist plays in church theology is downright deceptive ("means of salvation"). And the Council clearly taught that Pope and Bishop must be obeyed regardless of whether the Pope speaks "ex cathedra" or not.
Kings and princes have begged popes for access to the "means of salvation" in the Eucharist. Ex-Communication is described in some instances as being bound to Satan himself. Missing mass without excuse or absolution still gains one a ticket to eternal fiery torment. They don't like to publish that doctrine as most American Catholics would suddenly realize that they don't care. But I ask them, if you don't fear the threats of your church, why believe its promises?
Imagine if a bishop commands such for voting against open borders or for supporting the death penalty or for opposing the "Living Wage"? Where will the conservatives be in that debate? "Freedom of conscience" is not
madness but a core American value. The Popes and Councils are there to be read, but few do.
I've covered this issue several time before, so I will leave the reader with reference to those entries.
Maybe You'll Believe the Pope
Quoting the Popes = Anti-Catholic?
The Pope's Coming
Dornan Uses Catholic Threats
The Truth About a Crypto-Christian
You can quote the Quran and Mohammad till the cows come home, but
try quoting the Popes! You'd think that would be a rather welcome moment from Catholics, but believe me, they don't take too kindly to it. The nuance will flow, but the infallible decrees of Popes and Councils are abundantly clear. Leo XIII thought the teachings were clear and knew that some would come along and try to "reinterpret" those clear statements under the guise of "greater understanding" so he wisely condemned the practice. Unfortunately, nobody wants to obey his decrees as they are inconvenient in 21st century American politics.
Hotair added its
own note of concern just last year. I know that standing against the history of papal anti-Americanism is not popular (you should see my email!), but as Adams, Jefferson and other Founders warned, we must be ever vigilant against sectarian tyranny.
This is why
I admire such groups as TrueCatholic.us. These are devout people who rightly (in Papal terms) condemn me, my beliefs and all other non-Catholics as well. I admire real faith when I see it! I'll take the honest over the deceptive any day.
Hotair blogs the Quran but they need to blog the Popes. If writings from the seventh century are worth scrutiny, surely the "infallible" statements of Popes from the 12th, 15th, 16th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries are worthy of equal or greater scrutiny.