Friday, February 29, 2008

McCain Endorsed by Anti-Catholic Minister



NOTE: I post the following because it is the big news of the day as to Catholicism and the 2008 Presidential Election. I think it is an open question as to if (and to what degree) candidates need to be held accountable to every action and opinion of those who endorse them. Both Senator McCain and Senator Obama are honorable men and neither can be justly called anti-Catholic. The so-called "religious right" includes some troubling elements. It presents a difficultly for a candidate seeking their support without supporting all aspects and elements of this movement.
Also, Mr. Donohue is not always the most temperate and thoughtful Catholic commentator.

McCain embraces bigoted Pastor Hagee

Presidential candidate John McCain said he was honored by an endorsement by Pastor John Hagee, an evangelical who, while he is pro-Israel, has referred to the Catholic Church as "the Great Whore".

Thursday, February 28, 2008 By William Donohue

Yesterday, Senator John McCain said he was “very honored by Pastor John Hagee’s endorsement.” The Republican presidential hopeful also called Hagee “the staunchest leader of our Christian evangelical movement,” citing the minister’s pro-Israel stance. Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed this today:“There are plenty of staunch evangelical leaders who are pro-Israel, but are not anti-Catholic. John Hagee is not one of them. Indeed, for the past few decades, he has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church. For example, he likes calling it ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system.’
To hear the bigot in his own words, click here. Note: he isn’t talking about the Buddhists.“In Hagee’s latest book, Jerusalem Countdown, he calls Hitler a Catholic who murdered Jews while the Catholic Church did nothing. ‘The sell-out of Catholicism to Hitler began not with the people but with the Vatican itself,’ he writes.

“For the record, Hitler persecuted the Catholic Church and was automatically excommunicated in 1931—two years before he assumed power—when he acted as best man at Joseph Goebbel’s Protestant wedding. Hitler even bragged about his separation from the Church.
As for doing nothing about the Holocaust, Sir Martin Gilbert reminds us that Goebbels denounced Pope Pius XII for his 1942 Christmas message criticizing the Nazis (the New York Times lauded the pope for doing so in an editorial for two years in a row).

Much to Hagee’s chagrin, Gilbert also says that Pius XII saved three quarters of the Jews in Rome , and that more Jews were saved proportionately in Catholic countries than Protestant countries. Indeed, Israeli diplomat Pinchas Lapide credited the Catholic Church with saving 860,000 Jews. No religion can match that.“Senator Obama has repudiated the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, another bigot. McCain should follow suit and retract his embrace of Hagee.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a Catholic I don't get it! How could any Catholic support Barack Obama who is for stem cell research as well as pro-abortion. Either you are a Catholic or you are not. Either you adhere to the doctrines of the Church or you are just folling around with a label.

Anonymous said...

I agree with "anonymous" who just advised me about this site. Catholic in name only it seems to me and a lot of others out here. i just love the people who pick and choose what they will follow as far as the Church is concerned.

Rustler45 said...

"Hitler even bragged about his separation from the Church."

It appears that Hitler was more honest than the people in this blog. I am talking to you Katherine, Batty (Betty), et al.