Monday, September 29, 2008

Clergy Endorsements Done the Right Way


Fr. Ray Schroth, SJ, Endorses Obama


Contrary to the political stunt organized by several evangelical Protestant ministers, Father Ray Schroth announced his endorsement of Barack Obama not in the pulpit at Mass, but in a newspaper column and while making it clear he was speaking as an individual, not for the Church, a parish or the Society of Jesus. Fr. Schroth is a schoolteacher and not the pastor of a parish.


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who cares???

Rustler45 said...

Any priest should be free to comdemn any liberal politician from the pulpit. The Church should be allowed freedom of speech.

As I said, "Liberals are the enemies of free speech."

Katherine proves it everyday in this blog.

Anonymous said...

They are gone!!!

Anonymous said...

Susan is right, who cares? New Jersey is one of the states McCain said he would win but now has pulled out leaving 15 electoral votes certain for Obama. McCain is going downhill fast.

Anonymous said...

How can any Catholic support a babykilling muslim half-breed?

Halle said...

The Church, if it wanted, could hand over its 503c status and then they could speak politics from the pulpit, but that would be BAD for the Catholic Church, and most of us would be very upset if suddenly all of the excellent programs of the Catholic Church were stopped because of politics of any sort.

The remarks on this blog and on Fr. Schroth's own column only serve to show that the true enemies of Free Speech have become those who would shout down anyone who disagrees.

The Jesuit tradition, which Fr. Schroth is a part of, may be more liberal than you like, but it has brought us the excellent Catholic scholars on all sides of the political spectrum. Their teaching has served so many Catholics, and they believe in discourse as a way of learning.

Surely both Republicans and Democrats can agree that Freedom of Speech and public discourse is part of the foundation of this country -- and the Jesuit tradition.

So let's allow everyone to speak their own thoughts and beliefs, unless you really want us to become a communist country. I don't, so I'm happy to talk with you, but I believe everyone has an unalienable right to speak and to have their own thoughts. You have yours, I have mine, the owners of this blog have theirs and Fr. Schroth has a right to his.

Rustler45 said...

Hey Ella, Katherine has deleted this post and has deprived me of my rights. What do think about that. It's a funny video, but liberals don't like funny when it's on them. And she wants to deprive you of your right to visit my forum so she deletes my link to it.

Bob Hope on Obama.

The "Other Nitwits, Lunatics, and Zombies" in Lubyanka Prison Riots Forum.

http://lubiankaprison.phpbb-host.com/forum13.php

Pope said...

I pray for this priest for a change of heart. A number of years ago, when Pope John Paul II came to the United States , he said on one occasion, “Woe to you, America , if you do not defend life.” As you know there is waging in our culture a fierce and unprecedented battle between the culture of life and the culture of death. And as we head towards the election for President of the United States of America , one party is strongly committed to the rights of the unborn and the other fully supports abortion rights in the broadest possible terms. There have been more than 45 million abortions in the United States in the last thirty-five years. We need to defend the most defenseless.

CatholicsForDemocracy said...

"'Woe to you, America , if you do not defend life.' As you know there is waging in our culture a fierce and unprecedented battle between the culture of life and the culture of death."

Yes, a battle between the culture of death and the culture of life. We live in a culture that permits abortion. We also live in a culture that allows violent weapons on the streets that kill thousands. We've sent thousands of our young people to die in an illegitimate war; along with killing hundreds of thousands of the citizens of the country we went to war against. We glorify violence and bloodbaths in the theaters, on our tv screens and in our video games. Many of us give lip service to the notion that we're engaging on the side of God in our campaigns against 'the infidels'. We allow greed and apathy to paralyze any attempt to provide support for the poor and helpless in our society. I can see what you mean by a battle between a culture of death and a culture of life.

Sadly, from a myriad of directions, the culture of death is winning. It's easy to keep repeating, "abortion," because that doesn't require much thought or commitment beyond just "decrying abortion." But I, and others like me, support a culture of life; a full culture of life.

I'll take my chances on where I'm rolling my dice, thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry "Pope", but how many of the presidents in the past 35 years since Roe v. Wade have been "holy", "pro-life" conservatives?

Rustler45 said...

DUMBO SAID: "We also live in a culture that allows violent weapons on the streets that kill thousands."

There you go Dumbo. I knew you were pro-gun control. That's about the stupidest statement you have ever made. Every one of those weapons you're talking about about are already illegal. Guns are not the problem. Liberals are. They won't put those criminals in jail. They won't outlaw gangs. All we have to do is arrest anyone belonging to a gang, charge him with conspiracy to commit murder or whatever crime that gang has committed, and send him to jail. But no, the liberals will not permit such justice. So quit whining about "violent weapons."

BTW Numbo, "violent weapons" are what keep us free.