With income disparity on the rise, the safety net for the poor increasingly in shreds, and a void in serious policy debate, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are rising to the challenge before them by completely ignoring all of the above and focusing instead on marriage equality and women’s reproductive rights. Proving yet again that the Catholic bishops are basically Republicans in Roman collars, the bishops announced at their annual confab this week that they will be launching a new campaign on religious liberty–by which they mean, the liberty of everyone to practice the type of religion the bishops deem fit.
“We see in our culture a drive to neuter religion,” Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the bishops conference, said. Dolan added that “well-financed, well-oiled sectors”–and you know who you are–were trying “to push religion back into the sacristy.” Which begs the question of where it should be in a society dedicated to the separation of church and state.
Some of this is no doubt sour grapes on Dolan’s part because of his blessed ineptitude during the marriage equality battle in New York state. Also, losing high profile battles is no way to get a promotion from the Vatican, and Dolan would no doubt dearly like to get a cardinal’s red hat.
The bishops have formed a religious “liberty” committee, which sounds a little bit like a Tea Party event with incense burners, to promote their ideas. They even established a website to tell us why they only support mixed marriage (i.e., between a man and woman). As if we had to ask.
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Of course, the bishops have picked issues with which their flock doesn’t agree with them. That doesn’t seem to faze them, though. And the bishops do acknowledge that there is an increased call for Church social services in these tough times. Too bad that evil gays are stopping poor people from getting the help they need. “The services which the Catholic Church and other denominations provide are more crucial than ever, but it is becoming more and more difficult for us to deliver these services in a manner that respects the very faith that impels us to provide them,” Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport told the Conference. In other words, the bishops will choose principle over charity every time, no matter who suffers as a result. Some principles are worth suffering for, particularly if you aren’t the one doing the suffering.
Photo via mkeusa
One of the CA 36,000
Although it’s always galling to see how open our enemies are in their hatred of us and their dedication to trying to eliminate us from the face of the earth, it’s also heartening.
If they’re resorting to these desperate, panic-stricken actions, they know they’re LOSING THE CULTURE WAR. BADLY.
In fact, I’m now ready to declare that the LGBTQ community has WON over the forces of hatred and bigotry known as Organized Religion.
The vanquishes simply don’t know it yet. And looking at their stupid, bloated faces, are we surprised they don’t know?
One of the CA 36,000
@One of the CA 36,000: …”vanquisheD”, of course.
Who the hell put S and D NEXT to each other on this damn keyboard?!?!?
Marie Cohn
Timmy Dolan knows EVERYTHING about “well-oiled sectors”.
the church's worst enemy, apparently
Who gave these assholes power over American Catholicism? There are millions of poor people who are being ill-served by the government, what with all the income inequality going around. Jesus said absolutely zero things about gay people or same-sex relations; he said plenty of stuff about serving the poor. And then there’s the environment, there’s AIDS and all sorts of other world pandemics, there’s human trafficking, there are immigrant communities living in fear– there’s a vast catalogue of human suffering in this country for these bishops to make their first priority. But no, it has to be us. TEH GAYS and our consensual adult sex, virtually none of which involves Catholic bishops, are just that much more of a threat to God’s people than hunger, disease, poverty, slavery, and economic injustice combined. If you think you have an infallible book that tells you that sex is dirty, especially when gay, that’s your bigotry, not mine. But does stopping the gays really have to be MISSION NUMERO UNO for American Catholicism? They claim religion is being “pushed back into the sacristy”, but they’re the ones who seem to think it has nothing to say outside the bedroom.
I’m pretty disgusted with the bishops, but I can’t imagine how Catholics (those who think seriously about religious responsibilities, I mean) must feel about their “we only care about sex” shit. Back when the health care bill was being debated, there were the bishops, inveighing mightily against it because it didn’t GO ANY FURTHER than prior legislation in refusing to fund abortions. And in Illinois, they were all like, “If we have to give orphans to loving gay parents, WE’LL STOP OFFERING FOSTER CHILDREN TO ANYONE, GAY OR STRAIGHT!” Because clearly, stopping gay sex is far, far more important than making sure kids have a stable home. Clearly. Who names bishops, anyway?
Jim Hlavac
This article leads off with “With income disparity on the rise, the safety net for the poor increasingly in shreds, ” — Income disparity (itself a loaded term, rather than “income differences,”) is unimportant — and the vast new wealth created to have created these mega rich seems to have disproportionately benefited Democrats — Warren Buffett, George Soros, Bill Gates, Al Gore, John Corzine, Oprah, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper (a Vanderbilt no less, complaining about “the rich”!) and Nancy Pelosi now facing questions about her magical growth in wealth from $25 million to $35 million in but three years, and a $750 million dollar gov’t “Loan” to her brother-in-law Paul Pelosi — and every single Hollywood actor and sports star who is earning millions, even billions more, and all are Democrats — egad, folks, the elite are the elite, whether Democrat or Republican. Robert Kennedy Jr. was bailed out with a $1.4 Billion Dollar “Loan” for his failing company. Give me a break, and blame Democrats.
And study after study shows that virtually every single person in the “rich” today were not rich just 20 or 30 years ago — and that virtually every single “rich” of the past is no longer rich. Meanwhile, African-Americans have moved out of poverty in massive numbers, while the new poor are Mexicans and other immigrants. I rail against mush numbers on gays — but the mush numbers on the “rich” is truly astounding — as if those rich of today are the same rich of yesterday — and as if the Democrats are paradigms of virtue and the Republicans are the evil rich — it’s absurd.
Meanwhile the “safety net” for the “poor” is not in “shreds” — it’s so healthy that if you are entitled, you are entitled, and cannot be denied — in fact, food stamp recipients are up, the numbers of those receiving housing vouchers is up, the number getting Medicaid is up, the numbers getting cash assistance for children in poverty is up, unemployment is extended, heating costs assistance is up — hell, every single element of the “safety net” is pouring out billions more of money that we now have to borrow, because the Democrats borrowed $1.5 trillion a year for three years and gave it to RFK Jr. AL Gore (his own billion,) and Democratic party chief fundraiser John Corzine of Goldman Sachs in bailouts pushed for, and campaigned for, by Barrack Obama.
Is anyone rational or factual anymore? Yeesh.
codyj
@Marie Cohn: ROFL @ well oiled lol,lolo,lol,
ChiGuy76
Memo to the Hierarchy: Catholic laity stopped listening to you years ago. For that matter, so did a lot of nuns and priests (See Austria). Good luck with you quest against marriage equality. I’m sure Jesus would be proud.
Hyhybt
Is this guy ill? His face is redder than his robe.
(It ought to be, out of embarrassment for the things that have come from his mouth, but obviously that’s not the cause.)
Steve
There is a spelling error in the title of the article. The second word should be “bigots”.
The same spelling error occurs in a number of places in the body of the article.
Pete
Irony is that a great many of the Catholic bishops are CLOSET CASES, more like GOProud than typical Catholics.Catholic bishops are living in their own Twilight Zone. Only the most fanatical of their own denomination bother with them any more.
geoff
@Jim H
Your comments were basically an incoherent mess – but a few clarifications:
Anderson COOPER is a Cooper (His father was Wyatt COOPER) His mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, inherited a very small amount of money, especially by Vanderbilt standards. And both he and his mother have always worked. And please inform us specifically when AC complained about “the rich”. …”and the vast new wealth created to have created these mega rich” WHAT? The Democrats borrowed 4.5 trillion $ and gave it to RFK Jr. REALLY ? I could go on and on and on but instead I’ll refer you to the Forbes 400 for the last “20 or 30” years and let you read about how many of the same people were on it then and now. Also you might want to read about the Koch brothers. Factual? Commenter: Look in thine own mirror.
Michael
Wow, fugly fat-ass closeted gay men hate out and proud gay men. Gee, now if I could only figure out why the other 1% of the world’s homophobia exists…
Ogre Magi
I am soooooo sick of Christians
Jim Hlavac
@geoff: The Koch brothers did not get a bailout — RFK Jr. did. Don’t blame Kochs for the bailouts. THanks.
geoff
@jim H
1. I did not blame the Kochs for the bail outs
2. after all i called you on that’s all you have to say
3. put up or shut up
tinkerbell
@Ogre Magi:
Amen…me2. They are disgusting, hate-filled people, discriminatory people overall (majority claims the mantle, so the minority of christians who feel differently must overtake their religion before they can come into the debate and refute).
Mike
@the church’s worst enemy, apparently: “Who names bishops, anyway?”
The outgoing bishop (all have to retire at the age of 75) makes a list of possible new bishops and their qualifications and sends them to the Apostolic Nuncio of the United States (there are similar offices throughout the world). From there the Nuncio sends the list to the Holy See and the Pope and his advisers choose from the list. Sometimes the Pope and his advisers won’t like any of the men chosen and will ask for the list to be revised. This process can take at least a year.
tinkerbell
Christians hate us…get used to it. They want to, and have succeeded in making us second class citizens. I’m pissed off at being a second-class, less-than citizen. I say let’s speak out and strike back at this pedophile-laden, cover-up organization. It’s DISGUSTING AND HORRIFIC that the Republican Catholic Church USA “Penn States” and covers up their pedophiliac priests. Boys and girls have been abused and the Catholic church continues to cover it up. This is bullshit.
Shannon1981
Why is this even news? We’re gay. They’re Christians. They hate us. It’s nothing new at all.
Patsy Stoned
BishopBigot, Sweetie, I really don’t want to hear from a mess in a dress. Either go full on drag, or don’t bother at all. Oh, and kindly FOAD. Cheers.
Robert in NYC
No. 5, if you check your facts, you’ll find that almost GOP administrations left office with a deficit, the biggest borrowers in the nation’s history. There have been more recessions under GOP administrations too. When Bush 43 left office, the actual debt was $14 trillion (borrowing and failure to pay for the two wars he started). He thought they’d paid for themselves, and look what happened. Only 4 million jobs created in 8 years and taxes on the wealthy very low. So where are all the jobs that lowering taxes creates? Go back to the Clinton era when taxes were far far higher than they are now. Unemployment was only 3.9% at the time and when he left office, more than 22 million jobs were created and the country was left with a net surplus of $237 billion which Bush squandered and borrowed more than any other president in history.
Timmeeeyyy!!!
The only infringement on the “liberty” of Catholics, is the liberty for them to take taxpayer money to fund their programs. They are 100% free to sell a few paintings in the Vatican and use their own money to run their programs in any way they see fit. Churches are the only entities in the United States that don’t have to respect the secular rights of citizens. They can discriminate as they see fit, they just can’t receive public funds to do it.
Drake
It’s time for an “Occupy the Vatican Movement”.
Mike Hipp
I’ll say it again and I’ll keep saying it because it needs to be said.
Religion ruins everything.
We, as a species, have to move beyond religion if we’re to survive. The same way we moved away from stone tools.