Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Vatican Official: US Catholics Treating Barack Obama Like La Sapienza Treated Pope Benedict XVI
In hopes this might at least encourage people to take a step back and do some deep breathing, if not soul searching regarding their treatment of ND's Fr. Jenkins:
I spoke with a high-ranking Vatican official who told me that as far as he can tell, US Catholics are treating the President like the folks at La Sapienza treated Pope Benedict awhile back.
I'm just reporting.
LD
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8 comments:
I agree - reciprocation of the enemy's tactics is not a strategy for holiness or evangelization.
Catholics who are not well formed by prayer and study tend to lack good discernment. That describes a lot of us in America, unfortunately. Spiritually flabby in the extreme.
As I listen to more and more arguments against the decision to invite President Obama to speak at ND, and especially after reading Fr. Cleary's letter to the President, I think this characterization of US Catholics is a bit callous and unfair.
Hi there LD i finally logged in on your blog. Although I dont know anything about Barack Obama and how Catholics treat him, I do like your blog and I`ll read it more so i can get usefull informations.
Keep up the good work and take care of my father ^-^
Angelo Jr.
Dear Angelo jr.,
Many thanks for your visit. I hope to see you again, soon. I will do my best to take care of your dad.
LD
p.s.
Please feel free to questions about anything regarding the Catholic Church or the things I post on my blog.
Actually, most of what I'm seeing seems to be criticism of ND and Fr Jenkins. So if Sapienza alumns all over Italy were protesting the invitation (I guess there was an invitation) of the Pope to speak there?
And was there a ground non-negotiable issue like abortion, that the students who were going to protest found the Pope's position unacceptable? Was there a moral issue?
Is 'official X' just trying to keep the door open for diplomatic relations?
Dear Anonymous,
The Pope was invited to give a celebratory lecture at the solemn ceremony opening the academic year - the cultural equivalent of Commencement Day in the US.
A tiny minority of disgruntled professors and students (there are over one hundred thousand students at the university, so even a tiny minority can raise a ruckus) with an ideological bone or two to pick with his Holiness made so much noise that the Pope decided not to go, after all. The Pope sent the text of his lecture, though, and the rector of the university read the whole thing into the acts during the ceremony.
By the way, I would not have invited this POTUS to speak at ND's graduation. I just do not think the choice was morally wrong or awful. I also reject the idea that ND's standing to claim Catholic identity for itself is at all affected by the invitation.
Regarding the President: his policies on abortion and embryonic stem cell research are evil, chillingly so, as a matter of fact.
I think Catholics who voted for him despite their disagreements with him on these issues made a serious miscalculation - I do not think they committed a sin in so voting.
That's just a little background.
If you have not done so, you can peruse this blog for more.
I would also recommend looking around the internet for more on both the La Sapienza incident and the present polemic.
The palce with the best presentation of the other side is Fr. John Zuhlsdorf's blog, What Does the Prayer Really Say - www.wdtprs.com -
Best,
LD
Gramps post at the CNS site says it all.
Did the president of France during his campaign and in the first acts of taking power do everything possible to show his intenet to defy Catholic Church teaching on the most important of all issues, that of life of innocent babies, and add to that the intent to remove allowing doctors and nurses to no longer be able to follow their own conscience? Did he signal a promise to the baby killing industry that he would sign into law that there could be no laws or any attempt to stop in any way the full onslaught of abortion with FOCA? Did the President of France start to reverse restrictions on the medical research of living humans as did Obama. The full out assult on human life and Church teaching by this person is the issue and why honoring him is a grave insult by the University by inviting him with an honor given on top of it. The CNS is a rag for the left leaning ObamaCaths so it is not surprising to see this type of article. I would pay more attention if it was actually in a real Catholic paper.
Dear Greta,
Thanks for participating.
All views are welcome here, and criticism may be as harsh as you want, but I will not tolerate insults of any kind, to anyone, not even the POTUS, who is the most radically pro-abortion president ever elected, and certainly not to CNS.
You see, I know the folks at CNS.
I disagree with the CNS editorial line as strongly as the next guy, and probably more, but the people who work for CNS are my friends, and no one shall speak ill of them in my living room.
Further, your point would not have been weakened if you had left off the last two sentences, reading, "The CNS is a rag for the left leaning ObamaCaths so it is not surprising to see this type of article. I would pay more attention if it was actually in a real Catholic paper."
Later today I will be posting something explaining both the Sarkozy analogy and another, which may also help shed light on things.
For the record, and in case you have not yet had time to peruse the blog, I am about the furthest possible thing from an "Obama Catholic", and no fan of ND's decision.
I just don't think people who voted for Obama despite his life policies (as opposed to those who voted for him because of these) committed a sin, nor do I think that Fr. Jenkins sinned in inviting the POTUS or in giving him an honorary degree - that's just what you do when the POTUS comes to call - nor do I think ND's Catholic identity has been compromised in or as a result of the invitation.
LD
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