We’ve been told we can’t vote for a pro-abortion Catholic candidate, but is it okay to vote for an apostate Catholic candidate? Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party is said to be the most pro-life candidate in the presidential election, but in an interview with Fox News he acknowledges that he’s renounced his Catholic faith.
Well, I was raised Roman Catholic. I began then to be influenced by a reform Presbyterian movement. I actually attend a Protestant church now. I don’t think the denomination is actually as important as we believe.
Can a Catholic in good conscience vote for a Catholic who has renounced his faith?
Dom—is this the right link? I got something about the Constitution Party’s candidate….
Sorry Father, I got some links mixed up. It’s fixed now.
Thanks….here’s a link to our “Family Notes” this weekend:
http://www.holyfamilyrockland.org/notes.htm
(Our webmaster, God bless him, dressed up the print version to include a link to the Denver newspaper and a picture of Abp. Chaput!)
Yes. Better Peroutka than Kerry.
The question is: Who was Peroutka’s Bishop and when you have that info…can you really blame him for splitting?
What % of Catholic parishes actually feature Catholic homilies, Catholic CCD classes and a Catholic liturgy? Are you safe at St. So & So’s? Is the Mass valid?
It all depends where you live.
Then again, who are “Protestants”?, when we get rainbow sash Masses featuring Marty Haugen music, pro-abortion priests, pro gay “marriage” CCD teachers, protester parishes handing out wafers while calling it the Eucharist, and a USCCB backed John Kerry?
Yeah, Calvin and Luther are in error but are they anymore in error than Joan Chittester, Andrew Greely, Theodore McCarrick, Hans Kung, and the entire parade of dissident clowns?
The Orthodox Presbyterians are solid people. I just wish they would come home en masse so as to drown out the hippy dippy liberals who hate Catholic tradition and Catholic teaching anyway.
<I>The question is: Who was Peroutka/p>
“WAYLAND – It was Sunday, and Cardinal Bernard F. Law had come to pray. So, wearing a gold crucifix and a flowing black robe with red trim, Law removed his shoes. Then, as the imam chanted the sunset prayers, the bishop knelt with his forehead just inches from the carpet and offered praise to Allah.”
From India New England:
“Law knelt to pray with the congregation, bowing his head nearly to the carpeted floor. “
Now, Dom, you accuse me of being a “cafeteria Catholic” because I believe that Protestants and Orthodox can be saved. Well, Cdl. Law prayed to a god in the house of a religion that not only denies Christ’s deity but also His crucifixion! What does that make Cdl. Law?
And if the Pope fails or refuses to reprimand him for such a public action, what does that make the Pope?
Sorry, but there isn’t a direct quote so I won’t assume as you and the reporter did that he was offering praise to Allah. It is possible to pray alongside Muslims, since they aren’y worshipping a different God but the God of Abraham. Their beliefs may be wrong, but it doesn’t mean they are not worshipping God any more than Protestants or Jews are worshipping a false God. I will admit that the cardinal’s actions were imprudent and likely to lead to misunderstanding without providing an explanation of just what he was doing, but it doesn’t make him a de facto apostate as you claim.
And I never said that Protestants and the Orthodox can’t be saved. Heck, I bet go even further than you and say that Muslims, and Buddhists, and so on can be saved, too. The difference is that I believe that they can only be saved because of the Catholic Church, not in spite of it, and that it would be better to be Catholic since otherwise it relies on a condition of invincible ignorance in order to be saved.
And if the Pope doesn’t rebuke, it doesn’t make the Pope anything. I find it very interesting how you selectively choose which doctrines can never be denied and which ones you throw out on a whim. Again, what makes you, a cafeteria Catholic, any different from those you criticize?
Boy, Dom, you really know how to spin for your ideological homies, don’t you?
As far as “Allah” being the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, let me take to an interview with Bishop Cesare Mazzolari of Rumbek, Sudan who has seen Islam up close and personally for years.
“Q. 3:37:54
So is the Knights of Columbus. They have secret rites, known only to members. Secret doesn’t mean sinister.
Alfredo, with all due respect, abortion is not the pivotal issue in this presidential election. Islamic terrorism is, and will be for the next few until these satanic bastards are destroyed. Regardless of Bush’s view of abortion or mistakes his administration made in the occupation of Iraq, he is a damn sight better than a political opportunist who stabbed his comrades in the back upon returning from Vietnam, and has so little respect for the American people that he’s pinning his hopes on three “debates” rather than on the “substantive plans” he has either failed to offer or is devising on the fly.
Remember, Alfredo, perfection is the enemy of the better. And until Christ establishes His earthly kingdom, perfection won’t be possible in this life.
“…abortion is not the pivotal issue in this presidential election. Islamic terrorism is…”
In the USA, each of us has a right to his or her own vote. With reference to abortion, I have seen references to statements by Catholic bishops saying it is a gravely important issue, as it involves killing innocent life, in large numbers at the present time. According to the Catholic theology, human life begins at conception. With reference to the war in Iraq, I have seen references to statements from the Vatican, according to which at least at the beginning of the war, there was concern that this was not a just war. Just about everyone is against terrorism, and terrorism is a big issue, of course. The question is what is the best way to wage the war against terrorism. Getting back to the topic of this thread, that of the apostate candidate, I find it sad that the candidate who claims to be a Catholic candidate is the most pro-abortion. While the Protestant major candidate is mostly pro-life, although with some exceptions. Also, the “apostate” candidate appears to be the most pro-life, as he says he is 100% pro-life, all nine months, with no exceptions. We see pro-abortion speakers being invited to Catholic campuses, and I have seen a poll on one Catholic college campus, indicating that only 10% of students are fully in line with the teaching of the Church on abortion. Another thing we have seen in some Catholic Churches is clown Masses. Now a clown is someone who is a buffoon, who is a joker, and does not take things seriously. What is the message that a Catholic is supposed to get when they find themselves at a clown Mass? What is the purpose of it? Could a clown Mass send a signal to the Catholic worshiper that the Catholic religion is not to be taken seriously? It looks like the “apostate” candidate takes the abortion issue very seriously, even more seriously, than do those in charge of Catholic colleges who are inviting pro-abortion speakers to campuses, and more seriously than certain Catholic priests such as Father Drinan, for one example.
I’ve met Skull & Bones members – it’s not exactly a secret society. And one gets the impression that it’s not much different from most frats – they booze it up and pay for the privelege of membership. They like tapping well-connected kids… as do other frats. It doesn’t really mean much.
However, back to the matter at hand: there’s no religious test for Catholics to vote for – meaning, we can vote for Jews, Baptists, Muslims, whatever. All of the voting prohibitions had to do with a matter of justice – protecting life (mainly with regards to abortion, but also euthanasia) and some other pivotal measures that aren’t rooted solely in our religion. I know pro-life atheists, after all—one couldn’t vote for them?
It’s sad to see someone leave the Church, but it’s not a political matter, as far as I can see.
“The primary focus of Christian faith is belief in and acceptance of Christomment_id>
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2004-10-16 13:10:09
2004-10-16 17:10:09
Most politicians are adroit in the art of not answering the question asked: at denying abortion is wrong is heresy.
This means that any public official who is out there saying, “I’m personally opposed, but I support a woman’s right to choose,” is guilty of heresy, and the burden of proving he is not, shifts to him.
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