Catholic Church leadership continues to spew nonsense

I really don't want to post this article but I am compelled to.  I grew up Catholic and did my 12 years; if you know what I mean.  Nothing has upset me more than recent attacks by the church hierarchy on President Obama.  I hope my mother never sees this (she would not understand), but I feel I have to share my opinion to others.  What I am about to say does not speak to the majority of church officials that think otherwise and that have always lived up to their vocation.

Lately, I have been upset by stories I have seen on the History Channel that relate to World War II and the role of the Catholic Church in facilitating the escape of Nazi war criminals that were Catholic.  These criminals included Adolf Eichmann, Martin Bormann (who was presumed dead) and Josef Mengele.  Eichmann was responsible for developing the "final solution" and designed the gas chambers, Bormann was the "right hand man" to Adolf Hitler and we all know the disgusting things that Mengele did.  These three criminals escaped through what was known as the "ratline" that was orchestrated by many Catholic leaders.  The church was responsible for hiding these Nazis for 5 years until they provided a means for their escape to Uruguay in 1950.  Creating false documents and passports were all part of the church conspiracy and the evidence has been well documented.  Additionally, I learned that after the defeat of Germany, many Bishops in some European countries required all parishes to offer their Mass on Easter Sunday to Adolf Hitler.

This is very disturbing to learn at this point in my life, but it does not stop here. Just yesterday I had to be treated to the hate filled garbage from Bishop Daniel Jenky from Illinois who proclaimed that Barack Obama is traveling the same footsteps as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.  This occurs just weeks after Pope Benedict (member of the Nazi Youth) appoints Bishop Timothy Dolan of New York to the College of Cardinals to further ensure the extreme conservative agenda of the Catholic Church in future leadership voting.  You may remember that Bishop Dolan recently asserted that the Catholic Church did everything right in the sex abuse scandal and the controversy was aimed at destroying the Catholic Church.  Forget the fact that the church reported nothing, forgave the sins of the priests time and time again and neglected to help those abused.  I can't begin to speak of how I feel about the church position on contraception. 

I am furious with the Catholic Bishops and each and every Catholic should be furious too.  I am tired of reading anti-Semitic stories of Bishops abusing their power by selling nonsense.  Do you want to see something very scary?  (Watch this interview). Do you want to see the truth about the Holocaust and the involvement of the Catholic Church in its aftermath?  (Watch this documentary).

I don't think the leadership of the Catholic Church is walking anywhere near the footsteps of Jesus Christ.  I think the church is lost in the wilderness.  Barack Obama won the vote of 57% of Catholics during the 2008 election; lets hope he gets 99% in 2012!!

tomtoak

Election 2012: What will it look like?

Palin, Bachmann, Huckabee, Romney - Pawlenty, Barbour, Paul or Trump - who will win Republican minds, radio radicals and tea party butts? OK; sorry for the funky posing of the question, but I feel that it is time for me to make a few predictions before the s--t hits the fan. Noticeably absent from the list of Republican hopefuls is a name we all know; Bush! I do not think that Jeb Bush is stupid enough to enter the fray in 2012, even if they wanted to draft him. Jeb bush is waiting for 2016.

I have made a few predictions in this column and they have been accurate to date. I predicted that Sarah Palin would get a job with Fox news but that would be the extent of her career. Since she quit as Governor of Alaska, I have no reason to back off of that prediction. Even many Republicans hate her - she stands no chance! She did take a job with Fox news: I'm not looking bad at this point. If you study these pages, you saw that I urged people to buy stock in Ford Motors when the price was at approximately $2.00 per share. Check the ticker; you would be rich if you had listened to me.

Now I'm going to put my "Nostradamus" hat on and make a few predictions. Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. He will have tremendous problems getting the nomination; but look at the field - my God - there is no crystal ball here. The big question is who will be his nominee for Vice-President. This is where things get real complicated, but not for the reasons you might perceive.

In the final analysis, I see the Republican Vice-Presidential choice coming down to a toss-up between Haley Barbour, Governor of Mississippi and Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas. My prediction is Haley Barbour because of all of his connections to the oil money. Money always "trumps" ideology. Sorry Donald; you already went bankrupt once and screwed a lot of people in the process.

Why Haley Barbour as Vice-President? Romney lacks no credibility with the evangelical right in this country and his Mormon faith will drag him down. Romney will need to address this problem with his pick. As I see it; he has two choices, Huckabee or Barbour. Neither of these guys can light a fire in the Democratic states. Barbour will be detestable to the Democratic voters but they won't care. Huckabee would have a greater ability to pull in the independent voter and the evangelical right, but only in the states the Republicans are going to lose anyway. This raises Haley Barbour to the surface because Republicans need to win states like North Carolina and Florida. Barbour will be strong with the evangelical voters but more importantly, he will bring in money. Scads and scads of money from the oil companies that will continue to bleed the middle class until we are all walking the streets!

What about the Democrats? Do you really think that the ticket is going to be Obama/Biden. That worked once, but maybe, just maybe, the ticket to success will be changing the ticket. I don't think this is a long shot, but how about an Obama/Clinton ticket? That's Hillary Clinton! Obama is going to need to infuse some excitement after his middle of the road first term.

So here is my early prediction: Obama/Clinton vs Romney/Barbour. I would not throw Joe Biden out the door. Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State are positions that come to mind for Joe Biden that has served his country well.

OK; I've laid it on the line early on. Let's see what happens. By the way; if Romney and Barbour win, the Mayan's were right!

tomtoak

The Catholic Church and Justice

I had a really great night last Thursday, May 13, when I was invited to attend a reception for Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Chair of the National Democratic Party. That story is going to take a back seat to what I want to talk about now! Apparently, a Catholic nun has been rebuked by the church in Phoenix, Arizona for allowing a severely ill women to have an abortion at 11 weeks in order to save her life. This story unfolded at a Catholic hospital. The rebuked nun did the right thing; we can only guess how many times the wrong thing was done at the expense of the mother within these Catholic hospitals.

This story is nothing new. There has been a standard practice by the Catholic Church for years to kill off the mother in favor of the fetus. What a tragedy!! What bothers me most about this story is the ability of the Catholic Church to escape prosecution for what is truly manslaughter. So what if the mother in question has x young children at home that need her? She just needs to suck it up and die!!!! Funny thing; it is always men that are making these decisions.

Why no prosecutions for willful neglect leading to an unnecessary death? The Catholic Church has a magic pass in this country. How many Jehovah's Witnesses have been arrested and convicted of manslaughter for refusing medical treatment for their children because they do not believe in medicines, blood transfusions and other more invasive medical treatments? There are over 900 court cases of parents that refused to consent to life saving blood transfusions for dying children because of their personal religious beliefs.

How long will this society put up with manslaughter based on an antiquated religious hierarchy of men (the Catholic Church)? The fact is that abortion is legal in this country. A woman denied an abortion to save her life is murder. That's right, Bishops of the world, I said murder!!! If the women decides to give up her life for the fetus, so be it. If a life saving abortion is performed; that is legal and absolutely appropriate. If you deny the abortion because of your stupidity, you are a murderer and you should be appropriately dealt with through the legal system. Bishops that are calling the shots should be charged with conspiracy to commit manslaughter or even murder!!

Of course we can't forget that Catholic priests are use to escaping the rule of law when it comes to raping little boys. How many priests have actually been incarcerated for their disgusting crimes against children? Not many!!!!

I have always supported prosecutions of parents that deny children medical treatment based upon some religious voodoo. The next time some poor Jehovah's Witness gets collared for following their beliefs - we need to take a step back and look at the medieval practices of the Catholic Church. Why are Jehovah Witnesses going to jail and Catholics excused?

Hopefully my next post will be about the reception for Governor Tim Kaine, right here in Rhode Island. I just had to get this story out of me because this kind of manipulation from the Catholic Church needs to stop.

tomtoak

Abortion, Health Care and the Catholic Church

I urge all of Congress to get on with the health care legislation and eliminate the possibility of federal money being used for abortions. Liberals need to make sure that their own strongly held beliefs don't get in the way of passing this historic legislation. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater- so to speak. I'm sick and tired of hearing the endless fighting over the abortion debate. Abortion is but one single health care procedure. Americans need health care for the other thousands of medical issues that we all face in our daily lives. Abortion rights advocates just need to back off and find other ways to fund necessary procedures.

That being said, abortion is a right in this country and must remain a right. It is nobody Else's business! Growing up Catholic, I was always taught that we all have been given a "free will". We are taught that God always wants us to do good. God has not predestined us to do bad things in this world. If my 12 year old daughter were raped and became pregnant, she would be urged to have an abortion. God did not want a 12 year old to be raped and God does not want a 12 year old to be pregnant as the result of a rape. Here is were the true rub is; the Church would have us believe that God is the cause of the pregnancy. In classic form, the church avoids the science of reproduction and lays everything at the hand of God. We know that the pregnancy is the result of the action of man - not God. Believe if you must that God created Heaven and Earth, but God does not create the pregnancy (the exception maybe the Virgin Mary if you choose to believe that).

Pregnancy is the result of the action of a man and a women. When pregnancy occurs from the action of one man using a women (rape), I'm sure God never intended for that life to come into this world (see my April 9, 2009 post). Take for example the case of the 9 year old Brazilian girl that had been repeatedly raped by her step-father. At the tender age of 9, she became pregnant with twins in a country that outlaws abortion. The mother petitions the court to allow this child that weighed 81 ponds to have an abortion. The court agreed and the abortion took place. The Catholic Church's response was to excommunicate the doctor performing the abortion and the mother who petitioned for the abortion. The church did not excommunicate the step-father who was responsible for the surprise pregnancy. That guy thought he could get away with it until the girl got a little older and I guess the Catholic Church is more in tune with the behavior of the step-father.

It's time for the church to stay out of the papers and to preach their beliefs in the churches across this country. Don't you dare tell others what to do - Bishop Tobin! You are not God on earth and you certainly don't have all of the answers. My advice to Bishop Tobin is to pray on that and to pray for the victims of the heinous crime of rape. What a woman decides to do with a resulting pregnancy is her business - not yours. Life in the womb is precious but love needs to be an ingredient of conception and your love, Bishop Tobin, needs to extend to all women that have to make this gut wrenching decision.

As a side note; the Reverend Father Robert Drinan died today. He was the congressman from Massachusetts that had to make the decision of staying as the politician or staying as the Catholic priest. Father Drinan to his credit chose the latter. He must have been asking himself in his later years, what happened to his church? If the church continues to single out politicians, all churches Catholic and otherwise, should be taxed appropriately. The church silenced Father Drinan and then became super political. God speed, Father Drinan!

tomtoak

Wisdom from the Woods IX

Wisdom from the Woods is an occasional column that outlines complex issues.


Today's picture is a unique view of where I spent a few years of my life. In the distance is the University of Massachusetts in Amherst framed by the Connecticut River and the Holyoke Range. I learned a lot at that university and my education has carried me a long way. It was at this place in a different time (1970) when my politics changed forever. No other picture could depict "wisdom from the woods" better than this one.

Today I want to say a few words about hate and the teaching of hate that is not only a problem in Islamic counties, it is a problem right here at home. This past week, the Kansas church group (I'm not going to give the official church name) came to Rhode Island to spread their message of hate against Blacks, Jews and Gays. A small group of church goers showed up with their children in tow to make an ugly scene. Actually, the scene was not so ugly because of the counter-protest by students at a local high school. Many East Providence school kids went as far as wearing yarmulkes all day long to support their Jewish friends. Thankfully, there was no violence.

These anti-American extremists from Kansas are sending a dangerous message; largely to their own children. I wonder how many future uni-bombers are being created because of the indoctrination techniques used by these evil people. I suppose that this is the cost of freedom and the protections provided by the first amendment to the Constitution. Is there a Constitutional way to restrict this hateful behavior?

I for one, believe that the Department of Education in the appropriate state should have the authority to monitor what is taught in the schools that these children attend. If this hate mongering is part of a school curriculum, we need to ensure that laws are in place to allow for the arrest of any perpetrators. While freedom of speech remains one of our founding values, freedom to brainwash young minds with hatred does not constitute free speech. I think this is akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater. I believe this needs to be the case even if the school is a private school. As a society, we can not afford to have hatred taught to young people. Any school, private or public should be subject to approved curricula; and if necessary, compliance should be monitored and enforced.

Activities of the Kansas church group and their brain-washing techniques applied to their young are no different than the use of the radical Madrases that teach radical forms of Islam throughout the Middle East. The radical Madrases teach hatred of Jews, Americans and the West the same way some of our radical bible beaters do.

This to me is a scary issue that needs to be considered. Government needs to find Constitutional ways of coping with this complete ignorance. I suppose our radio talk show folks that like to teach hate from their pulpits fit the definition of free speech. Teaching hate in a class room is far different. Teaching hate from a church is just pure evil; but maybe this issue can be appropriately addressed through refined tax codes.

Thank you for our freedom - World War II Vets (65 years ago - D Day)!! You men and women fought hate to preserve the freedom of nations. Your courage is not forgotten.

tomtoak

The Catholic Church Needs to Stop Throwing Stones

,That's right! The Catholic Church needs to stop throwing stones because they have lived in a glass house for centuries. I'm very angry at the self-righteous, pompous and arrogant members of the clergy that have expressed outrage at the University of Notre Dame inviting Barack Obama to be the keynote speaker at this year's commencement. Thank God there are still clergy left that walk the road of Christ. I was taught that Christ was open to all of humanity; including sinners, the Church evidently is not.

This attitude is not unique to this time; there have been many Popes in history that have been immoral and a disgrace to humanity (click here to learn about a few). We all know that there have been a lot of priests of late that have been immoral and a disgrace to their robes. In the United States alone, it has been well documented that 4% of the priesthood took advantage of young people during the last 4 decades (click here to see an independent church survey). While not in the same category, church attitudes towards listening to the President of the United States is another ugly chapter in a long line of ugliness.

Today a group of Holy Cross priests expressed their outrage at the University of Notre Dame for inviting President Obama. Nothing is said about a past invitation to George W. Bush who turned a deaf ear to the Pope on issues of clemency for Texas inmates that were sentenced to death.

The reality behind the Church's stance is a product of outright ignorance and puritanical attitudes towards sex. The millennial held belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus was forever virgin is a fantasy drilled into the minds of followers. All you really have to do is read the Bible and you learn that Jesus had 4 brothers and 2 sisters. It's right there in Mark and Mathew. The brothers of Jesus were; James, Joses, Simon and Judas (Mathew 13:55). The Church has spent the last 2,000 years trying to warp reality.

My broader point is this; we know how children happen. Conception is an act of man, not an act of God. If you want to believe that Mary had a virgin birth, that's fine; but we have figured out how other babies are conceived, and it's an act of man (this was God's plan). If you believe that God gave everyone "free will" ; do you think that God wants a person to rape a child? Do you think that a resulting pregnancy is God's will? This is where reasoned people have to draw the line. The Catholic Church is dead wrong here. Do you think the 9 year old girl in Brazil that became pregnant with twins because she was repeatedly raped by her stepfather should carry the pregnancy forward? The Catholic Church did! The local Bishop excommunicated the mother and doctors because a court ordered abortion was performed on this 80 pound child. Maybe the mother was complicit in the rape and should have been excommunicated. Guess what; the stepfather was not excommunicated. This poor innocent child should never have to carry those babies to term and God did not want this pregnancy. If you think so, that's downright sick! God did not want this scumbag to father 2 children with his 9 year old stepdaughter.

Barack Obama has said on more than one occasion; "nobody believes in abortion". I agree; I do not believe in abortion. The trouble is; "shit happens". If my 12 year old daughter were raped and became pregnant, I believe that there would be an abortion. I wouldn't be happy about it, but it definitely can't be against the law.

In the final analysis, the Church needs to look inward while reaching out. Isolating those that disagree with a church teaching is simply not Christian. The Church has every right to form it's own belief system, but making everyone follow Catholic dogma conjures up the history of the Inquisition. Thank you; University of Notre Dame. Sorry Mom.

tomtoak