Browsing articles tagged with " Obama"
CHICAGO, November 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Obama’s re-election sets up a looming clash with people of faith over abortion, marriage, and the implementation of government-controlled health care –a fight the pro-life movement has vowed to carry out by defying the president, reforming an increasingly unfriendly Republican Party, and building a culture of life that transcends the boundaries of politics.
A second Obama term means “the collision course of the Obama administration with the Catholic Church…is assured,” said Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life after the election.
He was outraged by the fact that a majority of his fellow Catholics voted for Obama, the most pro-abortion president in history.
“Many in Church leadership failed to connect the dots between personnel and policy,” he explained. “They prayed and preached against the HHS mandate, but then were silent about the election – and called the police to remove citizens who leafleted the Church parking lot trying to inform voters about where the candidates stood on this issue.”
Such rebuffs from faithless laity and fainthearted leaders would not deter the faithful.
“The pro-life cause will prevail in America,” Fr. Pavone said. “In the elections of 2014, we will work for a pro-life Senate majority to further blunt the ability of President Obama to damage the cause of life.”
To do so, they may have to reclaim the Republican Party, which most pro-life voters call home.
“We all need to stand guard now. They will try to kick pro-life values out of the Republican Party and blame the abortion/rape question for the loss,” Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life of America wrote on her Facebook page. “Please stand ready to respond.”
Soon forces inside the party proved her right. Greg Valliere of the Potomac Research Group went on Fox Business to urge Republicans to be “much more conciliatory on things like immigration and social issues,” particularly abortion.
(Click “like” if you want to end abortion! )
The political movement will be met with a cultural and social effort to educate Americans about life and change hearts about the horrors of abortion.
The Obama administration has attempted to chill this speech, with Attorney General Eric Holder filing frivolous lawsuits against sidewalk counselors like Mary Susan Pine and churning out reports branding pro-life Christians potential domestic terrorists.
Fr. Pavone called on pro-lifers to “an unwavering commitment to civil disobedience.”
Kelly Clinger wrote, “I will go save babies as long as I still have the right to do so!” In what may have been a tweak at the president’s re-election slogan, she sent the message under the hashtag “Forward.”
One of the longtime leaders of the pro-life movement, Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League, said his “mission continues: Confront society with the ugliness of abortion, save babies and women from the tragedy of abortion, and build the Culture of Life.”
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MENTOR, Ohio — Greater Cleveland is one of the more concentrated Catholic communities in the country, and the split among Catholics in this presidential election was on display at President Obama’s campaign rally here Saturday.
A crowd of about 2,000 or more Obama supporters was already inside the Mentor High School gym a couple of hours before the start of President Obama’s speech and a like number was lined up outside waiting to get in the gym or into an overflow space.
“Obamacare is mandating the Catholic faith provide birth control and abortions, and that’s against our religion,” said real estate broker Gregg Boehlefeld, 57, of Mentor. “It funds abortions and that’s against the Catholic faith. It’s going to bankrupt our nation,” he said.
Read more at Tom Troy’s blog, Blade Slices.
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The Bishops, who brought you the resoundingly unsuccessful “Fortnight for Freedom,” are now preparing their Sunday homilies for the faithful to encourage them to “vote Catholic”—i.e. vote for the Romney/Ryan ticket. Leading the charge is Bishop Daniel Jenky, of Peoria, Illinois, who is calling for all priests “by virtue of their vow of obedience to me as your Bishop” to read his letter on the election at each mass they celebrate this weekend. The letter, addressed to Catholic believers, is an appeal to the “threat to religious liberty” because of the HHS mandate. Since Bishop Jenky did not say the priests had to read the letter aloud, one hopes that some smart priest or two will simply read the letter silently to himself in the pulpit.
Bishop Jenky’s overbearing order to his parish priests smacks of hypocrisy. After all, this is the same Bishop who said that President Obama was like Hitler and Stalin. Jenky and his Bishop brethren are threatening Catholic believers; and are doing so by insinuating it would be a “grave sin” to vote for anyone who enables abortion. What about war, or murder? Surely those should count as a grave sin as well?
The fact of the matter is, if you vote for Obama, that’s not a sin. That’s a choice. It’s also about one’s conscience—which last time I looked, still was part of the teachings of the Catholic Church.
The truth is Bishop Jenky and the other Bishops who have doubled down to support Mitt Romney and the Republican Party are fighting a losing battle. A recent survey by Public Religion Research Institute suggests that Catholics are not a monolithic vote, but break out on ethnic lines and age in terms of voting. The Pew Forum also released a survey dispelling the “Catholic Swing Voter Myth,” and showing that most Catholics have consistently voted for one party or the other, and have not wavered. Much like Catholics on the issue of birth control, Catholics vote more on their own political leanings rather than the admonition of the seldom seen, but often heard, Bishops.
Bishops like Jenky may hope that Catholics listen to the entreaties from the pulpit on “pro-life” and voting for “religious freedom” but they are for a losing battle. The “Catholic vote” is really a series of voting blocs, each pursuing their interests. The Bishops also have to contend with their dwindling flocks, who, after repeated sexual abuse scandals, find it difficult to listen to the Bishops for moral and spiritual guidance. While the Bishops have thrown in their lot with the Republican Party, the Nuns on the Bus are canvassing in Iowa and other states talking about poverty and the inequities that continue to hurt the poor and working families. There is a rich tradition of caring for the poor and indigent in the Catholic Church. Since the USCCB has decided to become vocal, card-carrying right-wingers, their witness in that regard is withering away. Perhaps the Rev. Thomas Reese, S.J said it best when he remarked recently that Bishops may be unhappy about the contraception mandate, but they have only 200 votes in this election.
If the American Bishops really want religious freedom, the last thing they should promote is a top-down demand to vote the way they say. Their attempts to make the Republican Party their new “partners” is not going as well as the USCCB would like. Voting for Republicans simply because they are pro-life and ignoring the poor certainly isn’t freedom to exercise one’s conscience. Besides, as much as I think the American Bishops might like it, I don’t think Rome is going to order up a canonization for Ayn Rand if Romney and Ryan happen to win the election.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – To share the details of this weekend’s rallies, Catholic Online sat down to talk to Eric Scheidler of the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Coalition.
COL: Hello Eric. What’s happening this weekend?
SCHEIDLER: On Saturday, October 20, tens out thousands of faithful Americans will gather in 140 cities and town across the United States to protest the Obama administration’s HHS Mandate, and raise the crucial issue of religious freedom before the public in advance of Election Day.
COL: Why is this important? / Why should people care about this?
SCHEIDLER: The HHS Mandate is one of the most outrageous attacks on religious freedom in American history. Religious employers are being forced to provide abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives through their health plans, regardless of any ethical or moral objections.
The narrow “religious exemption” provided under the HHS Mandate excludes such institutions as the University of Notre Dame, Catholic Charities, and Tyndale House, a bible publisher. None of these organizations is deemed religious enough to qualify for the so-called religious exemption.
The HHS Mandate unravels decades of bipartisan consensus on protecting freedom of conscience.
COL: Are you trying to send a message before the election?
SCHEIDLER: Yes, we are trying to send a message before Election Day: vote with your values. If freedom or religion matters to you — if you don’t want to see employers forced to violate their consciences or be driven out of the public square — then vote for candidates who are promising to fight against the HHS Mandate.
COL: Will you continue these rallies after November even if Romney wins and pledges a repeal?
SCHEIDLER: Mitt Romney has pledged to rescind the HHS Mandate. If he prevails on Election Day, we will certainly call upon him to follow through with that promise, with every expectation that he will do so without delay upon taking office.
If President Obama wins reelection, the grassroots fight against the HHS Mandate will continue, and will likely include more public protests like this Saturday’s Stand Up Rally.
But no matter which way the November election goes, the urgent need to protect religious liberty from government encroachment will remain. Whether that will involve rallies or other activities will depend on the particular issues that arise in the next administration.
COL: What kind of numbers do you have on your campaign? (Participants, any facts and figures that would be of interest that you wish to share.)
SCHEIDLER: We have 140 cities on the map for this fall’s Stand Up Rally (the vast majority are being held October 20, with a handful on other dates.
Rallies held in March and June each drew over 60,000 people. So far, over 300 rallies against the HHS Mandate have been held by the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Coalition.
The coalition comprises 109 pro-life, pro-family, religious freedom and legal organizations.
COL: How rapidly is the movement growing?
SCHEIDLER: The religious freedom movement is growing like wild fire. Not only have tens of thousands of people come out for various religious freedom rallies, prayer vigils and protests, but numerous local, regional and national groups have emerged over the past 10 months to fight against the HHS Mandate and other attacks on the proper role of religious faith in the public square.
This is sure to be an important movement in years to come. People are waking up to the attempt by secular humanists to drive religious faith out of public life and “contain” it within the four walls of church during weekly worship service.
COL: How can people get involved?
SCHEIDLER: The best way to get involved in this fight is to attend the nearest Stand Up Rally in your area on Saturday, October 20. A complete list of Rally sites is available at http://StandUpRally.com/locations.
The Rally website also lists specific actions you can take, like passing out the HHS Mandate Fact Sheet to your friends and neighbors, calling your Congressman and Senator, and getting active on this issue during the final weeks of the electoral campaign.
COL: What else would you like people to know?
SCHEIDLER: The HHS Mandate is being challenged in court with dozens of different lawsuits. Many legal scholars believe these lawsuits will ultimately prevail, causing the HHS Mandate to be overturned. But they also acknowledge that a victory in court will take years to accomplish.
That’s why it’s so important that we fight the HHS Mandate at the grassroots level. We can’t wait years for a resolution, watching as Catholic hospitals, Protestant colleges and private businesses run by faithful Americans are driven out of business by fines and penalties. The next Congress and presidential administration must act to rescind the HHS Mandate without delay.
Thank you Eric, and we wish you the best of luck in your efforts to defend the freedoms of every American, and most importantly, the unborn people of this country.
2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.
Hoping to bolster more support for Mitt Romney, a group of pastors is appealing to Latino voters on Monday – the day of the final presidential debate — to support the candidate who holds conservative values.
The group of Evangelical and Catholic faith leaders plans a press conference in Boca Raton, Fla., where the third and last 2012 presidential debate is scheduled to take place Monday night.
In an announcement about the event, organizers describe President Obama as someone who has backed measures and policies that run counter to conservative views on marriage and abortion.
The announcement read: “The pastors will take direct aim at President Obama’s vocal support for the abortion industry that has targeted minorities, especially Latinos, Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage in its national platform, and the administration’s mandate forcing religious organizations to cover contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs.”
Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, said that the group of clergy will not specifically push for Latinos to vote for Romney – because generally religious institutions have tax-exempt status, they are not supposed to campaign for particular candidates.
By portraying Obama as acting against the interests of conservatives in the Latino community, however, the implication is that Romney is the better candidate for president.
“In such a close election, Hispanic values voters may very well determine the outcome of the presidential election,” said Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. “Hispanic believers will support the candidate that advances a culture of life and preserves religious liberty.”
Aguilar, who supports Romney, says that it is a given that Obama will win the national Latino vote. Recent polls show the president enjoys the support of more than 70 percent of likely Latino voters, and Romney consistently comes in much lower, at about 30 percent.
The hard-line rhetoric by Romney and other Republicans on immigration, Aguilar and other political observers say, have alienated many Latinos, who tend to lean toward Democrats.
But in swing states such as Florida, Colorado and Nevada, Romney supporters are hoping the former Massachusetts governor might be able to win crucial Latino support by creating enough enthusiasm among voters whose choice will be driven by their views on same-sex marriage and abortion, Aguilar said.
“The winning ticket for Romney are Latinos of faith,” Aguilar said. “Catholics who are Orthodox and Evangelicals.”
A Pew Hispanic Center study on the role of religion among Latino voters with regard to the presidential race showed that Latinos without religious affiliation overwhelmingly support Obama, 69 percent to 21 percent. Hispanic Evangelicals also heavily support Obama, but by a slimmer margin — 50 percent to 39 percent.
The study showed that a slight majority – or 52 percent of Latinos — support same-sex marriage, but Evangelicals strongly oppose it, with 66 percent.
More than 70 percent of Catholics support Obama, 19 percent support Romney.
Romney’s Latino evangelical protestant support is lower than with white, non-Hispanic evangelical Protestant registered voters, among whom a solid majority supports Romney (74 percent).
According to the same survey, half of Latinos (52 percent) now favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, while one-third (34 percent) are opposed.
This is the first time the number has eclipsed 50 percent since the poll was first started. As recently as 2006, these figures were reversed (56 percent of Latinos opposed same-sex marriage, while 31 percent supported it).
Latino Evangelicals, however, remain strongly opposed to same-sex marriage (66 percent opposed vs. 25 percent in favor).
“To Hispanics, our support of the biblical definition of marriage is not a matter of politics but a matter of faith, ” Rodriguez said in an op-ed published on Fox News Latino.
Numerous polls indicate that abortion, same-sex marriage and other hot-button social issues aren’t top priorities for most Americans as they worry about jobs and health care. Yet abortion is a visceral subject for some voters — and the extent to which they turn out to vote, and perhaps sway wavering acquaintances, could make a difference in pivotal swing states.
Obama and Romney — reflecting their party platforms — are polarized in regard to abortion.
Obama believes decisions about abortion should be left to women and their doctors. Romney opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest and threat to the mother’s life, and says the Supreme Court should repeal the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a nationwide right to abortion.
This story contains material from The Associated Press.
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“We did not ask for this fight, but we will not run from it.”
– Cardinal Timothy Dolan
If you can pry yourself away from NFL games for a little bit, you might notice there’s a great variety of entertainment in television and movie theaters this fall. There’s something rather shocking though – how many times a piece of entertainment seemingly unrelated to the “real world” in fact shows precisely what’s going on in our society. Take the newest selection of DVDs in stores. A sleeper hit from this summer, “For Greater Glory”, is now available on DVD. The film depicts the true story of Mexican peasants who revolted and took up arms in the 1920s, and was reviewed in one of my earlier Examiner columns.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like the type of story that Americans could related to. Yet the movie turned out to be extremely timely and relevant with its message, because what the Mexican government did in the 1920s began to appear eerily similar to the Obama administration’s Health Care mandate in 2012. Both were draconian laws that forced Catholic institutions to violate their own conscience. Writing in the Washington Post, film critic Lauren Markoe noted: “For Catholics enraged by the Obama administration’s proposed contraception mandate, the film about the Mexican church’s fight in 1920s is a heartening and timely cinematic boost in the American church’s battle to preserve ‘religious freedom in 2012”. Around the same time the movie came out this summer, the newly elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, noted, “We have become certain of two things: religious freedom is under attack, and we will not cease our struggle to protect it.”
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For those who haven’t seen the film yet and wonder what all the fuss is about, “For Greater Glory” is now coming to Chicagoland, and this time it’s available free of charge. The local chapters of the Knights of Columbus, along with the Respect Life Committee of St. Bernard’s parish in Homer Glen, are inviting the public to a free screening during a movie night they have arranged for later this week. It is especially being empathized for youth groups and Hispanics, but all are welcome to come.
The Diocese of Joliet, Ill. Is promoting the event on their website, stating: “This major motion picture tells the epic, untold story of the Cristero War in 1920′s Mexico and the nation’s quest for religious liberty. Come enjoy the all-star cast and hear the story that will resonate with you in light of current events. Bring your friends”. Most Rev. Michael J. Sheridan, Bishop of Colorado Springs, CO gives us a quote that nicely sums up why the film has gotten the buzz it has: “This deeply moving account of the Cristeros’ fight for the freedom of religion in Mexico is very much a story for our own times. The faith and courage of the Mexican martyrs—clergy and laity—makes us proud to be Catholics.” Advertisements for the movie screening are accompanied with an article for earlier this year entitled “What Mexico Teaches Us”, written Carl A. Anderson, and Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus. I highly recommend it.
If you didn’t have a chance to see the film and theaters and you’re curious about it, then you, my faithful readers, should consider coming to St. Bernard’s as well – especially if you live in the far south part of Chicagoland where the movie screening will occur. Date and time is as follows:
See the movie “FOR GREATER GLORY”
Friday, October 5th—7 PM
St. Bernard’s Pastoral Center
13030 W. 143rd. St.
Homer Glen, IL 60491
There is no charge to attend.
For Greater Glory: St. Bernard’s Respect Life Committee along with the Knights of Columbus, are sponsoring the film For Greater Glory at St. Bernard’s Pastoral Center, 13030 W. 143rd St., Homer Glen. The movie night is free to all.
But perhaps historical dramas just aren’t your thing. Some of us like our film and television grounded in the true stories, like my mother does. Other people – like me – prefer escapist fantasy to take our minds off the dull and mundane real world. Such people enjoy viewing science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
One such well received television series – which unfortunately has now been canceled – was the recent remake of the classic sci-fi miniseries “V”. It was released on DVD just last year, and departs quite a bit from the 1983 original that it is loosely based on. But the premise is the same: a fleet of motherships from a distant planet arrive in Earth’s orbit, and hover above every major city on the planet. The aliens, who call themselves “the visitors”, seem to look just like us, but on the inside, it turns out they are actually reptilian creatures with a taste for live rats.
Of course, this is such an out-of-this-world premise (pun intended), you might be wondering what the heck it’s doing in a column about Catholic issues in Chicago. Certainly that has nothing to do with Catholicism, right? Think again. In both the original the 1980s V and the 2009-2010 remake, one of the heroes of the story is a Roman Catholic priest (Father Andrew Doyle in the original, Father Jack Landry in the remake) In both shows, the priest acts as a moral compass during the crisis of the invasion, and the television series address Catholic topics such as whether there is ever a just cause for war, and dealing with crisis’s like unplanned pregnancies. But even this plays second fiddle to a major plot point in the 2009 “V”, where the aliens motives and people’s reaction to them begins to eerily parallel the conflict between church and state in America and the battle over religious liberty today. One person reviewing the show found it uncomfortable, noting in his critique of the episode “Red Sky” . He wrote: “There is no wrath, after all, like an atheist socked in the face with preachy religious messages in the middle of a science fiction program that’s supposed to be about, well, science fiction, and I didn’t want to have a completely incoherent rant splashed all over search engines for the rest of time. “ What happened in the episode to distress him so much?
Over the course of the show, the characters begin to learn that the V’s intentions are often misleading and they are hiding their true goals. Much like our current government, the V’s argue that people are being paranoid and bigoted against them, and that they are scared of change when the V’s only want to help humanity by giving everyone access to free health care and bringing about a new era of peace. Catholic figures who question whether their policies are actually helping are swiftly attacked by major media outlets, who argue they are preaching “hate speech” against the V’s. One news reporter, Chad Decker, is convinced that the V’s “Healing Centers” cured him of a fatal aliment. But those who have researched the issue realize the facts. Father Jack Landry explains that the V’s actually induced the problem in the first place and then “cured” him of it to gain sympathy. He tells Chad, “Anna didn’t cure your aneurysm. She gave you one.” He then directs Chad to the area where the Visitors take the human guests “Live Aboards”. Chad finally realizes the evil of the V “health care”, as he witnesses firsthand the horrific testing being done on humans. Seeing the V’s drilling needles into people and torturing them makes him squeamish.
Father Jack Landry is constantly conflicted about whether to publicly speak out against the V’s, seeing how many people strongly support them and think they’re doing their best to help mankind when the Catholic Church stands in the way, but Fr. Landry realizes in the episode “Red Sky” he must abide by his conscience and do what is right, even if it means disobeying the orders of the church pastor who is sympathetic to the V’s. Fr. Landry’s concern is that people are turning away from God and increasingly seeing the V’s as God because of their mighty power and charisma. He speaks from his heart to his congregation with a homily entitled “The V’s as false prophets”. This is difficult in a Catholic Church, as many of the parishioner’s support the V’s in spite of their questionable actions. He tells them:
“I was lost, and now I am found. I lost the courage to tell you the truth, that you need to choose who you are going to follow—the V’s, or God? Because you can’t serve two masters… There is a war upon us, a war for our souls. With love, hope, and faith, we can overcome anything.”
When he begins to directly denounce the actions of the V’s, many parishioners walk out of St. Josephine’s Church, but some stay. Jack asks others to stand with him in this war for their souls, saying “Who among you will join me?” He notes:
“Let V no longer stand for Visitor, let V stand for Victory!”
By the time he has finished his homily, only about a dozen parishioners remain, scattered around the pews, but those who remain are standing in support of him. Although he is not a soldier, he proves he can be warrior through his faith. As a priest, he had a both a pulpit (literally) and an aura of moral authority. While the media is the mouthpiece of the V’s, he can be the public spokesman of the opposition.
Though they tell almost entirely different stories, both movies like “For Greater Glory” and television shows like “V” show us that Catholics are in a real war against the government for our very survival. In may not be a literal shooting war like we see on the screen, but the conflict is every bit as deadly and the stakes are just as high. What seems to be purely pieces of action and entertainment can teach us a lot about the problems of a government structure that does not see the sanctity of human life and understand the dignity of every human person, and a government that tries to impose its will and silence religion through bullying, scare tactics, name-calling, and raw force to coerce the public into supporting them and turning against Catholicism.
You may not have gotten a chance to see either of them first hand, but now with home video release, you can. “For Greater Glory” is expected to have a strong turnout for its screening at St. Bernard’s Church, and “V” is now available via live streaming on Netflix and other such sites. Both are certainly worth at least checking out once. When fiction becomes fact, what side will you take in the war?
Among all registered voters, Obama leads Romney 51-42 percent, according to Pew.
Obama and Romney are essentially tied among white Catholics, which some pollsters call the ultimate swing group.
On Monday (Sept. 24) Romney unveiled his Catholics for Romney Coalition, which includes numerous politicians, beer magnate Pete Coors and Princeton University intellectual Robert P. George. The Obama campaign also has a Catholic coalition.
From June 21-July 4, the U.S. Catholic bishops held a “Fortnight for Freedom,” with Masses, prayer groups and presentations in dozens of dioceses nationwide. The campaign was directed in part against an Obama administration mandate that requires some religious institutions, such as colleges and hospitals, to provide cost-free contraception coverage to employees.
John C. Green, an expert on religion and politics at the University of Akron in Ohio, said Obama’s surge among Catholic voters does not mean the bishops’ campaign was ineffective. But religious freedom is not the most salient issue for Catholics during an election dominated by economic concerns, he said.
“It’s not the issue that most middle-of-the-road Catholics are responding to,” Green said.
In mid-August, Romney named Ryan, a congressman from Wisconsin and lifelong Catholic, as his vice-presidential nominee. While many conservative Catholics cheered the move, Romney received no “Catholic bounce” from selecting Ryan, according to the Pew poll. Obama’s vice-presidential running mate, Joe Biden, is also Catholic.
Liberal Catholics, including some nuns, have chastised Ryan for using his Catholic faith to defend his GOP budget plan, which lowers taxes on the wealthy while cutting programs for the poor.
Among white evangelicals, another crucial religious constituency, Romney’s support has inched up since July, from 69 to 74 percent, according to the Pew poll, while Obama’s percentage declined.
Despite concerns that Obama’s support for same-sex marriage would alienate African-American Protestants, 95 percent still back Obama over Romney.
Obama also leads among Americans with no religious affiliation, 65-27 percent. Romney leads among Americans who attend worship services at least weekly, 51-42 percent.
The margin of error for the September survey of Catholic voters is plus or minus 5.1 percentage points, according to Pew.
Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Religion News Service LLC.
A few months ago, I had the privilege of appearing twice on a relatively new Catholic podcast created by Dustin Faber. Dustin chose the title The 16-Bit Catholic to reflect not only his love of the Catholic Faith but his enjoyment of video games, and my appearance last week was supposed to mark a rebalancing of the podcast, with more video-game material. Unfortunately for Dustin, I’m not much of a gamer (the Nintendo Wii was the first game console I ever owned, and most of my gaming consists of Angry Birds and Infinity Blade on my iPhone), so we had to spend most of the episode instead talking about the 2012 U.S. presidential election. (We did manage to have a brief discussion about the successor to the Wii, the Wii U—which may be the silliest name ever for a game console.)
We also talked about the Emmy Awards, and I revealed the network that I think is creating consistently the best TV shows in recent years (here’s a hint—it’s not one of the big four), and we lamented the fact that no one recorded an event on faith and humor, moderated by Fr. James Martin and featuring Stephen Colbert and Timothy Cardinal Dolan. Missed opportunities . . .
But back to the presidential election: I think Dustin was hoping for a more optimistic assessment, but much of our discussion centered on the reasons why I think President Obama is likely to be reelected, and how the Republicans, who should have been able to walk away with this election, blew it. It wasn’t just the nomination of Mitt Romney, but decades of lip service paid to the kinds of issues that Catholics care about, with little or no follow-through. And that, in turn, may be carrying us into a period of Democratic ascendancy, in which the Obama administration’s radical stand on abortion and its antagonism toward the Catholic Church are just the beginning.
If you want to know more of what we said, you’ll have to download the episode, either from iTunes or from Dustin’s website. And while you’re there, check out my previous appearances, from June 15 and June 29, in which Dustin and I discussed the Obama administration’s contraception mandate and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a ObamaCare) is constitutional.
Being a Catholic has been a part of my identity ever since I can remember, but it is challenging to go through life with controversial beliefs.
A few weeks after I was born, I was baptized at the Sacred Heart Catholic church in Oxford, Pennsylvania. I received my first communion in third grade, went through my first reconciliation, and was confirmed in my junior year of high school. I am now on my way to becoming a catechist, and a Eucharistic minister.
I have two Catholic parents and a mostly Catholic family on both sides. This faith has been injected into my blood and programmed into my mind from a very young age.
I believe I am lucky because I have a strong grasp on my faith. I understand my values and I have morals that guide my decisions in life. However, being a believer in God is a tremendous challenge in this society we live in.
My beliefs, as well as any other religion, come along with topics that can be extremely disagreeable to others. Topics such as abortion, contraception, and ideas of marriage, sex, right and wrong are all a few of the things that are constantly being confused in the minds of young people due to the lies of society.
The media brainwashes teenagers’ minds with its focus on the lives of celebrities and the “reality” it portrays on television and in magazines. Ideas of “what is really important” are being altered. The message of our mainstream media is that having a boyfriend or girlfriend is a must, sex before marriage is “cool,” and getting drunk will gain you true friends. But these things are all lies!
Even our politicians, the people who are running our country, have the power to create laws and rules are feeding us with misleading statements. To me, when I listen to their speeches, it seems as though sentence after sentence is filled with deception. Our current leader, Obama, wants abortion to be made legal, and even have people pay taxes toward contraception, and prochoice agencies that violate the morals of certain faiths.
Our systems, leaders, and the way we function as a whole is flawed.
I attend a Catholic school where we are free to talk about our beliefs and God. It is an awesome blessing that I am free to express my feelings, thoughts, and faith. At other schools, one could get in trouble for simply saying the word God.
But although every student has received the gift of freedom of religion, most don’t care.
Most teenagers absolutely dread sitting through a school Mass or a prayer service. Teenagers are more often than not forced to go to church on Sunday. But why? Is it not what we believe, our foundation of life, what we are all about?
As teenagers, it is easy for us to give in, and many do. It is easy to believe the lies from the media, and the mouths of our leaders. It is easy to sleep in Sunday mornings. It is easy to say you do not go to church or believe in God to look cooler in the eyes of others. It is all easy.
But what good is our Catholic faith if it is so easy? I think it was meant to be a challenge. Every day is a test, a test to give into the pressures of all these things that are constantly trying to push me further from God. It is my challenge to move against the current and fight the urges to give in. And every day I become stronger.
cnnsucks
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
CNN lowest ratings in HISTORY!!! Keep up the liberal spin for your cesspool of an audience, it’s WORKING AWESOME!!
Obama is OUT in 2 months, so sick of garbage media like CNNBC. Keep up the Romney coverage tho, you dummies don’t realize it as you moderate and skew your comments that the majority of Americans AGREE, even those who don’t pay taxes. Only the denial libs don’t. Ya, keep it up!
