If you are a Catholic living in Maine, the Most Hateful New England state, you may want to ask yourself where your collection money goes.
I went to a Catholic High School, and grew up with Roman Catholics all around me, so it's not a question I ask lightly. Catholic Charities is the largest non-government charity in the state. St Vincent de Paul does a lot of good work, and so do individual parishes. For that reason, I always thought that it made sense to throw some cash on the collection plate when attending a Catholic mass of some sort.
Well at least $378,000 went to defeat equality in Maine. Much of that came from out of state. NPR tags the price tag of hate at a half-million in cash from Catholics who were hoping to do good. Rather than take any of Jesus' words (you know, "when I was hungry, you fed me" "blessed are the poor" or "as ye would have done unto you, do unto them likewise"), these failures took an odd line from Leviticus, and all but ran over hungry families in their eagerness to blow money on television ads indemnifying gay Americans.
Your collection dollars went to television stations, to promote bigotry. That's where it went.
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4 comments:
Whoa!
$380,000???
How many Catholic schools are struggling to get by?
You're 100% correct- this is a disgrace. The Church will never get another dime from me until they forsake their anti-gay political activities. If they care more about advancing bigoted political agendas than helping the poor, I would also advocate full taxation of their real and personal property as a "private social club", just as one might tax elite golf courses and the like.
I can't believe anyone is surprised by this. Or thinks most Catholics don't know or would object to it.
Catholic schools wouldn't be struggling if the Vatican sold a couple of dusty things from the vault that haven't been seen by anyone in 200 years.
As a devout Catholic this bothers me tremendously. It seems to me that since Church doctrine clearly affirms that civil marriages and divorces are not recognized as canonically valid marriages within the Catholic church that gay marriages made in Maine have absolutely nothing to do with the Church in any way. Traditional marriage between one man and one woman, without divorce, as the Church sees it, is completely unaffected by the outside world or who the state chooses to marry. That is not my opinion as a wild eyed liberal, that is Canon law as articulated by the Holy Father himself.
This money could be going to a variety of better causes. Catholic schools, hospitals, feeding the hungry here and abroad, etc. One would hope that the Church's political advocacy would be in line with its official doctrines, i.e eliminating the death penalty, unjust war, unwanted pregnancies, and you know advocating for universal healthcare which the Bishops Conference has endorsed since the 60s and the Papacy endorsed in its encyclical on Church, State, and Labor in 1890-Rerum Novum-which called for 'state sponsored insurance societies...for the working man'.
I can think of several encyclicals relating to just war theory, euthanasia, the death penalty, human rights, and healthcare. I can't think of a single one that argues, the frankly heretical position that civil law bears any weight on sacramental marriage. Frankly the Archdiocese of Maine is making a heterodox statement with this blatant disregard for church tradition and should be duly sanctioned by the Holy See.
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