----- Original Message ----- From: "Reggie Bautista" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 7:30 PM Subject: Re: Bishops to punish catholic politicians who disobey Pope
> Jon wrote: > >If an edict is passed by the Vatican > > Who said anything about the Vatican? The article says "bishops of > the United States," not the Vatican or the College of Cardinals or > any other group from anywhere but the good ol' US of A. > > >and a religious politician obeys that edict rather than uphold a freedom > >granted to his constituents by the Constitution, then that politician is > >comitting a Federal crime. > > > >It's seems quite straightforward to me. > > I would agree, if the US bishops who want to do this actually manage > to get the other US bishops to agree (which I think is pretty unlikely), > and if a politician or judge violated their constitutional or legal duties > for fear of this retribution, then I would say yes, they should be > prosecuted. > > But as I said, I don't think this will go through. There is a war going on > right now within the Roman Catholic Church between those who think > the reforms of Vatican II went too far or maybe even should be > completely repealed and those who think that the reforms didn't go > far enough. That description is probably true if you are describing bishops, but not if you are describing average Catholics. If you look at surveys of Catholics on issues such as married priests, women priests, birth control, etc. you will find that most Catholics in the US dissent from the teachings of the church. Only 30% agree with the churches policy on married priests, 67% disagree; woman priests: 32% vs 64%; birth control 12% vs 88%. So, the vast majority of American Catholics want the reforms to go farther. From: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/vault/stories/data101503.html The balance only exists in the hierarchy. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
