Bishop Paprocki says he's not going to tell you how to vote. He only uses code words to tell you that if you vote for President Obama, you are going to hell.
Background to the story here...Republicans are Angels; Obama is Satan!
Bishop Paprocki organized a conference two years ago in Baltimore on exorcism for US bishops. He's looking for less hysterical approaches to exorcism these days like strongly hinting how you should vote.
You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that "intrinsic evil" is a code word for same sex marriage or any steps promoting the freedom of gay and lesbian persons. The IRS should be paying close attention to what he says. This man is not a shepherd.
The bishop is covertly taking a political position and urging and pressuring catholics to vote his way and the pope's way.
The bishop does not appear to be a person who can think for himself. No red hat for him, from me. Maybe a multi-colored parrot one. Too bad, it could not be a peacock.
UPDATE.....
Yesterday I said Bishop Paprocki is not a shepherd. I even suggested the bishop was one of Benedict’s parrots. Today I want to state he is not a shepherd because he is not a teacher.
Here is a link to a piece written by Jana Bennett who is the Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Dayton and is a contributor to a site dedicated to Catholic Moral Theology. She is a teacher.
Here is a link to the site and her article.
Catholic Moral Theology Site and Article by Jana Bennett
Dr. Bennett speaks to the limitations of making lists of intrinsically evil acts like the bishops have done for the last two political campaigns. She expands this concept to show its inadequacy if this is all you use in a political campaign to tell people how to vote the bishops’ way. Comments by others who are also contributors to the Catholic Moral Theology Site are also reflective and instructive.
When I compare this essay to the statements of Bishop Paprocki, the bishop appears as a poor excuse for a political hack, likely another Dolan hack.
Here are a few quotes from Jena Bennett’s post at Catholic Moral Theology.
“I worry that focusing too much on intrinsic evil enables us to avoid thinking about the many and varied ways that evil infuses our lives.”
Dr. Bennett suggests that even lists of intrinsic evil acts such as Bishop Paprocki would promote as the hallowed official teaching of the church in this year's election are very limited and time sensitive. One “intrinsic evil” that she states should have been included in any list for the 2008 election would have been torture. She suggests that maybe it should be considered this year.
“... given the degree of discussion about torture, perhaps we would want to add that intrinsic evil as well? (At the least, it should have been on the list of non-negotiables in 2008, but it was not….”
On the intrinsic evil of abortion and how some politicians pander to the issue, Dr. Bennett says this: “This is one of the worries when it comes to voting on the basis of intrinsically evil acts: even if I vote for someone who publicly states that he or she is anti-abortion, I may well be inviting a whole host of other, potentially more grave evils, and that requires some very careful prayer and discernment.”
It’s instructive that one of the latest polls from Pew Research shows that Catholics see through the shallowness of appeals like Bishop Paprocki’s.
A story and a link to Pew Research's lastest finding on the Catholic vote
As usual, very interesting & useful post
ReplyDeleteHi BB. Always good to hear from you. I will be happy when this election is over. For me, things seem to be turning, now, in a good direction.
ReplyDelete