No, that’s not my belief. However, it is the “theological position” of Catholic Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois. And he makes no rosary beads about it, telling Catholics in his diocese that they will put their eternal soul at risk should they vote for Barack Obama and other Democrats for elective office this November.
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield, Illinois, is warning that the Democratic Party has endorsed “intrinsic evils” and consequently, voters who back Democratic candidates have put their eternal salvation at risk. In the Catholic Times, the official newspaper of the Springfield diocese, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki uses the manufactured controversy about mentioning “God” in the Democratic Platform to argue that the Democrats are hostile to faith, and went on to attack Democrats for endorsing gay rights and opposing the criminalization of abortion. He said those two planks demonstrate that the Democrats “explicitly endorse intrinsic evils,” while noting that he has “read the Republican Party Platform and there is nothing in it that supports or promotes an intrinsic evil or a serious sin.”
Ah yes, intrinsic evil. I wonder if Bishop Paprocki agrees that the Catholic Church’s support of General Franco’s murderous regime in Spain that resulted hundreds of thousands of deaths and other human rights atrocities participated intrinsic evils, especially since these Church officials gave Franco their support in able to solidify their own position and power in the country.
When Franco took power he converted Spain into the past. He outlawed anything that did not agree with catholic beliefs; this included contraceptives, homosexuality, practice of any other religion, prostitution, and divorce(all are presently legal). Franco even went as far has outlawing any other language than Spanish and took away all rights given to the autonomous regions of Spain. At this time church and state of Spain were one body and it was the responsibility of both to enforce the change towards unity. All forms of education and censorship were directed by the church. Franco was given the power from the Vatican to elect church officials, a rare privilege given by the Vatican. Isolation was another concept that described Spain.
Franco even slaughtered Catholic Basques, but no matter, the Church stood firmly in Franco’s camp. Did the officials in the Catholic Church in Spain who supported his murderous and oppressive regime condemn their souls to eternal damnation, Bishop Paprocki? Did the Catholic Church that under Franco participated in a massive baby trafficking scheme suffer the fate that you claim will happen to Obama and Democratic voters?
Up to 300,000 Spanish babies were stolen from their parents and sold for adoption over a period of five decades, a new investigation reveals.
The children were trafficked by a secret network of doctors, nurses, priests and nuns in a widespread practice that began during General Franco’s dictatorship and continued until the early Nineties.
But the women, often young and unmarried, were told they could not see the body of the infant or attend their burial.
In reality, the babies were sold to childless couples whose devout beliefs and financial security meant that they were seen as more appropriate parents.
Inquiring minds want to know. You see, Bishop Paprocki, the Catholic Churches support for right wing dictatorships all over the world, not just in Spain, constitutes intrinsic evils to me far more heinous than the simple act of casting a vote in a democracy. But what do I know? I’m not even Catholic, for which I am eternally grateful after reading the claptrap you published in a silly and ugly attempt to frighten your followers into voting for Romney and Republicans. Shame on you for misusing your position is such a petty and nasty display of what we like to call around here, voter suppression.
Apparently you’d rather have as President a man whose party’s goals are to destroy our country’s safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society, a party who rejects investing in America’s economy so millionaires and billionaires can make more profits and cause more misery for your parishioners by outsourcing their jobs overseas, destroying our elementary and secondary education system through cutting funds and demonizing teachers, and making it harder for their children to attend college by slashing government aid for students. You’d rather they vote for a Presidential candidate who thinks the Emergency Room is an adequate health care provider for the poor, and whose whose party’s stated goal is to eliminate President Obama’s health care reforms, making it ever more difficult for all but the uber-upper classes to obtain and afford decent health care. You’d rather scare them into voting for Republican politicians who care more about corporate people than real ones, and who think starting a third war in the Middle east by a attacking Iran would be a great idea, after our failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended up killing and hundred of thousands if not millions of innocent civilians for a lie.
To be honest Bishop Papracki, it sounds to me as if your actions have far more in common with the “intrinsic evils” you rail against than anyone who votes for Obama and other Democrats this Fall. To which I can only say, if there is a hell, you sir certainly belong there. I’m not exactly sure where Dante would place you, but somewhere in either the 8th or 9th circles would seem appropriate, based on your hypocrisy and malicious and fraudulent actions. It’s Christians like you that have perverted the message of peace, social justice and forgiveness preached by Jesus into just another malevolent cult.
