Blogs and Stories
Does God Hate the Kennedys?
After denying communion to Patrick Kennedy, the Catholic Church is holding American politics hostage. James Carroll on the Church’s rightward turn.
How reactionary has the Catholic hierarchy become? Let me count the ways:
• Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence “respectfully” tells Congressman Patrick Kennedy to refrain from receiving communion, a harbinger of what every pro-choice or pro-gay-marriage Catholic politician faces.
• Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington threatens to cancel Catholic provision of services to the homeless and poor if the D.C. City Council passes a law giving equal rights to gays.
• The Vatican, uneasy with the relative liberalism of American nuns, launches an intimidating investigation of U.S. religious orders of women, which, when criticized by Maureen Dowd, prompts New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan to complain of anti-Catholicism in the New York Times.
• In October, Rome violates a generation-long tradition of inter-denominational respect to invite disgruntled conservative Episcopalians to join a special new wing of the Catholic Church. Hostility to gays and rejection of equality for women trump theology, tradition, and even courtesy.
• Last week, more than a dozen of the most influential U.S. Catholic bishops (including Dolan and Wuerl) join far-right-wing Evangelicals like James Dobson in “The Manhattan Declaration: A Call to Christian Conscience.” Its co-author Chuck Colson (of Watergate fame) describes “a hierarchy of issues,” but the Catholic Church now has an issues hierarchy.
• On Capitol Hill this month, the Catholic bishops make clear their readiness to scuttle the entire package of health-reform legislation if they do not get their way on abortion restrictions. Health-care reform hangs in the Senate by a thread, which the bishops prepare to cut.
All of this defines a watershed moment. The Catholic Church is more than its hierarchy. Polls show that most Catholic laity dissent on multiple moral questions. But the bishops define the public face of Catholicism–and that face is now marked by a scowling moralism. In days past, the immigrant Church was defined by its core commitment to serve workers, the poor, and the marginal. Catholicism was a powerful partner in the New Deal, Labor, War-on-Poverty, and Civil Rights coalitions, and though there were always conservative bishops (like Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York), the Church did not make doctrinal or ethical conformity a precondition of its participation in the struggle for equal justice. That is why, across the 20th century, it was a force for progressive social change. That is over.
For the first time in its history, the American Catholic hierarchy is solidly right wing. There is not one liberal voice among its members. The bishops are at home with the heirs of a know-nothing fundamentalism that once, by every measure of theology and social policy, embodied the Church’s opposite. This realignment is the consequence, within Catholicism, of the conservative appointments made to the episcopate over 27 years by Pope John Paul II, but it also reflects the broader, post-Ronald Reagan phenomenon of the arrival of the Religious Right as an establishment force in American politics.
How Rich People Smoke Pot
Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
Stars Celebrate the Super Bowl
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
How to Spot an Islamophobe
James Carroll's recent book is Practicing Catholic, a story of American belief. He is a columnist for the Boston Globe and Distinguished-Scholar-in-Residence at Suffolk University. His other books include An American Requiem, which won the National Book Award, House of War, winner of the PEN-Galbraith Award, and Constantine's Sword, now an acclaimed documentary.
Misogynist Massachusetts
James Carroll's recent book is Practicing Catholic, a story of American belief. He is a columnist for the Boston Globe and Distinguished-Scholar-in-Residence at Suffolk University. His other books include An American Requiem, which won the National Book Award, House of War, winner of the PEN-Galbraith Award, and Constantine's Sword, now an acclaimed documentary.
The Christian Anti-Gay Campaign
James Carroll's recent book is Practicing Catholic, a story of American belief. He is a columnist for the Boston Globe and Distinguished-Scholar-in-Residence at Suffolk University. His other books include An American Requiem, which won the National Book Award, House of War, winner of the PEN-Galbraith Award, and Constantine's Sword, now an acclaimed documentary.
Monk66
haha the vatican throwing its weight around...
mindlessmissy
F#ck 'Em ... !
IF you believe in a God, you do NOT need a church to enable you to live to his vision ...
hockeydog
Missy, it really isn't worth the anger.
Fact is, the U.S. could shut this outfit
down under the RICO statute, the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization
act (ain't no lawyer, but seems logical anyway).
I mean, the evidence is in. Not hundreds, but thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands over several generations of children, raped, and molested by pedophile priests being shuffled hither and yon, by their equally pedophile bishops to avoid discovery and potential prosecution.
But, as a worldwide organization, the Catholic Church is bigger, and more powerful than the U.S. Government. Untouchable in fact!
galeso
Turn to the right? In a one dimensional world it could be argued that they moved to be a little less leftist. However, I think that anti-libertarian would be a much more accurate description.
connie47
The last of Mr. Carroll's bullet points is enough to show that the Catholic Church needs to be stripped of its untaxed status.
camfield
Another example of how power corrupts.
robdcee
I support Patrick Kennedy. So, I hate to admit it when I say I fear that the Roman Catholic Church is proving correct all the critics of his uncle's presidency: That electing an RC as president would put the US government at the mercy of Rome. This is precisely what is happening here, now. Is this really what we want?
Johnnyappleseed
What about the Quakers?
duif100
What do you prefer? At the mercy of the RC Church or at the mercy of Islam and Shariah law?
nightdragon09
Hey liberals... if you hate Catholics/Christianity so much and believe that religion is a bunch of BS, then how come you feel the need to fill that empty void in your lives by starting your own religions/cults, like Scientology and the cult of Global Warming??? Most of the Hollyweird crowd belongs to The Church of Scientology, one of the biggest cults in the world, and just about everyone of the left side of the aisle worships at the Church of Global Warming, run by the Goreacle himself!
And I love how liberals always seem to single out Christians when bashing religion... yet they never seem to have anything bad to say about Islam and Judaism, both of which have been around for just as long, and both of which, especially Islam, has been responsible for most of the world's grief, suffering, pain and death over the past 2,000 years or so.
Monk66
i guess the middle ages slipped your mind.
Islam has a lot of catching up to do if they want to take on the big hauncho of christ himself.
adifferentage
"the cult of Global Warming"
Yeah, okay. Asides from everything else? Maybe read this first -- http://www.greenfacts.org/en/climate-change-ar4/ -- and then kindly grace us with a brief summary of why you would consider the UN's Intergovernmental Panel (established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme) on Climate Change a "cult."
By which I mean, a more substantial claim that "AL GORE D:" would be nice.
nightdragon09
Well, I usually tend to classify any group that brainwashes kids and forces them to sing songs about the agenda they are pushing as a "cult", but that's just me.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/net_result_sure_beats_nut_revolt_q afIP4m2M9TAty2eLxyz5M
And then when the cultists are caught red-handed with their pants down, i.e. "ClimateGate", they tend to go all Wizard of Oz on us non-believers and tell us to "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
If the Earth was truly getting warmer as a direct result of human activity, then these so-called "scientists" wouldn't need to fudge their numbers in order to support their case, would they??? I mean, it would kind of be obvious since there would be a clear trend of warming from the beginning of the modern industrial age up until today, right? Oh wait, the Earth has actually been COOLING for the past decade, and the hottest year on record was right smack in the middle of the Great Depression, so now that so-called "hockey stick" chart that scientists (and Al Gore) have staked their entire credibility on has been debunked to hell and back again by pesky little things called facts!
connie47
There goes freedom of religion in America. Nightdragon has declared it wrong to (a) be part of anything that is not Christian/Catholic, and (b) to speak in public about the history of Christianity and the RC.
nightdragon09
*goes back and re-reads his post*
Yeah Connie47... that's EXACTLY what I said.
/sarc
I was merely pointing out the hypocrisy of the left when it comes to Catholics and Christians, because lefties will bash their religion all day long, but won't touch any other religious group or organization with a 40 foot pole for fear of being "politically incorrect."
"There goes religious freedom in America", huh? Last time I checked, I'm not the one trying to ban any and all public displays of religious symbolism during the holidays... unless of course they represent religions/beliefs of the PC protected minority groups, then they are perfectly acceptable!
And as for "declaring it wrong to speak in public about the history of Christianity"... yeah, good luck trying to speak about Christianity in a public school... unless of course you focus exclusively on the Crusades and the recent sexual abuse scandals, then that is perfectly fine with the wise and all-powerful leaders of teachers' unions and your local board of education.
AndyMay
You mean the Vatican is trying to control America through the guise of religion. Roman Catholics really need to ask themselves if their allegiance is first to America or to the Vatican. And, no they should not confuse the Vatican with G-d.
chefbob50
If Rome (i.e.) catholicism wants to make policy in the U.S. they should lose their tax exempt status.
beproductive
Read The Family. If a conspiracy theory is real, it's a conspiracy. It's all connected - the C Street house, Kyl, Ensign, Dobson, Colson, Coe. They're using redefined religion to take over the world.
AndyMay
Yes, and Broklyn Bridge is for sale.
politicalpam
I am a non baptized person who grew up in a solid Catholic neighborhood 55 years ago. Hard to believe that people still buy into the religion. However, there is a cure. Stand up and tell "God" to go f**k himself, that you are no longer willing to play with childish things. I promise you that you will not be struck dead. Life will go on.
iamone3
Shame on you!!! There is both good & bad in humanity & individuals are free to believe or not believe in God but for you to hurl such insults is demeaning to yourself .You might try speaking with a bit more intelligence if you wish to be taken seriously.
Monk66
what pam said was no different than you telling her to embrace jesus or mohammed or buddha as her light and savior. because she trampled on your belief it is bad but if you trample on her non-belief it isnt?
If you dont want to hear atheists tell some guy in the sky to go phunk himself, then tell the church to not go around telling atheists to go grovel at jesus' feet.
If you want a bit more intelligence on our issue, read the god delusion by richard dawkins. I promise that god wont smite you because you read a book contradicting the bible, or the qur'an, or any other religious book you might have.
iamone3
I never told pam to embrace anyone , just to clean up the foul language.
incredulousnyc
Great. Now your superior morality kicks in and all you can do is pick on Pam's choice of words.
MTinMO
No where in your reply does it say to not use foul language. You mention intelligence, but no where do you say anything about the profanity. Your intention appears to be something other than a rebuke over the profanity. You shame the person? Who gives you the right? Hurling insults? Against god? Who made you god?
iamone3
Monk & Mt , you both seem to lack comprehension skills , pams words were foul mouthed . I don`t care what she believes in , if she wants to be taken seriously , clean up the "potty" mouth.
spacialist
iamone3, you just don't get it do you? It is cheap smoke and mirrors rhetoric to address how something is said rather than the essence of what they say. Your not liking how something is stated does not render it logically invalid. It is the mark of one not committed to truth only trying to sound good.
iamone3
incredu & spac, you both have a good day.
cfavilov
I'm not Catholic (so perhaps I underestimate the fear of estrangement from one's religion) but I don' t understand from whence comes their power...you don't need a priest (or a pope) to talk to God. And you certainly don't need these soiled folks. Bless the nuns!!!
katela
God is this article rich. Cardinal Spellman was a notorious homosexual. The church has not had Christian values since the Middle Ages. The Church is all about money as is the Evangelical Movement. Pat Robertson, James Dobson anyone.
Monk66
haha christian values in the middle ages is like radical islam values in todays period.
and you have to admit, spellman did look good in high heels.
spacialist
here, here!
ncsteeler
And they there are so many of us ex-catholics. Tolerance is a virtue not a vice. The church can have conservative views but it should not forget basic christan values such as caring for the poor and less fortunate and standing up for human rights. The church used to have a big picture view of the world; now they seem to be getting more and more petty and sanctimonious. When the pope and bishops get over this they can give me a call and I'll forgive them.
ktkllrs
I don't like the church using communion to try to control politicians, but if they are going to, why only on abortion? Why not refuse communion to politicians who vote against services for the poor? Because their hierarchy of values now focuses on specific issues over big-picture truths.
adifferentage
Amen.
I spent a lot of time in my teenage years differentiating between personal faith and the church's stance on many issues close to my heart, once I realised that my personal understanding of what Christianity stood for stood rather at odds with what the Vatican preached. I think that a lot of people who grew up with a solid component of the former do, in fact, become better persons for it; but blind adherence to sociopolitical hard lines and bona fide ideology-based intimidation is -- in so many ways, it stains the goodness of faith.
DakLak
I thought there was supposed to be separation between state and church?
Tell this bunch of bible-thumping child abusers to stay in their churches, the days when the churches ran countries is over.
DakLak
TYPO:
... the churches ran countries ARE over.
Soonchurcher
The Catholic Church is a club with rules. If you profess to be a member, then you must follow the rules or else face censure, punishment or banishment. Like all clubs, they use their numbers to influence policy and laws in their area, or if you are Catholic, in the world.
namedujour
Their rules don't trump law. That includes the laws that allow legal medical procedures, and the laws that protect children.
Soonchurcher
If you are a member/believer they do. Abortion=murder=hell. Simple. Poking little boys is just, well, "sport".
fenngibbon
Um, how do their rules trump law with regard to abortion? It's not as if they were ordering Kennedy to kill abortion doctors.
getkicksonrte66
Hmmm a club eh? So do they have off shoot clubs inside the big club? Could one name be Hiding Pedophiles In The Clubhouse??
robfsumcc
I believe South Park coined a name for it already. The "Super Adventure Club".
MTinMO
Not when they are threatening to derail health care reform if it doesn't have what the catholic bishops want it to have. They are involving themselves in MY life and I am not catholic!
fenngibbon
Where do YOU get off involving yourself in MY life? I don't have health insurance, but if this reform passes, I will have to buy health insurance that I can't afford right now? Who do you think you are to force me into spending money I don't have?
Chuckl8
A report " ... on the Church's rightward turn" ?
Are you kidding? When was the Catholic church NOT hard-right? The few times the Church held hands with the Left was when local dictatorships threatened its power in the region.
The Church's stand against abortion and any type of birth control that doesn't involve the rhythm method has only one aim; ... producing more little Catholics. That ain't even close to liberal.
iamone3
Abortion is murder. Do you really believe you are killing a cucumber when you have an abortion . Get real.
spinozareader
No. It is not. (i.e. Not a cucumber; and not a murder.)
Get real.
iamone3
Say what you want , but if it were a cucumber it wouldn`t be murder, but its a human life(& the most innocent of the innocent). It`s intellectually dishonest to say we are not talking about human life here.
incredulousnyc
It's intellectually dishonest to afford protections to barely developed fetuses and then withdraw support for the poor and homeless to defend such a position. Hypocritical asses.
MTinMO
YOU believe it is murder. I do not. Do not try to force YOUR religious beliefs down MY throat. YOU are free to belief as you wish. SO AM I. Keep religion out of our laws and our politics!
iamone3
MT ,I didn`t bring religion into it , you did. I referred to intelligence. You can believe in the tooth fairy if you choose. But for you to say abortion is all about a woman ridding herself of a vegetable is NOT intellectually honest.I`m just saying , think about it.
MTinMO
I don't believe it is a human life until much later. And few people base their anti-abortion beliefs in the science because science says it isn't a human life at the early stages of pregnancy. That generally comes out of a belief system based in religion. I never said it was a vegetable, but I don't believe it is a human life in the first trimester of pregnancy.
iamone3
MT, what do you believe it is then? Can you tell me?
rustywheeler
iamone3: Conception > zygote > blastocyst > embryo > fetus > BIRTH > human baby. It isn't murder, and nobody loves it.
iamone3
Thats your opinion & you are entitled to it. When I was pregnant I knew I was carrying a human in my womb.I was drug free so never imagined it was "something less" than human.
spinozareader
So, iamone3--
According to your statements, anyone who is pro-choice must be a drug addict, as opposed to a reasonable human being whose views differ from yours. You're too narrow-minded to reason with, sadly.
iamone3
spino,if you got that from what I said ,well you have a good day dear.
lacanian
In the defense of spinozareader--
iamone3,
When you stated:
'I was drug free so never imagined it was "something less" than human.'
How is that not implying that pro-choicers are drug users? To rephrase that sentence to its contrapositive, you are stating the following: "I was not drug-free so I imagined that it was '"something less" than human.'
Either (a) you're incredibly sloppy when it comes to semantics and didn't write down what you intended or (b) you implied that pro-choicers come to a differing conclusion about abortion through drug abuse.
In the defense of "intellectual honesty"--
iamone3,
What constitutes a human life for you? It seems to me that you presuppose that a potential human life is an actual human life. Am I wrong? Furthermore, you write that you "knew" that it was a human life when you were pregnant. Could you describe this thought process and reasoning?
Sidenote: people might assume a very simple form of consciousness (i.e. reacting to stimuli by kicking in the womb) as a pre-requisite for actual human life.
iamone3
lacanian, Life begins at conception,& that life evolves in the womb until it is able to live outside the womb ( even then it would not survive without care & nourishment).It is a human life by virtue of the fact that a male & female human being ,together, conceived it. The degree of consciousness is debatable but consciousness does not determine "human life". If that were true then when a person became unconscious they would cease to be a human life. My reference to being drug free was merely a statement of my being fully conscious & aware that my partner was a human being (not an alien or animal or vegetable) therefore what we produced together was "fully" human. I hope that clears up any misunderstanding .
polako1
Shouldn't surprise us, but the church is very selective about whom it denies communion: remember such murderous catholics like Pinochet and Francisco Franco?
dlc1550
Actually you don't have to go back that far - just adjust your memory to earlier this year when multiple divorcee hypocrite Rudy Guiliani was allowed to take communion with his 'current' squeeze - on television no less. I almost threw up - and I'm not Catholic.
AndyMay
Two scenarios: in one case the family of a deceased gay man asks the church for a RC church service and they are turned down even though the deceased gay man attended church regularly. The fact that he was a practicing homosexual was the problem from what I understand. Around the same time the son of a local businessman dies and yes he too was gay but in that case the uncle just happened to be the archbishop. The archbishop presided over the funeral and the partner of the deceased was there and the full RC funeral service was performed. I also know of several annulment cases but let me give serious ones. A man and wife were married in the RC church. They had 5 children. They were married for 15 years and they attended church regularly. They were divorced because he had a drinking problem. She found someone within a year and the first marriage was annuled. Oh yes, the cousin of the new groom just happened to be a priest. How about an annulment after 2 marriages in the RC church (3 children) and 2 annulments? Yes, as you said, it all depends on who you know.
sonofloud
The catholic church's main goal has always been to acquire wealth and power.
It is interesting though how they will deny communion to anyone who promotes civil rights and liberties but have no problem giving "the body of christ" to people like Antonin Scalia, who enforce the death penalty which the catholic church claims to be against.
JohnConnughton
An interesting thought. So they are selective about which 'mortal' sins are really mortal, and which 'venial' sins can be overlooked. If they are to survive the Pope in Rome needs to reign then in and impose some consistency on them.
The problem with that is of course that having understood the diversity of cultures, and the pointlessness of trying to impose just one everywhere, you might as well go home.
armchair
Now I've seen it all!! As a child, my father, a Protestant, would help me and my siblings study the Baltimore Catechism in preparation for our Sat AM classes where we learned that only Catholics could get into heaven. Later in life I learned it was no longer necessary to refrain from eating meat on Fridays, babies who had not been baptised were no longer consigned to Limbo, a mixed marriage ceremony could be conducted with a priest and a minister, it really wasn't a sin to enter a Protestant church , Cathlics can be buried in a non Catholic cemetery etc,etc. A bit of a crediblity gap has been created and increases with each passing day. It's hard to take seriously the admonitions of some misguided church officials when they have changed the rules once believed to be sacrosanct, and fostered abuse on our children.
It was thrilling when JFK assured this country he would not be following marching orders from the Pope and was the first Roman Catholic to be elected President. His philosophy was shared by millions of Catholics across this country. Not that we don't respect and love the Pope but we recognize his influence is limited to church doctrine and not the secular sphere.
Do we want to become a theocracy? Do we want to deny rights to those who do not believe as we do? Are we to become like the Taliban?
Some of my ancestors left England to escape religous oppression and now it seems we are creeping back into those same pitfalls.
I pray this insidious evil will not permeate the political landscape of this country.
Shame on those American bishops who would deny the sacraments to our politicians elected to serve all of their constituents not to further their own religious ideologies. Oh yes , the teachings of Jesus should guide all believers but he gave us free will and a conscience which must take into consideration all aspects of our responsibilities.
It seems the Catholic Church is losing its way, failing to trust in Jesus, all knowing, all merciful, all inclusive. He will sit in judgement and only He knows what is in a person's heart.
JohnConnughton
Well said.
Johnnyappleseed
I suppose that when they do to people what the Taliban does, we should become concerned.
I don't condem the Catholic reigion as some have on this page, but if their rules are to abide by their doctrine or accept the consequences, pretty simple, otherwise if Patrick doesn't get communion, then get another religion that will allow him to live the lifestyle he supports.
As for no liberals in the heiarchy, it's the much like the newspapers out there that are liberal biased.
Xgecko
I figure if the Catholic Church is going to start playing politics then maybe they need to start paying taxes like the rest of us
derekcrane
Yes, and let's add Rev. Wright's church to the tax role.
JLF1200
I think you're trolling the wrong article, buddy.
Johnnyappleseed
No taxes for the reverend Wright, he's from Chicago you know!
chefbob50
how about all church's.
spinozareader
Absolutely! And the same should hold true for any "church" in this country. It's high time they pay their fair share of taxes (since many are already trashing the separation of church and state in this country by telling their respective flock members how they ought to vote).
NostrillaPoore
I suspect that there are far fewer Catholics willing to abide the church hierarchy's wishes than the Catholic church suspects. Intelligent people realize that the church long ago abandoned its claim to morality by covering up decades of child abuse by its priests.
That the church continues to believe it has a right to influence secular policy is both offensive and indicative of its sustained refusal to recognize the squandering of any moral high ground it might have had in the eyes of so many of its parishioners.
A belief in God does not require jeweled princes who can't live by the priesthood's own rules, gilded churches amidst homeless parishioners and crumbling schools, or an edifice to legitimize worship.
It's time for the Catholic church to look itself squarely in the mirror, observe the world around it, and determine whether it wishes to become totally irrelevant or change with the times.
jarussell
Sounds to me like 'the church' is headed the way of the republican party.....out of control and desperately trying to hold on to its members through intimidation and threats.
MaliciousDisorder
Being a hypocrite isn't God like.
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.