Pope Ratso gives big "Fick Dich" to Catholic Peace Movement

[Ian David]

O’Brien in Baltimore: A dark day for the US Church
posted by Bob Waldrop on July 13th, 2007
by Robert Waldrop, Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House www.justpeace.org

Comes now the news that the Archbishop for Military Services, the Most Reverend Edwin O’Brien, has been appointed as the new Archbishop of Baltimore.

Is this a message from Rome to the Catholic peace movement: “Go to hell”?

O’Brien has been an key supporter of the unjust war on the people of Iraq from the beginning. He criticized Bishop Botean for his courageous statement that participation in the war on the people of Iraq was the moral equivalent of willing participation in an abortion.

As the Archbishop for Military Services, O’Brien preached a gospel of moral laxism and relativism, claiming that we should “trust” our leaders instead of judging the war by the criteria of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He gave tacit ecclesiastical permission for Catholic members of the armed forces to participate in a manifestly unjust war. To this day, he continues to call for a “responsible transition” and thus turns his back on the suffering people of Iraq, condemning them to more death, more suffering, more murder.

In his Memorial Day message this year (2007), Archbishop O’Brien says that “at no time has the Holy See or the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops cast doubt on the motives of our national leadership in the Executive or Congressional branches.” This is undoubtedly true, but should we trust the opinions of our bishops on issues of such consequence, given the extent that they themselves have embraced the culture of death? Ask the victims of the clergy sexual abuse crisis about the “judgement” of the U.S. Catholic bishops. Plenty of other people have rightfully questioned the motives of President Bush and the members of Congress who voted for this unjust war. But those pro-life opinions don’t count to the Archbishop of Baltimore.

More:
http://www.pieandcoffee.org/2007/07/13/obrien-in-baltimore-a-dark-day-for-the-us-church/

[saltpoint]

1. What a strange bag of beans this guy is.

He's got the brains but the compassion signal is inconsistent.

I really wish the College of Cardinals had chosen one of the Central American/Cuban land reform guys for the top job.

This Pope is not that good at rounding edges and making friends, and it seems to me that a vicar of his standing probably ought to be.

[Gman]

3. The talk at the time was

it was Ratzinger's turn and that Ratzinger was old and wouldn't live more than 10 years more or so. So he wouldn't be able to make any kind of real significant impact.

And, not that good at rounding edges and making friends? He's German. You can't expect much more. I told our Polish parish priest that after Benedict made his completely irrelevant to his speech comment about Mohammad a few months ago and our priest just laughed and said, "Yeah."

[Gman]

2. As a Catholic,

I occasionally get confronted about the abortion issue. My in-you-face response has been for 4 years now "when you talk about Iraq the way you talk about abortion, I might take you seriously. Until then, you're picking and choosing your "life" issues which is moral relativism, isn't it?"

[Peregrine Took]

4. Ya, I feel that way but they say that more abortions are performed than

people who are killed in Iraq and therefore, abortion has to to to the top of the list - before war.

[aquart]

5. Then insist you want to see sources and numbers.

Because they clearly don't have a clue how many have died in this war.

[CatholicEdHead]

6. Are we weighing lives now?

Pure numbers does not make one life worth more than another.

[Gman]

7. Of course not

but that's the apparent argument of anti-abortion Catholics. And also, it seems, that numbers of abortions outweigh the war dead in Iraq so Iraq is OK.

[Ian David]

8. Some of the Iraqis had fetuses, too. n/t

[Toasterlad]

9. Apples and Oranges, To Me

Abortion is "killing" something not yet human. The Iraq war is killing human beings. There's no question which is the greater evil.

I'm aware that many people feel differently, but it's a very simple issue for me.