Catholic bishop telling people who to vote for...

[Archae]

Says voting for Obama will "send them to hell," but Republicans aren't "sinful."

A Catholic bishop from Springfield, Illinois is warning that the stakes for the 2012 election are even higher than most people think because voting for President Barack Obama could damn "you own soul" to hell.

In a column and video posted by the official newspaper of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and obtained by Right Wing Watch on Wednesday, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki called out the Democratic Party for temporarily removing God from their platform, supporting abortion and recognizing that "gay rights are human rights."

"There are many positive and beneficial planks in the Democratic Party Platform, but I am pointing out those that explicitly endorse intrinsic evils," the bishop explained. "My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote. But I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues. I would be abdicating this duty if I remained silent out of fear of sounding 'political' and didn't say anything about the morality of these issues. People of faith object to these platform positions that promote serious sins."

"So what about the Republicans? I have read the Republican Party Platform and there is nothing in it that supports or promotes an intrinsic evil or a serious sin," Paprocki added. "One might argue for different methods in the platform to address the needs of the poor, to feed the hungry and to solve the challenges of immigration, but these are prudential judgments about the most effective means of achieving morally desirable ends, not intrinsic evils."

"Again, I am not telling you which party or which candidates to vote for or against," he concluded, "but I am saying that you need to think and pray very carefully about your vote, because a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy."

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/catholic-bishop-voting-obama-jeopardizes-ete

[KauaiK]

1. And why do they have tax-exempt status?

Given the increasing level of religious organizations in government and politics, why do they continue to have tax-exempt status? Same thing for super pacs like Karl Rove's organization.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I hate it when people use religion to blackmail people.

[Dawson Leery]

3. Bush's illegal war in Iraq created 3 million orphans!

Where is the "sin" in that?

The church the Bishop belongs to is an " intrinsic evil "!

[yardwork]

4. Tax them. We can use the tax revenue.

[ReasonableToo]

5. Tried - and failed - to walk the fine line. . .

He's clearly being political and endorsing Rs over Ds. Pull the tax exempt status!!

[fleur-de-lisa]

6. "I am not telling you which party or which candidates to vote for or against . . .

but you're going to hell if you vote for Obama" . . . this from the organization that protected known child molesters for decades!

Who's going to hell?

[treestar]

7. Does he even think it's going to work?

People are going to vote by what he says?

[Auntie Bush]

8. Hell is sure the hell gonna be crowded.

Speaking of hell...how the hell isn't this hellish bishop still getting this hellish tax exemption revoked and why isn't he already in hell?

[GoCubsGo]

9. This is why most Catholics ignore their Bishops.

They ignore them when it comes to divorce, contraception, and a whole suite of other things. Many will ignore this clown and his ilk, as well.

And, they wonder why people are leaving the Church in droves...

[HockeyMom]

10. What you do to the least of the world,

you do to me. Sorry, don't remember the exact quote from Catholic School. Was Jesus talking about zygotes there? Doubt it. How about devastating cuts to programs for the poor, the sick, the elderly, etc., which the Ryan (good Catholic) Budget proposed?

Only the UNBORN matter now? The suffering already born don't matter? A very, very LONG time ago I was at Mass where a visiting Irish Priest gave the sermon. "Let us pray for the unborn (which is always said), AND THE SUFFERING ALREADY BORN." I almost fell off the pew when he said that.

Try preaching THAT, for a change, instead of the unborn, and UN CONCEIVED (every sexual act must OPEN to life)!

[lunasun]

27. Let us pray for the unborn (which is always said),

i didnr know that about catholic services
thanks for the warning should anyone ever try to get me to go to one
I'll make sure to take a pass on it

[awake]

11. Report this to the local IRS office

Some one in Illinois needs to file a formal complaint with the IRS.

[Panasonic]

12. Have the U.S. Government send a $100 trillion dollar bill to the Vatican

for repeated violations of church & state separation.

If the Vatican Bank doesn't pay up, sic the ruthless bill collectors at the Pope Ratzo.

[SheilaT]

13. If you think the only thing that matters

is that all women must bear all pregnancies to term, regardless of how they came about, never mind if that pregnancy would ruin her health or maybe even kill her, utterly disregarding the needs of any children she already has, then a party that endorses no abortion, no exceptions is the right one.

In the real world, a lot else matters.

I just wish that there weren't so many people out there willing to continue considering themselves Catholics who utterly disagree with the Church on so many things.

[progressivebydesign]

15. Don't ya kno?one of the biggest money makers for them is their Adoption Agency..

gotta have fresh white babies to sell.

[SheilaT]

24. Really? I keep on being under the impression

that almost no young women, even those who are white, who have babies out of wedlock, give them up for adoption. It's why everyone I've known in the past couple of decades who have adopted, have adopted babies from other countries.

[loli phabay]

25. theres a lot of hurdles to adoption in the us

Much easier to go abroad. My wife and i have been thinking of going to eastern europe and doing the adoption route.

[progressivebydesign]

14. anytime some religious asshole mentions "EVIL" I go the opposite way.

Seriously... I still can't understand people I know who are liberal and Catholic. It's like taking a job in a company where they tell you flat out when you interview that women will never be promoted, not paid the same, and that the higher ups will do disgusting things and expect you to keep quiet about it.

[hifiguy]

16. "Tax the churches.

Tax the businesses owned by the churches." - Frank Zappa

[meow2u3]

17. Who died and made him God the Father?

meow2u3 to Bishop Paprocki: if there's anyone who's risking eternal damnation, it's you. You are engaging in the dangerous game of spiritual extortion for political gain and you're going to end up in Hell if you're not careful. Jesus Christ preached--and practiced--charity, i.e., love for one's fellow human beings.

Ever heard of the forbidden fruit effect? Apparently, this pushy, radical cleric never got the memo that ordering voters to push the button for repukes will only piss off the electorate and make us want to vote for Democrats even more--just to piss off the hierarchy!

Mark my words: the spiritual and political blackmail from pushy bishops will backfire big time.

[LeftishBrit]

18. 'My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote'

Too right, but he does anyway!

'nothing in it that supports or promotes an intrinsic evil or a serious sin'

Well, Republican ideology certainly isn't great on helping 'the least of these'.

[craigmatic]

19. Seems like Obama should have a little talk with the ambassador to the Vatican about this.

[Avalux]

20. Dumbass Bishop forgot a main tenet of Catholicism......

help those in need....feed them, clothe them, take care of them. He can't see that Republican 'values' are the opposite of that?

Idiot.

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
The fourth tenet is “Option for the Poor and Vulnerable.” This tenet expresses that the measure of a society is the society’s treatment of its most vulnerable members. The needy have the most exigent moral claim on a nation’s conscience. To respond to the needs of the poor, members of a community have a duty to evaluate public policy based on how such legislation serves the needs of the poor.

http://www.ehow.com/info_12045156_seven-tenets-catholic-social-teaching.html#ixzz27i2Fyhxj

[pampango]

21. I read today that Catholics now support Obama by 49-47, so that bishop has his work cut out for him.

[ljm2002]

22. So if the Catholic hierarchy won't shut him up...

...then the government needs to remove the tax-exempt status of the Catholic church.

It's simple, really.

[WillyT]

23. K & R !!!

Notice how he attempts to protect his tax exempt status.

[Smilo]

26. I don't believe in Hell

but if I did, I bet Paprocki would be stoking the fires down there too

[Zambero]

28. The same one(s) who told them never to use birth control?

Oh yeah, those guys....