Friday, January 11, 2008

This is our fault



Bill Donohue of the Catholic League has done a good job in his media appearances to defend the faith against its defamation by The View's Joy Behar. One thing Behar’s comments, attitudes, and downright hatred of Catholicism have shown me is how horribly our schools and parishes the faith are at teaching the faith. Behar, like all lapsed Catholics, is in a sense our fault. The Church bears much responsibility for her complete ignorance of the faith she was apparently brought up in. I'm a convert so I was never exposed to any childhood Catholic education, but I will tell you I learned almost nothing about the faith in my RCIA class. All that I know, and have grown to love, about Catholicism I learned through my own initiative.

This has got to change!

UPDATE: Joe has a few excellent suggestions

Monday, January 7, 2008

Why I can't vote for Barack Obama




As an African American man, I have always dreamed of helping to elect a Black man (or woman) as President of the USA. Now, here we are, Democrats poised to nominate such a man. I should be shouting Hallelujah, but I can’t. My Catholic faith has led me to understand and embrace wholeheartedly the Church’s pro-life stance. You must understand that this is something that would have been unimaginable not that long ago. Probably like most pro-choice folks, I wasn’t for abortion per se, but understood it as a "woman’s right" to decide when, and when not, to become pregnant. As a true blue liberal I saw pro-life or, as we would have said, anti-choice, folks as nothing but right-wing nuts who wanted to control women. But now understanding how the Church views this issue ,and how Catholics (should) believe that God commanded us not to kill, and Christ told us to love our neighbor, I cannot see how killing the unborn child can be a consistent with God's Word or liberal values, and is most certainly not a "right". All of the things liberals and most Democrats fight for such as universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage, equal treatment for all, free universal pre-K, environmental stewardship, none of that means anything if you don’t have the right to be born; the right to Life.

While none of the Democratic candidates stand firmly against abortion, Barack Obama seems to me to be the most pro-abortion. Not only is he pro-abortion but he seems the most arrogant towards those who are pro-life. How this can be from a man who says he is a Christian is beyond me, but then some Christian denominations are ok with divorce and gay “marriage” as well.

Just take a look at the video above. In my view, it’s one of the most disingenuous arguments for abortion “rights’ I have ever heard. How does a new human life affect the future of his young daughters? Their father is a young Harvard trained attorney, Senator and possibly future President. How can snuffing the life from one who hasn't even had the chance to enjoy it lead to the equal and fair treatment of women? Unfortunately, it falls in line with much of the liberal defense of abortion -- a line that I once parroted.

Sorry Barack, but I’ll wait for a Black candidate who stands for the sanctity of life.