Running for President as a Pro-Abortion Catholic, Is Biden a Problem for US Bishops?

[Michie]

NEWS ANALYSIS: Biden’s presumptive nomination echoes the intense controversy that erupted in 2004 when John Kerry, another Catholic supporter of legal abortion, was the Democratic presidential nominee.

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden is the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president amid uncertain times, as the U.S. battles the coronavirus pandemic. But for the U.S. bishops, there is an additional uncertainty associated with his candidacy: How should they respond to a Catholic presidential nominee who overtly supports abortion rights?

Biden once again demonstrated his pro-abortion credentials on the campaign trail on April 28, this time asserting them in the context of the question of whether abortion should qualify as an “essential medical service” during the pandemic.

“We need to ensure that women have access to all health services during this crisis,” Biden said at a virtual town hall with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016. “Abortion is an essential health-care service.”

This was only one of a series of times that Biden has defended abortion on the 2020 campaign trail, in direct contradiction to the Church’s teachings about the intrinsic evil of abortion. And while “pro-choice” political sentiments have been the norm for Democratic presidential candidates in the era since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationally, Biden’s Catholic faith adds another element to the pastoral challenge for U.S. Church leaders in this electoral cycle.

Running for President as a Pro-Abortion Catholic, Is Biden a Problem for US Bishops?

 

[thecolorsblend]

Considering all the news that various bishops made during 2016 about Trump's policies and all the Not who we are that was going on even tho Trump has never claimed to be Catholic, I sure hope the bishops show a little bit of consistency with Joe's pro-abortion views.

They will, right? They won't let a Democrat candidate off the hook after he thumbs his nose at Church teaching, will they?

Will they?

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

Trump has been a friend of the Catholic faith. He supported "the sisters of the poor" and spoke at the pro-life rally. Like Trump or dislike him , none can argue he hasn't been consistent in his comments defending the unborn.

Maybe the Bishops should read in scripture on how we judge a tree by the fruit it bears. The Democrats have not been friendly to our faith.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Jesse Romero quoted a priest (I forget who, I'll edit with the name later when I figure it out) who said "the American bishops are the Democratic party in robes".

So I'm not so sure it's as much of a problem for the bishops as one might think.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Trump has been a friend of the Catholic faith. He supported "the sisters of the poor" and spoke at the pro-life rally. Like Trump or dislike him , none can argue he hasn't been consistent in his comments defending the unborn.

Maybe the Bishops should read in scripture on how we judge a tree by the fruit it bears. The Democrats have not been friendly to our faith.

I dislike Trump and will not vote for him. (Won't vote for a Democrat either.) But I do have to admit he has acted like a friend to the Catholic faith and to the unborn. Somehow he 'gets' what is lost on Biden.

Are some bishops Democrats first and Christians second? Just wondering. Nah. Not actually even wondering. We still have McCarrick style bishops who would rather support a pro-abortion Democrat than a pro-life candidate. Sad.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Jesse Romero quoted a priest (I forget who, I'll edit with the name later when I figure it out) who said "the American bishops are the Democratic party in robes".

So I'm not so sure it's as much of a problem for the bishops as one might think.

That used to be entirely the case about two generations ago when to be a Catholic and a Democrat were not incompatible. But the Democrats of old are not their grandchildren's Democrats. I can't recognize the Party any longer.

 

[Gnarwhal]

I can't recognize the Party any longer.

Indeed, the modern Dems are Bolsheviks.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Indeed, the modern Dems are Bolsheviks.

I actually met Eugene McCarthy. And liked him even as I remained a Humphrey Democrat. It was McGovern who started the descent into Bolshevism, and it has 'progressed' ever since. There are about 20,000 people who make a big party run, the true believers. For the Dems the pro-life people have long since been pushed out of that group, those who believe marriage is between one man and one woman have been pushed out, and those who believe in God in any meaningful way have been shown the door. The movers and shakers remaining are split between hard core socialism and sift core socialism.

The pro-Democratic Party bishops are useful dupes for the party and are only tolerated for their ability to influence normal Catholics to vote Democratic Party. It's like the union bosses who are useful for delivering blue collar votes and getting phone banks staffed. The party is no longer blue collar at all. It's just that the memory lingers in the population.

 

[Gnarwhal]

For the Dems the pro-life people have long since been pushed out of that group, those who believe marriage is between one man and one woman have been pushed out, and those who believe in God in any meaningful way have been shown the door.

Have they since gone to the GOP or have they tended to fall in with Libertarian and Independent groups?

The pro-Democratic Party bishops are useful dupes for the party and are only tolerated for their ability to influence normal Catholics to vote Democratic Party.

I was actually just explaining to my mom that the Bishops are to blame for why people like Nancy Pelosi can (and does) still tout a Catholic identity to the public despite being a terrible baby killer. My parents aren't Catholic but I talk about the Church with them a lot, and my mom said Pelosi needs to stop identifying as Catholic because it's a slap in the face to other Catholics—she's right, but I said unfortunately there are a lot of unfaithful Catholics out there who think it's okay to support abortion, gay marriage and other things that are intrinsically evil and disordered, things that the Church has always condemned.

If the Bishops did their jobs all self-proclaimed Democratic Catholics would be excommunicated and forced to reconcile the fact that their political and social ideologies are indisputably incompatible with the Church.

The party is no longer blue collar at all. It's just that the memory lingers in the population.

It's really interesting to me that it does, because I've never understood them in my lifetime to be that same party. I know they were that party for my grandfathers, but they both were raised in that era when it was true of the Democrats (one was born in 1923 and the other in 1931).

I'm only 33 and am from a small city in a largely rural era dominated by almond, rice, and walnut agriculture. Republicans have always been our champions for as long as I can remember. So it's an odd thing to me that the Democrats are still thought of as advocates for the working class when nothing they do serves those interests. If anything, they're thieves of the working class, trying to take their hard earned wages to give to lazy do-nothings.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Have they since gone to the GOP or have they tended to fall in with Libertarian and Independent groups?

I was never part of that 20,000 but I joined the Republicans and became a very minor player in state politics. But then Trump came along and I left. Now I would be active in the American Solidarity Party but they don't seem to have found critical mass yet.

I was actually just explaining to my mom that the Bishops are to blame for why people like Nancy Pelosi can (and does) still tout a Catholic identity to the public despite being a terrible baby killer. My parents aren't Catholic but I talk about the Church with them a lot, and my mom said Pelosi needs to stop identifying as Catholic because it's a slap in the face to other Catholics—she's right, but I said unfortunately there are a lot of unfaithful Catholics out there who think it's okay to support abortion, gay marriage and other things that are intrinsically evil and disordered, things that the Church has always condemned.

If the Bishops did their jobs all self-proclaimed Democratic Catholics would be excommunicated and forced to reconcile the fact that their political and social ideologies are indisputably incompatible with the Church.

Exactly. Our leaders bought us into this mess. But then we get the leaders we pray for.

It's really interesting to me that it does, because I've never understood them in my lifetime to be that same party. I know they were that party for my grandfathers, but they both were raised in that era when it was true of the Democrats (one was born in 1923 and the other in 1931).

I'm only 33 and am from a small city in a largely rural era dominated by almond, rice, and walnut agriculture. Republicans have always been our champions for as long as I can remember. So it's an odd thing to me that the Democrats are still thought of as advocates for the working class when nothing they do serves those interests. If anything, they're thieves of the working class, trying to take their hard earned wages to give to lazy do-nothings.

Now they are the party of deviency, of privilege, of abortion, and with a fascist tendency. Thieves of the working class is about right. Not friends of the poor either, they promote dependency.