Catholic Bishops Gear Up to Beat Trump in 2020
Cardinal Blase Cupich speaks at an end of school year peace rally on June 15, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
By Deal W. Hudson 
Monday, 18 Jun 2018 12:28 PM

           
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The Catholic bishops met in Fort Lauderdale a few days ago. The dominating topic of discussion was politics, specifically, their official guide to Catholic voters, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.
The Pope Francis faction, led by Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago, called for a complete rewriting of the docuмent since it no longer represented "the new body of teaching" as taught by the present pontiff, specifically mentioning climate change, poverty, and immigration.
Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego went a step further saying the present docuмent doesn't represent "Catholic teaching as it is now."
These two are not the only ones who believe that in the space of five years, since Bergoglio's 2013 election, the moral and social teaching of the Church has been so fundamentally altered Faithful Citizenship no longer speaks with the true voice of the Church. So much for an institution considered slow to change.
Other leading bishops, however, including Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles, opposed writing a new docuмent, arguing what was needed was a more straightforward, significantly redacted version of Faithful Citizenship along with an accompanying video for YouTube, etc.
When the votes were tallied, 77 percent of the bishops voted for the creation of shorter materials — a letter, video, and other "resources" to supplement Faithful Citizenship.
During this discussion there was no mention of Trump being the most pro-life president in our nation's history. It should not surprise us at that omission since the intent behind the beefing up of Faithful Citizenship is to deny Trump a second term in office.
The bishop's present silence about the president's achievement is only another iteration of their attempt during the campaign itself to camouflage Hillary Clinton's pro-abortion stance by arranging with moral indictments Trump about "The Wall."
The strategy didn't work. Faithful Catholics would not be bullied into seeing moral equivalence between killing the unborn and insisting on secure national borders.
Trump/Pence won 52 percent of all Catholic votes and 56 percent of mass-attending Catholics. In the election aftermath, the weeping and wailing at the USCCB must have matched that of Hollywood, the EU, and the mass media.
As it stands, the 2015 version of Faithful Citizenship is a flawed docuмent. A close reading of it offers the Catholic voters several loopholes allowing them to ignore a candidate's abortion stand if other "morally grave reasons" prevail. It remains to be seen, whether the new supplements will magnify these flaws or keep them buried in theological mumbo-jumbo where they belong.
We can fully expect, however, the redacted version of Faithful Citizenship to put the immigration issue front and center. This placement will create the impression of a de facto moral equivalence with settled life issues such as abortion. The bishops approved language that virtually guaranteed these new shorter materials will "apply the teachings of Pope Francis to our day."
But just as in 2016 when the bishops pressed the immigration issue, it won't work in 2020. For one thing, Pope Francis has spent all the capital of good will created by his election and his successful U.S. visit. Pope Francis, as it were, has no 'coattails.'
If the bishops produce election materials that recast Faithful Citizenship to fit the Pope's vision, it will only create greater distance between the bishops and their faithful. They will be relegating themselves to becoming just another cadre of grumpy Never-Trumpers.
At the very least, the bishops could have expressed common ground with the Trump administration on his efforts to defuse the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. After all, doesn't this come under the rubric of "world peace"?
The bishops, instead, focused on the president's decision to exit the Paris Climate Agreement. The USCCB itself has been asked to sign the Paris declaration by its own Catholic Climate Covenant created in 2006. How much money will it cost Catholics if the bishops decide to play in European politics on that issue?
Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, the bishops ignored the opportunity of voicing solidarity with the president's pro-life agenda and his the quest for peace between North and South Korea. Instead they prepared to sharpen their knives for the 2020 election. Is this what we now call "evangelization"?
Dr. Deal W. Hudson took over Crisis Magazine in 1995, leaving in 2010 to become president of Catholic Advocate. While at Crisis, Hudson led the Catholic voter outreach for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and later advised the campaigns of both John McCain and Donald Trump on Catholic outreach. In 2014, he began his weekly two-hour radio show, "Church and Culture," on the Ave Maria Radio Network, and launched www.thechristianreview.com in 2015. His books include "Happiness and the Limits of Satisfaction" and "Onward Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States." To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.

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Read Newsmax: Catholic Bishops Gear Up to Beat Trump in 2020 

Quote from: Viva Cristo Rey on August 31, 2018, 01:15:29 AMBishops  Gear up to beat Trump 2020

in other words: Jew Shapiro, Judaized Novus Ordo sect, et al. Liberals vs. Trump
makes sense

Judging by Trump's "off key" humor during , he understands the folly of Modernist "Catholics."

Quote from: Geremia on August 31, 2018, 03:35:30 PM
in other words: Jew Shapiro, Judaized Novus Ordo sect, et al. Liberals vs. Trump
makes sense

Ben Shapiro may be a Jew but he's certainly a conservative. Or can we at least agree he's not a leftist? He calls out the leftists and SJWs every chance he gets. I know, he believes in the mythical "ʝʊdɛօ-Christianity" and all that, but there's no way he'd side with a Hillary over Trump.
I didn't see Shapiro mentioned anywhere in the article. But based on his own words, I'm sure he voted for Trump.

This makes me so angry -- I'm supposed to be a Catholic, everyone knows I'm a Catholic, so they have their doubts that maybe I'm a Hillary supporter because I'm Catholic. I guess there's one way to solve that -- buy and wear a MAGA hat.

But seriously, this really illustrates how far down the conciliar church has fallen. When they promote a Hillary Clinton and her Deep State, asking their dupes to vote for her, that is the height of folly.

And the whole immigration thing really boils my blood to begin with. God didn't intend for the whole world to live in the United States. Maybe if the USA were uniquely blessed with fresh water or fertile land, and the rest of the world were a barren desert, maybe I could understand it. But that isn't the case at all! The only reason the USA is so great is because white, Christian Europeans colonized this country, and imposed their civilization upon it, bringing an order which allowed for a great standard of living.

Each and every person immigrating to this country has *another* country they can call home. Why don't they fix up their own countries? Why should they get to enjoy the fruits of OUR ancestors' labor? We can let some in, yes (only through the proper channels of course) but it's still a GIFT. No one has a right to a society they weren't part of building. And no group of people have a right to overwhelm, change, dilute or destroy the culture of another country!

People don't have a right to "economic advantages" of living in some richer country. That's a bunch of bull. Anyone moving to this country seems to be shouting to the world that "Whites are superior" because they are leaving their Latin, Asian, African, etc. countries behind and fleeing for their lives. They seem to be saying loudly -- by their actions -- that their own countries are sh*tholes. They are certainly admitting that we made a better civilization, because they want in on it.

Quote from: Matthew on August 31, 2018, 03:52:02 PMShapiro may be a Jew but he's certainly a conservative.

You must be talking about another Shapiro, not Josh Shapiro.