First, let me say I am not anti-Catholic.
I have credentials of working directly with/for the Church,
and with good conscience I can utter that famous
... "Some of my best friends are ..."
But when a church takes on political activities, I can not be any more
tolerant of that church than I would of any political body.
I find the following thrust of the Catholic hierarchy to be political,
and therefore subject to political debate.
Washington Post
Michelle Boorstein,
July 11, 2012
Arlington Diocese parishioners question need for fidelity oath
Quote:
Last month, [Kathleen] Riley joined at least four other Sunday school teachers
and resigned from her post at St. Ann’s parish after a letter arrived at her home requiring her
— and all teachers in the Arlington Catholic Diocese
— to submit “of will and intellect” to all of the teachings of church leaders.<snip>
The Arlington “profession of faith” asks teachers to commit to “believe everything”
the bishops characterize as divinely revealed, and Arlington’s top doctrine official said
it would include things like the bishops’ recent campaign
against a White House mandate that most employers offer contraception coverage.
Critics consider the mandate a violation of religious freedom.<snip>
But for some, particularly more liberal Catholics, the oaths are an alarming effort
to stamp out debate in the church at a time when it is bleeding members and clergy in the West.
They note that church leaders’ views have changed over the centuries on various subjects,
including contraception.
“I’m just shocked, I can’t believe they’re asking me to sign this,” said Riley,
who said she may keep her own children out of the parish education program in the fall.
“The bishops are human, and sometimes their judgment is not God’s judgment.
We always have to be vigilant about that.
The Holy Spirit gives us the responsibility to look into our own consciences.”
<snip>
The Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, who heads the leadership program for Catholic educators
at the University of Notre Dame, said many bishops “are in a pickle.”
They want Catholic institutions to be staffed by people who not only teach
what the church teaches but whose “whole life will bear witness.”
Nuzzi said he keeps a photo on his desk from the 1940s that shows
all the German bishops in their garb, doing the Nazi salute.
“I keep it there to remind people who say to do everything the church says,
that their wisdom has limitations, too.”
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To wit: