Time magazine, yes, it is still being published, has an opinion piece by John Gehring. Gehring is the Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life and a former associate director for media relations at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He views Pope Francis as shifting the debate from issues such as abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage to issues much friendlier to the Democrat party:
The Religious Right has long dominated the values debate in the United States. Evangelical and conservative Catholic leaders built a formidable alliance in the 1970s and 1980s that became a major force in electoral politics. The Catholic activist Paul Weyrich teamed up with Rev. Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority to fight liberalizing cultural trends and paved a path that helped Ronald Reagan win the White House in 1980. George W. Bush built on this model in 2000 and 2004 by operating what is often regarded as the most sophisticated religious outreach strategy in memory. His circle of Catholic advisors served as an informal kitchen cabinet during his presidency. While the old lions of the Religious Right have died or lost influence – and a new generation of progressive religious activists are finding our voice – Christian culture warriors like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and some outspoken Catholic bishops still shape a faith in politics narrative usually focused on a narrow range of sexual issues that overshadow Christianity’s broad social justice claims.
Enter, Pope Francis.
His first U.S. visit will take place as jockeying for the 2016 presidential elections heats up. Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have already invited him to address a joint session of Congress. President Obama quoted him in a speech about inequality last year. While the pope is not changing church teaching on abortion and marriage, he has warned about the perils of a church perceived as “obsessed” with a few hot-button issues, and has called for a “new balance” that focuses renewed attention on the poor. His bold moral critique of global capitalism, specific challenge to “trickle-down economics” and calls to reject an “economy of exclusion and inequality” should breath new life into our values debate at a time when most Americans, especially the Millennial generation, are weary of the culture wars. The pope’s frequent appeals to respect the dignity of migrants and his description of environmental exploitation as a “sin” will surely cause heartburn for a Republican Party that has proven unwilling to act on these core moral issues.
Go here to read the rest. What Time does not tell you is that Gehring’s group is funded by George Soros. Go here for details. Soros has long funded groups like Faith in Public Life to neuter the impact of religion in the public square. These groups see the pontificate of Pope Francis as their opportunity to neutralize the Catholic Church in this country and they are chomping at the bit. Go here to read a letter, and a fisk by Father Z, put out by the USCCB back in 2012 regarding Mr. Gehring and his group. Catholics take note that there are plenty of wolves prowling about right now pretending to be sheep.
“He (Gehring) views Pope Francis as shifting the debate from issues such as abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage to issues much friendlier to the Democrat party: ”
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What is much friendlier to the Democratic party than abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage? Each of these issues concern the individual human being, the sovereign person, and his unalienable rights endowed by “their Creator”. However, Faith in Public Life treat the individual as a member of the group, the communist group, defined by whoever is in charge of the communist group at the time. No freedom of choice , nor thought, nor belief. No freedom to donate to anyone, nor to accept donations from anyone. No freedom to believe in God, to exercise our First Amendments rights unless the Democratic party allows it.
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The Democratic party refused to allow the Person of God into their platform. Fat chance any other person has any freedom.
I almost laughed as I read this article-not that the author was being humorous or that Donald was bringing it to our attention as humor-but nothing could be further from the truth. Pope Francis is not turning the Catholic Church into an extension of the Democratic Party nor of George Soros’ dream world. He may be raising some issues with which the Democrats/liberals can feel more at home [those issues mentiones] but the furthest thing from Pope Francis’ mind is pushing/pulling/moving the Church to the “left” anymore than Saint John Paul or Pope Benedict moved the Church to ‘the right’. In the Church there is no “Left” or “Right”, however there is “RIght and Wrong”!
As mentioned if (not yet confirmed by the Vatican although it certainly seems certain) when Pope Francis come to America it will be precisely to conclude the World Family Days [official name escapes my memory at the moment] being held in Philadelphia. While it would be wrong to see that ‘meeting’ or the Pope being ‘anti’ anything [and there are those who hope that would happen], it will be a resounding, clarion call for the support of marriage between one man and one woman for life and the family which is the fruit of that loving union (God willing). That certainly will not make Soros et al very happy indeed.
It is all speculation if the Pope will visit/speak anywhere else, but if I were a betting man I could possibly see to further venues: the United Nations in New York and Congress in Washington, D.C. However, I can assure Mr Soros, that he won’t be particularly happy with either of those two addresses either. As for an address to Congress/with the 2016 elections on the horizon, I can almost certainly say that neither party will be able to claim Pope Francis as ‘their own’ who ‘backs our agenda’.
“. . . associate director for media relations at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ” – I immediately stopped reading.
Another informative post
What Time does not tell you is that Gehring’s group is funded by George Soros. Go here for details.
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Again, recall Amy Welborn’s description of what animates much of the Church-o-cracy: “bored out of their minds careerism”.
I read the post and the links. I guess the goals of Soros and Gehring are not to elevate the Democratic Party party, they are progressives, farther left than run of the mill democratic voters. I think their souls are almost dead and Satan is waiting to pick them up and take them to his lair.
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Gehring’s the follow-up to the Cardinal George quote about dying in his bed etc– “Not exactly the hopeful Christianity of mercy and joy that Pope Francis has emphasized on his way to rescuing the church from prophets of doom who only see dark clouds gathering on the horizon. This reminds me of Obama’s campaign distortion of “hope” (and b. clinton–from a place called hope) – and he talks about lip service!
Another point- “While some conservative religious leaders view civil same-sex marriage for gays and lesbians as the greatest threat to families today, the real strains keeping parents up at night are economic insecurity and the absence of effective social supports.” repeat: “the absence of effective social supports”. Grates me. Who/what is destroying the effective social supports?! Destroying the family, the domestic churches- which are the best effective social supports.
“Catholics take note that there are plenty of wolves prowling about right now pretending to be sheep.”
More than you can imagine Mr. McClarey.
Between those pretending to be sheep + those that don’t even try and pretend, we should be very, very, concerned.
They are hell-bent (no pun intended) on forcing us to “keep our religion” within the walls of our homes.
And yes, many clergy are aiding and abetting this (whether they realize it or not), and a large percentage of nuns (fully realizing it in many cases) openly want this.
Guest: “They are hell-bent (no pun intended) on forcing us to “keep our religion” within the walls of our homes.”
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The Person of God Who loves us perfectly is to be kept at home, while murder, cheating, lying, stealing and whoring around take center stage in the public square. According to the First Amendment, only Truth, the absence of evil, has freedom of speech and press and peaceable assembly, the rest is perjury in a court of law. If they want to change the First Amendment they must get three quarters of the states to ratify their change. Their change still must meet the requirements of being the perfect truth, devoid of any evil. Truth was tolerated in hell, so why not in the public square? Are we better than Satan?
Yes, we have the ’83 codification, the catechism, the encyclicals and we are so glad! There is still confusion though. Even some lines in the catechism cause a little concern. Remember Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s call for a “syllabus” of the errors of the interpretation of Vatican 2. Not of Vat 2, but of the interpretation and application of it. There is still plenty of ‘splaining to do!