A "Progressive American Catholic Manifesto" by a Loyola Law prof & respnses

I WILL POST SOME OF MY OWN RESPONSES LATER, AFTER SOME DISCUSSION IF ANY HAS STARTED Here is a cc of a "Progressive American Catholic Manifesto" by a Catholic Loyola University Law prof. I don't know to what extent we are in agreement about strategy, as I have just sent him an initial long email message with some of my postings and letters on the subject. See also commentary from the DAWN (DC anti-war network) website of yahoo!groups where I saw this posted. Their web address for open discussions like these is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dawn-discuss-dc/?yguid=197489931 Benedict and George - We Are Not Leaving! A Progressive American Catholic Manifesto. By Bill Quigley Bill Quigley is a lifelong Irish Catholic U.S. citizen who teaches at Loyola University New Orleans School of Law. His email is quigley@... Within minutes of the media announcement that Cardinal Ratizinger was selected Pope Benedict - I refuse to call a process whereby less than 1% of 1% can vote an election - I received an email asking if I was going to switch churches or wait to be excommunicated! My friends laughed and said “A progressive American Catholic is now a double oxymoron!” The first Pope joke is already racing around Rome. When gregarious and generous Pope John XXIII was made pope, his first words were “Be not afraid!” Now when Pope Benedict is sworn in his first words will be “Be afraid! Be very afraid!” For those of you who are not Catholic, selecting Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope is a lot like selecting Attorney General John Ashcroft as President. Ratzinger has been the enforcer of orthodoxy for years. No women priests. No gay unions. No questioning authority. Fall in line. As a progressive American Catholic I feel uncomfortably out of place - both in country and in church. While the last Pope spoke passionately about poverty and peace and solidarity - these principles were undercut by the practices of protection of the all-male clerical hierarchy. Likewise, we have a president who speaks boldly about freedom and democracy and opportunity - yet these same principles are undercut by practices of global military and economic domination and widespread denial of social and human rights at home and abroad. Yet I, and millions of others, are not leaving - country or church. Millions refused to give up and go to Canada when our current fundamentalist president was elected. And we millions are not leaving the catholic church just because the fundamentalists have assumed power there as well. Our church and our country have wandered far away from the principles of respect and justice and equality that are supposed to be the foundations of each. Yet, we will not leave. It is time to stand and struggle for the soul of church and country - and, I am afraid, more frequently than I would like, to struggle with both our church and country to force them to stand consistently for their principles. If our country will not stand up for justice for civilians in Iraq, prisoners here and abroad, a living wage, racial justice, quality public schools, fair healthcare, and reigning in national and international corporate power - then it is up to us to do it. Our country is the one of Harriet Tubman, Patrick Henry, Eleanor Roosevelt, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King. They inspire us and they give us hope to push forward in these times. If our church will not stand up for women leaders, accountability for abuses, democracy in our institutions, healthy sexuality, equality for people of all orientations, and real respect for all life - including the born - then it is up to us to do it. Our church is the one of Archbishop Oscar Romero, Joan of Arc, Philip Berrigan, Dorothy Day and Francis of Assisi. They inspire us and give us hope to push forward in these times. Benedict and George - we are not leaving. It is our church and our country. We are going to stay and struggle for the soul of both, with love and justice for all. ***************************************** FROM SOME OF THE RESPONSES POSTED AT DAWN website: 1) Excerpt from a posting in response from Jose Rodriguez: there is a joke i am an ex catholic in the event of an emergency get me an ex priest ******************************** 2) Excerpt from a posting by Katie Nelson, in response to a claim that non-Catholics should stay out of issues of Catholic doctrines and sex: I would tend to disagree with what you say about catholics and sex and whether it's our business. It absolutely is our business. The fact that the catholic church operates in a top-down dictatorial manner, that it pushes its agenda on its followers, and that it holds tremendous sway and power over folks throughout the world makes the values it espouses everyone's business. The role the catholic church has played for example in the spread of AIDS with its absurd anti-condom stance affects the whole damn world. And the catholic church has brought its values into our political system. Ratzinger (or was it the former pope..I can't remember..but ratzinger was inner circle) spoke out publicly against catholics supporting any politician esposing pro-choice ideas. Further, this pope emphasizes traditonal social values far and above principles of economic justice - which I think is a total shame because the catholic church historically has shown it can be incredibly effective at working to help the poor. It's great that this pope is against the war in Iraq but war is much more broad than that - we in DAWN have frequently spoken about a war on the poor. What's Ratzinger doing there? I'm not a catholic. In fact I'm not religious in any institutional sense - my mom walked out of the church a long time ago when a black wasn't allowed in and has never looked back. But my feeling is that religious institutions are institutions of power. In fact we MUST critique institutions of power. And we can do so without critiquing peoples' right to faith - which I completely and fully support. Just my two cents, Katie *************************** 3)Here is a piece posted today on WSWS that I think is very good. --- Malachy +++++++++++++++++ Pope Benedict XVI's political resume: theocracy and social reaction By Joseph Kay 22 May 2005 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/apr2005/pope-a22.shtml Although this is the website of a sectarian (Trotskyist group), it does a good job summarizing the political background of Benedict XVI, especially a detailed review of his active intervention in the 2004 US elections, over and above his countenancing of bishops denying communion to candidate Kerry. If the difference between Bush's gain from 2000 to 2004 among Catholics was only the SAME as for the population as a whole, he would have lost decisively; as it is, he rose from 46% to 52% of the reported vote of Catholics, much moreso than the population as a whole. ****************************************** 4) Another article posted by Malachy: From "grand inquisitor" to pope: Benedict XVI to head crusade vs. secularism, democracy By Peter Schwarz 21 April 2005 Excerpts from article: ... The leader of the Green Party faction in the German parliament, Katrin Göring-Eckard, declared that a German pope was a source of satisfaction "irrespective of how one regarded the former Cardinal Ratzinger." He had made a good choice by naming himself "Benedict," she went on, because "the last Benedict was a great advocate of peace who, during his papacy, tirelessly campaigned for an end to the First World War." ... The article goes on to speculate: Ratzinger may well have had Benedict XV in mind when he chose his name. Not because of the earlier pope's diplomatic activities, but because he was, like Ratzinger himself, a bitter opponent of "modernity," i.e., of rationalism, democracy and, above all, socialism. In an apostolic letter which he published only few months after taking office, Benedict XV vehemently opposed all those who put their trust in understanding and reason. Ratzinger's precursor thundered: "Infatuated and carried away by a lofty idea of the human intellect, by which God's good gift has certainly made incredible progress in the study of nature, confident in their own judgment, and contemptuous of the authority of the Church, they have reached such a degree of rashness as not to hesitate to measure by the standard of their own mind even the hidden things of God and all that God has revealed to men. Hence arose the monstrous errors of `Modernism,' which Our Predecessor rightly declared to be `the synthesis of all heresies,' and solemnly condemned. ... Therefore it is Our will that the law of our forefathers should still be held sacred: `Let there be no innovation; keep to what has been handed down.'" These words are contained in the encyclical "Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum" from November 1, 1914, which also condemns the World War. As the text of the encyclical demonstrates, the main objective of the pope was the defense of the existing order that was threatened by the impact of the war. The Vatican was motivated by fears of social upheavals and socialist uprisings, which did, in fact, take place at the end of the war—in Russia, Germany, Hungary and many other countries. For this reason, the encyclical categorically defends the existing authorities. ... The above excellent article can be found in its entirety at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dawn-discuss-dc/message/14011 ******************************************************************** 5) Excerpt from a further comment by Jose Rodriguez ... his views on sex etc affect a lot of people who are not catholic because catholics dont just have sex with catholics and his desire to keep the church mired in the past is bad news for all