{"id":1140,"date":"2009-01-27T12:08:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-27T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/01\/bishop-obama-is-not-the-enemy.html"},"modified":"2009-01-27T12:08:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-27T12:08:00","slug":"bishop-obama-is-not-the-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/01\/bishop-obama-is-not-the-enemy.html","title":{"rendered":"Bishop: “Obama is not the enemy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

But he has a clear idea<\/a> who is: <\/p>\n

Bishop Robert Hermann, administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, says that the election of President Barack Obama would not have occurred without the support of lax Catholics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf at this stage our anger is directed at President Obama, our anger is misdirected,\u201d Bishop Hermann writes. \u201cObama is not the enemy. He needs and deserves our prayers, not our condemnation. As Catholics, we are not guiltless. It seems to me that when President Kennedy compromised Catholic teachings and accommodated political pressures in order to be elected to the highest office in the land, he set the tone for many Catholic leaders to follow and to compromise their Catholic principles to get ahead. In our Supreme Court and in our Congress, we have a plethora of so-called Catholics who are failing to live their Catholic identity. Over 50 percent of our electorate voted for a president who is one of the most pro-culture-of-death candidates from a major party to run for the highest office of the land. Yes, we can thank one-half of our Catholics for bailing out on their faith!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to bring about a transformation from a culture of death to a culture of life,\u201d Bishop Hermann continues, \u201cwe have to restore our Catholic identity. This means that all of us, as Catholics, have to undergo a profound transformation. It means that we have to take a good look at every facet of our Catholic life, including the serious study of life issues, the regular and devout use of our Sacramental system, especially the devout and weekly attendance at Mass, the regular reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the devout praying of the daily Rosary, and then the faithful, loving and firm witness to lax Catholics about our Catholic beliefs and practices \u2026 Until we are willing to be politically incorrect in order to be biblically correct, we will never convince anyone that our religion is worth living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, writes Bishop Hermann, Satan is behind the positions of pro-abortion officials. \u201cPresident Obama, pro-choice legislators and Planned Parenthood are not our enemies. Our enemies are the invisible forces masked behind these people \u2026 They are used by our common enemy, Satan, and his evil forces, to get us to hate so that we, too, will end up in a culture of death \u2026 We owe all of them prayers and fasting for their conversion. At one point, Gov. Reagan was California’s very pro-abortion governor. Yet he became a very pro-life president. He repented and regretted the evil he supported. We must bravely witness against supporting pro-choice and pro-abortion candidates in political elections, but pray daily for their conversion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great time to be a Catholic,\u201d Bishop Hermann concludes. \u201cThis is a great time to witness to such a clear choice, the choice of Christ or the anti-Christ.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But he has a clear idea who is: Bishop Robert Hermann, administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, says that the election of President Barack Obama would not have occurred without the support of lax Catholics. \u201cIf at this stage our anger is directed at President Obama, our anger is misdirected,\u201d Bishop Hermann writes. \u201cObama…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bishops","category-links-r-us","category-politics-and-politicians"],"yoast_head":"\nBishop: "Obama is not the enemy" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/01\/bishop-obama-is-not-the-enemy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bishop: "Obama is not the enemy" - 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