{"id":617,"date":"2009-11-12T18:26:21","date_gmt":"2009-11-12T18:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html"},"modified":"2009-11-12T18:26:21","modified_gmt":"2009-11-12T18:26:21","slug":"new-catholic-hardball-trading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html","title":{"rendered":"New Catholic Hardball: Trading the Poor for Doctrinal Purity"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

This morning’s Washington
\nPost<\/i> made me choke on my coffee:\u00a0
\n<\/span>“Catholic Church Gives D.C. Ultimatum.”<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>The Catholic Archdiocese is playing political hardball by threatening to cut off social
\nservices to the city’s poor–including the homeless, the hungry, the sick, and
\nchildren–if D.C. expands gay and lesbian civil rights and recognizes same-sex
\nmarriage.<\/p>\n

That’s right.\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is holding poor people hostage in
\norder to keep gay and lesbian persons from getting married. \u00a0They are willing to trade the indigent for getting their theological way. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I don’t like to criticize other people’s religious faiths or
\nchurches.\u00a0 <\/span>There’s plenty enough to
\ncriticize in my own Protestant tradition.\u00a0
\n<\/span>In the last year, however, we have witnessed a new authoritarian
\nactivism on the part of the Roman Church hierarchy that has an impact well
\nbeyond the Catholic Church.\u00a0\u00a0This new<\/span>\u00a0coercive Catholicism is akin to the development of the Christian Right in
\nevangelical churches in the early 1980s–a religious-political movement that
\nreshaped American culture.\u00a0\u00a0This is everybody’s business.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the last year, new Catholic politics emerged in the Prop
\n8 campaign <\/a>in California where the church invested vast resources of money and
\nleadership to overturn gay marriage; and then did the same in Maine.\u00a0 <\/span>Last week, in a political maneuver
\nworthy of Tom DeLay, authoritarian Catholic bishops forced a Democratic
\nCongress to adopt the Stupak Amendment<\/a> undermining the legal right to choice
\nby threatening to torpedo health reform. \u00a0<\/span>Now they threaten the D.C. City Council?\u00a0 <\/span>Using the lives of poor people as a
\npolitical tool?<\/p>\n

I don’t want to be alarmist about this.\u00a0 <\/span>Nor, in this ecumenical age, do I wish
\nto be seen as a nativist calling for a new anti-Catholic crusade.\u00a0\u00a0That would be a terrible misrepresentation of these concerns. \u00a0Nor do I want to offend Catholic friends and family. \u00a0<\/span>But it is profoundly disturbing that
\nthe Roman Catholic Church appears to be using threats and fear to manipulate a
\ndemocratic political process to enforce Catholic doctrine regarding abortion
\nand human sexuality.\u00a0 <\/span>There seems
\nto be a political pattern developing that should cause broad-minded
\ncitizens–Catholics included–to ask some serious questions regarding what is
\nhappening within the Catholic hierarchy.<\/p>\n

Recently, Congressman Patrick Kennedy did just that.\u00a0 <\/span>In an argument with his own bishop
\nabout health care, Kennedy reminded the Bishop of Rhode Island that American
\nCatholics have a long history of diversity and dissent regarding formal Catholic
\nteaching.\u00a0 <\/span>Disagreement with the
\nCatholic Church was, Kennedy argued, part of the dynamic of being Catholic in a
\ndemocratic society.\u00a0 <\/span>Here’s the
\nbishop’s answer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not
\nmake me any less of a Catholic.” Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does.
\nAlthough I wouldn’t choose those particular words, when someone rejects the
\nteachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue
\nlike abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their
\nunity with the Church. This principle is based on the Sacred Scripture and
\nTradition of the Church and is made more explicit in recent documents.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For example, the “Code of Canon Law” says, “Lay persons are bound by an
\nobligation and possess the right to acquire a knowledge of Christian doctrine
\nadapted to their capacity and condition so that they can live in accord with
\nthat doctrine.” (Canon 229, #1)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” says
\nthis: “Mindful of Christ’s words to his apostles, ‘He who hears you, hears me,’
\nthe faithful receive with docility the teaching and directives that their
\npastors give them in different forms.” (#87)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It is worrisome that a Roman Catholic bishop would remind a member of
\nthe Kennedy political family that “docility” is the primary calling of faithful
\nCatholic laity. \u00a0What about courage, compassion, and creativity? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oddly enough, Roman Catholic leaders have adopted a strategy of
\nauthoritarian engagement with the body politic at the very moment at which
\ntheir church is declining.\u00a0One in ten Americans is now an ex-Roman Catholic, with numbers
\ndwindling, churches closing, a decline in the number of priests and religious,
\nand with only immigration holding the number of communicants steady. With the
\nchurch clearly in crisis, the bishops apparently have chosen to use the sick,
\npoor, homeless, children, the faithful laity, and marginal as tools to increase
\ntheir public power and influence by coercing public policy to fit their
\ntheology.\u00a0 <\/span>You’d think that they
\nwould be looking inward to see what is eroding Catholic congregations instead
\nof lobbying Congress and threatening politicians.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is not what John F. Kennedy would have imagined for his beloved
\nchurch when he so courageously broke through the boundaries of anti-Catholic
\nprejudice to become the nation’s first Catholic president.\u00a0 <\/span>The eternal flame at his grave in
\nArlington witnesses to the ancient Catholic vision of universal peace, justice, and love. The new authoritarian Catholicism is not
\nonly playing politics but it is replacing a more generous vision of historic Catholic
\nfaith–the traditional one that sides with the poor, the oppressed, and the outcast–with a vision of political power.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>For that, I am deeply sad.\u00a0 <\/span>Coercive religion should have no place
\nin a church or a pluralistic, democratic nation–much less in City Hall or the
\nhalls of the United States Congress.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning’s Washington Post made me choke on my coffee:\u00a0 “Catholic Church Gives D.C. Ultimatum.”\u00a0 The Catholic Archdiocese is playing political hardball by threatening to cut off social services to the city’s poor–including the homeless, the hungry, the sick, and children–if D.C. expands gay and lesbian civil rights and recognizes same-sex marriage. That’s right.\u00a0 The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12,32,413,20,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-catholics","category-christians","category-health-care","category-homosexuality","category-religion-in-the-public-square"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Catholic Hardball: Trading the Poor for Doctrinal Purity - Progressive Revival<\/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\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Catholic Hardball: Trading the Poor for Doctrinal Purity - Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This morning’s Washington Post made me choke on my coffee:\u00a0 “Catholic Church Gives D.C. Ultimatum.”\u00a0 The Catholic Archdiocese is playing political hardball by threatening to cut off social services to the city’s poor–including the homeless, the hungry, the sick, and children–if D.C. expands gay and lesbian civil rights and recognizes same-sex marriage. That’s right.\u00a0 The…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-12T18:26:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Diana Butler Bass\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Catholic Hardball: Trading the Poor for Doctrinal Purity - Progressive Revival","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Catholic Hardball: Trading the Poor for Doctrinal Purity - Progressive Revival","og_description":"This morning’s Washington Post made me choke on my coffee:\u00a0 “Catholic Church Gives D.C. Ultimatum.”\u00a0 The Catholic Archdiocese is playing political hardball by threatening to cut off social services to the city’s poor–including the homeless, the hungry, the sick, and children–if D.C. expands gay and lesbian civil rights and recognizes same-sex marriage. That’s right.\u00a0 The…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html","og_site_name":"Progressive Revival","article_published_time":"2009-11-12T18:26:21+00:00","author":"Diana Butler Bass","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html","name":"New Catholic Hardball: Trading the Poor for Doctrinal Purity - Progressive Revival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-11-12T18:26:21+00:00","dateModified":"2009-11-12T18:26:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/af0e5483b7a3dbedba88a766dea6dbe2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/new-catholic-hardball-trading.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Catholic Hardball: Trading the Poor for Doctrinal Purity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/","name":"Progressive Revival","description":"Politics from the New Religious Progressives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/af0e5483b7a3dbedba88a766dea6dbe2","name":"Diana Butler Bass","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/be3\/be314a8e22e069cf178a04394ae14af2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/be3\/be314a8e22e069cf178a04394ae14af2x96.jpg","caption":"Diana Butler Bass"},"description":"Diana Butler Bass is an author, speaker, and independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture. She holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of seven books including A People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s History of Christianity: the Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009) Her best-selling Christianity for the Rest of Us (2006) was named as one of the best religion books of the year by Publishers Weekly and Christian Century, won the Book of the Year Award from the Academy of Parish Clergy, and was featured in a cover story in USA TODAY. Diana regularly consults with religious organizations, leads conferences for religious leaders, and teaches and preaches in a variety of venues. She regularly comments on religion, politics, and culture in the media including USA TODAY, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX, PBS, and NPR. From 1995-2000, she wrote a weekly column on American religion for the New York Times Syndicate. She has written widely in the religious press, including Sojourners, Christian Century, Clergy Journal, and Congregations. From 2002 to 2006, she was the Project Director of a national Lilly Endowment funded study of mainline Protestant vitality\u00e2\u20ac\u201da project featured in Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Diana also serves on the board of directors of the Beatitudes Society. Diana has taught at Westmont College, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Macalester College, Rhodes College, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. She has taught church history, American religious history, history of Christian thought, religion and politics, and congregational studies. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia. She is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington, D.C.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/dbbass"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}