I’m still piqued; prepare yourself. I don’t go soft on Catholic and Christian teachings for pastoral or outreach reasons. I’m not qualified probably to “rank” the sexual sins for you, but with apologies to Mark Shea, whole buckets of Trump tweets (or whatever we’re gonna call them) don’t change our sexual ethics. And at the risk of being extremely piquant, you can’t pay me to use that patronizing phrase, “gay people.” I haven’t met anyone who said it routinely who wasn’t fully ready to sell Church teaching down the river. Either because they don’t see the intentional conflation of person and action, or, sadly, they are chasing influence as a “nice Christian” who wouldn’t risk offending the “marginalized” at any time.
On the other hand, I can’t and don’t watch EWTN anymore; I am somewhat humorously afraid Raymond Arroyo will jump out and force me into the GOP again. And let’s cut the crap; beyond health care and food stamps, if America’s left-center party doesn’t scare you, you’re not paying attention.
Bishop Barron is a sad case, in my view. The people have a right to expect their pastors not to carry water for politicians. Fulton Sheen he is not. You don’t have to go out of your way to embarrass the powerful, but you have to shoot straight.
Note: Even in health care, the Democrats want to pay for abortions via Medicaid. I embarrassed Dr. Charlie Camosy once, because of his real or perceived consent for such policies. I was wrong. To his credit, he has denounced all such things. He had more courage to abstain in 2020 than I did.
In the end, I don’t hold grudges over perspective, but I expect people not to cheerlead one side. I’m still embarrassed by Donald Trump daily; I will still make every effort to understand him, and to hope for the best. Sue me if that’s not good enough. I have been criticizing him sharply for over a decade; joining your little partisan club doesn’t seem obligatory.
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