Breaking News - Signs Of Catholicism At Latest USCCB Meeting!
Film at 11

Even though I've been out of the loop for almost a week now, I'm sure the Catholic Blogosphere is all atwitter over the latest to come out of the USCCB; namely, the document entitled Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States.

First off, I gotta give credit where credit is due. When I read statements such as "The statement explains the necessity of opposing actions that are intrinsically wrong, such as abortion and euthanasia, because these actions involve directly and intentionally ending an innocent human life", I know damn good and well that Pope Benedict has been rattling more than just a few cages.

Not all that long ago we were hit every Presidential election cycle with statements such as "abortion is just one stance among many that we should prayerfully consider" coming out of quite a few chanceries, remember?

A few recurring themes in this document stuck out to me; (comments and emphasis mine)

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) today overwhelmingly approved a statement called Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States. (Just overhwlemingly? Why not unanimously? I can't help but wonder who voted against it. And why)

A second temptation involves “dismissing or ignoring other serious threats to human life and dignity. Racism and other unjust discrimination (I wonder what they mean by "unjust discrimination"? The only reason I ask this is because of all the so-called 'Gay & Lesbian Ministries' that are so prevalent in many diocese),

torture (let's just hope the USCCB doesn't qualify torture as something harsher than.... ohhhh, the time-out corner or having to endure this years Notre Dame football team),

the use of the death penalty (keep in mind that this statement was developed by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn. The same Bishop DiMarzio who stated; "While the bishops argue against capital punishment, he said, Catholics may disagree without separating themselves from the Church community". Ladies and gents, what we have he is what's better known as double-talk),

resorting to unjust war (I also hope the USCCB understands that bombing the crap outta Canada simply because that particular nation begat Alanis Morissette, both the disco and skank version, would qualify as an unjust war. Killing terrorists and those who support them isn't. BTW, we all know that the USCCB is referring to the War in Iraq, and I've already commented on that before),

war crimes (such as having to listen to Alanis Morissette, both the disco and the skank version),

the failure to respond to those who are suffering from hunger or lack health care (and to think of all the hundreds of millions spent on out-of-court settlements for bishop protected rapist "priests". I wonder how many hungry and sick people could have been taken care of with that money),

or unjust immigration policies (correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't The Church already definitively spoken on the topic? Why does the USCCB continue to harp on this?) are all serious moral issues that challenge our consciences and require us to act.”

Admittantly, I'm not as enthusiastic as many of my fellow Catholics are, but at least this is a step in the right direction.

The Theology of Punctuation
It all boils down to this...

I've been cruising around various Catholic news sites to get more info on the USCCB's latest statement on how scumbags who rape and murder little kids should be allowed to live. I read this the other day, but it never really hit me until now.

Stay with me on this...

The official statement included such gems as; "It is time for our nation to abandon the illusion that we can protect life by taking life." and "The use of the death penalty ought to be abandoned not only for what it does to those who are executed, but what it does to all of society." And here's the biggie; "The sanction of death violates respect for human life and dignity"

Wow... pretty powerful stuff. Straightforward and to the point. Especially the last quote. That one pretty much says that if I'm in favor of the death penalty, I'm in essence, a murderer. And this is from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops!!

But take a gander at at what His Excellency Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn had to say; "While the bishops argue against capital punishment, he said, Catholics may disagree without separating themselves from the Church community."

Huh? I'm confused. If I'm in favor of such, I'm in direct contradiction to what the USCCB says... but simultaneously, I can DIRECTLY go against the USCCB and somehow magically be in communion with "the Church community". So I reinterate... huh?

Catholicism never has vagueness and ambiguity at this scale until the great and sweeping changes stemming from the Second Vatican Council. You know, I've come to the conclusion that the Traditional Catholicism and the Vatican II Huggy-Touchie-Feelie Church can be boiled down to puncuation.

The theology of Traditional Catholicism is by and large, a period (.) with an occasional exclamation point (!).

The theology of The New & Improved Vatican II Church is in essence, a question mark (?).