“Serious Moral Issues” – Are You Kidding Me?

[Pistarkle]

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops recently denounced the President’s contraception compromise WHICH WAS WELCOMED by the Catholic Health Association, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities AND Catholic Charities. The compromise EXEMPTS religiously affiliated universities and hospitals from offering contraception coverage and passes the coverage on to health insurers.

I am a Catholic and I have had “SERIOUS MORAL ISSUES” with Catholic bishops for years. Here is the reason why. It blew my mind when sexual molestation by Catholic priests was exposed revealing that CATHOLIC BISHIOPS EXERCISED THEIR POWERS to, secretly, shuffle their child molesters from one parish to the next rather than take actions to have those molesters answer to the law. That was the height of IMMORALITY!

Catholic bishops need to follow the TRUE moral values of on the ground, faith-based organizations such as the Catholic Health Association, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, and Catholic Charities instead of, blindly, being led into the, UNDERLYING, “War on Women” MANIPULATED by 2012 Republican presidential candidates and other Right Wing Zealots who USE Christianity for political convenience rather than putting Christianity into practice!

[customerserviceguy]

1. So take the next logical step

Quit. You'll find that you enjoy Sunday mornings a lot more when you live them for yourself, rather than to glorify an organization that you have serious moral issues with. I did a couple of decades ago, and found that I can live quite nicely without it.

The people who would go on paying for their own contraception are those who are working to further Catholic beliefs and misogynist misperceptions, is it too much to ask them to defy their church in private, while taking money from an organization that seeks to continue "the last monarchy" through what it defines as good works?

[kag]

3. Good advice.

As I said in another thread recently, my brother and his wife (and their two kids) quit the church when all of the molestation scandals started coming out. They were horrified (though I'm not sure they were terribly "surprised&quot . My brother told me that they refused to give money to support those bastards, and they quit the church entirely. They were both life-long Catholics.

I quit several years before they did, and you're right--I definitely enjoy my Sundays with my family more than I ever did reciting prayers and scriptures by rote that I had long-since stopped believing or even thinking about.

[CBHagman]

2. Have you talked to anyone in your parish yet?

A month or so ago someone in my parish forwarded me the cardinal's email related to the contraception issue (I'll have to dig out my response; it was the phrase "serious moral issues" or similar that set me off). Then when it was clear the archdiocese was mobilizing to oppose contraceptive coverage (even more than they've mobilized to oppose same-sex marriage), I had a chat with one of the younger priests in the parish and basically told him I'd never seen the church make equivalent effort to advocate for universal health care, which the church teaches is a right, and that moreover most Catholics use contraceptives, etc. It wasn't a discussion that changed his mind or mine, but at least it was respectful.

You might also want to drop in on the Catholic group here at DU.