Remembering those who sacrificed at a time of national peril

Remembering those who sacrificed at a time of national peril

There are no reality TV civil wars. The Trump traitors are all talk-no action. There will be no well-funded MAGA nominees. That the current GOP caucus in the Senate fears them is pathetic spectacle.

This holiday, I feel for those lost in senseless civil-religious wars, whose allies are half-hearted and whose enemies are fanatic. Worse, total war against those fanatics is not allowed. Winning is impossible. They are the heroes I remember today. 

US bishops ignore Vatican letter on Communion in an astonishing way

US bishops ignore Vatican letter on Communion in an astonishing way 

Gomez and company are not too smart. I suspect they still believe that Adam and Eve were actual people. They are certainly ignorant of constitutional law and no one is willing to correct them. As I have been saying for years, it is on Biden to do so - first privately and then, if they persist in their error, publicly. 

If they want to discipline anyone with loss of Communion, discipline those Catholic employers who neglect to pay their employees a living wage (meaning that they supplement any child tax credit so that each child has the same basic standard of living as the boss' children). The bishops can start in-house on that one. No employee of the Church should have to drive an Uber to make ends meet.

One final point, if the bishops wish to show they are not up to the task of collegiality, Cardinal Advisor O'Malley should be given a more robust role, becoming a virtual Patriarch, if not the actual one.

Links: Biden-Floyd family meeting; overtime for farmworkers; Lesley Stahl's journalism

Links: Biden-Floyd family meeting; overtime for farmworkers; Lesley Stahl's journalism 

Police reform goes with mental health reform. Until they call ambulances before confronting mentally ill or intoxicated citizens, they should be held with minimum restraint - but should be held in hospitals for a much longer period of time. Defund jails when you defund police, and take away the tasers, night sticks, pepper spray and firearms (except when dealing with organized crime or right-wing insurgents.

Marjorie Taylor-Greene has taken the QAnon oath. Under the 14th Amendment, she should not be allowed to serve. Also Josh Hawley, and anyone who knew that the rally was going to be an insurrection ahead of time. That would include Gohmert.

The Times piece is paywalled, although it might not be Monday, June 1st. There is nothing banal about it. Scratch an insurrection supporter and you get someone who wants Roe (and gay marriage and the right of immigrant children to go to school, et al) to be overturned. Any "Democrat for Life" needs to be aware of who he or she is marching with. including those who would deny the rights of Trans people to medical care to change or restore their cis genders. This is also true of people on the left who think detransitioning is political rather than personal. Bishops who are Asexual need to identify with, rather than against, the rest of the LGBTQIA community.

Thomas Paine would agree with a bit of radicalism. Working Class Perspectives, however, need to differentiate between positive rights, which are enacted, and negative rights, which are inalienable and limit government action. The rights to a living wage and a domicile must be split into a minimum wage for workers, the freedom from filing taxes and a child tax credit which comes through employer-paid taxes on wages and profits. 

Training and education for anyone after sophomore year in high school must be paid the minimum wage as well to meet opportunity costs - and the positive right to be trained and paid to do it must be linked to the right of migrants to ESL and GED training, regardless of legal status. Farm workers can be trained off-season - or during the season if pay is inadequate.

St. Thomas More, in his Utopia, had the right idea about how to conduct warfare in dealing with tyrants. Revolutionaries know that making tyrants make things worse is the way to radicalize the population, and even turn the military against leaders who would fire on their own people.

Can the US church manage the synodal path?

Can the US church manage the synodal path? 

I don't think there is any meaning behind the delay of one year except the continuing crisis of COVID. While it is mostly over here, many parts of the world are just now getting their first wave.

If he is listening to the entire Church, there is hope of lay participation starting and eventually continuing throughout the Church. This should be interesting. The role of the Cardinal Advisors in all of this will also be interesting. The dysfunctional papal monarchy, which feared democracy, science and then sexuality, may be in its last gasp. Francis no longer uses the the royal We when he writes. The Magisterial language that demanded obedience has been replaced with truth and real religion.

Recently, I have been watching You Tube lectures at Gresham College by visiting professor Alec Ryrie. Much of what the Church is going through now was experienced a century ago by High Church Protestantism, especially regarding such matters as authority, scripture scholarship and dealing with science. From what I see,the Evangelicals are behind the Catholics by half a century. Any Ecclesiology that ignores this experience is not fully formed.

As for Chaput, he has no See and will never be a Cardinal. He is best ignored in his efforts to attract attention and be a relevant Republican. Strickland may be getting a visit from the FBI for the same reason.

Links: 'Big Lie'-believing election candidates; Koch on pandemic eviction prohibitions

Links: 'Big Lie'-believing election candidates; Koch on pandemic eviction prohibitions 

Everyone thought the Georgia Secretary of State would be a disaster. He was not. These officials due ministerial things and their actions are very public and very reviewable in federal court. There are many things to be concerned about, but this is not it. We need to bring back pre-clearance for every state which passes voting restrictions. They should make it automatic. Once a state loses a violation under section 3, they should go on a section 2 (pre-clearance) list for a certain number of federal election cycles. 

There is a threshold where we know a hot period occurs (1.5% CO2). We are not near that. There is a range where there might be effects. We are nowhere near the former and are not sure when the latter gets dire, although there is evidence that we may have passed it. In general, we are in an ice age between glacial periods. If man-made warming spared us a glacial period, then hurrah for warming. The question is, where is the line and what is really normal? We have not been keeping records for long enough to know (yet). That 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the last 200 years have occurred in the last 17 correlates with the growth in population since then, as well as the industrialization of China and India.

A sense of home has nothing to do with Apartheid in Israel. It is a sense of group identity on both sides. Ending legal discrimination is only the second step. Step one is to end asymmetric warfare. Step two is ending official discrimination (something the US only did in the 50s and 60s). Step three is social and economic equality. The U.S. is nowhere close. Demographics may or may not change that in the U.S. It has not helped in South Africa and won't help in Israel unless it is really serious about being a western democracy rather than claiming it is.

Trickle down is not at all plausible and both sides of the GOP (and the pro-life movement) are all about getting poor White people stirred up so that they vote against their economic self-interest. Reactionary social policy has always been the tool of conservative economic, religious and political power. The only answer is to make the wealthy realize that inequality is not in their interests (or their children's) or to make it impossible for them to justify it's extent. The key to this is to get agreement on who owes the debt and reveal who owns it at the class level.

Eviction moratoria cannot last forever. The injustice is letting the Federal Reserve buy up troubled bonds without directing landlords to start forgiving rent. Absent that, the government should have made it clear that rent delayed is not rent forgiven. Anyone with rent owed who did not sink both stimulus checks into getting current on their rent needs to start packing.

Bishop Pop Rocks probably still believes that Humani Generis is infallible dogma. You can't fix stupid. Catholic sexual teaching has been in the realm of Group Think since the fourth century.  Science recently decided that masking was more important than recognizing the first round of COVID symptoms because they did not want to say that the virus was a cold, even though it obviously started as one. As for Extraterrestrials, the recent 60 Minutes report has entirely upset the apple cart. We are not alone. I am sure Paprocki is probably freaking out about this. It upends his Adam and Eve world view.

Israel's critics should hold Hamas accountable, too

Israel's critics should hold Hamas accountable, too 

There are two options for Gaza, repatriation and annexation. Both are better than the status quo, but worse for Hamas. That part of Palestine is composed of ethnic Egyptians. Hamas would be put down by the Egyptian regime in the same way the Islamic Brotherhood was. Annexation by the current regime would lead to Apartheid. In this way, the Palestinians are like the Indigenous nations. In many parts of the West, there is plenty of Anglo colonialism still, so yes, Israel is much like America and South Africa as well. 

I believe in a Pan-Arab kingdom under the Hashemites and including what is now Northern Israel. If Israel does not want to give back land, then it should be a secular state. The reality is that the Ashkenazi (of which I am one) were not diaspora Jews, we were Khazars who converted. Of those who actually are descendants of the southern Kingdom, many were Canaanites or non-Monotheistic until after the return from the Exile. Most became Christians and then Muslims. If they really wanted to upset the apple cart, they would convert to Judaism. I wonder what the reaction would be. I somehow doubt that the Zionists and Neo-Cons who support them would rejoice.

Scandalized by 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' Catholicism

Scandalized by 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' Catholicism 

I doubt that the organizers are paying anything near the usual rate. Weekend group rates are quite a bit below what is offered to executives who are in town for business during the work week. For example, Catholic Charities USA had a silent auction to raise funds. The convention organizer got a comped suite for a weekend. Because everyone knew my then fiance needed a room on date certain, people begged off on bidding after a certain point and we got it for $300. The suite was $1,600 during the week. 

As for the campus crusade, unless MSW is going to be an irritant, the best strategy is to register then boycott loudly and publicly (with other potential fifth columnists). Missionaries should get a nice weekend. They will have a hard time evangelizing the Nones. College is a bit too early to get enough attention to Bishop Baron's brand of theology to be attractive. Even if it does reel in some students, the experience of life in their mid-20s will cure them of such nonsense until they start coping with having children and sending them to Catholic School.

As a Catholic author, I would actually like to go. I am sure that if my book sold better, they would invite me (or I would exhibit) and offer The Future is Calling: It Wants a New God. As effective as it might be in offering a humanistic vision of both morality and the Lord's Passion, I doubt the organizers would appreciate the content.

Links: Our mental health crisis; partisan politics; investigation into Trump organization

Links: Our mental health crisis; partisan politics; investigation into Trump organization 

Acknowledging a condition and seeking divine help are essential to victory in coping with mental illness (as well as good medicine). Sacred suffering is nothing to be sad over. It is to be sympathized with. Also, the expression of angst in a confirmation name was unheard of when confirmation occurred in elementary school. Most middle school and high school programs impose obligations before the Sacrament that are properly its fruits, not a requirement for its celebration.

Once Trump is arrested and shown to be a fraud, people will say Donald who? The acid test is whether his congressional supporters pay the price. They did not in 2020 among those who voted for Biden and split their vote. Relatedly, I love New York.

Arizona shows that sanity may be possible in the GOP in the near future. The question is, will this trickle up to leadership or will McConnell decide that letting the Democrats act alone is his path back to leadership. At present, compromise does not yet seem likely on either side. It is not even being considered, even in bipartisan think tanks.

Time has a way of moderating justices, at least some of them. Last summer's 7-2 decisions will become next month's 6-3 decisions. The usual margin on the court is 3-3-3. Ironically, I am surprised that MSW is not celebrating the decision to grant Cert to the State of Mississippi. That it took multiple attempts to get a fourth justice to do this means that Roe is probably safe, and can be considered so for a generation. Especially if Alito or Thomas leave the Court before the case is heard.

We have planned secular stagnation in place until September. If firms raise wages ahead of that time, the economy will grow. If the Fed tries to use higher interest rates to control inflation, bad things will happen, as they did in 1979.

Rachel Maddow and her wife are gear heads. Her story about the new all-electric F-150 was inspiring. She also gave credit where credit was due - and it was not to Biden. I never watch right-wing media. Even exposure drops IQ points and sinks in insidiously, for example, in MSW's comments on cancel culture. I am interested in seeing how they will respond to how the Tragedy of Trump plays out in the courts. Trump has three possible fates: jail, re-election or death by natural causes. He won't be 47 or 48 and I don't think he is even capable of aiding in his own defense.

Latino theologians get 'in the ministerial trenches'

Latino theologians get 'in the ministerial trenches' 

In more traditional countries and families, Grandma keeps track of whether you go to Church. Move away from her, and Sunday may mean yoga or brunch. Tradition leads to a belief in belief. It is culture conformity, not faith. It always has been. This also includes priests, especially those who have learned about gender theory and how it applies to them. The Church has not yet reckoned with reality. Eventually, it must, both in the Hispanic and Anglo Churches. It even needs to listen to atheists. The Spirit moves in many ways and we ignore them at our own peril. Of course, they have their own insular dynamic, which includes a modern shame culture on religiosity. Read Dennett with humility.

Links: Jewish fertility rates; pre-Trump GOP; 'Jeopardy!' controversy

Links: Jewish fertility rates; pre-Trump GOP; 'Jeopardy!' controversy 

Many Nones are ethnic Jews who were converted by Luther and converted again after Augsburg. Birthrates in this group have declined, which means that, unless my generation spends all of its wealth, the one following will have plenty. Plenty often is associated with irreligion, but not a loss of spirituality or holiday commemoration. More wealth may or may not lead to more spirituality. It will lead to more overt practice.

Trump hit the CEO/Prosperity Gospel slice of the GOP dead on. He is everything they want and the feeling is mutual. When he falls, it will be interesting to see how they react. I suspect that their fair weather faith will not serve Trump well.

Thiil shows that some people's speech is louder than others, but he is not convincing anyone not already on board. Rich people are used to having people behave in response to cash. MAGA voters do not disappoint. The solutions are not to restrict speech. Restricting wealth, and especially the control over others that it enables, is the challenge of the day. The same dynamics are in force with major donors to the Church.

Steadily unpayable debt is evil. That the Government relies on such things to fund Obamacare. The irony is that the people who they need to sign up for Obamacare cannot afford to because of their high student debt payments. When debt payments are deferred, interest should no longer accumulate. There is a term for capitalizing unpaid interest. Loan sharking. Those who never had to have a student loan should not criticize those of us who needed debt forgiveness.

Humans are tribal. That does not go away when watching game shows.

Some historians claim that Catherine was the basis for Cinderella.

Poor diet and sanitation, as well as environmental toxins, are all risk factors for cancer. All of these were endemic in the early modern age.

There are moral issues beyond the disincentive to work

There are moral issues beyond the disincentive to work 

The unemployment and showdown were part of the treatment for the pandemic. With vaccines in arms and the removal of possible vectors (who were going down with earned immunity anyway) means it is time to stop the chemo, as well as the cannabis (the enhanced unemployment and stimulus checks).  Paying people to stay idle while the demand for goods and services increases will lead to inflation and stagnation - even HYPERSTAGFLATION. I have been quite vocal in using this term. At least Republicans seem to be listening.

The moral issues behind work and pay were pre-existing conditions, which Biden has made progress on. The enhanced Child Tax Credit is an act of justice and a way to get the economy moving. Making it refundable makes sure that those who need it the most, get it. Continuing these reforms, which has been proposed, are a good down payment on a just wage. Double the amounts and we will be getting closer.

The Biden proposals included a higher minimum wage. This is also necessary to put people back into the labor force. A higher minimum wage means that firms with lower wages have an advantage over those who do not unless all people seeking work have better alternatives. A statutory wage ends this incentive.

In the long term, the answer is employee-ownership and control of the firm. These firms must eventually feature employee democracy, consumer and mortgage finance, cooperative purchasing (even homes) and direct (rather than governmental) human services. Until they do, employee ownership is just capitalism lite. 

Tax reform is a way to get there. End taxes on capital gains and capital income through the personal income tax and establish an asset value added tax at the same rate at point of sale or distribution. End the mutual fund exemption, mark the base to market at option exercise and the first sale after inheritance, gift or donation (including stock donations to the Church) and zero rate the tax on sales to qualified ESOPs and distributions to members. Let inertia take care of the rest.

Links: Liz Cheney's ouster, getting vehicles off the road, and moo-ving music

Links: Liz Cheney's ouster, getting vehicles off the road, and moo-ving music 

Liz should have resigned her post, which is elected. She serves at the pleasure of the Caucus, lest we forget.

Actually, higher taxes lead to higher worker salaries. I submitted comments to the record for next week's hearing just a few moments ago. Higher taxes on the rich should fund debt reduction (since they benefit from holding the debt - as well as an asset value added tax, which will also fund war and other deployments), CTC and childcare should be funded by employer-paid consumption taxes. Gas taxes should fund bridges and roads. Call it a user fee and McConnell has to let it go through.

A New England Short Line would be nice. Gas taxes should fund it too - or a Carbon value added tax. I talked about freight rail (which is often used) in comments on trade infrastructure last month.

Tony is a Tory. Labour should have given the Greens (Liberal Democrats) a better deal than the Tories.

We need more synodality at the diocesan level, with deacon administrators and pastors in the local synod. Guess who they would elect (and remove). I will stress this until the cows come home. The chickens are already home to roost.

Conservative Catholic media meet Ladaria letter with denial

Conservative Catholic media meet Ladaria letter with denial 

The reality, which I did not note Tuesday, is that the bishops will never reach the consensus that the GOP bishops want. Rome basically told them to stand down,which is not enough. These bishops need to be denounced for their partisanship and educated on why abortion can never be outlawed in the U.S. The focus on abortion needs to shift to cooperating with Biden on better wages and benefits to families and better education for the poor. As for the right wing media, I could care less. I am waiting to see what the Virginia Catholic Conference says in October. They should consider themselves warned.

Links: No required vaccines at CUA and debates about 'tax and spend'

Links: No required vaccines at CUA and debates about 'tax and spend' 

Pakaluk is fringe, even within the CUA community. Without an outbreak of disease, with symptoms rather than positive tests, some people will simply not do what is advisable. Of course, they will blame the exchange students rather than themselves if there is an outbreak.

The big news about orchestrating 2020 is why they did it: the mistaken belief that re-election would hide Trump from prosecution or lawsuit. The meme is not the reality. Even with Barr, Cy Vance would have hauled him into court eventually.

The key to the GOP are small businesses. Sadly, they are not willing to make demands on their masters. Most franchisees will not seek help against their owners because they harbor dreams of wealth themselves. Being a little rich is worse than being a little poor (and people can be both). Until big business is given some incentive to end the franchise system, little can be done.

Annoying paywall. As someone with Sinti ancestry, I have to agree with her on the offense nature of this curricula. Such operas should not be on the requirements list for the major. Instead, mandate Hazel O'Connor and Miles Davis. No music education is complete without knowledge of So What and Sketches of Spain and especially Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud'' The relevant and essential question is where ethics and aesthetics meet (and how much this affects our politics and/of sexual morality).

Religion is, by nature, tribal. If a professor is uncomfortable not only teaching, but also learning about the dirty laundry of the tribe (and the Catholic Church has plenty), then running away may be essential. Of course, I would rather stay and fight - but would often agree with some of the students.

At least Gallicho has the right idea. If the liberal ethos means anything, it means to not go away and not be silent. I hope Cardinal Sean reads his Commonweal this month. Of course, the issue with San Francisco is why there is no shelter on the Cathedral grounds. At least no one turned a firehose on Lazarus. As for Grant's Pass, city fathers, they will one day wish for San Francisco's irrigation system for where they are going.

Vatican throws wet blanket on U.S. bishops who want to deny Biden Communion

Vatican throws wet blanket on U.S. bishops who want to deny Biden Communion 

Bravo to the Prefect, although I suspect those who would deny Biden Eucharist are now hopping mad. Expect quiet condemnation from them and public condemnation from the Catholic Republican Press. 

One correction, the problem is not that the bishops mentioned are conflating the Church with the pro-life movement. They are conflating the Church with not only the Republican Party, but also with Donald Trump. I wonder how the frequent Mass attendees will react to this - or to the imminent prosecution and bankruptcy of their hero (which is essential for the survival of the Republican Party or one like it).

When the Conference serenely discusses the issue (why can I not stop laughing), they need to be quietly but forcefully informed of the nature of Constitutional Law on this issue, as well as the need to pursue economic means to end the need for abortion (and even contraception). The interesting fact is that in most nations, abortion limits are allowed by the basic law, so what the bishops suggest may be appropriate. They are not appropriate in the United States.

ADDENDUM:

The reality is that these bishops were not concerned so much with abortion as with the fact that Biden was defying their Republican views on how to end it. They were defending their Authority, not the unborn. They still believed that the Americanist heresy (that a society with freedom of thought need not be expected to obey the hierarchy in all things) must be fought. 

Since Vatican II and Dignitatis Humanae, freedom of thought is the rule, not the evil. These bishops hate that idea. Francis essentially told them to shove it. Also, Francis has ended the idea of the infallible Magisterium by simply never using the term We when he writes. A subtle change that means everything.

What if prominent Catholics guest-hosted 'Jeopardy!'?

What if prominent Catholics guest-hosted 'Jeopardy!'? 

Sounds like a Facebook list app.

The GOP, the big lie and the Avignon papacy

The GOP, the big lie and the Avignon papacy 

Otherwise reasonable people look the other way on Trump's foibles because they like his tax policies and love what he has done on appointing pro-life judges. The 6th Circuit has changed its mind on Down's Syndrome Abortions, largely because of Trump and McConnell. 

The only way to peel right to lifer's off of Trump is to utterly defeat the idea that the unborn will ever have legal protection outside of Biden's increased child tax credits. This is hard sell, as when support for the right to life is like support for puppies. True believers will not listen to the constitutional realities on abortion - which they consider legalese. Until an effort is made, however, Trump can do no wrong.

Trump voters have been programmed to believe that Trump was a successful executive and the real media are lying about his history of failure. They certainly don't believe him to be a Russian agent and until Federal prosecutors follow the money, they won't.  Some of the Trump fans believe that Nixon was railroaded, so he will always have core support. If Rudy and Donnie go to jail as Russian spies, there may be hope for the GOP.

The GOP's Avignon will be Lincoln Project and Bush Republicans. Many of these have left the party, except when it is time to vote. Given a reasonable conservative agenda, the GOP may survive. Without one, the neo-liberal wing of the Democratic Party is the only refuge. Tax simplification, an honest discussion of who holds the debt and who must pay it back, doubling down on family income an anti-Putin foreign policy could do the trick. The fact that John Kasich is tweeting up a storm should be a clue that the GOP may still have some life in it.

Links: Corporations and politics; reuniting families; the 'big lie' continues

Links: Corporations and politics; reuniting families; the 'big lie' continues 

If campaign finance is speech, then care must be taken to what is being said. The irony is that the new restrictions on mail-in voting are the GOP shooting itself in the foot. Great fun.

Unions need to focus on better toys. Before they put a big present under the tree, they need better stocking stuffers. When an Amazon worker makes $15 an hour and gets educational benefits, they will gladly work harder for the money. Labor could report bad conditions to OSHA, but workers may not see this as a friendly act. If subsidiarity beat tribalism, the Church would be all in on allowing birth control.

The current reunions make it easier to deport people whose asylum claims go south. Then families have harder decisions to make. The answer is reform more than administrative action.

I would take the award, take the money, donate it to the resistance and publish a blistering review of UAE's repression. It is much more fun than boycotting.

Ryan practically created the Freedom Caucus. Why in the world would anyone think he would be disloyal to it?

The key to any revolution is to make the oppressor overstep. It radicalizes the populace. The proper counterfactual in the revolutionary war is the British giving out cash and prizes for colonies abandoning the United States. That, and defying orders in 1781 and retaking the country after the Army disbanded. Thirteen simultaneous shows of force, including hangings, would have also worked. In civil war, whomever is patient, wins.

Catholics behaving badly: Part 2

Catholics behaving badly: Part 2 

These prelates are best ignored, although they are an interesting study in cultural theory. They are behaving as authoritarians. Their behavior is predictable, not bad. It also explains their support for Trump. That they share Trump's misogyny is a bonus for them. Will their faith be shaken if Trump is shown to be a Putin asset? That is the question of the decade. The irony, of course, is that MSW is as pro-life as his group of horribles. No wonder his criticism is so biting.

Links: Denying election results; Giuliani's legal troubles; GOP support growing in Texas

Links: Denying election results; Giuliani's legal troubles; GOP support growing in Texas 

WITF is making an inference on whether members were in the loop rather than following the herd. It is an important distinction that the Ethics Committee needs to investigate. The same is true with continuing the Big Lie. If the GOP keeps going with this, there won't be a GOP. Even in Utah. Mitt's main fault is cander, although sometimes he needs to explain a bit better. He is definitely in the Bush wing of the Party, which is the best long-term place to be.

Trump long ago went from being in the mob to being in the Russian mafia. He is now a Russian asset. The Big Lie originates in Moscow, not in the sick mind of Trump. Rudy is his handler. When this becomes the narrative, will his minions still follow him or will they forget him? The best play for Romney and Trump is to start that conversation going.

I suspect that Latinas do not agree with the GOP on funs. That they follow the Republican Party line on abortion is the reason Biden needs to be bold in explaining why it is a lie. If he does not ignore that bit of demography, Texas will remain a Red State. He needs to join Mitt and George W. in calling the Big Lie a Moscow Meme.

Many people have had the virus and gotten well, have family that has or have been vaccinated. For them, the pandemic is no longer a big deal. Until their children start getting sick, they will continue down that road.

Iowa, oddly enough, has the best pizza (or at least the best chain). Happy Joe's! Basso Nova is the best background music to work to, followed by Miles Davis. These are matters of aesthetics, which are very personal (or very tribal). The line between aesthetics and ethics is clear in the classroom. It is not so clear in our brains or our culture (or the culture of the clergy).

Weaponizing the Eucharist: The bishops, not Biden, cause scandal

Weaponizing the Eucharist: The bishops, not Biden, cause scandal 

We should not tremble before the Eucharist. It is an act of oneness with God and each other that commemorates how God (Father, Son and Spirit) abandoned the Divine nature in the grief we experience our separation from God. The sacrifice of the cross was unitive, not vengeful. 

Naumann, Cordileone, Olmsted and Aquila should not be anyone's bishops. Cardinal Sean, call the Nuncio! Their problem with Biden is not abortion per se, it is submission to the conservative Catholic message (which is also ill-informed) on abortion and homoesxuallity. Biden needs to convince the bishops that they are wrong about the law and the moral issues (not the other way around). As for Canon Law, it governs people considered Canon's (bishops), not the faithful. Not Biden, not me, not MSW. Ratzinger's version of Canon Law is Catholic relativism. If it were not so pathetic, it would be funny.

Recent studies show that many are abandoning the Church due to the noise of MAGA Catholics. This is a problem for the hierarchy, not those leaving. How they can confirm this during a pandemic is curious. Still, the MAGA crown is all in on everything Trump. Again, Biden needs to call out the bishops for creating the condition where Republicanism and Catholicism are hand in glove. That they have been is the real scandal. That Biden won't do this is what is regrettable and not good for either the nation or the Church.