Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas John Paprocki says that any Catholic who
votes for a Democrat very well may go to Hell, because a vote for any
member of a party that supports sin makes the voter
“morally complicit.” Paprocki names the Log Cabin Republicans and ”pro-choice” (scare quotes his) Republicans as “equally as wrong as their Democratic counterparts.”
Never mind the fact that the Bishop very well may be in violation of IRS regulations and exposing his church to losing its tax-exempt status, the mind-boggling idea that voting for a Democrat will make you go to Hell should cause grave concern for the one who uses their office — namely, Bishop Paprocki — to preach hate in a threatening manner.
Yesterday, Roman Catholic Archbishop John Myers published a 16-page fear-mongering letter comparing gay marriage to incest and warned marriage equality will lead to laws imprisoning priests.
And on Sunday, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago told 400 couples celebrating their 50th wedding anniversaries that the marriages of same-sex couples are merely “friendships.
Paprocki is the Bishop of Springfield, Illinois, and points out that while there “are many positive and beneficial planks in the Democratic Party Platform,” his love of God forces him to point out “those that explicitly endorse intrinsic evils.”
My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote. But I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues. I would be abdicating this duty if I remained silent out of fear of sounding “political” and didn’t say anything about the morality of these issues. People of faith object to these platform positions that promote serious sins. I know that the Democratic Party’s official “unequivocal” support for abortion is deeply troubling to pro-life Democrats.
…
Certainly there are “pro-choice” Republicans who support abortion rights and “Log Cabin Republicans” who promote same-sex marriage, and they are equally as wrong as their Democratic counterparts. But these positions do not have the official support of their party.
Again, I am not telling you which party or which candidates to vote for or against, but I am saying that you need to think and pray very carefully about your vote, because a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy.Brian Tashman at Right Wing Watch notes:
In the Catholic Times, the official newspaper of the Springfield diocese, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki uses the manufactured controversy about mentioning “God” in the Democratic Platform to argue that the Democrats are hostile to faith, and went on to attack Democrats for endorsing gay rights and opposing the criminalization of abortion. He said those two planks demonstrate that the Democrats “explicitly endorse intrinsic evils,” while noting that he has “read the Republican Party Platform and there is nothing in it that supports or promotes an intrinsic evil or a serious sin.”Bishop Paprocki “is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance as well as the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty,” according to his biography.
There are less than six weeks to the election.
Given that Mitt Romney is currently losing by such an incredibly vast margin, it’s no wonder the crazies are coming out of the cracks.
But to threaten Hell for voting for a Democrat?
This man, who clearly cannot be accused of being a “deep thinker,” deserves to be defrocked.
UPDATE: A reader remarks on our Facebook page, “I’m from Springfield, IL. This is not the Springfield I know. Obama announced his candidacy as President on the steps of our capital building and it will take a hell of a lot more than the words of a man in a dress to turn our backs on him.”
Indeed.