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Joe Biden Says He’s Not a Catholic
The term “Catholic” is in countless opinion column titles as we look to this year’s election. A short discourse about what a “Catholic” is may be helpful. It’s actually quite simple, but to understand it requires one to know a bit of history.
Two thousand years ago a Jewish rabbi named Jesus was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem for claiming that he was the Son of God. His 11 closest followers, called apostles, claimed he rose from the dead and continued to teach them for 40 days before he ascended into Heaven. They then went throughout the known world, Rome and elsewhere, telling people about this man and what he had taught them about who God is. They appointed successors to carry on their mission. Those successors are today’s bishops of the Catholic Church. For 2,000 years, the teachings of that Jewish rabbi have been handed down, illuminated, and protected by those bishops who, with the Bishop of Rome (a.k.a., the Pope) preeminent, are in communion with one another about what the Church “binds on earth” (Matthew 16:19).
So, what’s a Catholic? It’s a person who looks at the whole of what has been “bound on Earth” and says, “Yep. And I would choose death before I denied a single word of it.” And it’s pretty easy to figure out what has been bound. It’s in a book (called the Catechism) which one can buy on Amazon for $14.
Now, the reader might hear this and say it’s naive, parochial, stupid, or even deranged to assent to everything in that book. And that’s fine—then the reader would not be a Catholic. But it really is that simple-you’re all in or you’re all out. A person is not excommunicated from the Church. A person excommunicates themselves-the Church just recognizes their decision. The same goes for being sent to Hell upon death, by the way. God doesn’t send anyone there. He simply gives them the eternity they choose.
Which brings us to all these “Catholics” in the news right now. The “Catholic voter” who is or isn’t voting for the “Catholic” Joe Biden who was the Vice President for Barack Obama who nominated the “Catholic” Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court (a current hot topic) and whose vying for the presidency might be thrown to the House of Representative where the “Catholic” Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s caucus could decide the outcome of a disputed election.
For decades, those successors of the apostles, the bishops, have stated repeatedly and unequivocally that abortion (which the Church has taught as sinful since the first century) supersedes all other political issues. And Catholics in positions of power who can draft and vote on, confirm judges who will rule on, and pass budgets which directly fund laws which enable abortion are complicit in the evil. And so are the voters who elect them.
It is not self-righteous “conservative” Catholics who have deemed Biden, Pelosi, and others “not Catholic.” There’s nothing judgmental about it. We simply take them at their word. They obviously don’t believe they must be in communion with the Church and her bishops and therefore they’ve declared themselves to be non-Catholics.
So let’s stop with the obvious charade that politicians and voters supporting politicians who champion abortion are “Catholic.” They may have been baptized and served on the altar and sang in the choir. They may even still root for Notre Dame. But they’re just “Americans” now. They left the Church when they stopped adhering to Her teachings—all of them—easily found in that $14 book.
Published in Elections
More bishops need to speak out publicly on this scandal
Amen! We need more Fr. Altmans and Bishop Stricklands. About 10,000 more.
A lot of things have simple definitions. Either a thing is or it isn’t. Sometimes there are multiple definitions in play. But I think in this case, the definition is fairly simple and well-known.
Don’t worry the time is coming soon where the “Catholic’s” in the (D) Party will literally denounce their Catholic faith.
They are just waiting for when the polling says it’s politically beneficial.
Being a Catholic is not whether you accept a high percentage of the tenets of the faith but whether you do not presume to treat those tenets as a menu of items that may or may not be conducive to your plans or lifestyle but instead see them as a unified truth. Even if you accept all or almost all, the fact that your acceptance arises from that frame of reference and not from the only disposition that matters puts one outside the fold.
Joe Biden signed the pledge circulated by the Ad Hoc Committee for Right to Life to support a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade. In 1988, he bailed on that position and lied about it (denying it a lot more than three times before the cock crowed) when it was clear that the Dem party would no longer tolerate pro-life candidates.
There is no core to the man. Other politicians feel the need to explain or rationalize because they acknowledge the sentience of their listeners but Biden simply does not have that human connection, as if the audience is just a cognitive figment. He has always made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up because there is something distinctive and weird about the facility with which he lies.
Or, the Gaia worshiping socialists could infiltrate the Church and attempt to change it from the top. “Is the Pope Catholic?” has gone from a truism to a topic of debate.
I was going to facetiously add that pretty soon Catholic Cardinals(ie: Cupich) may begin to denounce their Catholic faith when their economic situation deems it is financially beneficial.
That seems like the sorta thing that really should be in the public domain.
Well, you can get it here for free, too. :)
Yes, I would say it this way: You are Catholic if you submit to the authority of the Church Christ established, even if you don’t know or understand every jot and tittle of what She teaches. You are Catholic if, when there is a dispute among Christians about doctrines of the faith or moral teachings, you look to the Magisterium to resolve the issue, not trusting in your own scriptural interpretation or even your own (potentially ill-formed) conscience. If you believe Christ’s promise to the Church (the gates of hell shall not prevail) is freedom from erroneous teachings by the power of the Holy Spirit, you’re Catholic.
All those Democrat Catholics mentioned above seem to take the moral teachings of the Church under their own advisement. But the abortion issue — a grave evil if ever there was one — is really as simply put as Andrew Klavan (Christian convert, non-Catholic so far) says: “you don’t get to kill people to solve your problems.” It’s basic. Fundamental.
I didn’t foresee that the life issue would be at the center of this campaign season, but I should have. If America falls this year, I believe the root cause will be the normalization of this grave evil in our society. A people who won’t protect the most innocent and vulnerable hardly deserves to continue.
So well put. Thank you.
Anyone who was validly baptized catholic is catholic.
Within that group we’re all sinners whether those sins include denying the church and/or its teachings.
Any further line drawing should be avoided.
This assumes one may not lose (or reject) sanctifying grace and fall out of communion with the Church post-Baptism. I don’t believe that and the Church doesn’t teach it. If you prefer to say Joe Biden isn’t a faithful Catholic, that’s your prerogative, but it is still descriptive to say he isn’t Catholic in any meaningful sense. God may very well have mercy on his soul (and that’s His prerogative), but Joe’s material cooperation with evil on the abortion issue puts him well outside communion, as it does with these others who are Democrats (leftists) first and something, something, something “catholic” down the line.
Interesting discussion.
I have always wondered why pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, etc. folks get so upset about the Catholic position on these issues. Why would the rules apply to them if they are (proudly, stridently, aggressively) not Catholic?
“Well I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Catholic!”
I agree with your first sentence. But they can still be labeled. Good, bad, heretical, apostate, orthodox, sedevacantist; whatever.
And Canon Law does allow the drawing of lines. Read specifically Canons 915 and 916. They have been applied to Biden (usually only when he travels is he denied HC, and that is rare) and Durbin (he has a permanent ban in his home diocese).
Not to be picayune but it wasn’t just the 11 apostles who were witnesses to the risen Christ.
As to Joe Biden claiming to be Catholic, that claim is a joke, and it’s not just because of the abortion issue. Joe Biden “married” two gay men in a civil ceremony. Anyone that does that has forfeited any right to be taken seriously as Catholic.
Manny, of course you’re right, but my point is those eleven were the original bishops whose successors still protect the Magisterium. But expanding my point is good advice!
Okay, I wish to amend my earlier comment that Joe Biden “isn’t Catholic in any meaningful sense” in light of this article from CRISIS Magazine:
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/yes-biden-is-catholic-thats-the-problem
The implication of Joe Biden’s Catholicity is that his politics are Catholic. From the article:
In other words, Joe Biden isn’t convicted by the fundamentals of the faith (in bold) — he’s a cultural Catholic. Fact check: True. He received the Sacraments of Initiation, which affect what they signify and make him Catholic — he just doesn’t believe in or practice the faith. He practices Progressivism and calls it “Catholicism.”
And, as the CRISIS piece says, he’s one of a majority of American Catholics who’ve been shamefully misled and maleducated over the course of the last many years. I am one of those post-Vatican II Catholics whose catechesis was so poor as to be sinful. It’s only in the last twenty years that I’ve studied and broken the surface of the unfathomable depths of Catholic teaching. My guess is Catholics around my late-baby-boomer age who undergo conversion (reversion) to Christ’s Church are mostly self-taught (with great assistance from Catholic Answers, Ascension Press and other apologetic outlets).
Right there with you – born in 1981 and raised in the doldrums of catechesis (even with 12 years of Catholic schooling!). Thankfully the Holy Spirit got a hold of me at a young age and lead me down a lifelong path of getting the deeper, fuller story of our magnificent faith.
BTW, @chrisserger, did you know there’s a Ricochet Catholics group? If you haven’t already joined, here’s the link:
https://ricochet.com/groups/ricochet-catholics/
thanks for the link
Ok.
Yes, I read that piece at Crises and commented in their Comments section. This is what I said:
And then I corrected myself with:
How many member of the Catholic Church actually believe the deal?