46 Comments

• Gearoid4 | Oct 30, 2012, 04:52 PM EDT

  @Eiriamach, Nowhere is my comments do I make excuses for priests who indulged in the criminal abuse of kids or for bishops who covered up these crimes. They should all face canonical and civil justice in the courts. How is campaigning against birth control and it's corollary abortion, a war against women? This is gross distortion of the archbishops message and indeed one could argue that his message is a lot more liberating and healthy for women in a variety of ways than telling them the lie that it is their best interests to deny and undermine their fertility and even destroy life in the womb. Thus one assaults the life-giving fertile potential of a women by giving her poisonous birth control pills and destroying the nascent life in the womb. Indeed it is a rebellion against fertility and womb and against the natural order as God designed. One can argue about the "personhood" off a fetus or embryo, but here is no doubting the humanity of the life that is conceived when ovum is fused to sperm. The embryo is full formed at 12 weeks or even less. Do the science there and you can't preach invincible ignorance in relation to the humanity of life at conception. A competent biologist will tell you that.

• eiriamach | Oct 29, 2012, 01:45 PM EDT

  Jacers, I've read over my last comment, and I stand by it. Read the New Testment. You will not find anywhere in it Jesus waging political battles, especially not against women or homosexuals. Chaput's simplistic and ignorant anti-choice pronouncements defy the known facts of medical science. He thereby teaches his followers not to take knowledge of the human reproductive system into account but mindlessly to vote for oppressive laws that unconscionably deprive women of moral autonomy and ownership of their own bodies. Such behavior is tyrannical and inhumane. It will save no souls but will result in loss of many lives and destruction of families. I do not challenge his right to preach anti-science together with silly pronouncements about what a "person" with a soul is, but as an American I must challenge his legal right to do that "from the pulpit" while claiming tax exemption for the institutions he controls as a religious leader.

• eiriamach | Oct 29, 2012, 01:27 PM EDT

  Time after time, Gearoid and Irishamerica trot out the same tired, endlessly refuted arguments. It's tiresome, so I'll simply repeat my past comments. Two fallacies of relevance: (1) First you claim that it's unfair to focus on RCC child abuse when there are so many non-RC abusers ("Boy Scout leaders, football coaches, teachers, ministers, next door neighbors, family members"). If I'm the only drug dealer who gets caught dealing, it might FEEL unfair when they send me to prison and let the other 99 drug dealers continue their crimes, but it is NOT unfair. The evil I've done is too egregious to ignore out of some mistaken sense of fairness to all. The fact that others escape censure here for the same crimes is irrelevant to RCC abuses and cover-ups. (2) Then you mention that RCC does much good. Yes, agreed, but equally irrelevant! Do you expect the press to overlook a series of priests' and bishops' crimes against children because other priests do good? It will soon be Halloween. If I lace only one candy bar with arsenic and serve up 100 candy bars to the trick and treaters-- that's 99 good deeds vs. one act of random murder-- should I escape punishment for the one child who dies? The 99 treats I give away have just that much relevance to my crime as the fact that the RC does good as well as evil-- in other words, NO relevance. The abuse is indefensible-- trying to defend it shows only your mindless allegiance to religious "authority" in defiance of the law of the Only, and Ultimate, moral Authority!

• BigDaddy | Oct 28, 2012, 08:58 PM EDT

  This bishop and his parish needs to pay taxes for his political endorsements....hollabackgurl, Amen and Amen!

• BigDaddy | Oct 28, 2012, 08:56 PM EDT

  irishamerica, as a former altar boy and Secretary of the Holy Name Society in my local parish, I started having problems with the church in Philadelphia, Pa. after I could not reconcile what I saw happening around me with the teachings of Christ. The church I grew up in and served into my 30's IS my business. And if I have offended you in any way, why not be like Christ and forgive me?

• BigDaddy | Oct 28, 2012, 08:51 PM EDT

  BigDaddy’s posts are crazy...Really? Would you say they are as crazy as someone talking to a burning bush or a God who tells someone to murder his son as a sacrifice and then stops him at the last minute? Am I as crazy as an alleged God who tells "his chosen people" to murder all the inhabitants of a land that they conveniently call "The Promised Land" now? Why did you kill everyone? MY God told me to do it. Do you ever stop to think about "your faith" or do you accept all you cannot explain as God's Will? Yeah, you're right I'M Crazy.

• BigDaddy | Oct 28, 2012, 08:20 PM EDT

  Gearoid, as you ramble on about whether or not there are historical facts in the Bible, what does the Book say about the God you believe in? Whether or not Jesus lived does not prove he walked on water. Gospels written by those who walked with Him are thrown out in favor of stories written by people who never met the Man. (btw the God of the Old Testament had Joshua kill all the men, women and children in Jericho. You conveniently forgot to answer that question.) To continue, when you die you expect to go to heaven, I would expect. Do you think your God will allow such a thing if you only "break even" when it comes to your achievements? Yes God, it is true I am responsible for killing many, many people but I did feed some children, so don't I get credit for that? Suffer the little children to come unto who? Sorry, I don't believe I ever heard that before? What's that God? Feeding them doesn't count much if you rape them, also? Well, look at all the "good" things I have done why don't you? No one can be good all the time Lord! Yeah, Gear, I believe your "religion" has served you well. Here's a suggestion; try to be less a follower of Chaput and more a disciple of Christ. But that's a personal choice. I'm sure you will make the decisaion that you are most comfortable with.

• jacersagain | Oct 28, 2012, 06:29 PM EDT

  Jeeze eiriamach - would you please read over yr last comment?? Jeeze!

• eiriamach | Oct 28, 2012, 05:34 PM EDT

  But Jacers, the A/B is NOT following Christ's instruction to “Go, tell everyone…” Instead, he's waging political war on women and LGBTs. In doing so, he's lying about Christ's Gospel because Christ would never deprive any child of God of her or his soul, or moral autonomy, and human dignity and respect, as Chaput is asking his flock to vote to do. The Archbishop is breeding bigots among his parishioners, and in the process, he's carrying on a 'get-out-the-[Republican]-vote campaign that is blatantly political, on the taxpayer's money! It's thoroughly un-American, ah but, he says, he''s a Catholic before he's an American. Fine, let him and his institution pay American taxes, or let him become a Vatican citizen. But then, he couldn't take even half his parishioners with him because there are no female citizens of the Vatican. You're wrong to think that I'd ever consider censoring anyone. He may speak all he likes with no interference from me, AND he and his churches may pay taxes to the feds and the state. Political organizations, unlike churches, are not tax exempt! Have you lost touch so completely with the message of the Gospels that you actually think the Gospel is what Chaput is spreading? His ultra-right-wing politics subverts the Gospel!

• hollabackgurl | Oct 28, 2012, 05:07 PM EDT

  If the Church wants to campaign politically then they should pay taxes like every other Political Action Committee. This bishop and his parish needs to pay taxes for his political endorsements.

• irishamerica46 | Oct 28, 2012, 04:25 PM EDT

  All I ever hear are these rants against the Catholic Church. Yes pedophiles were kept from being prosecuted for years. But what about the Boy Scout leaders, football coaches, teachers, ministers,next door neighbors, family members etc. that have hurt children? The Church does a lot of good work all over the world. Why do most of you ignore that fact.You don't want to be Catholic, good for you. We don't need you so MYOB.FYI it was Republicans who fought slavery and democrats who wanted it to continue.

• jacersagain | Oct 28, 2012, 03:52 PM EDT

  BigDaddy’s posts are crazy, completely ignorant of the goodness of the Catholic Church despite its human faults. Is that craziness that what happens to one’s mind when you become a great-grandfather BigDaddy? If so, God help me and all other men in the future...

• jacersagain | Oct 28, 2012, 03:40 PM EDT

  Only back online again – to see another truth-twarting post by eiriamach at 09.14am yesterday. I know well that America is not a theocracy, so why she should bring that into discussion on the Archbishop’s right to lead and advise his flock, is way off track. Our Christ instructed his disciples, including all Bishops to “Go, tell everyone…” I’ve admired the A/Bishop for doing that; eiriamach has not. In fact she screams the A/B was wrong to even open his mouth. How much more censorship and rubbishings-down is she going to place on RCC ministers of Christian faith and on its millions of adherents, in America or elsewhere? While there is much in our Christian Bible for us to learn from and live by, it must equally be said that there are evil influences out there in our world, led by Satan. Please - don’t anybody be a follower of Satan or allow themselves to be spokespersons for his wicked agenda under the aegis of freedom. Shame on eiriamach... I expect better of her.

• Gearoid4 | Oct 28, 2012, 01:11 PM EDT

  So BigDaddy you dismiss the Bible, the most influential work of all time and translated into more languages than any other comparable book, as merely a work of the "bronze age". Many of the historical figures and events in scriptures have been archaeologically proven e.g. King Herod and the location of his palace. Jesus was undoubtedly an historical figure and is referred to by sources of the time, such as the Jewish historian Josephus and Roman historian Tacticus. You ask what is being done about starving children in the shade of the great cathedrals. The biggest provider of social and medical care outside the Federal government agencies, i.e the Catholic Church, on a daily basis, tends to the needs of the poor, hungry, sick and disenfranchised without raising a hullabaloo about it. The sexual abuse scandal was and remains a terrible stain on the reputation of the Catholic Church and the current Pontiff, pope Benedict XV1 has acknowledged this innumerable times and is cleaning house to remove this plague from Church ranks. But you keep coming back to it, and prefer to use it as a stick to beat the Church with, rather than engage with the points that Archbishop Chaput has made in his very wise homily.

• BigDaddy | Oct 28, 2012, 12:53 PM EDT

  Poor Wounded Knee, you are as bad as Gearoid. Stop dealing in generalities you dolt. Are all priests pedophiles? Are all Muslims terrorists? Are all Irishmen drunks? (maybe that's a bad example.) The world is more complex than stupid people think it is and, yes, you can believe in certain ideals and still care about others. I do not run the Republican party, I am not responsible for the atrocities that members of the party and the MIC have wreaked upon society and I certainly do not condone the stupid people that vote Republican today. As a professed Catholic, how many young boys have you raped lately you asshat?

• WoundedKnee | Oct 28, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT

  Stop your hypocritical whining about "starving children" Bigdaddy. You say you're a Republican. That's a party that has spent countless billions on the weapons of death and destruction, and has prosecuted dozens of wars, yet you claim to be concerned about "hungry children'. Give us a break, you hypocritical clown.

• BigDaddy | Oct 28, 2012, 10:19 AM EDT

  Gearoid, you are as bad as the Archbishop. You try to seem thoughtful but then you assume to know my thoughts, demonize me to make your points and, in doing so, prove my point FOR me. Ask a psychologist what makes someone lash out in defense without knowing the facts or even asking what the facts are. The Bible IS Bronze Age mythology. And if you are so concerned about children, what did God tell Joshua to do when the walls of Jericho came down? If, as some of the GOP say, rape is God's will and the children born of the act of violence are precious, what about the brutalized mother? Is this what God had planned for her and should she pray for more "blessings"? I am a great-grandfather, a Republican and someone who has lived long enough to know that if Christ came back today, he would vomit when he saw what was being done in his name by the Catholic Church. Cathedrals everywhere and in the shadow of those buildings starving children.You see, like the AB, you seem to forget the history of your church, the horrors it has perpetrated, and the unChristian attitude many of its hierarchy possess. You seem willing to ignore all the things the church does wrong, highlight all the things is does right and expect anyone who disagrees with you to listen to your attacks as if they were well thought out. Do you think feeding hungry children occasionally absolves the church hierarchy from ignoring the massive sexual crimes that have been perpetrated by the priests it hides away? I find that much of the Christianity that emanates from the Catholic church does so in spite of the church hierarchy. But you have a pleasant Sunday.

• Gearoid4 | Oct 27, 2012, 09:05 PM EDT

  One should not be naive enough to believe that either the Democrats or GOP will remain totally faithful to a political program influenced by Christian principles. Realistically one should remain hopeful but skeptical that "pro-life" issues would be advanced and that such indispensable institutions as marriage would be safeguarded in it's well-understood form. If one used this criteria, the GOP would come out the better of the two as political activists who are "pro-life" have been effectively frozen out of the Democratic party. In effect, it has become a "cold house" for traditional, Catholic, Christian values. @BigDaddy, Your caricatural depiction of Catholics and the Catholic Church reveals more about your "progressive" agenda than it does about true, Catholic and Christian values. By "progressive" I suppose you mean advancing the "pro-choice" or should I say, pro-abortion agenda and the extension of marriage to include same-sex couplings. Anything to the contrary, is medievalist or "bronze-age" as you call it. So respect for life from conception to natural death, and support for marriage in it's well-understood form, is regressive and "reactionary"? Whereas in truth, these concepts are more radical than the progressive agenda of the so-called liberal elites, as traditional Catholic precepts sets the bar that much higher in terms of human flourishing and development.

• BigDaddy | Oct 27, 2012, 08:09 PM EDT

  The archbishop starts out by telling a lie. He claims that people would have thought Republicans would have supported abortion and Democrats wouldn't have. Given the fact that Republicans have always been more reactionary and Democrats more thoughtful and progressive in their thinking, the AB needs to lie or else the rest of his story makes little sense. His talk of abandoning the Democratic party makes no sense unless he paints them as villains. Johnny Carson used to say,"If you buy the premise,you buy the bit." Meaning, if you can accept that a rabbi, a penguin and a Martian walk into a bar...then you shouldn't have a problem with what comes after. According to Chaput, the martyrs were Catholics. I would posit for your inspection the radical theory that the people who gave their lives for Christ were not Catholics, they were Christians. Something Chaput is not. Since having to admit that they are predators, the Catholic Church has had to side with the Republicans to keep from becoming irrelevant. They cannot preach caring for the poor to a political party that reveres Ayn Rand.The Catholic Church sees the handwriting on the wall, as many others have, and know that the political paradigm is changing. Therefore, aligning yourself with people who claim to have a belief in Christ, despite all their actions to the contrary, is the best way to preserve what is left of your status. Any group that believes Bronze Age mythology should determine 21st century political reality is obviously not Christian.

• WoundedKnee | Oct 27, 2012, 02:45 PM EDT

  bunkerisland: "hypocritical institution telling the rest of us how to vote". He's not telling you how to vote, you clown, he's advising Catholics. If you're not a Catholic pay as much heed to him as you would to a pronouncement from an Ayatollah. Why are you so obsessed with him if you're not a Catholoic? In other words, mind you own damn business and we Catholics will mind ours.

• BigDaddy | Oct 27, 2012, 01:55 PM EDT

  Phlutie...let me see if I have your idea right. Chaput, who doesn't blame the Church for hiding pedophiles from justice, blames the media for talking about it. You agree with him. He is to be compared to St. Patrick. Yet it is the "liberal elite" that seeks to confuse the AB's message and confuse the faithful. So, the followers of Christ should not worry themselves with "social justice", they should stay informed so not to be confused by the liberal elite telling the world that priests are raping children and raping children is not the problem, telling on priests is the problem. Did I understand you correctly?

• eiriamach | Oct 27, 2012, 11:45 AM EDT

  As the 'scare quotes' in Antoinette Kelly's title hint, to leave people free to choose is not the same as to "embrace" their choices. Unless they are free to choose, their actions have no moral value whatever. It makes no sense to praise me for doing some good that the law coerces me to do; I was not free to do otherwise. It makes no sense to blame me for doing some evil that the law coerces me to do; I was not free to do otherwise. Do anti-choice laws remove evil from our lives? No, anti-choice laws deprive us of virtue. The only moral actions or immoral actions are those we freely choose to take. Without freedom to *choose* the good, morality is impossible for us. So the Dems have it right when they "embrace" freedom. Freedom makes moral and immoral choices possible, and if you think we can have the one without enabling the other, you need to study Genesis.

• jetsnoone | Oct 27, 2012, 10:33 AM EDT

  So.......what you're saying LOURO is that you're o.k. with late term abortion as a matter of law. Have you ever stood up for something important or do you always cower behind some immoral law? The Archbishop is right, we have Catholic politicians out there who will take blood money to keep their jobs...not most of us Catholics, Archbishop, don't lose faith in all of us. Me personally, I don't vote for abortionists whether they are Dem or Repub.....

• eiriamach | Oct 27, 2012, 09:14 AM EDT

  Jacers, the USA is not a Catholic theocracy. On Election Day we will vote either for more constraints on liberty or for preserving and extending liberty. The Gospels tell us to preserve and extend 'the freedom of the children of God.' "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28-30): "Easy" and "light" because Christ calls for an end to all our oppression of each other, an end to waging cultural wars against those we presume are "bad" simply because they're different and we disapprove of their private choices. Similarly, in the words of Emma Lazarus that adorn our Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor,/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." The American goal is government limited in its powers, government that protects equally the rights and privacy of all of us in choices that affect no one else. I support separation of church and state BECAUSE freedom from oppressive laws about sexuality and reproduction makes possible the "freedom of the children of God," whereas laws constructed by churchmen according to their sectarian sense of morality makes that glorious freedom impossible.

• jacersagain | Oct 27, 2012, 01:00 AM EDT

  Sorry alisann - I think that what most people, even most Catholics, forget is that our Christ, the Messiah, gave out certain messages, for all - including politicians and voters - who came to live on this planet after He died, to follow. The Messiah’s messages were and remain very clear and uncompromising against evil, just as they were uncompromising about the sacrifice of love, exampled by His death on the Cross. I think this A/Bishop has not let down on Christ’s messages, or on His flock or on His World-wide community and I applaud the A/Bishop for speaking out so strongly. The Christ of us all on our Earth basically said “Love God foremost and love one another as I have loved you” and thereby gain the rewards of your afterlife. If this is true, then what the A/Bishop said can’t be faulted, however Catholics or “other” Christian people may be inclined to think, or be abusively misled by many, esp by the media people, and by blind faith. I say stick with the Christ’s messages as given by this leader of Philadelphian and other Catholics and I hope his message extends to pervade through America’s false political messages.

• alisaann | Oct 26, 2012, 07:21 PM EDT

  PLEASE, GET RELIGION "OUT OF POLITICS".....it has NO PLACE there....just as politics has NO PLACE IN RELIGION....i'm sick of religious people telling others HOW they should live their lives...CLEAN OUT THE SICK CILD RAPING LEADER from the church, before telling others what they should and shouldn't do with their bodies....also, START TAKING CARE OF THE POOR AND SICK.....the way GOD would want you to. alisa

• DanOLoingsigh | Oct 26, 2012, 06:41 PM EDT

  Just wonder if there was ever any risk of this guy getting pregnant after a rape, he may show a modicum of 'Christian' charity to other victims?

• eiriamach | Oct 26, 2012, 05:23 PM EDT

  Chaput's transgression in telling Catholics how to vote (or how not to vote) violates federal law on tax-exempt institutions. If he's going to engage in politics, his churches should pay the same tax bill everyone else who preaches politics pays, and then the public will see his "church" for what it really is, a right-wing political lobbying organization hell-bent on depriving women of control over their reproductive lives and conning parents out of control over the welfare of their children.

• joreilly | Oct 26, 2012, 03:11 PM EDT

  Sorry your Eminence !!!I do not promote ABORTION for ABORTION sake BUT there are times when it has to be done LEGALLY AND ETHICALLY IN A HOSP. and not in a BACK-ALLEY. I hope ypu don't believe that "....RAPE IS AN ACT Of GOD " ???? Now ,with regard that our "CATHOLIC FAITH " should have precedence over all else,even being AMERICAN ? Is this not the biggest criticism we have of our JEWISH BRETHERN.

• bunkerisland | Oct 26, 2012, 02:53 PM EDT

  One gets very tired of hearing these rather obese men, dressed in black, that represent a rather hypocritical institution telling the rest of us how to vote, never mind make decisions about our personal bodies. Meanwhile they need some basic training on how to make a bed, wash their own clothes, cook a meal and cut the front lawn without depending upon maids and handymen to carry their baggage, literally and figuratively.

• Nicoletta | Oct 26, 2012, 02:43 PM EDT

  What's this - you're telling us that Biden is pro-life??? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

• joan1954 | Oct 26, 2012, 02:36 PM EDT

  I agree with part of the Archbishop's statement, however, I was a Texan and an American before I was baptised a Catholic. With strong practicing Catholics as I had in my parents, infant baptism was not a choice. It was done.

• louro | Oct 26, 2012, 02:11 PM EDT

  “We are Catholics before we are Democrat, we are Catholics before we are Republican, we are even Catholics before we are Americans,” Archbishop Chaput said, If this were the case you'd probably be defrocked by now sir. One's religion is a personal choice, with social implications, but the law of the land has to deal with the welfare of all citizens, irrespective of their religion. For the record, I am a practising Catholic.

• PhlutiePhan | Oct 26, 2012, 01:23 PM EDT

  @pilib04: You mistake the message for the messenger. Christ acts through vessels of clay which crack and break. St. Patrick confronted the Druids with the message of truth. AB Chaput is attempting to do the same. There are guidelines for Catholics and the liberal elite have attempted to water down that message and throw up smokescreens to confuse the faithful. Most of the American Catholic hierarchy are worthless and seduced by the message of social justice. The foundation of morality must come first to be followed with social justice based on the basic tenets of the Catholic faith. Sure and begorrah, Republicans are associated with greed and viewed by the Irish as the Black and Tan in disguise. Nevertheless even as Gerry Adams has embraced radical socialism, so have the radical Irish Catholics in the Democratic Party done likewise.

• pilib04 | Oct 26, 2012, 12:54 PM EDT

  This is the whackjob who blames the news media for the pedophile priests and bishops in the Catholic Church in his weekly column on 9/30/2012. He said in his column, that if it weren't for the media, Americans would never have known about the pedophiles in the Catholic Church. He blamed the media for being anti-Catholic. Sounds like some of the crazies who post here.

• lokionline | Oct 26, 2012, 12:45 PM EDT

  Look at the last 50 years in N. America and Europe... what has happened since Vatican II?
  
  Do any of you seriously think that an effort by the Curia will turn the tide on the increasing irrelevance of the Catholic religion among educated people in the 21st century?
  
  The only strategy that might work would be to plunge the world into widespread conflict and ignorance.
  
  I wouldn't be surprised if this were one of the options being considered in Rome.

• brenvancouver | Oct 26, 2012, 12:38 PM EDT

  Katiemac, the Catholic Church has never deviated for an instant from its message given all of us in the sixth commandment. There is no out here for anyone. It is a plain and simple rule God Almighty has asked each of us to keep. We all must realise that Birth is just the coming into this world event. The bay before birth and after birth is the same baby and never changes except through natural progression to natural death. Not one of US have been given the right to take any life on this planet. We can twist the words all we like and deny all we like but we simply can take life before or after birth. I had the terrible privilage to see a baby that was aborted in the sixth week and that baby had all the credentials, i.e.fingers toes arms legs etc etc that everyone of us had in our own similar stages of life. The Archbishop is right. Our first duty is to God. He asks us to Love Him and Our neighbour. Our neighbour is every other being onthe planet including the unborn. We cannot Love while at the same time killing any man, woman, child, infant or unborn baby unborn baby. If you think you can you are in denial of God's Law for all of us.

• irishamerica46 | Oct 26, 2012, 11:32 AM EDT

  Paul, you equate pro-life with pedophilia and rape! Wow another ignorant immature remark!!

• wilhoef | Oct 26, 2012, 11:20 AM EDT

  Any Christian who votes for ObaMao is guilty of grave sin. Any Jew who votes for ObaMao is incredibly stupid. Any Muslim who votes for ObaMao is right on tune.

• jerrydonovan | Oct 26, 2012, 11:18 AM EDT

  You are either pro-life or pro-choice.There are no exceptions .How does Romney claim that he is pro-life yet has exceptions?To do so is in my opinion to be hypocritical,but then that is Romney he is for everything and against everything at the same time.When I hear Romney I equate him to a snake oil salesman.

• Seanmor | Oct 26, 2012, 10:36 AM EDT

  This good archbishop criticizes Democratis Catholic who are pro-abortion. One is left with the impression that only Catholics favor -or should favor - the protection of the unborn. But thank God such is NOT the case. I had known my future wife only a few weeks when she, a New England Methodist, accompanied me to a Catholic Church in midtown. When he stopped in the vestibule to sign a book, I asked her if that was the visitors' book. She said: "No this book is for pro-life signitures". The R.N. (now retired) spent her working years saving lives, and never helped to kill an unborn baby.

• Paul Hogan | Oct 26, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT

  Yes: Pro-Life, Pro-Pedphila And Pro Legititame Rape.Gods Will

• katiemac | Oct 26, 2012, 10:28 AM EDT

  I totally agree with the Archbishop, but I cannot help but lay blame on the Church's failure to send a consistent message. Far too many bishops are just too politically correct for my taste. In my opinion political figures like Biden, Pelosi, Sebelius and plenty of others need to be publically walked out of the Church with bell, book and candle.

• hermitTalker | Oct 26, 2012, 10:26 AM EDT

  captain and irishamerica46. 1 Jesus was celibate as was St Paul. Jesus counseled celibacy as a choice. St Peter was married, Jesus cured his mother in law; apparently all the apostles except John were married, but they left family and holy women followed them and cared for their needs. The worry today is that, except for Ireland, Europe is not producing the replacement number of children, nor is the USA, but Obama and his allies are forcing abortions and chemical and barrier birth prevention and abortifacients in the HHS Mandate and allowed our tax money to go to pay for China's forced one child policy all through pregnancy. Before anyone throws the sex abuse bomb, abortion, which kills a living citizen in the womb is the worst form of child abuse. Why kick the family dog when angry and why kill your baby for your error when adoptions are sorely needed? Abortion is not health care, nor is it family planning or birth control.

• irishamerica46 | Oct 26, 2012, 09:55 AM EDT

  There are people in this world besides those in religious life who choose to be celibate. Saying these people are "the biggest abortionists" is an ignorant remark.

• CaptainCon | Oct 26, 2012, 08:35 AM EDT

  Something that has always puzzled me. Catholic priests and nuns officially espouse a celibate lifestyle for themselves and spend their lives lecturing others on the sanctity of a conveyor belt of babies-for-jesus. There is nothing in the bible or anywhere else in catholic dogma to prevent priests and nuns having children. Going by the numbers of children prevented by priests and nuns refusing to have children then it is arguable that they are the biggest abortionists in Ireland. Or can anyone point me to any instruction from 'god' or the Holy Wibble which says priests and nuns should be celibate and are barred from having children? How many children has this Philadelphia Archbishop prevented from roaming the earth by refusing to contemplate fathering children?