As California Catholic Daily reported on Sept. 5, the state’s bishops have urged Catholics to contact Gov. Jerry Brown to ask him to veto Senate Bill 623, which would extend a UCSF pilot program that trains non-physicians to perform abortions. But that is not the only bill passed by the legislature in the crosshairs of the bishops. Here are excerpts taken from the homepage of the California Catholic Conference, the bishops’ public policy arm, regarding other bills the bishops want the governor to veto:
We will be lobbying the Governor to veto two other life and dignity issues we opposed: AB 1657 (Wieckowski, D-Fremont) to increase traffic fines to fund immoral, speculative and unproven embryonic stem cell research and AB 2348 (Mitchell, D-Los Angeles) allowing registered nurses as well as physicians to dispense oral contraceptives on the basis of the author’s questionable claim that women lacked access.
Regarding marriage and family issues, we will be asking the Governor to veto SB 1140 (Leno, D-San Francisco), which “protects” clergy from coercion to perform marriage solemnizations to which they object — although both the U.S. and the California constitution guarantee their religious liberty — and adds the author’s personal definition of marriage in an inappropriate section of the code of California law.
We will also be asking the Governor to veto SB 1172 (Lieu, D-Torrance), which bars the psychological/psychiatric treatment or counseling of minor children experiencing confusion about sexual feelings or attractions, thereby undermining parental rights.
I don’t recall voting for any Bishop to hold elected office in the Great State of California, did I miss something?!
In the first place, Thomas Edward Miles, I have known people who were truly helped by stem-cell research, the ethical kind. You know stem-cells from a child’s umbilical cord, skin cells and adult cells, not the embyonic kind which the body rejects because it is foreign material and most often from aborted fetuses. Using embryos (and all embryos are fertilized) from aborted fetuses is just killing one person to help another, and is totally immoral and murderous.The bishop certainly have a right to see that people and legislators work for things that will actually help people instead of pouring our money into killing them, but, of course, we all know you just do not give a damn.
Anne T.
I have used Stemtech to almost completely eliminate the results of when the LAPD, on Holy Saturday 1989 Operation Rescue stomped on the small of my back with their Jack Boots and destroyed my 4th and 5th Discs. I have even been able to Ski again! I just got a call from one of my customers who hopes to soon become a Distributor in which he told me that Stem Tech has relieved the pain in his back in a relatively short time!
The President of StemTech is a devout Catholic and has stated so in many ways at Distributor meetings. StemTech use facilitates the better distribution of your own stem cells, thus alleviating and even eliminating many health problems.
They went to the Vatican recently and presented Stem Tech.
Anyone wishing to know more, can contact me. I am in the Anaheim, CA phone book.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Kenneth, thank you for the information. I also know of a little girl who was born with neurological problems that affected her standing, eating, talking and one eye. She received treatment at a University from her own cord-blood stem cells, and it greatly helped her. Her eye improved on its own, and one doctor said she had never seen such an eye condition improve on its own without an operation. Ethical stem-cell treatment is what our money should be used for not the the unethical embryonic kind, which just kills another child and is rejected by ones body as foreign matter. I also have a friend whose sister has received ethical stem-cell treatment, probably her own skin cells, which she paid for from her own pocket, that has helped keep her cancer cells down. She has lymphona. I will give her your information too. There is no need to tax the public for a treatment that will not work and is just being used to push more abortions.
TEM, in fact you miss almost everything … repent, for the end is near. Our lives pass quickly, in the blink of an eye. Don’t bank on Purgatory, as it may not be an option for any sodomite.
The CA Bishops have not learned the difference between their required job and the required job of the Laity.
Their job is to teach according to the CCC so the laity can have a “rightly formed conscience”. And then the Laity can do what is morally right in politics. Instead Bishops are entering the field of politics.
Until Bishops educate the majority of Catholics with the CCC in entirety, bad politicans at all levels of government will continue to be elected in CA.
Jesus and his Apostles were not lobbiests with the Government.
Bishops and Catholics have a right to lobby for causes just like any other citizen (citizen’s group). I’ve done it myself up in Sacramento at the Governor’s office on behalf of the Church. To put ot bluntly the Church has a right to stick it nose into political business.
Del,
Did your Bishop insist you read the CCC in entirety prior to lobbying on behalf the Church, and that you not stray from it?
Or were you following a Bernardin philosophy ?
According to the CCC 2245 & 2246, you are wrong.
The only time the Church can pass moral judgement in matters related to politics is whenever the fundamental rights of all men, or the salvation of souls require it.
And then the ONLY means she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of All men.
No where in the CCC does it state that the Church should become a lobbying group.
When they lobby, they must register as a lobbying group to comply with Federal and State laws.
If the Bishops continue not teaching (in entirty), then they can not expect Catholics to form a good conscience and to support their efforts.
Why do you think so many immoral politicians keep getting elected in CA ?
Teaching is the FIRST TASK of Bishops (CCC 888), when are they going to start encouraging the reading of the CCC in the USA ? ? ?
The fundamental rights of men and the salvation of souls always exist; therefore, Del is totally correct … Great Commission, “teach all nations”. That means the USA et al. The USA popped up a couple centuries ago. It is not Heaven on earth, and is going the way of all other nations and empires. The Church remains. Follow Jesus, not the tax exemptions.
Del,
What you write is right on, too bad it took the bishops so long to realize that. Now if only they would remove the weapon of the Tax Exempt Status from the enemies arsenal.
Yes, petition moon beam, but it will take a miracle for that moral degenerate to respond properly.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Wrong. The “job” of a bishop does not actually exist. Rather the “life” of a bishop is to teach, but to teach from God, whether that bishop finds God in a book or through being holy. Would you prefer a holy bishop teaching from God directly or a non-holy bishop running a numbers game out of a book?
JLS, are you preaching your own religion again?
The CCC is from the Magisterium, and clearly states that the first TASK (job) of the Bishops is to teach.
CCC: – 888
JLS, also please see: Mk 16:15 –
JESUS said to his Apostles – “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation”.
This is TEACHING. It is what all Bishops are supposed to be doing.
Being a bishop is not defined by “job” or “task”. Being a bishop is a state of being, a dynamic state of being. It is not a 9-5 job, a moonlighting job, a business, or administration. Being a bishop is being a “who”, a person of Christ, the head of Christ in a diocese. It is a total act of being holy and anything less lessens the man radically. To those who are given more, more is expected. Bishops are given considerable and 100% is expected. Less is cheating God and man.
If you mean that a bishop ought to strive for personal holiness, that is certainly true. If you mean that a bishop who is anything less than perfectly holy in his personal life and perfectly competent and prudent in the exercise of his jurisdiction is, by that reason, no longer a bishop–then that is false and heretical.
As usual, Mr Thomas Miles is channeling the voice of Henry II regarding Thomas a Becket.. These bishops, a troublesome lot, who can free me from them!
Jesus. The Sacraments are inviolate by any bishop regardless of their wiles.
Since when does a citizen give up his right to criticize the government just because he becomes a member of the clergy?
Read the CCC. Its not their job. Its their job to teach Faith and Morals to the rest of us.
Your question proves my point that some Bishops and Priests have not taught their flocks according to Church teaching approved by the Magisterium.
CCC – 898 ” By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will. . . . It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are closely associated that these may always be effected and grow according to Christ and maybe to the glory of the Creator and Redeemer.”
CCC – 909 “Moreover, by uniting their forces let the laity so remedy the institutions and conditions of the world when the latter are an inducement to sin, that these may be conformed to the norms of justice, favoring rather than hindering the practice of virtue. By so doing they will impregnate culture and human works with a moral value.”
CCC – 897 “The term ‘laity’ is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in Holy Orders and those who belong to a religious state approved by the Church. That is, the faithful, who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ and integrated into the People of God, are made sharers in their particular way in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ, and have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the World.”
Sorry, folks, I mean to pick on no one, but the lack of catechesis makes me angry.
Bishops and Priests and Nuns, please do your own job, and do it well.
So Ted, you are saying that if I am a desk clerk (my job), I lose my right to speak out on political issues because it does not fall under my job description?
Nancy,
The front desk clerk who does not do his own job first, such as pass out new instruction forms, screen out corrupt new employees who openly misrepresent company policy or screen out dangerous visitors entering into the office who lie, cheat and steal from the office treasury, is seriously jeopardizing the well being and the safety of the entire office.
This same desk clerk is free to speak up on any issue but if he totally neglects his primary responsibility of passing out instructions or paying no attention as to who walks into that office, then he can talk all day until he is blue in the face about other topics, but when it comes to being a good gatekeeper to his own office, he has lost his salt and will be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
mrpguy,
Exactly!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
When money is at stake.
Bishops can and should enter the politics of such legislation. They cannot tell parishoners to vote or not vote or a specific candidate, but they have full rights as do all Americans to lobby for or against legislation as they see fit and to encourage those in the pew to do the same. This should have been done more vigorously over the past 30yrs and this country would be in a better place today.
It takes a lot to get people involved these days….Go for it, Bishops!
Some folks here are confusing the bishops’ legal and constitutional rights as Americans with their rights and duties under Church doctrine. The bishop’s sacramental vocation is to teach, sanctify and govern THE CHURCH–not the secular society, which instead is to be leavened by the laity. The idea is that the bishops fortify the laity, and the laity then go out and bring the Gospel into all facets of secular society. The fact that the bishops are having to ask the governor of the state to veto several immoral bills passed by the legislature is proof of the bishops’ utter failure to prepare the laity of California to promote a moral society. The salt has now gone flat, the society has gone to hell and it’s the bishops alone against the governor, who is highly unlikely to bow to their request, since the Catholic laity has helped elect and re-elect these politicians with their destructive plans. Without a militant laity behind them, the bishops aren’t going to get anywhere anyway.
Huh? “The bishop’s sacramental vocation is to teach, sanctify and govern THE CHURCH–not the secular society, which instead is to be leavened by the laity”: Gee, I guess after all, we will meet St Paul and even Jesus in Purgatory … betcha all the saints will be there expiating their sins of talking to the wrong people.
I suppose you’ve read St. Paul’s letters in the New Testament, JLS? They’re all addressed to various congregations of Christians, in which he offers guidance and leadership. His public preaching, of course, was aimed at building up the Church by drawing into it all who were willing to respond to the Grace of God. Paul did not choose to confront the authorities–THEY confronted HIM, and he responded to the occasion. As for the other saints, if they were bishops–or even priests–they were almost exclusively given to the spiritual/material needs of the flock, as well as doing charitable works for the general public. They did NOT involve themselves in politics. The lay saints, of course, hold the same vocation as laymen always and everywhere–to leaven the secular world.
Uh, Larry, St. John the Baptist did confront Herod, and many saintly bishops did confront evil kings and politicians, but we all know what happen to them. They are now Saints with a capital “S”. Nevertheless, not all were killed though as there were some saintly bishops who confronted the evils of emperors and kings and won.
By the way, Larry, those who won are now Saints with a capital “S” too.
First of all, Anne T., John the Baptist was not a bishop of the Catholic Church, he was the last of the Old Testament-era prophets of Israel, so his role is not quite comparable–i.e., there was no Church to teach, sanctify and govern at that time–rather the target audience was the Israelite people. He himself confirmed he had no Sacramental power when he said, “I baptize with water, but there is one coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit” meaning that the Messiah’s baptism would be what we call a Sacrament. The Lord also confirmed this when he said (words to this effect) “there is no man born of woman greater than John the Baptist, but the least of those in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than him.” Secondly, I did not say that bishops must NEVER confront the political order. Clearly the catechism says they should, but only when human rights or the salvation of souls requires it. Primarily this means they should not be kibitzing on Caesar’s day-to-day running of the Empire. Their intervention should be limited to confronting serious evil. If, however, the rights of human beings or the salvation of souls requires that the bishops frequently intervene in the affairs of a representative republic, that is a devastating indictment of how those bishops have failed to educate their flock (one of their primary duties) in being good Christians, citizens and voters. That’s my point.
Of course, Larry, you have read St Paul at Corninth, right? Where he addresses the unwashed hordes … right?
The Bishops are too busy promoting their own agenda – like helping to advertize Sister Simone, and against the death penalty to pay attention to the CCC. (See today’s articles.)
They need to do their own Job first – TEACH accurately – so that the majority of Catholics will form good consciences.
Then bad politicians at all levels of government will not get elected in the first place.
They are doing things backwards by politicing themselves, and it is much less effective than having the majority of Catholics in their own Dioceses do it for them.
This is what happens when they do not TEACH with the CCC throughout the year.
According to the Magisterium (CCC), the Bishops, Priests and Nuns have no business in politics unless the fundamental rights of all men, or the salvation of souls require it, – and then ONLY in accord with the Gospel.
In other words, Pete, all the time, since it is all the time that salvation of souls and rights of men require it.
All this appealing to the Governor may have some positive results if he were a Catholic!