KUHNER: Obama vs. Pope Benedict

Well thought out. Well written. Well Done.

Any initial legislation pushed by an Obama Administration should be oriented toward fixing the troubled economy, not giving paybacks to some of his more radical supporters. President Obama should not make enactment of FOCA, a bloody act against the innocents, the opening initiative of his presidency. It is wrong on the moral merits, but this abuse of power is almost certainly also unconstitutional. Since it high-handedly abrogates state statutes on abortion in defiance of the will of the people of those states, it is almost certainly in violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. I'm amazed that any serious Catholic would ever consider supporting this monstrosity, FOCA, or any slimy politician that voted for it.

I've seen statistics recently that said more than half of Catholics voted for Obama. I still cannot believe the Church is filled with so many people who don't actually hold the Catholic faith. I wish they'd all just stop playing at being Catholic and go somewhere else. It's a sad state of affairs when you cannot walk into a church and feel you're with fellow believers. I am sick over this betrayal.

Look I'm In Italy, They hail Pope Benidict xvi as a rock star and some will not let him speak in the Catholic Univercity in Rome. The Italian professors say he does not respect Science. Anti Obama, Bush crazy Catholics need to understand the Italian Catholics have the lowest birth rate of the twenty seven European Countries in The European Union. I suppose you think this is because of practicing self control and abstenence. How can this be if Catholics practice what they preach. I think we need to see if the Pope is a Catholic because the Italians have thier own interpretation of the Cadicisim and contraceptives. The Italians have adoped their own double standard for themselves. Before repenting for your pettifilers and preaching to the Americans preach to the Italians whom recieve the holy communion far from the state of grace. I wonder have some secretly voted for Obama in their hearts. Remember what he said about the Islam Faith right off the plank in Germany. I challange you to buy a Standard Version of the Bible or a King James version or any Bible not Catholic, you cant for less than 80 Euros in Italy. Last month Pope Benidect xvi said because the people dont know the bible they read it from cover to cover in public in the Vatican. All this with no explanation or interpretation. The Italian's do not know the Bible and they are not confident to speak about it. I'ts like Luther never came in 1517 with the ninty five thesis. Last week Pope Benedict xvi proclaimed he could not see how we could unite World Cultures or Religions. Thank God I have my own relationship with God through Jesus Christ and I dont need the approval of anybody. What happened to Christians that we cannot witness to Islam, Buddest, Communist, Hindu, Jew or Athiest. Did your chewing Gum loose it,s flavour. I hold the opinion Jesus would break bread with any Man.

How can any Catholic not believe that life begins at conception. I am a nurse, and mother of 5. I've witnessed many births and several "miscarriages". I refuse to use the word abortion for these because the word abortion as it is used today denotes something very evil. It is murder pure and simple. Until this society wakes up to this truth, we are doomed as a society.

This sort of self-righteousness is what made me leave the Catholic church nearly 10 years ago, and I've never looked back. Anyone who wants to live in a theocracy might find a better home in Saudi Arabia, because it's not going to happen here.

Thank you for expressing many of the same thoughts I've had myself and been anxious to see in print on this subject since the election. This is what I've been e-mailing to my American Bishops: "What a troubling moment in the history of our beloved Catholic Church in America.....": I am forced to give the US Bishops a failing grade in their ministry, as evidenced again by the large numbers of ‘catholics’ who have once again voted-in the party of death. They have scoffed at you and the Teaching Authority of the Church, and gone ahead with their own agenda as has been the case since Vatican II, beginning with their disagreements on birth control. This disobedience and the stubborn defiance of a good many people still in the pews on Sundays is tearing down our faith brick by brick, and has become a cancer in the Body of Christ within the western world. And this is the deeper problem as I see it: you have all, for many, many years, been trying to minister to faithful catholics and, since Vatican II, a growing number of ‘new protestants’ who are also still sitting in the pews on Sundays (though they are probably more likely not to attend Every Sunday). I believe it has been, and will continue to be impossible for you to effectively minister to two such disparate groups under one roof, as has been attempted for far too many decades to our misfortune. It greatly weakens your effectiveness both with the remnant of faithful Catholics who see you making too many compromises because you are being tugged from two entirely different directions on so many of the issues at the center of our fiercely contested culture war. You have obviously had to compromise principles to effect the current state of affairs, and that continues to happen, in the eyes of the true Catholic faithful that I know, to the discredit of you - our leaders - still trying to appease the non-believers who have decided, this time, not to walk away from the church, but instead to change it from within by constantly chipping away at our traditional beliefs and make them correspond more closely with their own silly, personal, notions on issues like abortion and a right to life for the unborn, homosexuality, birth control, pornography, promiscuity, and all sorts of other vulgarity. Lead us back to TRUTH and away from the cafeteria catholic mentality that puts self and economics or other perceived ‘goods’ above church teaching; Lead us back to unity; Lead us away from the secularism that has so pervaded and perverted the faith; Lead us away from the scandal and sacrilege of dissident believers at the communion rail; Lead by LEADING, rather than following after sheep who choose to be lost - YOU DON’T GO TO FIND PRODIGAL SON – HE RETURNS BECAUSE HE REMEMBERS THERE’S SOMETHING MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN HE CAN CREATE WAITING FOR HIM BACK HERE; Lead us away from this watered-down/milk-toast Catholicism!!!

That's President Obama to you, Mr. Kuhner. Get used to it. Let the hedonistic utopian liberal progressive murderous and morally bankrupt orgy begin!

Is it even possible to write an article advocating forced gestation and prohibiting patients access to safe and effective medical procedures without [repeatedly] lying? I guess not. First, FOCA would *not* "remove all restrictions on abortion in state statutes - including restraints on late-term abortions." [Bonus points if Mr. Kuhner can give a reality-based definition of late-term abortion, its incidence, and indications.] According to FOCA: "A government may not-- (1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose-- (A) to bear a child; (B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or (C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman;" Second, FOCA only applies to government, defined as "a branch, department, agency, instrumentality, or official (or other individual acting under color of law) of the United States, a State, or a subdivision of a State." So, until we become a Catholic theocracy, it does not compel Catholic health-care facilities to provide adequate medical care to female patients. Third, opposing a ban on an imaginary procedure does not make you pro-choice; it makes you reality-based/propaganda-resistant. Fourth, FOCA seeks to codify a ban on governmental interference in "[a] woman's decision to commence, prevent, continue, or terminate a pregnancy." You know, as in the government should neither force women to become pregnant, abort their pregnancy, or carry to term against their will. Last, but not least, a couple of things: "Should an entire class of people be denied their essential humanity?" Absolutely! If they're females of reproductive age, off with their humanity! "It is time for the Holy Father to personally speak out against FOCA and warn pro-choice Catholics in the Obama administration they will not only be refused communion at Mass but face excommunication." Just so we're clear. You're calling for a foreign religious potentate to threaten our legislators in order to interfere with the passage of laws in our, you know, secular country. Brilliant!