Bob Casey, Kathleen Sibelius and Joe Biden. Three Democratic politicians. All prominent in the new Obama administration. Given the temper of the times, none could be categorized as extremely liberal. Why does their presence set the Rights teeth on edge?
They are all members, born and raised, in the Roman Catholic Church. In most ways, they are more typical than not of their generation of American Catholics. They attend church, partake of the sacraments and are very attached to their religion. On the other hand, they do not agree politically with many of the stands that the increasingly conservative church leadership has taken. They are vilified for the differences between what they espouse and the exhortations of the elderly, brandy swilling, cigar chomping, snaggletoothed Princes of the Catholic Church, the whiskey blossoms across their cheeks and wattles on their jowls belying a supposedly ascetic lifestyle.
Fifty years ago, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, another Roman Catholic politician, stood before the people and vowed that while he was a devout Catholic, his duty as President would require him to act in a secular manner, for the benefit of all Americans and not to act as a servant to the man that many still characterized as the "Whore of Rome". That man was Pope John the XXIII. Pope John was a popular and populist man, beloved by the common folk around the World. He introduced many changes that led to a new era of cooperation and understanding between people of conflicting religions and philosophies. Under his guidance, Catholics were taught to no longer regard Jews as "Christ Killers" and shun them from society. The man who currently holds the job in Rome is nowhere near the man that John was. Not inclusive. Not popular. Some would say not so much a man of God, as he is a man of the church. Two very different things. Have standards of what is expected of American politicians changed so much in fifty years?
Apparently they have.
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