As an appendix to my discussion of the Catholic right's capitulation to the political right--its subordination of Catholic belief and values to extreme-right political ideologies--I'd like to point to a source that readers interested in these themes may wish to read.Frank Cocozzelli, Director of the Institute for Progressive Christianity, has done yeoman's work for years now tracking and exposing the Catholic right. His ongoing multi-part series on the Catholic right at the Talk to Action website is must-reading for anyone concerned about collusion of nasty right-wing money and the Catholic right, and the effects of that collusion on our political process. A chronological listing of all his articles and postings at that site is here.
In a 6 Sept. posting last year, Cocozzelli specifically addresses Martino and his "transparently factious" and overt political attempts to "unduly influence the American political process" (here and here). Some select quotes from that article:
Outside of a handful of issues such as abortion, stem cell research and LGTB civil rights, Palin has little in common with the Vatican and substantially less with the majority of American Catholics. But this narrow band of commonality will nevertheless be the pretext on which Catholicism will be defined [by the Catholic right], for political purposes as almost solely about abortion.
Some such as Bishop Charles Chaput of Denver are downright belligerent about it. Chaput has said that Senator Biden should refrain from Communion because of his stance on abortion rights and Bishop Joseph F. Martino of the Diocese of Scranton (Biden's birthplace) has made it clear that he would deny Senator Biden Communion because, in his words, "I will not tolerate any politician who claims to be a faithful Catholic who is not genuinely pro-life." . . .
When members of the Catholic hierarchy and their allies resort to such tactics, they cease being a legitimate voice in a ongoing debate and instead become transparently factious entities seeking to unduly influence the American political process. Such behavior is the difference between contributing to the national discourse and trying to dominate it. . . .
In short, Chaput, Martino and other such strident clergymen have a severely limited understanding of "pro-life issues." . . .
As I wrote this piece I searched in vain on for any evidence of just one demand by Bishops Chaput or Martino that universal healthcare be provided to all Americans. If they have publicly advocated for universal health care, they must have hidden it well, since my research turned up nothing from either of these otherwise high profile prelates. When I linked their two names to "universal healthcare" all I could find were endless pronouncements on banning abortion and euthanasia.
As Cocozzelli's analysis here demonstrates, what is driving Chaput, Martino, and their supporters in the American Catholic church is not so much the desire to outlaw abortion, as the drive to impose one political viewpoint and one political party on all Americans, in the name of "orthodoxy." The overt, grotesque use of the episcopal office and the sacraments to try to whip Catholics into line--into a political line--has not ended with the election of Obama.
Indeed, it is only beginning. In coming weeks, particularly with the choice of Governor Sebelius as the Health Secretary of the new administration, we can look for this strident, politicized, divisive behavior on the part of the Catholic right to be stepped up. And for many more attempts to grandstand with cooked-up stories about the "decline" of Catholicity in American Catholic universities, as they seek to planted these false reports everywhere they . . . .
