IS IT TIME FOR A CATHOLIC TEA PARTY?

Hop on over to Commentarius de Prognosticis to consider what our reaction as faithful Catholics should be to the USCCB. Is it time for a Catholic Tea Party?

The only reason that I would be hesitant to say yes is because, without leadership from Rome Americans would tend to try to turn the Church into some sort of democracy. We can't help ourselves. However, maybe it's time that Rome understands that we stand ready, with her guidance, to take our Church back. Maybe the USCCB needs to understand that, too.

TEA PARTIES AND THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

"The rise of a new conservative grass-roots fueled by a secular revulsion at government spending is stirring fears among leaders of the old conservative grass-roots, the evangelical Christian right.

A reeling economy and the Obama administration’s massive bank bailout and stimulus plan were the triggers for a resurgence in support for the Republican Party and the rise of the tea party movement. But they’ve also banished the social issues that are the focus of many evangelical Christians to the background...

...“There’s a libertarian streak in the tea party movement that concerns me as a cultural conservative,” said Bryan Fischer, director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy at the American Family Association. “The tea party movement needs to insist that candidates believe in the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage.”
Politico

No it doesn't. The Tea Party movement needs to attract as many people as possible to it. People that believe in limited government and personal freedom. It needs to keep its focus on political and economic freedom to the exclusion of all else because without those nothing else matters. If we allow government to have the power of life and death over us we won't be able to make the decisions about morality and other social issues. They will be shoved down our throats, just like the Democrats are attempting to do with health care.

Last summer I went to a bunch of local Tea Party rallies, some in St. Louis and some in Franklin County. The rallies in St. Louis were secular political affairs and completely focused on the political problems at hand. The rallies in Franklin County, especially one I attended in Union, were highly sectarian. So much so that I was compelled to write a letter about it to the director of the local organizing group, The Franklin County Patriots.

Speeches in Union were political but also contained a religious element that I found counterproductive. A couple speakers, I assume believing they were at some sort of fundamentalist tent meeting, felt compelled to give testimony to their relationship with Jesus. As a person of faith myself I wasn't particularly offended. However, having grown up with a whole bunch of Jewish friends I had to wonder how this potentially divisive declaration of faith served the greater purpose of returning the government to its Constitutional level? Why alienate any group that shares the core political belief?

And this is something that always bothered me about the "religious right". In the end this movement seemed less about freedom and more about imposing certain doctrines on the people. I always have believed that if some leaders of this movement had gained power we would have been turned into a sort of theocracy, mingling the state in the church in exactly the manner that the First Amendment was written to prevent. I have always sensed in the "religious right" a tendency towards real fascism, in some ways the kind the left always screams about.

I understand that this country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and that most of the Founders were Christian. I know that at the state level some of the Founders even supported state religions. All that aside though, they did create a federal Constitution and political system that has done a remarkable job of maintaining ecclesiastical neutrality. Any movement meant to restore the federal government to its Constitutional basis has to do the same.

Let the social issues be argued at the state level where they belong. I don't want big government from the right or the left having any part of my life at the national level. Keep the social issues out of the Tea Party movement and keep its focus on the bigger picture.

THE LEFT IS UP TO ITS USUAL TRICKS

So when the Tea parties showed up last fall in Washington there were, by some estimates, over a million people in attendance. Yet, there were no arrests and no reports of violence. The left shows up at a college protest and ten percent of the attendees are detained. Violence is the mane of the game.

And yet, the Tea Partiers are called dangerous and unstable. Go figure.

"Students carried out raucous rallies on college campuses nationwide Thursday in protests against deep education cuts that turned violent as demonstrators threw punches and ice chunks in Wisconsin and blocked university gates and smashed car windows in California.

At least 15 protesters were detained by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee police after as many as 150 students gathered at the student union then moved to an administrative building to deliver petitions to the school chancellor.

University spokesman Tom Luljak said campus police allowed one person inside, But when she emerged, she encouraged everyone to rush the building, he said.
The violence began when police tried to turn them away. No serious injuries were reported."
Yahoo

CATHOLIC TEA PARTIES?

While I agree with Hudson's sentiments I'm struck with foreboding. Just as the Democrats have hijacked the USCCB so can the Republicans manipulate any sort of movement from the right. I like the idea of Catholic Tea parties in so far as they are driven by individuals and an organic anger, but they would be terribly easy to co-opt if the leaders aren't careful. Too far to the right is no better than too far to the left. If Catholicism is the central driving force behind any such group then good, but if the driving force is political then it will lead to evil.

"At the American Conservative Union's recent annual meeting, Deal Hudson, president of the Catholic Advocate, hosted an event with the theme “It's time for a Catholic Tea Party.”

The annual meeting of the ACU, called the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) took place in Washington D.C. from Feb. 18-20.

Hudson told attendees of the Catholic Advocate event that “it was time for Catholics to realize they don't need permission from their bishops to become politically active.”

Hudson's remarks were made in the context of a campaign to “reform the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)” that he is helping lead. The CCHD, which is under jurisdiction of the U.S. bishops, has recently come under fire for its alleged connections with a network of community organizations that have promoted abortion and the homosexual agenda.

Clarifying what he means by a “Catholic Tea Party,” Hudson said, “We are not calling for the dismantling of the USCCB, not at all. Episcopal conferences are fully mandated by the documents of Vatican II and the Code of Cannon Law.”

“But,” Hudson continued, “we want the USCCB to be managed in a way that does supplant the role and responsibility of the laity and programs like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. In the case of USCCB programs like the CCHD a serious overhaul is necessary to prevent Catholic money from being spent on organizations supporting abortion and same-sex marriage.”

“$2,000,000 has been spent this way and it needs to stop,” Hudson claimed.

The conservative leader expressed another reason for the Catholic laity to become politically active, saying that they have relied too often on Evangelical organizations and have “lacked confidence” in participating in Catholic political activism.

Following his address, Hudson introduced Florida Senatorial candidate Marco Rubio, whom he described as a man who “will not compromise” and invited him to give some brief commentary. Also present was Matt Smith, vice president of Catholic Advocate and co-host of the event."
Catholic News Agency

CAN YOU HEAR US? DO YOU CARE?

Can they hear us? Sure. Do they care? Nope. Why? Because by the time the elections roll around they will have so thoroughly consolidated their power that no peaceful force on this earth will dislodge them. How will they do it? I'm not sure, I just know they have a plan. If they didn't they would have never passed something that obviously would cost them their power.

So get ready. Something wicked this way comes.



Tea Party Patriots