Catholicism Coopted

Some pro-life Catholics are acting shocked that the Vatican warmly greeted the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, who is pro-abortion. They don’t seem to understand that the Vatican and Obama agree on most major international issues. This is the untold story-how Obama and the Vatican accept major ingredients of what has been called a New World Order.

Another untold story is how, despite a disagreement over abortion, the U.S. Catholic Bishops and the Obama Administration agree on major aspects of so-called health care reform.

These topics are mostly taboo in the liberal and conservative media. Liberal and conservative Catholics alike would prefer not to discuss how the Catholic Church, here and abroad, functions like a liberal/left-wing political lobby.

But the facts should not be much of a surprise. A majority of Catholics voted for Obama, despite the fact that his pro-abortion record was well known, and when he was honored at Notre Dame, the premier Catholic University in the U.S., only about one-third of U.S. Catholic Bishops publicly objected.

The Nobel Committee’s award to Obama has been viewed by many, on the left and right, as a surprise. But it makes perfect sense. The committee noted that Obama “has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.” All of this is true. Obama has built up the power of global institutions at the expense of the United States.

While the Vatican statement congratulating Obama was also seen by some as a surprise, it too makes sense. The Vatican expressed the hope that “this most important recognition will ultimately encourage such a difficult but fundamental commitment for the future of humanity, so that it might bring the expected results.”

The “expected results” are evident when one considers that Pope Benedict, the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics, had endorsed a “World Political Authority,” a form of world government, in his recent encyclical “Caritas in Veritate.” This world political authority, in the Vatican view, is supposed to “manage the economy,” bring about “timely disarmament,” and ensure “food, security and peace.”

However, researcher Carl Teichrib points out in a new study (PDF) that some Catholic writers are reluctant to face up to the Vatican’s embrace of global government.

On domestic matters, it is frequently reported that the Roman Catholic Bishops in the U.S. oppose the Obama health care plan. In fact, the bishops believe that “health care is a basic human right,” which is the premise of the Obama plan and it is driving the campaign to have the federal government take over the health care sector.

The Bishops disagree with Obama on tax-funding of abortion, but on other matters-such as health care for immigrants and the poor-the Bishops are to the left of the plans introduced by Congressional Democrats.

The Bishops also agree with the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats on what is euphemistically called “immigration reform.” On October 8, Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick told the Senate that a new bill should help bring illegal aliens “out of the shadows” and give them permanent residency and citizenship. Such a bill figures to be one of the next major Obama initiatives.

On the matter of a cap-and-trade energy bill, which would raise energy prices supposedly to combat global warming, the Catholic Bishops believe that the U.S. should adopt “mitigation and adaptation” approaches that mean “shifting behavior now to adjust to the near-term impacts of climate change.” The Bishops explain that “Mitigation means cutting back on the emissions of harmful global warming pollutants and taking action to prevent further harm to the atmosphere.”

Again, this is the Obama Administration position.

The Bishops have launched a “Climate Change Justice and Health Initiative” that promotes “legislative action,” including “the transfer of such technologies and technical assistance that may be appropriate and helpful to developing countries in meeting the challenges of global climate change.” This, too, is accepted and being promoted by the Obama Administration.

On the controversial matter of what to do in Afghanistan, left-wing pressure is being applied on the Obama Administration by Pax Christi, a Catholic group which insists that the U.S. military presence has “fueled the spiral of violence and further destabilized the region.” It says that the solution lies in “reducing the U.S. military footprint” and favors ending the use of air strikes and drones on terrorist targets. Its “solution” is more diplomacy and foreign aid.

On an equally serious matter, Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, Dave Robinson, executive director of PaxChristi USA, recently signed a letter endorsing “the administration’s intent to engage Iran diplomatically…” Robinson favors more talking with Iran, not more sanctions and certainly not military action against the fanatical regime.

What’s interesting is that you find the same Catholic personnel working on domestic and foreign policy issues.

For example, the executive committee on the Pax Christi national council includes figures such as Donna Toliver Grimes, a “Poverty Education and Outreach Manager” for the bishops who also serves on the staff of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). This is the entity that has poured millions of dollars into ACORN and related organizations over the years. Funding of ACORN was recently suspended because of corruption allegations.

In an October 2 memorandum (PDF), Bishop Roger P. Morin acknowledged that the CCHD had also been funding several groups promoting public policy positions in violation of Catholic moral teaching. These were groups promoting homosexual rights and abortion. Morin claimed that the funding had been cut off.

However, Bellarmine Veritas Ministry, which uncovered the scandal, says that Morin’s response is unsatisfactory and “factually deficient in several areas.”

In response to one of my previous columns on the Catholic connection to ACORN, a conservative Catholic blog called CatholicCulture.org agreed with my point that some in the media are reluctant to raise the issue because they fear being accused of having an anti-Catholic bias. The blog said, however, that the matter must be thoroughly probed because while funding for ACORN has been suspended, the ties that CCHD has to other radical groups remain.

My column also noted evidence that Obama’s community organizing days in Chicago began in an organization funded by the Catholic Church.

This has been confirmed by several sources. Obama “worked in several Catholic parishes, supported by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, helping to address severe joblessness and housing needs in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods of Chicago,” noted the group calling itself Catholic Democrats. Another group, Catholics for Obama, says that “President Barack Obama reflects core values of Catholic Social Teaching, which informs how we live our faith in the world.”

The president of Catholic Democrats, Patrick Whelan, serves on the board of Catholics for Obama and as co-director of Pax Christi in Massachusetts.

In the newsletter (PDF) of Pax Christi Massachusetts, Whelan writes about flying to Chicago in May of this year, “where I attended a reunion of Catholic Priests and community activists who hired a young Barack Obama in 1985.” Whelan says that Obama, in his book, Dreams from My Father, “created a character named Marty Kaufmann, based on two real-life community organizers who attended this gathering on May 16, 2009.”

Whelan also writes about Obama’s meeting with the Pope. “Overall,” he says, “it was clear that the common ground between the US Government and the Holy See-on poverty, the environment, international armed conflict and peace in the Middle East-far outweighed their differences.”

Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of Accuracy in Media, and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org. This is an excerpt of one of his columns, which can be read in its entirety here.