A Roman Catholic who simply doesn’t exist
By Jim Galewski | Just Jim

There is no such person as a pro-choice Catholic.

You won’t get many politicians to make that statement. Heck, some Catholic bishops are waffling on the issue. The Democratic vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden, has been described as “a pro-choice Catholic.”
When it comes to abortion, Catholics are divided and some church leaders avoid taking a stand for fear of losing members. Having a “feel-good” faith is much easier to sell than to have a church doctrine that is unyielding in belief and values.

The Catholic faith is very clear on its stand on abortion and the direction it gives members of the Catholic congregation. No Catholic can remain in communion with the Catholic Church if he or she supports a pro-choice agenda. Right now you can hear the bishops running for cover.

You’ll see Catholics with Obama bumper stickers. They are called “Cafeteria Catholics.” They are Catholics who believe in most of the church teachings, but have rationalized away teachings they don’t like or don’t believe in.

If Catholics followed their faith, they could not in good conscience vote for the Democratic ticket. The Democrats are counting on many Catholics to vote their way now that Biden is part of the ticket. Biden is one of those Cafeteria Catholics. He’s the kind of Catholic who Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis said he would refuse giving communion to.

Burke has been called a conservative Catholic. I consider Burke a bishop who is standing up for his faith.

It would be nice if other Catholic bishops and priests would take a stand. The Catholic faithful should not have to defend what is so plainly spelled out in church doctrine. Catholic bishops know many Cafeteria Catholics sit in their pews and support the church. From a business angle, it wouldn’t be smart to alienate all those church envelopes — I mean church members.

We are taught not to be judgmental about such things as faith: It is not our place to judge.

That’s a huge blanket of vagueness and a cloak many church leaders use. If my definition is too black and white for you, I’m sorry. It’s that clearly defined in Catholic Church doctrine.

You may choose a different path, but you should recognize that it’s a different path. Jesus said, “Follow Me.”

He didn’t say, “You go your own way, and I’ll meet you at the top.”

Big bad oil

Every time we fill up our gas tank — if we can afford to — we feel robbed by the price we have to pay. It doesn’t matter what brand of gas we buy, it’s all the same price.

That’s why it’s easy to blame the entire oil industry for our predicament. Politicians center their political platforms on big oil. Incumbents — mostly Republicans — get accused of giving big oil sinful tax breaks. Democrats n for the most part — want to tax big oil companies.

If our government increases what big oil has to pay, it won’t change how much profit the oil industry makes, it will only increase what we have to pay at the pump.

In the first quarter of this year, oil giant ExxonMobil paid $9.3 billion of its first-quarter gross income, in taxes. That’s 49 percent of its profit. How much more do you think would be fair? Exxon cleared just over $10 billion that quarter. If the government made Exxon pay $15 billion in taxes, you can be sure it won’t change how much Exxon makes, it will mean we are going to pay more for our gas.

Don’t let the politicians tell you their solutions hinge on taxing big oil. In reality, that means we will have to pay for the increased tax. Taxing big oil is simply a way for the government to take more from us. We’ll be paying more if the politicians make the oil industry pay more.

It’s very simple math, but political candidates think we are stupid enough to think someone else is going to pay when they go after big oil. There’s only one checkbook and an increase in taxes ultimately gets drawn out of our account.

Galewski is the retired editor and Opinion page editor of the Winona Daily News. His views don’t necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper. If you have an idea or tip about a Winona issue, call Jim at (507) 452-3960. His e-mail is editor@luminet.net.

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