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PDF versionWith Diaz nomination, Obama passes major Catholic test
by John L Allen Jr on May. 28, 2009
By extending an olive branch to pro-lifers during his commencement address at Notre Dame, President Barack Obama seemed to pass his first major Catholic test. This week, by naming an envoy to the Vatican who doesn’t have a public track record of challenging the bishops on abortion, he’s in effect passed his second.
For extra credit, he demonstrated a good grasp of the changing demographics of American Catholicism by appointing a Hispanic. Measured against what one might have expected from a pro-choice Democrat and a non-Catholic, Obama’s Catholic report card so far appears to look pretty good.
On Wednesday, the White House announced the appointment of Miguel Diaz, 45, a professor of theology at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, as the ambassador of the United States to the Holy See. Born in Cuba, Diaz and his family left when he was eight, eventually settling in Miami. He has working-class roots; his father was a waiter and his mother a seamstress. Assuming Diaz is confirmed by the Senate, his first major task ought to be arranging a meeting between Obama and Pope Benedict XVI around the time of the G-8 meeting in Italy this July.
Early Vatican reaction seems positive. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the pope’s ambassador to the United States, called the Diaz appointment “an excellent choice of a representative who knows both the United States and the Catholic Church very well,” in an interview on Thursday with Italy’s ANSA news service.
Sambi added that as a Cuban-America immigrant, Diaz also “is a good representative of Spanish-speaking Catholics” in America.
That’s not to say, of course, that the choice is utterly uncontroversial. Diaz served on a Catholic advisory board for Obama during the 2008 campaign, and recently signed a letter in support of the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services Secretary despite her record of favoring abortion rights. One conservative Catholic media outlet thus styled the Diaz appointment “the first payback of the Obama administration to Catholics who have been unconditionally supporting his policies and appointments.” The fact that the usual Catholic suspects in the pro-Obama camp immediately hailed the appointment has also stoked concern in more conservative circles.
Yet Diaz is described by colleagues as broadly pro-life, and in any event he has never been among the most prominent Catholic apologists for a “soft” position on abortion. In that sense, no one in the Vatican is likely to style the appointment as provocative. (Rome may have other concerns, chief among them the extent to which a fairly obscure theology professor from Minnesota is likely to carry serious political weight inside the Obama administration. That remains to be seen.)
NCR: February 3-16, 2012
Subscribe to NCR to get all the news and special features that aren't always available online. In this issue:
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Conference fields advocates' questions on law, policy
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- Study: Black Catholics are more engaged
New study by Notre Dame researcher about parish involvement in America
Some Catholics may also be alarmed by Diaz’s fondness for Latin American liberation theology, which became a bête noir of the Catholic right during the 1970s and '80s due to its affinities with Marxism and class struggle. References to figures such as Gustavo Gutíerrez and Ignacio Ellacuría run through Diaz’s writings, and one news outlet referred to Diaz as a “Cuban liberation theologian” in its headline. For the record, that’s not really accurate. In his writings, Diaz distinguishes between the “preferential option for the poor” in Latin America and the “preferential option for culture” in Hispanic theology in the United States, focused on the survival of Latino/a identity.
Anyway, Diaz is nobody’s idea of a radical. He’s never defended armed revolution, or celebrated a “church from below” in opposition to the hierarchy. His accent has been largely on the importance of community, especially in light of the struggles of immigrant families. In one paper he coined the phrase, “outside the survival of community there is no salvation,” a play on the traditional theological maxim extra ecclesiam nulla salus (“outside the church there is no salvation”).
Looking down the line, the key question is how Diaz’s term in Rome might shape up. In that light, the distinctive thing about being the Ambassador to the Holy See is that it’s very much an “ideas” job, which means that it’s better suited for an academic than many other diplomatic assignments one could imagine. The ambassador doesn’t have to worry about trade relationships, security questions, visa policies, and so on -- the nuts-and-bolts matters that loom large in most diplomatic postings. The embassy also doesn’t have a large staff or internal bureaucracy. As a result, the ambassador has considerable scope to think outside the box, at least by the normal standards of overseas diplomacy.
The Diaz appointment would seem to open the door to partnerships with the Vatican in at least four areas.
Immigration: In part because of his own background, Diaz has made immigration a key theme of his theological work. In one essay, for example, he develops a theology of community against the backdrop of what he termed a “fear and rejection of others,” as exemplified in “legislation proposed before the House of Representatives to make English the official language of the United States, the rise of the Minutemen in Arizona, ongoing government raids on immigrant communities throughout the U.S., and various acts of prejudice against resident ‘aliens’ such as Muslims living in this country.” The first statement of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the United States in support of “just and comprehensive immigration reform” was issued during Diaz’s term as president. Immigration reform is also a top priority of the U.S. bishops and the Vatican -- in part for reasons of social justice, in part because a disproportionate share of new immigrants in the States is Catholic. Immigration is thus an issue where, in broad strokes, the positions of the Obama White House and the Vatican coincide. It doesn’t take a great leap of imagination to envision this as a focal point during the term of the first-ever Hispanic-American ambassador to the Holy See.
Cuba: According to friends and colleagues, Diaz has an interesting profile among Cuban-Americans. He’s never been part of the ferociously anti-Castro émigré community centered in Miami, but neither does he reflect the outlook of second generation Cuban-Americans who sometimes struggle to understand what the fuss is about. He arrives in Rome at a time when both the Obama administration and the Vatican are taking a keen interest in Cuba. Pope John Paul II made promoting a gradual opening in Cuba a top diplomatic priority, including a revival of the Cuban Catholic church. There are tentative signs that the government is reciprocating. Last December, Raul Castro attended a beatification Mass in Havana for a 19th century Cuban friar known as the “father of the poor.’ The state-controlled media, which typically ignores religious news, gave the event wide coverage. The Holy See is keenly interested in where all this might lead, especially given Cuba’s influence across Latin America. No doubt, Vatican diplomats will be anxious to hear what Diaz might have to say.
North-South Solidarity: When John Paul II convened a series of regional synods leading up to the Great Jubilee Year in 2000, he referred to the gathering for North, Central and South America and the Caribbean as the “Synod for America,” deliberately using the singular. The idea was to promote a unified and integrated continent, from the Yukon to Tierra del Fuego. Benedict XVI made a similar pitch for continental unity when he visited Brazil in 2007 for the assembly of CELAM, the Latin American Episcopal Council, at Aparecida. Diaz’s biography and his theological interests could make him an interesting interlocutor for the Vatican on North/South solidarity, in both the ecclesiastical and also the socio-political arenas. In particular, because of Diaz’s Cuban roots and his fluency in Spanish, he should be able to develop good working relationships with the large bloc of Latin American ambassadors to the Vatican.
Changing Demographics: By itself, the imagery of a Hispanic representing an African-American president delivers a message to Rome about the changing face of America. In Catholic terms, Diaz embodies the most important demographic trend in the church today, both globally and in the United States. Worldwide, two-thirds of all Catholics now live in the global South, with more than forty percent in Latin America alone. By mid-century, the figure will be three-fourths. In the United States, most estimates peg the Hispanic share of the Catholic population today at around one-third, and growing fast. Data from the Pew Forum suggest that by 2020, white Catholics for the first time will no longer be a majority of the U.S. Catholic population. Diaz may be positioned to help the Vatican interpret what these trajectories portend, and to become a bridge between this segment of the American Catholic population and Rome. Outside the church too, the Vatican will be interested in what the changing demographics of America mean in terms of the country’s political life, its foreign policy interests, its cultural values and approach to the role of religion in public life, and so on.
Collectively, all this suggests that Diaz and his opposite numbers in the Holy See should have a lot to talk about, well beyond the traditional flash-points over abortion and other life issues. If Diaz proves imaginative in seizing those opportunities, it could be a fascinating story to track.
John L. Allen Jr. is NCR senior correspondent.
Once again Mr. Allen shows
Once again Mr. Allen shows himself the best thing going in Catholic news services. He was by the Holy Father through Africa filing brilliant, perceptive and fast news reports, and here again we have instant yet durable news.
May I nevertheless ask to make a few quibbles?
He writes, perhaps using the Pew labels:
"Data from the Pew Forum suggest that by 2020, white Catholics for the first time will no longer be a majority of the U.S. Catholic population."
Hispanic is not a race, separate from "white." A more useful label might here be "anglo-only." In fact on some official forms we may find the option: "white, not Hispanic." Check your upcoming Census. Check your tax form. Of course, we close to the community ("extra communitatis nulla salus") are very familiar with these things on immigration and naturalization forms.
Hispanic is not a race.
Just as the big scare in the early Sixties were tales of hidden "miscegenation" we might say anyone who has ever been to Taco Bell or danced La Macarena is Hispanic, not that these are necessarily nor exclusively defining markers. Labels must now unite rather than divide us.
Catholic means universal.
Would "the traditional flash-points over abortion and other life issues" include the Vatican's strong exhortations against the invasion and brutal occupation of Iraq, and against the death penalty, while for greater economic equality and opportunity, etc.? Are these "traditional?" I think we may now find a new day dawning, in that case, as John writes so well, a change we can live with.
John writes as well: "Pope John Paul II made promoting a gradual opening in Cuba a top diplomatic priority, including a revival of the Cuban Catholic church. There are tentative signs that the government is reciprocating." Again going for the lowest common denominator in our US culture (after Taco Bell and La Macarena) I invite everyone to view once more Mr. Moore's Sicko, in which among so much iconoclastic eye-opening regarding our US health care system and its inferiority to the European, Canadian and Cuban model, the Catholic Mr. Moore explores the state of the Catholic Church in Cuba, in which a well-habited nun opens her eyes wide to stress there is no religious persecution in Cuba. See also the quarter century old interview by Frei Betto with former President Fidel Castro discussing religion recently republished as Fidel and Religion, examining socialisms roots in Christianity. See also the decades-old decision of the Party to admit openly Catholic members, and the historic visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba in 1998.
What revival of the Cuban Catholic Church, which never died! May we pray for one under our decimating persecution in the USA, for El Salvador where so many good Catholics got killed, for Ireland!
John also writes:
' Some Catholics may also be alarmed by Diaz’s fondness for Latin American liberation theology, which became a bête noir of the Catholic right during the 1970s and '80s due to its affinities with Marxism and class struggle. References to figures such as Gustavo Gutíerrez and Ignacio Ellacuría run through Diaz’s writings, and one news outlet referred to Diaz as a “Cuban liberation theologian” in its headline. For the record, that’s not really accurate. In his writings, Diaz distinguishes between the “preferential option for the poor” in Latin America and the “preferential option for culture” in Hispanic theology in the United States, focused on the survival of Latino/a identity.
Anyway, Diaz is nobody’s idea of a radical. He’s never defended armed revolution, or celebrated a “church from below” in opposition to the hierarchy.'
Perhaps those Catholics need to be alarmed, enough to read for once the greatest American (using the singular proposed by the Holy Father, which hopefully does not indicate a rush towards globalization and the disastrous results of the NAFTA and other agreements) theologian, the Peruvian and Reverend Father Gustavo Gutierrez, author of the phrase from the historic CELAM meeting in Medellin and later Puebla (visited by the new Pope John Paul II): "A preferential option for the poor" an option our Church must return to actively if we are to survive. Read Saint James.
In the anglo-USA section of America, we find Bishops such as Morlino who place themselves in aggressive opposition to the flock of Faithful; we do not have a "church from below" opposing the bishops. In Latin America we still remember and follow the great martyr of the Americas, the Blessed Monseñor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, and the brilliant and great martyr, our great theologian, academic and martyr, Jesuit, the Reverend Father Ignacio Ellacuria, who must be read by all of us, as must his companion martyrs, who proposed a revolution through Love, not armed struggle. Unfortunately John's phrasing leaves open another, very false, interpretation. For instance read please and most urgently the writings of the great psychologist and companion martyr to Father Ellacuria, the Reverend Father Ignacio Martin-Baro, in particular his sections of Writings for a Liberation Psychology, on freeing the hearts and minds of those long oppressed by colonization, something we all do well to contemplate, including our Church in Ireland.
Sorry for writing so long. John has done a quick and a brilliant job. I only ask he consider these few points (and a few more!) carefully. For instance, I also point out a geographical point, peccadillo to some but of great import to others. John writes: "Worldwide, two-thirds of all Catholics now live in the global South, with more than forty percent in Latin America alone." Mexico is not in the "global south" but is a North American nation. Neither is Central America south of the equator.
Thank you, Mr. Allen, for clarifying much of the issues so well for us, and for settting thereby the discussion.
Has the Vatican fully vetted
Has the Vatican fully vetted this guy? I thought there was the requirement that the person not oppose Church teachings ... or is this the same bunch of approvers who keep writing articles in the Vatican's newspaper about how Obama's Notre Dame speech was "hopeful"???
Dear Anonymous, As a
Dear Anonymous,
As a professor of Catholic theology in Catholic institutes of higher education, the Vatican has certainly "vetted" Dr. Diaz several times quite closely, or he would not have his job.
I find it interesting that on the one hand you require a prior Vatican seal of approval for its foreign ambassadors sent from other nation states, and yet you dismiss that same Vatican as "approvers (enablers?)".
Is this what is known as being a cafeteria Catholic?
just wondering
your poor servant,
frere charles
Dear Anonymous, Please do
Dear Anonymous,
Please do your own research. Some of us really have no desire to do your work for you. Perhaps if the question were truly a question rather than a metaphorical "gloved slap in the face" provoking defensive reaction some of us may be tempted to respond. As it is, your polemics only serve to put some of us off, myself included.
Joan Krebs, Not Anonymous
Bartolome de las Casas must
Bartolome de las Casas must be happy that this day has finally arrived. Little would he have known when he landed on the island of Hispaniola in 1502 on the expedition of Nicolás de Ovando, that it would be 500 years before America would finally come to terms with its "painful past".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolom%C3%A9_de_las_Casas
Bartolome de Las Casas was deeply moved by the mistreatment of the natives, which included brutal torture, enslavement, and massacres. In 1513, Las Casas served as a chaplain during the conquest of Cuba. He witnessed the wholesale slaughter of the native people by Spanish soldiers. Without provocation thousands of Tainos were slaughtered by soldiers including men, women and children, "I saw here cruelty on a scale no living being has even seen or expects to see."In 2000, the Roman Catholic Church began the process to beatify him. His work is a particular inspiration behind the work of the Las Casas Institute at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford.
*****************************************************************************
In 1542 Emperor Charles V declared free all native American slaves,abolishing slavery of these races, and declaring them citizens of the Empire with full rights.The move was prompted by the thoughts of the Spanish monk Bartolome de las Casas and the School of Salamanca.
However, it wasn't a true abolition of slavery, as Spain replaced the American slaves with African ones.
In 1863 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves held in the Confederate States; the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1865) prohibited slavery throughout the country.
Slavery was first abolished in Latin America during the Independence Wars (1810–1822), but slavery remained a practice in the region up to 1888 (Brazil), particularly in the remaining Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico.
God bless,
M. Francis
Naming an Hispanic vs
Naming an Hispanic vs European based envoy makes sense politically. Don't know how much influence Diaz has, but the choice serves Obama well.
Dear KT, I struggle to
Dear KT,
I struggle to comprehend your brief statement and find I must ask what you mean by "European based envoy."
Are you advising the President to select a citizen of France, Germany, Switzerland or Spain as his enjoy to the Vatican?
Interesting concept, but is this possible, over a United States citizen? How advisable, as you suggest?
just wondering,
your feeble servant,
frere charles
Of course I can not speak for
Of course I can not speak for another person, however persons born in the United States of European heritage are often referred to as 'Euroamericans'. Mr. Diaz would not be considered 'Euroamerican' as he was born in Cuba. Just a guess.
that too was my
that too was my confusion.
Spain is considered a European nation, and is I believe a member of the European Union, unlike England. Would not therefore his Spanish heritage qualify him by your definition as Euroamerican? What is meant in any case by heritage? and who is doing this frequent referral? How does birth in Cuba cut him off from his "European heritage" and what does Fidelito have to say about that (where was Fidel born and what his heritage)? Once we begin to divide ourselves in this way myriad questions such as this arise.
I disagree with Mr Allen -
I disagree with Mr Allen - Obama didn't pass a Catholic test (and he didn't exactly offer an olive branch to pro-lifers at ND). Nominating someone who supported Sibelius doesn't actually qualify him as someone supporting life!
Dear RLT, If one thing was
Dear RLT,
If one thing was learned by all who followed the Notre Dame discussion it was that many anti-abortionist are not pro-life. Please write anti-abortion and stop using the term pro-life.
I don't see how you can say 2
I don't see how you can say 2 olive branches. Obama's position at ND was definately not helpful - once he said "irreconcilable" he slammed the door on dialogue and on the Catholic Church. Maybe John just did the same.
Rather than two passing
Rather than two passing grades, Obama has garnered for himself three F's. F number one: Allen conveniently overlooks Obama's support for a law in which the national government nullifies all state laws regulating abortion and associated activities. F number two: Obama's supposed olive branch to Catholics at ND is "Let's talk about abortion and agree with me." F number three: Diaz, in Allen's own words, appears to be about as non-catholic as one can be and still receive the sacraments.
Dear David Jr., Please pardon
Dear David Jr.,
Please pardon my confusion, and please help me to understand.
Dr. Diaz, professor of Roman Catholic Theology at two universities, how do you discern him to be "about as non-catholic as one can be and still receive the sacraments" and where do you read this "in Allen's own words?"
Similarly, I have read the transcript of our President's commencement address at the Catholic University of Notre Dame recently, but I cannot find the words: "Let's talk about abortion and agree with me." or anything with that sense, in fact, quite the opposite. Please point out to me, with my limited linguistic skills, from which point in the speech you draw your citation.
Finally, which law? In any case, how can state laws oppose a prior US Supreme Court decision without invoking endless litigation?
I remember at my grandmother's funeral the priest preaching the letters F-F-F should be engraven upon her tombstone in remembrance of her Fortiter, Fideliter (and I Forget the third). You have certainly given new meaning to a triple F.
your poorest servant,
frere charles
I am confident that
I am confident that Archbishop Sambi, Vatican ambassador to the US, did not issue his glowing reaction to the Diaz appointment without first checking in with the Pope.
Diaz looks pretty good. At
Diaz looks pretty good. At least Obama didn't appoint the excreble Doug Kmiec to the post.
receiving, what was it, every
receiving, what was it, every two out of three Catholic votes in November, now, that was passing the major Catholic test, big time. The rest is only confirmation of that major test.
John Allen's susinct
John Allen's susinct presentation of Mr Diaz is yet again a sign of his genius (that may pertain to either gentlemen)! This appointment points out again (even in these early days of his administration)President Obama's grasp of and tact in responding to the realities of the Catholic Church in the United States.
I recently had Dr. Diaz for a
I recently had Dr. Diaz for a class at St. John's School of Theology; the class was on the Trinity. I consistently struggled with the difficulty of the content but marveled at the brilliance of Dr. Diaz and his vast Trinitarian knowledge. The class featured a broad look at Trinitarian theology, covering everything from Augustine, Aquinas and Balthasar to Elizabeth Johnson and Catherine LaCugna. It is a great appointment for both the United States and the Church!
Mr. Allen gives our President
Mr. Allen gives our President a hand for "appointing a Hispanic."
What is an Hispanic? It is not racial. It is a word invented by Richard Nixon to divide and to separate us and thus to conquer and to control us, as Caesar did to Gaul.
Google Richard Nixon with Hispanic and see what you get.
For one thing, you will get an excellent 1997 essay by the PBS Newshour's Richard Rodriguez which brilliantly opens the question: What is Hispanic?
Who is Hispanic?
His answer is that he is Richard Rodriguez. Read it here, please:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/essays/june97/rodriguez_6-18.html
and please support Judge Sonia Sotomayor on her outstanding merits and achievements, and her promise. Please pray for her great good health as well.
And pray for Dr. Diaz as he enters the lions den. May he negotiate justice and charity at long last for American theologian, the Rev. Fr. Charles Curran.
That stupid label "Hispanic"
That stupid label "Hispanic" is only one of those funny US notions which leave us in the rest of the world puzzled and rather amused by such ignorance and such obsession with their weird idea of "race".
perhaps to understand it well
perhaps to understand it well we do all well to read Dr. Diaz's excellent theological and anthropological treatise "On Being Human: US Hispanic and Rahnerian Perspectives" whic goes far to clearing up this persistent question.
with my sincere apologies to this excellent reporter, I remain
your poorest servant
frère charles du désert OSB OBLAT (Congrégation de Subiaco)
President Clinton was
President Clinton was sometimes referred to as "the first Black President."
It is possible that President Obama may be referred to, in time, as "the first Black Catholic President."
Oh, yes, the President is
Oh, yes, the President is cute and charming, but, right now, he is playing the Catholic Church like a fiddle. And we lay people seemingly are swallowing it all foot and feather.
He slapped us in the face at Notre Dame; he named an Hispanic Supreme Court Nominee; and now whoopee, we have another Hispanic as an Ambassador to the Vatican who just happens to be a grade of Notre Dame as is Tom Roemer who received an ambassador ship.
As Catholics, we are so totally ill informed about our own faith that we haven't a clue as to what is happening.
Dr. Diaz is a nice and good man for sure. I guess the questions I would have what credentials does he have to be an ambassador. And am I right to understand that this was all well approved before hand.
Well, surely, he has a great story. What about Miguel Estrada who was nominated by the former President? He had a great story also but he was slowly fried.
We now have tunnel vision . ..we are only seeing one thing right now: It is Mr. Obama . . what a wonderful man . ..
As a Catholic, I am having a hard time understanding how it is that we don't see how the President has divided us from the Bishops and now, dividing us among ourselves.
Congratulations, Dr. Diaz . ..prayerfully you will stand up for the Church and its members. I think from what I read, Mr. Obama is not going to give the Pope the time of day when he gets to Italy next week . .good going, gang.
" . . . the President has
" . . . the President has divided us from the Bishops and now, dividing us among ourselves"
So you believe the bishops and laity were in perfect harmony until Obama became president 4 months ago? With all due respect, you need to get out more often.
Jeremy: You write with much
Jeremy: You write with much sarcasm about President Obama's decisions / actions.
The bishops have done their own work of dividing themselves from Catholics. It has been very troubling to experience the lack of leadership among the bishops (3,000 bishops appointed by John Paul II of the 4,000 bishops currently in office).
Many Catholic laity are informed about their faith; they came forward after Vatican II to renew the Catholic Church through the effort of the Holy Spirit. I was one of them, becoming a hospital chaplain (as a layperson), trained and educated and then certified by the U.S. Catholic bishops.
I wonder what is underneath all your sarcasm!!!
How long before Randall Terry
How long before Randall Terry & Archbishop Burke are calling for John Allen's head?
Perhaps John Allen's
Perhaps John Allen's perceptive piece will inspire his colleagues at NCR and other progressive Catholic publications (American and Commonweal come to mind) and Anglo Catholic scholars and writers to do a better job of covering the richness and breadth of Hispanic Catholicism north of the Rio Grande. When Peter Steinfels published "A People Adrift" (his observations on the contemporary North American Church) he devoted exactly TWO PAGES to the Hispanic presence in U.S. Catholicism. When I asked him about this while he was on his book tour, he replied, "Well, I couldn't cover everything..." as though Hispanics were a quaint side bar to the "main story," rather than central to the story itself. As someone who works full-time in Hispanic ministry, I am particularly frustrated that the progressive voices in the contemporary U.S. Church are largely ignorant of the people with whom I live, work and worship. If those of us who carry on the message of Vatican II do broaden the cultural tent, we will see our movments and the publications we love wither and die.
"major Catholic test?" I
"major Catholic test?"
I think most American Catholics have more pressing kitchen table issues closer to home than this relatively minor political appointment of Vatican ambassador. Once again, typical spin of a non-issue into "news." Or is Mr. Allen simply "presenting his credentials" to assure an open-door policy at Mr. Diaz's new embassy?
Herman@ en la fe Espero que
Herman@ en la fe
Espero que esta notita le encuentre bien de salud y rodead@ de sus seres queridos. Con eso paso a lo siguiente:
Le invito a usted a visitar las paginas aquí de la respetada Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés que yo no encuentro como barrio separado pero mas bien como una llama encendida de amor, de la paz, de cariño, de oración para con el pueblo de Dios. Esta llama del Espíritu Santo pueda encender a las cenizas frías del resto de la iglesia norteamericana, un iglesia anglo-sajona que encontramos ahora en sus escombros por sus alianzas pocas piadosas con el imperio, escombros en que se mira mas y mas la vida, la familia latina, la lengua humana, de la raza que no es raza mas que humana, toda la familia humana en solidaridad con el pueblo de Dios en marcha hacia el reino. Quien no anda con nosotros no anda y se queda atrás en sus escombros vacíos.
Gracias de su buen testimonio acá, abriendo los portales hacia el reino de Dios. Que Dios siempre le de el amor y la fuerza de ser una voz para los sin voz, de servir al pueblo de Dios tan lindo como lo esta haciendo ya.
con fuertes abrazos
en una unión muy estrecha de oración
su servidor mas débil
atentamente
el fraile carlitos
this message was directed to
this message was directed to the note posted above by directorina, but my incompetence caused it to be placed at the end
sorry for the confusion
Frère Charles Whom are you
Frère Charles
Whom are you addressing? Do you think anybody reading these comments needs to be written to in bad (sorry) Spanish?
Would you rather we wrote to you in French? On le fera volontiers!
Chere Mariae: Based on your
Chere Mariae:
Based on your subjunctive question (WOULD you rather....?) Your less than rhetorical response should be in the conditionnel: on le FERAIT, n'est-ce pas?
Amicalement,
Ancien prof de francais aux USA
Actuel prof d'anglais en Chine
Honestly, some of the
Honestly, some of the comments in here make me think I am in grade school. I love it!
I have gone through most of the comments and have deduced that the sarcastic ones; that is, not likely to engender anything helpful, belong to those who attempt to paint everything Obama does as a conspiracy of misdirection.
Maybe it is because the last eight years prior to his presidency were ones where we were lied to about "weapons of mass destruction" to get us into a war where there were none [but there was lots of oil at stake], and lied to about torture of prisoners. This was followed by shows of bravado in which torture was was touted as necessary to keep you safe [which has also recently been shown to be a lie]. Then there was the slow erosion of your civil rights - you no longer have the right to privacy. We were convinced to give that up by the same guy who lied to us about Iraq and torture. President Bush [the man who only gave lip service to being anti-abortion - you do know that he gave $250,000 million annually for research on fetal stem cells?] made us legitimately suspicious of anything he said and most of what he did - he actually proved he could not be trusted. Perhaps the people who simply want to paint everything Obama does as a cloaked [or uncloaked] effort of misdirection are conditioned by this past experience.
....and, on the anti-abortion issue, if eight years of Bush and his conservative congress never produced an effort to amend the constitution [Bush said he didn't even try because there was no way to win] then we ought to be looking at the anti-poverty programs that have been proven to save a significant number of lives. As Catholics we ought to be looking at how to save as many lives as we can and support programs [including job stimulus - you know that myth about the poor that says they don't want to work - that is a lie too] that accomplish the dual goal of Catholic Social Teaching [human dignity and life].
We should give them at least eight years of a president with a brain in his head and a heart in his chest so that we can all go back to having a measure of optimism about the occupant in the white house.
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