Your gift counts double until 5/31: $24,072 to go in our Easter Campaign. Please help now!
 Off the Record

Obama, the 1st Catholic president

By Diogenes (articles ) | June 02, 2009 3:35 PM

 "We have a Vatican II president," John O'Malley informs us in a revealing America magazine article

It seems that just as Bill Clinton was a "black president," even though he was white, so too Barack Obama is a "Catholic president" even though he is Protestant. 

To understand the political translation, you must first understand the-- wait for it!-- spirit of Vatican II. You see, the "spirit of Vatican II' transformed human nature-- or at least our way of understanding human nature.

The council hoped that this new style of being, which brings with it a new way of proceeding, would lead to cooperation among all persons of good will—Catholics and non-Catholics, Christians and non-Christians, believers and non-believers—on the new, massive, and sometimes terrifying problems that face humanity today.

Myself, I haven't enjoyed a "new style of being" since I put away my last Nehru jacket. So I've been "proceeding" in the same tired old way. Silly me. 

But for all of you new beings, suffused with the spirit of Vatican II, how has that cooperation among all persons of good will been proceeding? Working out well for you? Solving the terrifying problems? In the past 40 years, have we pretty well eliminated problems like war, poverty, hunger, injustice, racial and religious hatred?

And what about problems such as abortion, terrorism, embryo research, same-sex marriage, AIDS, crack addiction, shattered families-- are they less threatening than in the 1960s?

Oh, wait; those weren't really major problems back in the 1960s, were they? They're new. We've been proceeding, all right. But in what direction?

 

 

An appeal from our founder, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus:

Dear reader: If you found the information on this page helpful in your pursuit of a better Catholic life, please support our work with a donation. Your donation will help us reach five million Truth-seeking readers worldwide this year. Thank you!

Easter Campaign:
Progress toward our Spring 2013 goal ($24,072 to go):
$80,000.00 $55,927.55
30% 70%
Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in.

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

There are no comments yet for this item.

Think with the Catholic Leaders: Subscribe to Catholic Culture Insights Newsletter
Donate to Support this Site: Your contribution will be put to good work.
Tour the CatholicCulture.org Site
Shop Amazon to Raise Money for Catholic Culture

Recent Catholic Commentary

The Rise and Fall of the (American?) Church 2 hours ago
The Ideal of Pope Francis: the Servant Church 10 hours ago
The sad decline of self-government May 22
That impromptu exorcism again May 22
The Mystery of the Spirit May 21

Top Catholic News

Most Important Stories of the Last 30 Days
Pope strongly supports call for reform in religious life CWN - May 8