Boston College religious-education chair: ‘Catholic case for supporting Obama’

CWN - November 05, 2012

The chairman of the Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Boston College says that he supports President Barack Obama’s reelection because his “overall social policies and affordable health care will insure that the US rate of abortions will decline significantly.”

“If Gov. Romney makes good on his commitment to rescind the Affordable Health Care Act, coupled with the Romney/Ryan budget proposal that slashes services to poor people, then under a Romney administration, the rate of abortions in the US will skyrocket,” writes Thomas Groome, an ex-priest who serves as national co-chairman of Catholics for Obama.

Groome, who has criticized Catholic teaching on women’s ordination, wrote in 2002 that “the presence of women as priests and bishops would be an extraordinary gift to the life of the Catholic Church.” In one work, he wrote:

I visited [Rome] on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 2000 … I was present for the papal mass on that Epiphany morning, and the liturgy reflected the same exclusivity – no women or people of color in the sanctuary, only white men and none of them looked poor. Now I found myself wondering if Jesus, who founded a radically inclusive community of disciples – catholic at its best – would recognize any of this as his legacy.

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Show 5 Comments? (Hidden)Hide Comments
  • Posted by: impossible - Nov. 07, 2012 7:50 PM ET USA

    Delusional.

  • Posted by: unum - Nov. 06, 2012 7:58 AM ET USA

    Another faculty member of what is supposed to be s Catholic university preaches his own theology "in the Jesuit tradition." And another U.S. bishop is silent, "in the USCCB tradition."

  • Posted by: lauriem5377 - Nov. 05, 2012 6:46 PM ET USA

    Or we could simply vote Obama out of office and defund Planned Parenthood - that would really reduce the number of abortions, save the taxpayors million dollars and put us in line with our Lord's teachings.

  • Posted by: AgnesDay - Nov. 05, 2012 3:42 PM ET USA

    One more on a list of colleges not to send your son or daughter to.

  • Posted by: dfp3234574 - Nov. 05, 2012 9:30 AM ET USA

    Thomas Groome is one of many reasons I am embarrassed to be an alumnus of Boston College. Smart people know that "B.C." really stands for "Barely Catholic."

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