www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Catholics and the Election

Here's the breakdown of the percentage of Catholics per state- the Top Ten:

1. Rhode Island- 59.5%
2. Massachusetts- 42%
3. New Jersey- 41%
4. New York- 37.1%
5. Connecticut- 36.6%
6. Nevada- 32.3%
7. Illinois- 30.1%
8. Delaware- 29.7%
9. Wisconsin- 29.5%
10. California- 28.6%

Guess who they all elected?

In case you can't find it:

[Linked Image]

It's a painful thought on how alot of Catholics voted...

I've posted this during the primaries and received little response, now I know why...

Nine Ways of being Accessory to Another's Sin

1 - By counsel
2 - By command
3 - By consent
4 - By provocation
5 - By praise or flattery
6 - By concealment
7 - By partaking
8 - By silence
9 - By defense of the ill done

Lord have mercy...

After realizing what I posted. That was the wrong map.

This is the right one:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Scroll down a bit to see the map.

This may seem harsh.......but does it fit?

You cannot serve God and mammon. Mt6:24

These are quite good. Thanks for posting them.

Yes, I think there is much to be done here within our own house. The Pro-Life movement must become a two party movement, and not simply be identified with the Republican party. I think that this has naturally occurred because the GOP Platform is pro-life, whereas the DNC Platform is decidedly Pro-Choice.

God bless,

Fr. Deacon Daniel

I, for one, was encouraged that so many Catholic Bishops (this time at least) were publicly teaching that the right to life of the unborn was the primary issue at stake in this election. Sadly, I did not hear of Orthodox Bishops doing the same. I am ashamed about that.

Fr David Straut

I wonder... In 2004 only 1 bishop really spoke out against the Pro-Abortion candidate (Archbishop Burke) and the "Pro-Life" candidate won. This year more bishops than can be counted spoke out against voting for a Pro-Abortion candidate, and he won. And, the states that were the most Catholic elected him!

Actually, we need to do what was done in 1860.

We need a pro-life party with no baggage. Even Rush Limbaugh basically said that today (talking of conservatism as a philosophy, not specifically pro-life).

The Whigs were the "abolitionist" party, but the evangelicals/abolitionists finally came to realize they were being "played" by the Northern Industrialists who actually ran the party. The Industrialists ran the party, and they used the abolitionist rhetoric to get the evangelicals to vote for them.

But 1856, the US had a one-party system: the Democrats had everything, and there were a bunch of smaller parties.

In 1860, the Democrats, with no clear opposition, split into two parties. The Republicans, formed specifically as an anti-slavery party, won in a three-way split.

As for Paul B:
"You cannot serve God and mammon. Mt6:24 "
I couldn't agree more, and that is the problem with both parties in this country.

Thank you, they are from my original 1925 prayer book "Blessed Be God"...sadly they disappeared from modern prayer books.

james

Why don't the Orthodox bishops talk about it? I live in California and our Catholic bishops are just awful so I am not throwing stones.

I take it then that in states conrolled by the GOP, abortion was made illegal, if it as ever legal in those states.

There was a saying regarding the UK CofE was the Conservative Party at prayer. One would be forgiven of thinging that the RC's was the GOP at prayer. All policy lines up with Catholic teaching.

My personal view is politicians are politicians and they go with the flow and read the signs of the times. Western society does not value Christian teaching and values very much at all. That is one very powerful sign of the times. We should not be putting our pro life eggs in one political basket but as said above in previous posting, we need to be working the whole of the political spectrum. There can't have been much that Catholics and Orthodox could line up with their values, in the rampant greed that has brought on this world wide economoic crisis, or the politicians of all sides who sat on their hands and watched it unfold and did nothing about it until it was too late. Sins of commission and ommission I think.

Don't know if posted before...



The 4 Orthodox Bishops based in California issued a joint statement on Proposition 8. From the Antiochian Church Website:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Statement of the

Orthodox Christian Bishops of California

in support of Proposition 8:

A Constitutional Amendment to Restore the Definition of Marriage

The decision of the California Supreme Court on May 15, 2008, unilaterally redefines the sacred institution of marriage in a manner unprecedented in human history — and alien to our Christian tradition. We, the Orthodox Christian bishops of California, were saddened by this decision which constitutes a direct attack upon the longstanding role and freedom of religion in American life. A majority of the justices declared not only that same-sex couplings must be allowed to exist at those couples’ discretion as “marriages,” but that the state of California is forbidden to refer to these couplings as anything but “marriages.”

Orthodox Christianity holds in high regard the God-ordained institution of marriage and the family. The Orthodox Church must and shall remain true to its faith and tradition, and affirm that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, given by God to one another for mutual support, encouragement, love and the ability to bear children.

As members of the Church and as citizens of this great land, we cannot withdraw from the society in which we live. Our parishes and our faithful are called upon to be “salt and light,” to paraphrase Christ, and as such, they engage with their neighbors in acts of charity and love. We will continue our charitable works, and our engagement with society — including to faithfully teach the truth about Christian principles of living.

The Orthodox Church in the United States thrives and grows, in many respects, because of the enduring principles upon which this great country was founded. Our definitions of basic institutions such as marriage, shaped by the unfathomable forces of love and nature coupled with the experience of all recorded human history, rightly derive from what the Founders of our country knew as the “natural law” of “nature and nature’s God”.

It is in this light that the Orthodox Christian bishops of California reject the decision of the California Supreme Court in In re Marriage Cases. The institution of marriage emanates from something transcending our passing political institutions, and cannot be unilaterally altered in this way. We therefore must act when that promulgation directly contradicts our faith — and threatens the very foundation of Orthodoxy’s flourishing in America.

Therefore, we, the Orthodox bishops of California, call upon the faithful, as responsible and concerned citizens of California, to overturn this ruling by the California Supreme Court by voting in favor of Proposition 8 this coming November. This proposition is a regrettably necessary measure to restore the true definition of marriage in the eyes of our state. A state that believes same-sex couplings constitute “marriage” implicitly — and sooner or later, explicitly — denies the role of the Church and all faiths that adhere to traditional values in public life. Please exercise your citizenship and vote in November. The passage of Proposition 8 is an imperative.

With Archpastoral blessings,

Metropolitan Gerasimos

Bishop Joseph

Bishop Maxim

Bishop Benjamin