Obama Featured on Covers of Catholic Parish Bulletins

Some Catholic parishes in the Milwaukee Archdiocese are featuring Barack Obama on the cover of their bulletins this weekend.

One has a prayer for the president accompanied by a photo of Mt. Rushmore.

God our Father, all earthly powers must serve you.
Help our President to fulfill his responsibilities worthily and well.
By honoring and striving to please you at all times,
may he secure peace and freedom
for the people entrusted to him.

That's generic, but it's obviously meant for Presidents Day, not the inauguration of a new president. There's no mention of Barack Obama specifically, no image of him on that bulletin cover.

This one, however, has a large photo of the White House above a drawing of Obama with his campaign logo. Obama's name has been inserted into the prayer.

God our Father, all earthly powers must serve you.
Help our President Barack Obama to fulfill his responsibilities worthily and well.
By honoring and striving to please you at all times,
may he secure peace and freedom
for the people entrusted to him.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

This bulletin cover features a large photograph of Barack Obama and the same prayer as above.



This next Obama reference wasn't on the cover of the bulletin; but on an inside page Fr. Carl Diederichs has nothing but praise for Obama in a message to his parishioners. He connects Jesus and the prophets and the martyrs with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He then makes an incredible statement about Obama.

On Monday evening many of us will be gathering in different locations around Milwaukee to observe the Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday (or should we call it a holy day?). On this day we spend time thinking about King and his legacy. This man gave us so much to think about and so much to glory in. We call him a prophet, a man who followed in the footsteps of the Great Prophet, Jesus Christ. And just as with Jesus, this man preached a message of love, peace, compassion, a message of challenge for a nation deeply stuck in the sin of racism and segregation. And just as with Jesus, Martin went to his Calvary. And from his suffering and death came resurrection and life.

Martin was a visionary as the prophets were. He could see in the midst of poverty and racism a New Jerusalem, a Promised Land that would become home to all of God’s children here in this life. But it would not be just wishful thinking. It would demand peaceful, non-violent disobedience that, while bringing change, would also bring suffering and death-- and death not only for Martin but also death to scores of men, women and children who also went to the Cross for pursuing righteousness.

As the blood of martyrs watered the land so that the faith could flourish, so the blood of Martin and many others did the same as they watered the land of the United States with their blood so that the freedom promised by our God would belong to all God’s Children.

On Tuesday, many of us will be gathered together to witness a most amazing event—Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States of America. In the same America that for centuries had systematically held African-Americans in slavery or under the yolk of Jim Crow laws, has now voted to seat an African-American as president. The blood of the martyrs has watered the land to produce this miracle. God is good all the time; all the time God is good!

It is now time for us to keep the prophetic voices speaking so that all of us will be able to be truly equal in this land.

So Fr. Carl is calling the election of Barack Obama a "miracle."

I don't understand how a Catholic priest can consider the election of someone who campaigned so vigorously to keep the slaughter of the unborn legal, dismissing the sanctity of life, to be a miraculous act of God.

Accompanying his stunning message in the parish bulletin is this photo:



At Mass, the nation's elected officials are often remembered during the Prayer of the Faithful.

Of course, I'm completely comfortable with praying for Barack Obama, that he looks to God to find the strength and wisdom he needs to lead.

I'm not so comfortable with Barack Obama being celebrated on the covers of the bulletins of Catholic churches, given his extreme opposition to the Church's teaching on the sanctity of life.

Obama does not support the Culture of Life. He does not believe in protecting the lives of the unborn.

Catholics are being urged to contact their elected officials to stop the passage of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), something Obama wholeheartedly supports.

What is FOCA?

A priority of Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership and their pro-abortion allies is the passage of a devastating piece of legislation...the so-called Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA).

What would FOCA do?

FOCA would eliminate all of the federal and state laws passed in the past 35 years that restrict abortion and protect women and unborn babies . . . laws that the majority of Wisconsin residents support. If FOCA becomes law...

--You, as a taxpayer, forced to pay for abortions
--Partial-birth abortion legal again
--Secret abortions for our minor daughters with no parental involvement
--No required information or waiting periods for women seeking abortions
--Medical professionals and facilities forced to perform abortions

That's right - all of the laws that have been saving human lives since 1973 would be wiped out by FOCA with no hope of passing future protective laws. And the number of abortions will skyrocket!

During the campaign, referring to his daughters, Barack Obama said:

"I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

In some cases, Obama considers a baby to be a punishment rather than a blessing from God. He calls the creation of a human life a punishment.

To say that's not in line with the Catholic Church's view is putting it mildly.

And then we have Obama's position on the newborn survivors of botched abortions.

More here.

Read about where Obama stands on abortion and other issues of interest to people who care about the sanctity of life.

On abortion issues, Obama scores a 0% from the National Right to Life Committee.

A 0% is pretty extreme. Agreed?

So I squirm a bit when Obama is featured so prominently on the bulletins of some parishes.

Catholics might want to pray that Obama has a change of heart and decides he wants to use his power as president of the United States to protect the innocent, the weak, and the vulnerable.

This message can be found in the Basilica of Joshaphat bulletin, from Pastor Fr. Jim:

January 20: Inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.
We join our Holy Father, Pope Benedict and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as we pray for our new president and his administration. We especially lift up intentions that our government legally protect the Right to Life from conception through natural death.

Exactly!
_______________

On the flip side, from Politico:

In one of his final actions in the White House, President Bush on Thursday declared Jan. 18 to be “National Sanctity of Human Life Day.”

“All human life is a gift from our creator that is sacred, unique and worthy of protection. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, our country recognizes that each person, including every person waiting to be born, has a special place and purpose in this world,” reads the presidential proclamation.

“The most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent. My administration has been committed to building a culture of life by vigorously promoting adoption and parental notification laws, opposing federal funding for abortions overseas, encouraging teen abstinence and funding crisis pregnancy programs,” the proclamation continues.

“The sanctity of life is written in the hearts of all men and women. On this day and throughout the year, we aspire to build a society in which every child is welcome in life and protected in law. We also encourage more of our fellow Americans to join our just and noble cause. History tells us that with a cause rooted in our deepest principles and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens, we will prevail.”

There's no question that Obama is bringing change to Washington.