An open letter to Pastor Newman

November 13, 11:13 PMMiami Law & Politics ExaminerJorge Luna

Previous Next

8 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Miami Law & Politics Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

The following was emailed to St. Mary's Church this evening:

November 13, 2008

Fr. Jay Scott Newman
Pastor
St. Mary's Catholic Church
111 Hampton Avenue
Greenville, South Carolina 29601

Dear Pastor Newman:

I read with interest your letter discussing Barack Hussein Obama’s victory in the recent elections and the impact this appears to have on your parishioners’ right to participate in Holy Communion.  As you are a man of the cloth, I will attempt to respond as civilly as possible: Shame on you!

While you are attempting to force your political views on those whom you have promised to guide down God’s path, I suggest that you consider the following:

The Roman Catholic Church has been responsible for 2,000 years of violence, and persecutions committed against Jews, alleged heretics, women, Gypsies and native peoples.   In the Church’s quest for domination, the Church, or men who have acted with her authority or blessing have committed sins in the service of truth; sins against Christian unity; against the Jews; against respect for love, peace and cultures; against the dignity of women and minorities; and against human rights.

Ethnic groups had endured "contempt for their cultures and religious traditions". Women were "all too often humiliated and marginalised". Trust in wealth and power had obscured the church's responsibility to the poor and oppressed.

These are some of the things the Church has admitted, most recently in "Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past," a document prepared by the current Pope – and in the remarks of Pope John II, the subject of the aformentioned document.

Over the course of its history, the Church has imprisoned and/or tortured scientists and thinkers for such ideas as “the earth revolves around the sun;” murdered indigenous peoples in the name of our Lord, and sold salvation for lucre, while turning a blind eye to the shenanigans of various Popes who committed adultery, murder, theft, and other crimes, failing to fight the extermination of Jews during the Holocaust, and most recently the lurid and disgusting attempt to cover for pedophilic priests.  It is clear that the Roman Catholic Church has been responsible for a great deal of evil in this world.

As such, there can be no doubt that the attendance of worshipers at your services, “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”

Have I gone too far? Perhaps. But so have you.

Jesus was concerned with the living, and Barack Obama will do everything possible to help those in need.  With his help, the poor will become middle class, the middle will become wealthy, and all will be able to afford proper healthcare. Further, his “radical pro-abortion” views are actually mainstream America’s views: government should not interfere with a woman’s RIGHT to choose; it is between her, the father, and her God. Meanwhile, government should do everything possible to LIMIT unintended pregnancies so that there are fewer abortions.

Considering the Church’s stance on contraceptives, I would expect Obama’s plan to lower abortions would work much better than yours.

But I digress: My main point is that your letter should be met with disgust by those who believe they have an obligation to vote for he or she who can best lead our country AND that they should follow the word of the Lord. You and others in the Church have bastardized the Lord’s teachings to fit your political agenda, and that Pastor, is ungodly.

Please work on SAVING souls and leave politics out of your sermon.

Yours,

Jorge Luna 

Understand that what I wrote is completely true. The Church has committed a number of sins, and those who have claimed to represent the Church so many more. Nonetheless, I recognize that it was a different world, with different rules, and there are some things that I simply accept and hope that lessons have been learned.  Considering that the Church HAS apologized for a number of its misdeeds, we would hope that to be true.

I am a huge proponent of Jesus Christ, and try to follow his commandment, "Love your brother as you love yourself," but when church leaders threaten believers with taking away their right to participate in Communion... boy that just gets my goat!  I understand that a priest has an opinion, and I don't object to him stating it, but don't give anyone the impression that God himself voted for McCain.

To do so cheapens your church and builds distrust against you. Right now, the Roman Catholic Church doesn't need to lose MORE of its flock.