Yesterday, as I sat down in to watch a little TV, what should appear on the screen but the sight of John Boehner giving the commencement speech at Catholic University. What!!! John Boehner who, if he had his way, would cut programs that serve the poor to the bone. Why was he chosen as the commencement speaker?
Then, as I watched, he took his hankie out of his pocket and wiped his nose. Oh well, his nose was running. What else could he do? No wait! He's crying - again! Boehner went on to speak tearily of difficult times in his political career and how he always prayed to do God's will, and that he prayed to the Blessed Mother when he was asked to resume leadership of the House, and she didn't exactly answer him, but Coach Grant did, and that was pretty damned close, except he didn't say "damned" in the commencement address.
Does Boehner ever shed a tear at the thought of the poor whose difficult lives will be worsened if he is successful in getting his policies into law? Please!
Watch the video at Mediaite.
UPDATE: From the National Catholic Reporter:
A group of prominent Catholic academics have signed a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, on the occasion of his forthcoming commencement address at the Catholic University of America. I will provide commentary later today, but the letter really speaks for itself, respectfully, clearly and in a way to challenge the Speaker to consider his policies. The letter will be delivered to Boehner's office personally by some of the signatories tomorrow morning.
A brief excerpt from the letter:
Mr. Speaker, your voting record is at variance from one of the Church’s most ancient moral teachings. From the apostles to the present, the Magisterium of the Church has insisted that those in power are morally obliged to preference the needs of the poor. Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress. This fundamental concern should have great urgency for Catholic policy makers. Yet, even now, you work in opposition to it.
Read the entire letter at the link above. It's good, and its list of signatories is impressive.
The only worse commencement speaker would have been Newt Gingrich, recent Catholic convert, who was otherwise occupied yesterday as speaker at Eureka College, Reagan's alma mater. Why is it the case that these people, who presumably warm church pews on Sundays, never seem to hear the Gospel?
ReplyDeleteI added an update, a letter to Boehner from Roman Catholic academics, to reinforce my words as an ex-Roman Catholic.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it the case that these people, who presumably warm church pews on Sundays, never seem to hear the Gospel?
Beats me, Bex.
Re the Good Catholic Gingrich, have his first two marriages been annulled, or don't they count ince he was a Baptist at the time?
ReplyDeletewv manhol, yet.
The marriage and divorce rules for former Protestants or people of no denomination were always a bit fuzzy to me. Somehow Newt's former marriages either don't count, or they've been fixed with annulments
ReplyDeleteAs the old saying goes ... money talks.
ReplyDeleteI have not followed this fellow's career closely, I'm afraid, but politicians who cry in public are generally to be mistrusted even more than those who don't, in my experience.
ReplyDeleteUniquely among the seven sacraments of the RC Church, marriage is conferred not by a bishop, priest or deacon, but by the consenting spouses, each on the other. The presence of a priest is not essential for the validity of a marriage (hence the validity of civil and non-RC religious marriages, and the problem, which crops from time to time in medieval history, of preexisting and private plightings-of-troth, which could invalidate a subsequent marriage unless a dispensation or annulment had been obtained beforehand.
ReplyDeletemoney talks.
ReplyDeletewhiteycat, you're right about that.
Cathy, as I see it, the Republican plan for cutting the budget will take food out of the mouths of people who are already struggling to feed themselves and their families and sometimes doing without right now.
Spare me your tears, Congressman Boehner, unless you are prepared to look at your plan and see the reality of how it will affect people's lives and begin to cry because you ever supported such a cruel and unjust piece of legislation.
Lapin, at the present time, the marriage of two Roman Catholics is not valid in the eyes of the church unless a RC priest or deacon is present.
ReplyDeleteOK. That's a post-Reformation development.
ReplyDeleteI notice Boehner cries only when he talks about himself. He's tearless when it comes to stealing the bread out of children's mouths to subsidize the rich. But when he talks about pushing a broom in his father's store, open the Morganza floodgates!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fraud that man is.....pushing to get his nasty legislation that will deprive so many and coming from poverty himself! Come to think of it, maybe he's crying for shame......
ReplyDeleteNij
A Catholic friend of mine married a Presbyterian who was divorced. In order for her to get married "in the Church" HE had to get an annulment because he and his first wife were baptized Christians, though not Roman Catholics. The annulment took so long I officiated at their wedding in an Episcopal Church. I got weepy when her devout mother received communion. We had Catholic LEMs with the chalices.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Counterlight. Boehner don't cry for the poor, just for poor Boehner.
ReplyDeletemaybe he's crying for shame......
Nij, that'll be the day. The budget-slashing Republicans have no shame.
Paul, the annulments are a farce. They are another name for a Roman Catholic divorce. How can you say that a man and a woman who were married for 25 years and had 5 children were not really married because of some trumped-up impediment? We know couples like that. One of the children from such a marriage joked about being an ecclesiastical bastard.
As I said earlier ... $$$ talks. The more $$$, the louder the voice. Pay your money and get your annulment. It's part of the PPO policy ... pay, pray and obey.
ReplyDeletewhiteycat, in the olden days, the only folks who were able to get annulments were the rich and powerful. Today, the process is more open, but it is still onerous.
ReplyDelete