A priest in inner Pennsylvania wrote an Oped in the Republican Herald. I found the piece to be extremely cogent and insightful. All too frequently the WWJD (what would Jesus do) expression is co-opted for manipulative purposes. Would Jesus oppose the Ryan budget?
It's an excellent article in clarifying the role of the Church in commanding the consciences of the Catholic faithful and the ingenuous tactic of framing a contrarian opinion as immoral when the standard setter is completely arbitrary!
The only human being who is authorized to command the consciences of all Catholics or of any particular group of Catholics is the pope. ... The sitting pope is the only human being authorized to command the consciences of all Catholics, whether all Catholics in the world or all in the USA or elsewhere. Popes command consciences only infrequently and only in matters of utter moral clarity. The pope has not made nor will he make any explicit pronouncements that are specific to our national budget. Even if, to be hypothetical, he were to overreach and make such a pronouncement, it would not and could not be binding on consciences.
Your editorial concludes with this sentence: "As House Republicans continue to appeal to religious conservatives, it's pretty clear that their budget is not what Jesus would do."
Well, it might be clear to you what Jesus would do, but it sure isn't clear to me! I think it borders on sacrilege to presume you know exactly what Jesus would do in regard to the national budget. Pope Benedict doesn't know. I don't know. Quite frankly, you don't know either! We work it out via the political process, take a deep breath and hope for the best.
It's an excellent article in clarifying the role of the Church in commanding the consciences of the Catholic faithful and the ingenuous tactic of framing a contrarian opinion as immoral when the standard setter is completely arbitrary!
