Yesterday there was quite a lot of news about Bishop Paprocki, the Roman Catholic bishop of Springfield, Illinois, trying to tell catholics how to vote and that catholics could go to hell if they vote democratic.
Democrats Endorse "Intrinsic Evils"
In his reading of the democratic platform Bishop Paporoki finds "intrinsic evils" there; but, surprise, he doesn't find any "intrinsic evils" in the republican platform. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that "intrinsic evil" is a code word for same sex marriage or any steps promoting the freedom of gay and lesbian persons. The IRS should be paying close attention to what he says.
The bishop is covertly taking a political position and urging and pressuring catholics to vote his way and the pope's way.
Paprocki may be a bishop but he is not a shepherd because in the Roman Church a bishop is supposed to be a teacher. Paprocki may be a bishop but he is not a shepherd nor a teacher.
Here is a link to a piece written by Jana Bennett who is the Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Dayton and is a contributor to a site dedicated to Catholic Moral Theology. She is a teacher. Dr. Bennett probably has more credentials to be a bishop than Paproki.
Jana Bennett's Article on "Intrinsic Evil" and It's Use for Electioneering by the Bishops
Dr. Bennett speaks to the limitations of making lists of intrinsically evil acts like the bishops have done for the last two political campaigns and then using that list to suggest that if you don't vote the bishops way, you and your soul could end up in hell. She expands this concept to show its inadequacy if this is all you use in a political campaign to tell people how to vote the bishops’ way.
When I compare her essay to the statements of Bishop Paprocki, the bishop appears not as shepherd, not as teacher but more like a political hack, likely another Dolan hack.
Here are a few quotes from Jana Bennett’s post at Catholic Moral Theology.
“I worry that focusing too much on intrinsic evil enables us to avoid thinking about the many and varied ways that evil infuses our lives.”
Dr. Bennett suggests that even lists of intrinsic evil acts such as Bishop Paprocki would promote as the hallowed official teaching of the church in this year's election are very limited and time sensitive. One “intrinsic evil” that she states should have been included in any list for the 2008 election would have been torture. She suggests that maybe it should be considered this year.
“... given the degree of discussion about torture, perhaps we would want to add that intrinsic evil as well? At the least, it should have been on the list of non-negotiables in 2008, but it was not….”
On the intrinsic evil of abortion and how some politicians pander to the issue, Dr. Bennett says this: “This is one of the worries when it comes to voting on the basis of intrinsically evil acts: even if I vote for someone who publicly states that he or she is anti-abortion, I may well be inviting a whole host of other, potentially more grave evils, and that requires some very careful prayer and discernment.”
It’s instructive that one of the latest polls from Pew Research shows that Catholics see through the shallowness of appeals like Bishop Paprocki’s.
A story and a link to Pew Research's lastest finding on the Catholic vote