Popularity: 3
Vote:   | A lot of victims, for example, have become addicted to alcohol and drugs. It seems to me that the church's healing ministry is going to be enhanced through this in much broader strokes. That's good, it's all positive. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | Any signal that the bishops are less demanding of enforcing 100 percent safety for children and young people would be a real, real setback. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | By and large the United States has been able to resist the temptation to close its doors to the world. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | Canon law itself says for one case of guilt, a priest can be dismissed from the clerical state. One. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | Canonically, somebody has to be publicly found guilty of something that merits excommunication, or interdict, or some public crime. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I do see a role for the board, but I see it in closer dialogue with the bishops. It's not either/or, it's not us and them. It's ourselves as church moving ahead. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I find it inconceivable that we're meeting for five and a half days, and there isn't one moment on the agenda to deal with the greatest crisis we've ever had in the church since 1789. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | I found out that many of our Catholics simply don't know what the church teaches, and why, on a lot of issues, and therefore are saying things that they think are okay. They simply don't know. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I personally believe, as church law sets out, that sanctions are an absolute last resort, particularly penal sanctions of depriving people of the sacraments. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I think that together the church has learned a lot, and as we know from our own oversight board, the involvement of our wonderful lay leaders has been a real grace. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I think the church has discovered a problem, and is dealing with it, but it has also discovered a broader ministry. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I'm very close to the pro-life movement. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | Immigrants-including those who are here illegally-are a benefit to this country. They work hard at difficult jobs in important industries. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Immigration should be enforced in a proportional and humane manner. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | In Evangelium Vitae, our Holy Father expressed many areas of concern with life issues... In fact, he hit the death penalty as hard as many of the others. You have Catholic politicians who may be in favor of one but not the other. They're following their own different lights on these issues. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | It appears fashionable these days, and almost politically correct, to blame hard-working immigrants, especially those from Mexico and Central America, for the social and economic ills of our state and nation. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | It is unacceptable that immigrants, including children, are shackled and detained in deplorable conditions. And it is unacceptable that already this year immigrants have died by the dozens in the California desert or in other parts of the Southwest. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | It's hard to determine where lies culpability. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | It's very helpful to move forward, and we're all learning. There's nothing the church can do that's failsafe. You can't inaugurate something that's not going to have hiccups and pros and cons. We've got to be open to the Spirit, and I think the Spirit is leading us in the right direction. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Most analysts would agree that if all the undocumented immigrants in California were deported in one day, our state would experience a severe economic downturn. This does not even consider the many cultural and spiritual gifts these immigrants bring to our state and nation. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | One of the dangers is that we focus so much on clergy sexual abuse that we're not looking at the bigger picture. We've got far more potential problems, in our Catholic schools, in our youth ministry programs, in homes, in all kinds of other places. That's why we're taking a very proactive step with 'Safeguard the Children' programs. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Our country stands at a critical point in its history. Our heritage as a nation of immigrants is at stake. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | Since Roe v. Wade, there have been a lot of Catholic politicians doing and saying things that would not be in line with the church's teaching. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | The church also does not condone a broken immigration system in the U.S., one that too easily can lead to the exploitation, abuse and even death of immigrants. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | The nature of our two main political parties has changed in the United States. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | The Second Vatican Council called for us to help illumine the minds of legislators. It's interesting that documents out of the Holy See will say that Catholic legislators can vote for legislation that doesn't eliminate abortion if it helps lessen it. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | The war on terrorism has made national security a legitimate concern, and a rising deficit, changes brought on by globalization and even the price of oil have thrown the nation's economic health into question. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | There must be some bishops who knowingly took someone who abused a minor and put them back into a parish and didn't tell anybody, and when they abused more minors, maybe moved them somewhere else. There's no question there are some cases like that. I don't know where they are, I don't know what those situations are. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | To be clear, the church recognizes the right of our country to control its borders. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | We bishops got ourselves and the church into this problem, so I can understand that, and I have no problem with that whatsoever. None. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | We should embrace our immigrant roots and recognize that newcomers to our land are not part of the problem, they are part of the solution. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | We should not blockade our border at the same time that we depend upon the labor of the immigrant nanny, janitor, busboy and agricultural worker. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | We're not at a point in time to be taking chances with children and young people in the church. The Holy Father himself said... there is no room in the priesthood or religious life for someone who has abused a child. I think he's right. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | We're seeing a much larger ministry here for the general community. Not just Catholics, but others are calling us too. They're not looking for lawyers or suing their grandfathers, but counseling and healing. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | We've got a ton of cases against priests who are dead, who've been dead for years. What are we going to do? There's nothing to do canonically, because you have no one to represent. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | With respect to Holy Communion, it is up to the communicant to decide whether they are in a state of grace and worthy to receive the Eucharist. Each one of us makes that decision. |