Common Good Revival

Considering that both candidates may have Roman Catholic running mates, it looks as if Common Good may be on the agenda this time around.

It sure has been a fact that the Religious Right have no compassion for anybody except themselves. I am looking forward to a Catholic V.P. and the return to the Social Gospel of the sixties.

I also welcome this blog site and have added it to my daily readings. To be Whole in Christ is to live Holy and Blameless in Christ. To live HOly in Christ is to keep both Great Commandments in your heart at all times.

The Convention for the Common Good represents the past ... not the future for the politically-motivated religiously-active in this country.

Not to rain on your parade, Alexia, but I'll guess you were among the youngest persons among the throng of grayhairs.

Here's a report on the Convention by Deal Hudson. It was posted 7/15/08 and can be found at insidecatholic.com:

"The audience of about 700 was largely older. Almost everyone was over 60; out of 700 only about 30 were any younger. When one of the organizers was asked about the lack of young adults, the reply was: 'It's quality, not quantity.

"Another organizer said that most of the participants were nuns, recruited for the conference by Network -- they were referred to as the 'low-hanging fruit.' In looking over the registration list, 25% or more of the attendees were sisters. If many of the older women there were religious, you would not have known it by their dress."

Alexia, is this best you can offer us on this blog?

Mel and Aaron, I'm happy to dialogue about the Catholic social tradition, the common good here on this blog. You seem to want to focus on appearances, ages (tho I appreciate your making me young in the range there) and associating Catholic social doctrine with “the revolution." Not sure what revolution you are talking aboNut however. Let’s talk substance! What do you think about Catholic social doctrine? How about the principle of the common good consistent throughout the encyclicals?

However, on the Deal account you actually posted above, I’m saddened to have Deal’s blog referenced here on these pages and I have to address it. I’m surprised Mel that you’d take Deal Hudson’s account of the Convention for the Common Good seriously. He did not attend. He is not a credible voice on issues of public or personal morality. (If he was a priest, he would have been removed from ministry) . And, his blog contains repeated factual errors, including the account of the Convention.

To those who attended the Convention and for actual reporters who were there, it was clear that there were plenty of young people, middle-age people, folks of all ages present. Sadly or not for me, I was far from the youngest there. There was an excellent, substantive and free children's program with full child care, for kids of all ages who came with their parents. The children gave a moving presentation to the entire plenary at the closing ceremony.

But clearly Deal Hudson’s representative missed the children’s program and presentation. It seems they were too busy noticing the terrible news: the presence of so many nuns! I'm flabbergasted that anyone would seek to make a strength of any gathering, and a historical and current strength of our Church –women religious- into a weakness. Turning the tables and a strength into a weakness: a familiar tactic from the Karl Rove campaign playbook, but certainly not a Catholic move.

I was at the convention and was encouraged by all the enthusiasm. I'm discouraged by those who want to tear down rather than build up. Wouldn't it be nice if there was more mutual respect in this world?

When it comes to "social tradition," the only substance I am interested in is the Magesterium of the Catholic Church. Abortion, contraception and the homosexual act are grave, mortal sins . . . objectively. The saints, the Popes, and Christ Himself make this clear. See e.g. the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I take it you disagree. I'm not sure what there is to discuss. You are a Catholic. Be a Catholic. Love the Holy Father. Live the living traditions of the Church. Obey the living Word of God as it is proclaimed by Mother Church.

McCain resists calls to remove embattled Catholic aide

For weeks, Sen. John McCain's campaign has quietly resisted calls to dump one of his leading religious representatives who critics say is an inappropriate surrogate because of links to allegations of sexual impropriety.

At least three religious groups have asked the McCain campaign to remove Deal W. Hudson from its national Catholic-outreach group. The groups say Hudson, who quit President Bush's political team in 2004 amid similar calls, lacks the moral authority to represent the campaign on religious issues.

Hudson left a tenured professorship at Fordham University in New York after a 1994 incident in which he was accused of having sex with a freshman. He was never charged with a crime.

The controversy could hamper McCain's efforts to win over religious voters, who are wary of his candidacy.

The campaign declined to discuss the matter Wednesday and repeated an earlier statement.

"He's a name on a list, a volunteer. When are we going to start talking about gas prices, jobs and the issues facing Americans? The McCain campaign is all done with the 'gotcha' games," said Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman.

But those who are troubled by Hudson's background say he is more than a volunteer. Earlier this month, he was identified on a Catholic radio show as a McCain surrogate, and he also hosted a conference call with the deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee discussing the campaign with Catholic media.

"He just shouldn't be representing Catholics for the campaign. It's offensive," said a member of McCain's steering committee who did not want his name used. Catholics "reject him as a moral arbiter."

For McCain, it is the second time his supporters have upset at least some Catholics, a key voting group. In May, McCain rejected the support of the Rev. John Hagee, a Texas-based tel- evangelist who has made several anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish comments.

Hudson, a self-styled "theocon" who now lives in Fairfax, Va., left Fordham after one of his former students sued him, claiming he plied her with drinks and had sex with her when she was 18 years old. The case was later settled.

Hudson, who was a philosophy professor, declined to comment through a spokesman. In an earlier statement, Hudson said: "My past continues to be a source of shame to me and, unfortunately, my family. I'm not blaming anyone for this. It was my own fault. And while the revelation of my failing was deeply humiliating, it was also an important wake-up call for me. Over the past four years, I've tried to make amends with family, friends and supporters."

In 2000, Hudson served as a leading figure for Bush's efforts in courting Catholic voters. In August 2004, he quit Bush's re-election campaign after the National Catholic Reporter outlined the Fordham incident.

In March, Hudson found a home with the McCain campaign, when he was among a list of about 100 "prominent Catholics" supporting the presumptive Republican nominee.

Hudson is director of Inside Catholic.com, a Web site for faith, culture and politics. He has used that outlet to praise McCain for his opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage and attack Sen. Barack Obama for his support of abortion rights.

"There is no doubt that the dramatic progress made in reducing abortions over the last 30 years - now at their lowest number since 1974 - will be rapidly reversed under a President Obama," Hudson wrote this month. This week, he described Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who is widely regarded as a potential Obama running mate, as a "pro-abortion Catholic."

Kaine, who is Catholic and spent a year in a Jesuit mission, has said he is personally opposed to abortion but would not restrict a woman's reproductive rights.

Religion has been a recurring issue in this year's presidential election for other candidates, as well.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, faced questions during his run for the Republican nomination about the role his faith would play. So, too, did former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who tried to allay concerns about his Mormon faith during his bid.

For more than a month, Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, faced heavy criticism for his initial unwillingness to distance himself from his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., who made remarks seen as racially divisive from his Chicago pulpit. In April, Obama created another stir when he said small-town Americans cling to guns and religion out of bitterness in a deteriorating economy.

And throughout the campaign, Obama has faced untrue suggestions that he is a Muslim.

The same day McCain rejected Hagee, he also rejected the support of the Rev. Rod Parsley, an Ohio preacher who gave an anti-Muslim sermon.

I also attended the convention, and can state without reservation that Deal Hudson's second-hand report was way off base. Plenty of young adults were there - myself included. Contrary to his claims that no "conservative" groups were represented, the Pro-Life Union of Southeastern Pennsylvania staffed a table all weekend and handed out stickers and literature. Furthermore, his account of the partial birth abortion discussion is a woeful misrepresentation of the facts. No public policy amendments of any kind were accepted, in favor of ratifying the values principles contained in the Platform for the Common Good.

I'm also mystified as to why Mr. Hudson would attack the convention over a report that "many [of its speakers] didn't think a Just War was even possible." This same sentiment was echoed by Cardinal Ratzinger in 2003:

"There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq. To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a 'just war'."

It often seems that Deal Hudson thinks of himself as more Catholic than the pope! Perhaps this is why Deal attacked our Holy Father last year for initiating a Vatican campaign against climate change.