2012-11-26 – Started reading the New Testament last night. I’ve done this before, but only got through part of it. I’ve been through five or six chapters so far. It’s pretty stunning.
The thing that is stunning about it is how disconnected it is from the Christian right. This is probably true of the Christian left as well. But the right is so adamant about “their” Bible and how glorious it is.
So I’m sitting and reading the Sermon on the Mount and finding that it largely contradicts everything these folks proclaim—at least in the media. I’m just waiting to get to the part where Jesus says, “just kidding!” I mean he has to do that, right? Otherwise, they’d be calling this guy a socialist . . . or worse.
Honestly, I don’t expect Jesus to take it back. I wouldn’t be surprised to find some contradictions. The Old Testament has them, so why wouldn’t the New? But a total repudiation of Jesus’ message of love and compassion? I’m really not expecting that.
Jesus’ talk about Pharisees seems to describe the publicly religious of all eras. Don’t tell me how righteous you are, just do it.
That’s all I have to say about this until I get further into the Book, but it is so amazing that I had to say something.
Oh!
And one other thing.
What’s for dinner? I’m not up for any wine or wafers.
The kitchen is out of commission until we have it rebuilt. So I’ll have to make do on a bagel or go out.
Eightoh9 
Dear Editor,
The Rainbow Sash Movement (National LGBT Catholics) board of directors have voted to award the bigot of the year to not only Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York for his vile activity and mean-spirited opposition to gay marriage in New York, but also to his fellow bishops for their abhorrent attack on women’s rights.
The bishops of Pennsylvania released an unmistakably partisan letter to local voters declaring that the White House’s policies on contraception, abortion and gay rights meant the nation was “losing its soul by little steps.” Legal equality for gays, the letter implied, would defy God, and contraception and abortion should not be contemplated under any circumstances.
In Wisconsin, Bishop David Ricken wrote a letter to parishioners saying that the Democratic platform was evil and attacking choice. He wrote that the party’s support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage and other “intrinsic evils” made it impossible for Catholics to support the party without putting their souls at risk. Vote for Mitt Romney and the Republican Party or burn in hell, Ricken suggested.
In Alaska, Bishop Edward J. Burns wrote a column in the local newspaper Oct. 27 comparing Vice President Joe Biden’s support for abortion rights to supporting slave owners in the antebellum South, and he reportedly questioned both Biden’s character and his Catholic Faith.
The bishops from Newark, N.J., to Springfield, Ill., to Colorado Springs, Colo., have made similar party political appeals. Although they stress they are not endorsing any particular party or candidate they usually start with their opposition to abortion and marriage equality and other policies that Republicans support and Democrats generally oppose.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Francis George is asking all the priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago to remind out loud to all parishioners of the archdiocese on the last Sunday before the election that it is the Republican party and not the Democratic party that is more aligned with the policies of the Vatican.
Sadly, this minority group of bishops has a stranglehold on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops with their fear that society is ready to embrace more rights for both women, lesbians and gays.
The bishops’ opposition to these rights is only driving more, and more reasonable Catholics away from the Church, generally, and youth, in particular.
Sadly, these Catholic bishops are more interested in following in the footsteps of bigots such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robinson rather than Jesus Christ. This is why the Rainbow Sash Movement board of directors have voted to award them bigots of the year.
Bill O’Connor
Rainbow Sash Movement