tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25 2008-12-27T00:03:20Z Movable Type 3.31 tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.536 2008-12-26T23:58:46Z 2008-12-27T00:03:20Z

There will be 11 Pennsylvania Cathoic Democrats in the 111th Congress, Bob Casey in the Senate, and the following in the House of Representatives: Jason Altmire, Robert A. Brady, Christopher Carney, Kathy Dahlkemper, Mike Doyle, Tim Holden, Paul E. Kanjorski,...

Catholic Democrats Staff Jason Altmire, Robert A. Brady, Christopher Carney, Kathy Dahlkemper, Mike Doyle, Tim Holden, Paul E. Kanjorski, Patrick J. Murphy, John P. Murtha, Joe Sestak. ]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.464 2008-10-28T22:10:16Z 2008-10-28T22:20:44Z

PITTSBURGH (CNS) -- Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh is reporting a 40 percent increase in the number of calls from people seeking help as the country continues to struggle with the economy. Not only is the increase a...

Catholic Democrats Staff For complete story.]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.458 2008-10-25T13:07:21Z 2008-10-25T13:54:18Z

We have now learned that the Ashley Todd's accusation that she was assaulted by a black man was a hoax. The circumstances as reported suggest that this young woman suffers from a disorder. We should all pray that she receives...

Chris McNally We have now learned that the Ashley Todd's accusation that she was assaulted by a black man was a hoax. The circumstances as reported suggest that this young woman suffers from a disorder. We should all pray that she receives treatment and care for her disease and finds comfort and cure from her affliction. We should pray, too, for her victims, including Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin, who were duped by a 20 year old woman's fabrication, and for others who, likewise, rushed to judgment in crediting and disseminating a story that was dubious from the start: may they learn to exercise ethical, sound, and prudent judgment in the exercise of their duties as public officials, candidates, and journalists. Pray for all Americans, whose prejudices or anger have been excited by a false accusation: may we become wiser and have insight into our own minds, and hearts, recognizing the sources of our own prejudice and anger, and resolving to shed ourselves of racism and hatred, and put on the new man: 8 But now put you also all away: anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, 10 And putting on the new, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of him that created him. 11 Where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. But Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience: 13 Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also. 14 But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection: 15 And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body: and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:8-15 Finally, remember and pray for African American men, who have been slandered not only by an ill young woman, but by powerful and influential men and women who spread the slander: may they have strength to weather the storm, to rise above slander, and to share in leading America to greatness. Excerpt from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette: Almost from the start, Pittsburgh police were skeptical about a young woman's claim that she had been mugged and a "B" carved into her cheek by an attacker who was provoked by the sight of a John McCain bumper sticker on her car. Yesterday, their doubts were confirmed when 20-year-old Ashley Todd, a McCain volunteer from College Station, Texas, admitted that she made the whole thing up. There was no black man with a knife, no robbery, no physical assault. And the backwards "B" on her cheek? She's not sure, she told police, but assumes she did that herself. As for the black eyes, police assume they likewise were self-inflicted. ... But in less than a day, the international story of a McCain volunteer being attacked, traumatized and disfigured for her political beliefs deflated into a sad tale of a troubled woman with a history of mental problems. Police were sensitive to that fact yesterday, sayingthat while Ms. Todd would face at least a charge of filing a false report with police, she would not be released until she had a mental health evaluation. "We don't feel she should be able to walk out onto the street," said Pittsburgh Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant. "We wouldn't want any further harm to come to her." Ms. Todd was in the Allegheny County Jail last night on $50,000 bond after her video arraignment before District Judge John N. Bova. Judge Bova requested that she undergo an evaluation by the jail's behavior clinic. ... For a complete story see: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08299/922849-53.stm tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.452 2008-10-13T20:18:50Z 2008-10-13T21:03:54Z

Pennsylvania Catholics for Obama has a helpful website with information on upcoming events, resources and a sign-up forum to join Pennsylvania Catholics for Obama. After you sign up for Catholic Democrats, go to their site and sign up....

Catholic Democrats Staff sign up for Catholic Democrats, go to their site and sign up. ]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.433 2008-09-30T22:31:02Z 2008-10-14T19:55:52Z

Excerpt from the Harrisburg Patriot News by BILL FENSTERMAKER We should vote based on Christ Sunday, September 28, 2008 ... I put a political bumper sticker on my car, primarily to stimulate discussion, especially among my Christian friends. In all...

Chris McNally We should vote based on Christ Sunday, September 28, 2008 ... I put a political bumper sticker on my car, primarily to stimulate discussion, especially among my Christian friends. In all my life I've never had a political sticker on my car. And for most of my first 50 years I was a staunchly conservative, right-wing Republican -- a supporter of every Republican all the way back to Barry Goldwater. And for most of those years I had never felt any conflict between those positions and my equally firm grounding as a born-again evangelical Christian. That is no longer the case. Rather than stimulating discussion, the effect of my sticker seems to have been the opposite: A lot of my Christian friends seem to have simply stopped talking to me.... I would urge anyone who calls himself a Christian to take some time, take a few steps back from all the campaign-season hype, and critically examine our nation and our world from a truly Biblical Christian perspective. First, I am questioning when and how we as evangelicals allowed a few individuals to establish two (sometimes three) criteria for determining what constitutes an acceptable candidate for public office. Jesus never said a single word about abortion or homosexuality or evolution. Jesus did have a lot to say about things like divorce, about loving your neighbor, about loving your enemies and about taking care of those less fortunate. In fact, in Matthew 25, starting at verse 31 --just before he entered Jerusalem to die -- the only time Jesus ever talked about the final judgment he said that "all nations" will stand before the Lord, and He will separate them into the sheep and the goats, based upon their behavior on the earth. The goats are condemned to hell as a result.... Using the criteria from Christ himself, do you believe America will be rewarded, for example, for how many countries we have converted to democracy? Or for how many immigrants we have deported? Or how many more of the huddled masses we have prevented from emigrating? Or for how many millions of children have starved to death worldwide while we burn huge amounts of our precious corn harvest every day in our car's fuel tanks? Will the Lord say to America, "Well done, my faithful servant," because of the tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees who have fled their homes due to the unrest we have created in their homeland? Or for how many innocent Iraqi civilians we have killed or caused to die for the cause of spreading democracy? Or for how many enemy combatants we have locked up? Or how many we have been able to torture into giving us information? Or for how many terror attacks we have prevented? Or how many "insurgents" we have killed? Or the billions of dollars that the wealthiest nation on earth has NOT been able to contribute to worldwide disaster relief and famine relief because we have been spending so much on our own so-called defense? I personally believe these are nothing short of national sins. And these are only examples.... As Christians, if all we use as our criteria are the words of Jesus himself --and honestly, isn't that all we should use? -- America has not been behaving in a Christ-like manner. In truth, much of our nation's foreign and domestic policy in recent years has been decidedly non-Christian. How have we allowed this to happen? ... The Christian's responsibility is to be diligent in scrutinizing both [parties], in the cold light of the New Testament and the teachings of Christ. This we have not been doing in recent years, and it's time we start. We can't keep giving any political party a "free pass" to commit all sorts of atrocities, both at home and around the world, just because they happen to share our view on one or two so-called "moral" issues. This is simply wrong.... As we approach the election, I am still making up my mind about whom to vote for. But I can tell you this: My decision is NOT going to be based upon the recommendations of pharisees like Jim Dobson, or kooks like Rush Limbaugh, or the MSNBC or Fox News commentators. None of these people speaks for Jesus. NONE of them. My guide is going to be how close each candidate and each platform comes to the words of Christ himself in places such as Matthew 5, Matthew 22, Matthew 25, Luke 6, Luke 10 and Mark 12. ]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.422 2008-09-22T23:15:11Z 2008-10-14T19:54:25Z

Catholic vote key; both sides want it Democratic effort may be better set up Sunday, September 14, 2008 By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Said Senator Bob Casey, "I do think nationally, our party has made a lot of progress, certainly...

Catholic Democrats Staff full article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.417 2008-09-09T18:55:13Z 2008-10-25T14:03:11Z

Kari Lundgren, a PhD student in Pittsburgh and graduate of conservative Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, argues that Catholics should look past the years of empty Republican rhetoric about abortion and consider voting for Barack Obama. She writes, "Why, in...

Catholic Democrats Staff 2008 study by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, showing the role that economic factors have on the decision to abort, and also how addressing those factors actually reduces abortions." For full text click here.]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.405 2008-09-03T00:56:37Z 2008-10-14T19:53:38Z

Since John McCain wants to suspend the gasoline tax to reduce the price of a gallon of gas, why doesn't he ask his running mate to cut the exorbitant oil and gas severance tax that Alaska charges the rest of...

Chris McNally Consolidated Annual Financial Report for the State of Alaska, Schedule B-2. The reason that Alaska has no sales tax and no income tax is that it charges an oil and gas severance tax that is passed on to consumers in the other 49 states. We pay that oil and gas tax at the pump and in our monthly gas bill, and the taxes that we pay to Alaska are enough to supply 89% of Alaska's Unrestricted General Revenue! The Federal Government is Alaska's second largest revenue source. So you and our neighbors in the lower 48 are paying about 89% of Sarah Palin’s salary! In fact, Alaskans are rolling in our dough. The Alaskan State Government owns a corporation called the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation with a market value of over $35.9 billion. This government-owned, government-operated corporation pays each Alaskan a dividend check every year. Last year, every Alaskan who has resided in the state for one year and who meets other eligibility requirements (including Sarah, Todd, and each of the four Palin children) got $1,654! Even legal aliens get the dividend check! And you, the American consumer of Alaskan oil, paid for it. Does the Governor of Alaska really face the same challenges, choices and problems that governors of other states must confront? Imagine how easy it would be to be governor knowing that you can charge an exorbitant tax, that the people who must pay the tax can't vote you out of office, and they aren't even told that it is included in their bill? And isn't it easy to understand why Sarah Palin is eager to drill in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge and build a natural gas pipeline? Is Sarah Palin a reformer? You decide.]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.404 2008-09-03T00:40:16Z 2008-09-03T00:53:40Z

Written by correspondent Niall O'Dowd, and first published in Irish America magazine, and republished in The Irish Voice, we share the following account of Senator Joseph Biden's roots in Scranton. Many thanks to Sarah McAuliffe Bellin, President of the Irish...

Chris McNally Written by correspondent Niall O'Dowd, and first published in Irish America magazine, and republished in The Irish Voice, we share the following account of Senator Joseph Biden's roots in Scranton. Many thanks to Sarah McAuliffe Bellin, President of the Irish American Unity Conference of Pittsburgh, for retrieving this marvelous sketch of a great Irish American leader. *** Biden hails from a Famine era family, the Finnegans, who fled Co. Mayo to avoid the Great Hunger. His great grandmother Finnegan was the only one who could read Gaelic, and she used to read letters in Gaelic for those who could not read the letters from home and she’s write back in Gaelic for them. *** Biden was born in the Irish heartland of Scranton, Pennsylvania, one of the most Irish cities in America. There were already political genes in his DNA. “Edward F. Blewett my grandmother’s father, was the first Irish Catholic state senator,” Biden recalled. “He was also the co-founder of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in Scranton around 1908. There is still a plaque in existence in Scranton showing he was one of the founding members.” Biden stated that he grew up in Scranton in “a predominantly Irish neighborhood and an overwhelmingly Irish parish. The centerpiece of life in Scranton was the church, the nuns, the priest the monsignor,” he recalled. “Everybody had a sister who was a nun everybody had a brother a priest. Vocations were a big deal.” His first Irish memories are of his Aunt Gertie when he went to his grandparents’ house. “I’d go upstairs and lie on the bed and she’d come and scratch my back and say, ‘Now you remember Joey about the Black and Tans don’t you?’ She had never seen the Black and Tans, she had no notion of them, but she could recite chapter and verse about them. “Obviously there were immigrants coming in who were able to talk about it and who had relatives back there, She was born in 1887. After she’d finish telling the stories I’d sit there or lie in bed and think at the slightest noise, ‘They’re coming up the stairs.’” *** Biden has read Irish history extensively, and to this day his hero is Wolfe Tone leader of the 1798 Rebellion. “Wolfe Tone is the embodiment of some of the things that I think are the noblest of all. He was a Protestant who formed the United Irishmen. He had nothing to gain on the face of it but he sought to relieve the oppression of the Catholics caused by the penal laws. He gave his life for the principle of civil rights for all people. “I view him as an honorable figure. He was obviously passionate which I admire. He had the ability to make his own comfort secondary to the greater good.” Biden found that when he moved to Delaware that the experience of the Irish there was very different to what he left behind in Scranton. “That is because they came over differently. The Dupont Company were sending ships back to Ireland and bringing back workers so the first people who did come did not do so as part of a famine. They were paternalistic, built their church for them. It was a different experience,” Biden said. The new Democratic vice presidential nominee stated, “I see myself as an Irish Catholic. If we have a moral obligation to other parts of the world why don’t we have a moral obligation to Ireland? It’s part of our blood.” tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.401 2008-08-27T12:50:00Z 2008-08-27T12:55:14Z

DENVER -- A generation after his father was barred from the podium of the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Bob Casey Jr. invoked his name as he depicted Sen. Barack Obama as a force for tolerance on an issue that continues...

Chris McNally DENVER -- A generation after his father was barred from the podium of the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Bob Casey Jr. invoked his name as he depicted Sen. Barack Obama as a force for tolerance on an issue that continues to divide Democrats. "I'm honored to stand before you as Gov. Bob Casey's son," the senator said as he took the stage of the Pepsi Center. Later, he urged the delegates to rally to the candidate he had endorsed before the Pennsylvania primary, calling him, "a leader who, as Lincoln said, appeals to 'the better angels of our nature.' " "Barack Obama and I have an honest disagreement on the issue of abortion," said the lawmaker, who is an abortion foe. "But the fact that I'm speaking here tonight is a testament to Barack's ability to show respect for the views of people who disagree with him." * * * In a more modest way, it was Pennsylvania day, as Mr. Casey and Gov. Ed Rendell, who took opposite sides in the state's presidential primary, each spoke in favor of the Obama candidacy. Inside and outside the hall, they offered contrasting portrayals of the bonds of empathy Mr. Obama had managed to form with voters. Mr. Casey described the bus trip he and Mr. Obama shared through the state after his unexpected endorsement of his Senate colleague, saying, "Everywhere Barack went, people who may have been asking who this guy was ended up seeing what I saw. ... Everywhere we went the people of Pennsylvania gave him the highest praise they give anyone: He's one of us too." * * * Suggesting that the Democratic candidate was sometimes handicapped by his own strengths, [Governor] Rendell added, "With people who have a lot of gifts, it's hard for people to identify with them. Barack Obama is handsome. He's incredibly bright. He's incredibly well-spoken, and he's incredibly successful -- not exactly the easiest guy in the world to identify with." Mr. Rendell was more on-message at the Pepsi Center microphone as he extolled Mr. Obama as a champion of energy independence and argued that his opponent would repeat what he characterized as the disappointments of the Bush administration. "It's clear the only thing green in John McCain's energy plan are the billions of dollars in tax breaks he's promised to energy companies," he said to an audience that had greeted him with chants of "Eddie, Eddie." Later in his speech, Mr. Casey drew the crowd into his speech as he predicted an end to Republican rule in Washington. "They ran up the debt, gave huge subsidies to big oil companies, and now they're asking for four more years. How about four more months?" he demanded. The delegates took up the refrain, "Four more months," as he continued to assail the GOP record on health care, senior citizens programs, and the children's health insurance that his father had pioneered at the state level. The previous day, sitting in a Starbucks not far from the convention site, Mr. Casey reflected on his father's less welcome reception and the changes in the party on the issue on which the late governor had so strenuously opposed former President Bill Clinton. The senator acknowledged that the precise details of why the elder Casey was barred from that New York City podium in 1992 are still in some dispute. In his memoirs, the late governor said it was a deliberate insult motivated by his opposition to abortion rights. Other reports have attributed it to his failure to endorse the Clinton-Gore ticket prior to the convention. "I think it's best to let the historians debate it and move on and look to the future," his son said. "It's interesting, even in the last six months, I've heard facts that I didn't know before. ... I think it was, apart from what happened to him and the insult, a missed opportunity to listen to a guy who really understood how people struggle." Mr. Casey lauded his party's move toward a big tent approach on the issue but noted that the shift should not be exaggerated. "I think the party has changed in the sense that, one of the first things John Kerry said after the '04 race was we've got to reach out more to pro-life Democrats. Hillary Clinton said that a lot and talked about that when she was campaigning." When asked about the relative lack of intra-party unrest over the fact that Mr. Obama was reported to have at least considered several anti-abortion Democrats as running mates, however, Mr. Casey said, "Let's be candid. I don't think we're at the point where our party could nominate someone who is pro-life ... maybe even at the vice presidential level." tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.434 2008-08-24T15:33:21Z 2008-10-14T19:51:38Z

Lt Governor Catherine Baker Knoll announced that she has a neuroendocrine tumor that is under treatment, but that she plans to keep working this fall on behalf of the people of the state. In McKees Rocks, where she still attends...

Catholic Democrats Staff Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll Reveals Cancer Fight, Says She' Responding Well To Treatment ]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.386 2008-08-08T17:40:39Z 2008-10-14T19:50:55Z

Senator Bob Casey is likely to be a speaker at the Democratic National Convention late this month in Denver, and much of the conversation swirling about his high profile concerns abortion. But in contrast to the conventional wisdom, he thinks...

Catholic Democrats Staff full story in the Philadelphia Inquirer ]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.378 2008-07-24T19:11:43Z 2008-10-14T19:50:09Z

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, fresh off its success in organizing a meeting for 800 Catholics in Philadelphia July 11-13, has begun a series of events across the country to begin a national conversation on the full range...

Catholic Democrats Staff the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.282 2008-04-25T18:54:09Z 2008-10-14T19:49:19Z

Perhaps it was inevitable: The Democrats' battle for the presidential nomination has led us into the thicket of race and religion. Hillary Clinton's significant victory over Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary was the result of many factors, but most...

Catholic Democrats Staff Pennsylvania Fault Lines By E. J. Dionne Jr. Washington Post Friday, April 25, 2008; A23]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2008:/PA//25.279 2008-04-19T15:20:44Z 2008-04-19T15:41:26Z

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The official motto of Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 visit to the United States, the first of his papacy, is "Christ our Hope." Based on the frequency with which papal spokespersons have struck a different note,...

Catholic Democrats Staff Behind the Scenes: Watch for political fallout from pope's visitStory Highlights Papal representatives stress Benedict's U.S. trip is "not a political event" But Catholic vote still matters in U.S. politics, as 2004's close Ohio vote showed Obama's "guns and religion" gaffe may help Clinton with blue-collar Catholics Once Democrats settle on a candidate, Catholic vote seems wide open in November By John L. Allen Jr. CNN Senior Vatican Analyst Editor's Note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. CNN's Senior Vatican Analyst John L. Allen Jr. is following the pope during his U.S. trip. ]]>