Anthony Stevens Arroyo writes regularly for the Newsweek/Washington Post blog about religion called On Faith. As one of the resident Catholics, he’s a laugh riot even though he’s quite serious about what he writes about including his love letters to President Obama.
In this week’s column Arroyo questions whether bishops should be denying Communion to supporters of the Arizona immigration law.
Arroyo can only wait a few sentences into his piece before comparing the Arizona immigration law to the Holocaust but even he caveats this foolishness by immediately denying the comparison.
While the context of Nazi Germany’s crackdown on Jews is not the same as contemporary Arizona’s law about immigrants, both have a moral equivalent in singling out one group for unfair treatment.
So why mention the Holocaust if you’re admitting it’s not like the Holocaust?
As far as I can remember I think Jews were trying to get OUT of Germany rather than entering illegally by the thousands. That’s kind of a big difference right there.
But Arroyo then questions whether those who enforce immigration laws should be denied Communion.
Will any of today’s bishops deny communion to Catholic officials who vote for this bill and its spawn of imitators in other states? Has censure been voiced against the local sheriff Joe Arpaio (a Catholic) who has led raids on Latinos? These are strategies used in the past by bishops.
Yup. He’s not only asking if people who arrest illegal immigrants should be denied Communion but people who vote to enforce immigration laws as well.
But then Arroyo caveats himself yet again, negating his previous suggestion.
I am against denying communion as a political tool, but I think bishops who have done so about other issues like same-sex marriage create a dilemma for themselves.
So the Arizona immigration law is like the Holocaust but not. And he wonders aloud if bishops should deny communion to Arizona immigration law supporters but says later that he’s against such things.
You know, I’m starting to wonder if Arroyo just says things to get attention but knowing he can’t back them up he attempts to walk away from them.
Hey, you know what? Maybe bishops should refuse Communion to columnists who make imbecilic metaphors and outrageous suggestions. Mind you, I’m not saying that they should. I’m just wondering aloud.
This is all an attempt to put all issues on the same plane as the sacredness of human life. The thinking goes that some bishops deny communion to pro-choice Catholics so therefore bishops should also deny communion to supporters of the war, the Arizona immigration law, those who want to reduce welfare, etc…
This is political revenge. Eye for an eye Catholicism. Sickening.
June 18, 2010 at 4:19 am
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June 18, 2010 at 6:06 am
Arroyo has a liberal mind. It is neither faith seeking reason nor reason seeking faith. It is a lapdog seeking to obfuscate for it's master; a fan desirous of licking Obama's prostate in the intellectual realm. But there is nothing intellectual about it because, the liberal mind is so open that the brains fell off. That is why it is incapable of distinctions and of truthful and honest reasoning. So immigration and abortion is equal in morality to them.
June 18, 2010 at 2:54 pm
"Hey, you know what? Maybe bishops should refuse Communion to columnists who make imbecilic metaphors and outrageous suggestions. Mind you, I'm not saying that they should. I'm just wondering aloud."
Yea, I was thinking the same thing.
June 18, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I gave up arguing with "progressives" a while back as their lack of reasoning and thought processes gave me a headache. The fact that adults who "claim" to think could use this type of argumentation just confirms that liberalism IS a mental disease!
June 18, 2010 at 3:13 pm
"It is a lapdog seeking to obfuscate for it's master; a fan desirous of licking Obama's prostate in the intellectual realm."
Rick,
I love your way with words. You paint a picture that is, at the same time, both repugnant for the image it creates in the mind's eye and beautiful for perfectly capturing exactly what's going on.
😉
June 18, 2010 at 3:35 pm
I am against denying communion as a political tool, but I think bishops who have done so about other issues like same-sex marriage create a dilemma for themselves.
Same-sex "marriages" are objectively false and cannot be supported by Catholics under any circumstances or whatever dodgy name is given to them. Whether x immigration law is unjust is a matter of opinion.
June 18, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Rick – totally gross, dude.
Notice how just about everything is equivalent to the holocaust for liberals? Global warming – like the holocaust. Pro-life protests – like the holocaust. Now, a new state law less-strict than the current federal one is – like the holocaust! Maybe these people need to spend some time at the Holocaust Museum. Or better yet – how about one night alone in Dachau or Auschwitz to listen to the ghosts. (shudder) But abortion? Nothing like the holocaust at all, right?
I agree with Meg – it's hard to argue with people who are completely illogical, not to mention just plain stupid.
Arroyo makes no sense at all and would and should be ignored, except for one, small thing… His article was quoted EVERYWHERE by the MSM! His imbecilic suggestions where treated as "big news" as if he is some important authority. He's not. Pathetic that this nonsense even needs to be countered. But it does.
June 18, 2010 at 4:39 pm
A very wise Nigerian priest once told me, "I don't argue with fools."
June 18, 2010 at 11:35 pm
"elm said…
'A very wise Nigerian priest once told me, "I don't argue with fools.'"
Well said and a paraphrase of St. Paul's "Suffer fools gladly." (2 Cor, 11)
June 19, 2010 at 2:51 am
Speaking as one who is leaning towards opposing the Arizona Law (I say this, not to start an argument on the law but to show I am not a typical right winger in my comments), I think Arroyo clearly has no idea what he is talking about.
Canon 915 says: "Can. 915 Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion."
So the question is, what manifest grave sin is being persevered in? Racism? It seems that even though some *may* support this law for a racist reason, this by no means proves all who support it are racist.
This is quite different than the abortion issue, which seems to be grounds for invoking 915. Unlike the abortion issue, Arroyo's proposal strikes me as exactly being the use of the Eucharist as a weapon.
June 19, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Another example of growing ethnic bias, but I find it disgusting that he uses his viewpoint to suggest that the church get involved in political revenge by refusing communion. Sounds like he's a CINO…. and shouldn't be taken seriously when it comes to matters of faith.
June 20, 2010 at 3:44 am
When you consider that the essence of SB 1070 is that it forbids Arizona cities and counties to suspend enforcement of existing Federal statutes, and in fact, does little else other than to try very hard to prevent harassment, the prevailing hysteria over its enactment is very hard to comprehend.
After due consideration, I can only believe it is due to the massive ignorance of a very large segment of our population. And perhaps to the willful misdirection practiced by certain politicians and media people.
I won't refer to journalists in this connection, since there are so few people in current practice worth of that name.
June 20, 2010 at 3:45 am
Sorry, make that: worthy of that name.