It Profits a Man Nothing to Gain the Whole World, and Lose His Soul…
Tags: Kooks.
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…but for Malta?
Today the White House announced that President Obama will nominate Douglas Kmiec, a Catholic and self-described pro-life law professor, as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta.
If approved, Kmiec would become the ambassador to the Catholic island nation, located in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Sicily.
Dr. Kmiec, who is currently a law professor at Pepperdine University, came under fire last year when he announced his support for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. He has held firm that Obama will reduce abortions through his policies, though the President favors legalized abortion.
In contrast to the Obama Administration, Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mercieca of Malta has previously spoken out about the role Christian politicians must take in respecting life in all stages. During a Maltese Independence Day celebration in 2004, he noted that these politicians “should reject abortion and euthanasia, work for sustainable economic and social development and be in solidarity with the weakest and most vulnerable.”
Kmeic sold out the Church, poured feces over his life’s work – and his reward is the trivial ambassadorship to Malta. I hope its worth it for him…that’s a lot to give us for so little gain.
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14 Responses to “It Profits a Man Nothing to Gain the Whole World, and Lose His Soul…”
Caucus of Corruption
Mark,
Kmiec didn’t sell out the church by supporting Obama any more than you sold out the church by supporting Bush (The Catholic Church is against the Death penalty, which Bush supports). And as a reminder, the majority of Catholics voted for Obama in the last election.
Prof. Kmiec is an Obama supporter, so it is not shocking that he accepted an ambassadorship when offered. In any case, an ambassador represents the whole country, not just the President. And there were other issues in the last presidential campaign besides abortion, and neither major candidate was especially radical on the abortion issue. (Yes, Sarah Palin was adamantly opposed to abortion, but if I recall correctly she was just the Vice Presidential nominee. The GOP ticket was actually topped by a moderate Senator named John McCain.)
Like science, morality is not a matter of “consensus”.
Obama conned millions of Americans into believing that he represented a lot of things that were, in fact, only corollaries to his real agenda. So millions ov people voted for him because they thought that doing so would help “heal” the scars of racism, for example, or bring a new tone of bipartisanship to Washington, or any of several other illusions.
I agree that if one is truly appalled by abortion, one should not support someone who is not only ardently pro-abortion but who supports the death of post-birth, living, breathing, viable babies just because the intent of the gestator was that the baby die.
What bothers me about Kmiec is his disingenuousness in trying to dodge the pro-abortion stance of Obama, and its implications, by pretending that he believes promoting abortion and paying for abortions will somehow decrease the number of abortions. I would have more respect for him if he just said that he felt Obama’s OTHER promises outweighed his brutal stance on the unborn. Trying to plaster over the abortion issue with such a feeble and transparently silly excuse does him no credit.
According to cappy, Catholics should not have voted at all in the past three electionss. But in fact many Catholics said pretty much the same thing about Bush that I suggested Kmiec say about Obama—that they did not agree with his stance on capital punishment but given their choices felt Bush would be the better president for the nation than the alternatives.
I’m trying to remember: Did Bush ever come out and SAY he was in favor of capital punishment, or did he just hold true to his oath of office and carry out the laws of the state of Texas after he was elected governor? So many silly Libs seemed to conflate the two positions, as if carrying out the oath of office was exactly the same as wholeheartedly believing in everything it required.
Valetta is one quaint and beautiful city.
Casper,
Opposition to the death penalty is not obligatory on Catholics; President Bush, also, is not a Catholic. Neither is Obama, of course (at least, for now – I think we’ll get him, eventually) – but Kmiec is Catholic and Obama is a supporter of things Catholicism holds to be morally reprehensible.
Mark,
You must belong to a different brand of Catholicism. I assume that you are familiar with the Pope’s “Evangelium Vitae”. But, I know, you will likely hang your hat on that exception part.
cam,
It is not obligatory – as a Catholic, there are certain things I must believe, but opposition to the death penalty is not one of them. As it turns out, I am opposed to the death penalty and so, most likely, is Kmeic…but he sold he soul for a minor political post, plain and simple.
A Catholic CANNOT support Obama because to support Obama is to go in to direct contravention of Catholic teaching. The excuse for some Catholics is that they are indifferent to their faith; and that’s their choice. The excuse for others is that they are merely ignorant of Catholic teaching; and that’s the fault of the Church. Kmeic has no such excuse because he is a practising Catholic and is deeply instructed in the faith – which makes his mental backflips to justify supporting Obama all the more obscene. Bottom line, he just didn’t want to vote Republican in 2008 and thus looked for justifications to vote for Obama, and in this he has fallen in to error at the peril of his immortal soul…
Wait… usually selling one’s soul means you’ll go to hell after you die. Are you saying that all the obama voters will, in your opinion, go to hell?
Did you just condemn more than half your country to hell?
By the way, abortions under Clinton occurred at a lower rate than they did under Bush. Lesson: if you’re really pro-life, vote Democratic.
Malta’s cool. Don’t dis Malta.
Part of the reason Obama voted against that bill was, as he himself pointed out, that it was already illegal to do what the bill forbade.
Is the Pope Catholic?
Also, speaking of Malta, Obama, and the Church, I stumbled upon this.
Mark,
You are not addressing my point about “Evangelium Vitae”.
Beyond that the majority of what Obama stands for is in line with what I learned in school. Perhaps you may disagree but you have yet to prove your point on that. If we look at those things that the Republicans support, I would have to say that the teachings of the Catholic Church contradict them more often.
Sergei,
That isn’t supporting Obama but calling God’s blessings to be upon him. You know what I mean, so don’t get into that quibbling nonsense with me.
frenchstudent,
As to where he’ll wind up, that is outside my area of knowledge. But, no, merely to vote for Obama doesn’t condemn one…but betrayal does put one at extreme risk. Kmeic knows Catholic teaching very well and that means he knows full well he violated it in taking his position on the 2008 election. Why did he take it? That isn’t for me to judge…but I do know the fruits of his betrayal…a sinecure appointment to a minor diplomatic post. Hardly worth it, if you ask me.
Mark Noonan says:
July 4th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Let’s take this to the next logical level. If you cannot support a President that supports legal abortion, how can you remain a citizen of a nation that has such a law on the books? My guess would be because life would be harder somewherelese even if it were a “Catholic country.” You want the law changed to suit your religion and no other reason.
Why did you not leave the United States in 1973 after Roe v Wade was passed? Why have you not left the country once Obama was elected relocated to a nation where abortion is illegal [ your choices are Chile, El Salvador, the Vatican City and yes Malta] and renounced your American citizenship on religious and moral grounds?