JD Vance is a Catholicist

I grew up Roman Catholic at the time of Vatican II. I do remember Latin mass with the priest facing the altar, but only a few years later, the mass was being said in English and the priest was facing the congregation. My church held a series of presentations from representatives of other faiths: Protestant (I don’t recall which denominations), Jewish, Muslim and Hindu. Ecumenism and tolerance were in the air. I don’t recall any intolerant words among the Catholics I knew until I attended mass at UT-Knoxville. During mass, someone offered a prayer for the Catholic Church’s ministry to gays, and afterwards, a woman in the music group expressed outrage. I found this odd, since Jesus was silent on the topic of homosexuality.

That marked the beginning of my awareness of an intolerant, right-wing strain of Catholicism. It only took another couple of years, early in grad school, when I finally accepted the fact that I didn’t really believe in Church teaching, I only was going to mass out of habit. The habit proved easy to shake.

JD Vance is a convert to the Roman Catholic Church. Converts are often among the most zealous, and I suppose Vance *is* zealous in a repugnant way. From what I’ve seen, I’d say Vance is a “Catholist,” not a Catholic. That is, he clothes himself in the trappings of Catholicism, but doesn’t embrace the teachings of the Church. He’s using Catholicism as a prop. Apparently, the National Catholic Reporter agrees:

“As a Catholic, Vance knows better than to peddle this brand of gaslighting and agitation. Vance knows that, by virtue of her humanity, Good was endowed with inherent dignity, made in the image and likeness of God. Vance knows that only God can take life. Vance knows that protesting, fleeing or even interfering in an ICE investigation (which there is no evidence that Good did) does not carry a death sentence. Vance knows that lying and killing are sins.

 

“Vance knows. He doesn't care. Vance’s twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity has been repudiated by two popes. His Catholicism seems to be little more than a political prop, a tool only for his career ambitions and desire for power.

 

“The vice president's comments justifying the death of Renee Good are a moral stain on the collective witness of our Catholic faith. His repeated attempts to blame Good for her own death are fundamentally incompatible with the Gospel.”

There have been Catholic clergy who refused communion to pro-choice politicians. The Jesus of the Catholic bible embraced sinners. Shame on Vance. Good for the National Catholic Reporter for calling him out.


https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/catholic-vice-president-vance-takes-social-media-justify-killing-renee-good 

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