Does Bishop Clark Know What’s Going On At Our Lady Mercy Church in Greece?
We received an e-mail about a political forum that RICHard Dollinger is having Tuesday night at our Lady of Mercy Church in Greece. The writer asked a legitimate question — Why would Bishop Clark allow the church to host an event that will include numerous people who are openly hostile to the Catholic faith?
I decided to write an open letter to the Bishop.
Dear Bishop Clark:
It has recently been brought to our attention that Richard Dollinger will be using Our Lady of Mercy Church to host a forum for his political campaign. Under normal circumstances, I would have no objection to this, but Dollinger’s campaign is anything but normal.
His campaign is based in using his opponant’s objection to abortion on demand as a central part of his campaign. In fact he sent out a press release that said the following:
“My opponent, Joe Robach, stands firmly against women’s right to choose, and if it were dependent upon his misguided wisdom, women in New York State would be stripped of these rights,” continued Dollinger.
One of his main backers in his political campaign is the woman suing the town of Greece for inviting local clergy to say prayers at their meetings — in fact, she had a recent letter to the editor stating that “atheists are a fast growing community and “they are here to stay.” This woman and her friends from NOW disrupted a Woman’s Health Fair because of Dollinger’s opponants stand on abortion.
Another principle of his campaign is his unabashed support for gay marriage. In fact he said this to a gay newspaper:
“I come from a big Catholic family and I think the concept of couples who are committed to each other being able to have that commitment recognized is an important one,” Dollinger said. “How can anybody be against more families, more stable relationships, more stable family households? It’s both the logical thing to do and the right thing to do.”
I’m a believer in the seperation of church and state, but allowing Dollinger to use a Catholic church for his political campaign makes a mockery of the Catholic faith. Please reconsider the decision to allow this event to take place at Our Lady of Mercy on Tuesday night.
Sincerely,
The Equalizer
18 Responses to “Does Bishop Clark Know What’s Going On At Our Lady Mercy Church in Greece?”
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I think the Bishop does know what is going on. Sadly if he can’t get Catholics to come to church (and more importantly in his mind donate money) he will be happy to get money from atheists. I am not only an Ex Democrat but also an Ex Catholic.
The Catholic church in this area should just start holding Mass at Episcopalian churchs. I say that because the Episcopalian’s are a church that is governed by decentralized Bishops. They have policy that is pretty much what Bishop Clark wants. The Catholic church has a Pope that gives doctrine and is supposed to be followed. Unlike what RICHard and Nancy Pelosi thinks the Pope does not approve of abortion. I sure Hope Bishop Clark does not approve of abortion.
I hope someday that everyone understands that though the words “separation of church and state” are mentioned in the federalist papers that these words are not enshrined in our Constitution as a guiding principle. It’s the prohibition of govt’s imposition of religion which is enshrined. That said, I guess I’m no longer surprised when the Catholic Diocese fails to take a religiously principled stand in such matters. Clearly, the BIshop and/or the parish priest should disapprove Dollinger’s political gathering at the church. But, don’t count on it, folks. They might even allow him the sacrament of communion while he’s there. So sad.
Wow! - Thanks Equalizer - in addition to the moral issues there is another problem with this - Can we find out more about this political forum? The IRS strictly restricts and in some situations prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations from participating In Political Activity - See IRS Ruling 2007-41, or read the rules in Publication 1828 - all of which can be found at http://www.irs.gov .
If OLM in Greece is allowing only one candidate to hold a forum, that candidate can only speak in a Non-Candidate capacity- and any respresenative of OLM who is present can not make any mention of the upcoming election or candidacy. Furthermore- no campaign activity can occur in connection with the candidates attendance (ie buttons, brochures, signs, tshirts - etc…) .
The IRS formally warned the leaders of all established Political Parties that the Political Activities Compliance Initiative (PACI) would remain in force throughout 2008. A letter was sent to Andrew Tobias, John Proesch and Brian Wolff, of the National Democratic Party on Apirl 18, 2008.
Maybe these rules don’t apply to RICHard-? Do we think he will respect the rights and wishes of the constituents of the district he wishes to represent - if he doesn’t respect the rules etablished by our Federal Government?
dollinger has invited robach to join him at these forums
if joe refuses, that’s not rick’s fault
if any of you guys had actually gone to the last one, maybe you’d have a leg to stand on here
but wait, that’s right, you don’t do any actual ‘reporting’ or ‘investigation’, this is all just ‘commentary’
Shady, Invited? Really? Please don’t act like everyone in our community is stupid and foolish enough to believe RICHard’s little political stunt was above board. You and I and everyone else knows that RICHard had his hack paid political Albany/NYC staff set this up to sabotage Joe Robach.
Not even RICHard would attend a debate set up entirely by his opponent. Not one would and don’t lie and say that your guy would. That would be another lie by Dollinger. So many this year in particular.
You guys know Robach agreed to debates NOT set up by his political opponent. It was reported in the media back when Dollinger started this little game.
Everyone found out that Dollinger’s fake debates are shady when at his “open forum” citizens were forced to write down their questions, then they were reviewed by the political staff and then, and only then, would certain ones be allowed to re-read them. Heck, one woman there with a planted question was from Gates and doesn’t even live in the senate district. Another guy even had trouble reading what he supposedly wrote himself.
Then, when several people who really live in the community tried speak at the “open forum” they were shouted down and had no choice but to leave after they were attacked by Dollinger’s supporters.
Real nice fake “open forum” there Dollinger.
Shady, since you were there, you can back me up on all of this being exactly true. Dollinger should have at least tried to make this look fair.
Listen, Dollinger has enough problems to worry about with the voters this year and should focus more on those.
PS - Shady, feel free to attack us all you want. At least we welcome posters with differing views to comment here. You won’t find that at your local liberal attack blogs. Nor will you find much reporting. But we understand, you guys want different rules for different groups.
Sounds like a Dollinger open forum.
Seriously, all political nastiness from Dollinger aside, welcome Shady.
@ShadeCurtins
Yes we do commentary.
Just because RICH invited him does not make it right. I will not allow without comment the point to be spun to the position that its OK if Robach was invited. The point is that its a catholic church which has positions against abortions and atheism. This is an exact reason why we have separations. If RICH wants to be more in line with the catholic church he needs to change his positions, not expect the catholic church to change their positions.
“If RICH wants to be more in line with the catholic church he needs to change his positions, not expect the catholic church to change their positions.”
what in the world are you talking about
no one is asking the church to change their policies
y’all have gone off the deep end
Good point bull tinkle
There are those who believe that since Dollinger supports what they consider to be the killing of a child, that he has no place in the Catholic Church.
That and his staunch support from atheists doesn’t quite mesh with the positions held by the Catholic Church.
Dollinger’s positions will hurt him with a large segment of voters in this senate district.
He should just do his political commentary elsewhere.
Does anyone know if Dollinger supports partial birth abortions? Isn’t that where they allow the child to almost be delivered but it’s killed right before it’s fully born?
How’s Dick going to explain that one to the folks at First Bible Baptist Church? Much to the chagrin of the NARAL pro-abortionists and the local NOW gals, I heard Dollinger has been seeking the support of the the religious right.
Ooops! Careful Dick. You can’t have it both ways.
That’s another position Dollinger supports that the Baptists don’t care for.
@ShadeCurtins
People like Dollinger and Nancy Pelosi have stated that they are good Catholics. If they support abortion they are not. They can go through gyrations and nuanced interviews but if they support abortion they are not good Catholics.
RICH is having a political event at a catholic church. When you speak at the VFW or NAACP or any group, you are there to say these are my policies and this is how it effects your group, because of these policies please vote for me. So he is asking Catholics to vote for his abortion policies.
sorry guys, didn’t realize this was the single-issue, rabidly-anti-abortion and ad-hominem attack blog
if i want thoughtful, moderate conservative viewpoints i guess i should just move along
you guys are the reason the republicans lost control of the house of representatives and are about to lose our state senate
the vast majority of republican voters are tired of these divisive, moralistic issues - see guns, gays and prayer in school
keep it up - democratic campaigns around the nation are counting on it!
Shady — you and a few others miss my point. Personally, I don’t care what your or anyone’s position on abortion is.
How does the Catholic church allow a guy to use their facility to promote himself and attack his opponent, who’s positions are in line with the teachings of the church?
I’m not judging anyone’s political beliefs — only pointing our RICHard’s and church’s hypocrisy.
ShadeCurtain
Do you even know what ad-hominem means?
–argumentum ad hominem (Latin: “argument to the man”, “argument against the man”)
I have been posting here since January. There have been few posts that even mention abortion. Those few that have been centered around Richard Dollingers attempting to woo pro life voters in spite of his pro choice stance. That deserves discussion.
There have been a few posts where prayer was mentioned. There were blessings for Ted Kennedy when it was announced that he had brain tumor and prayers for the family of Tim Russert and Tony Snow when they passed. I am positive there has never been a post on Prayer in school.
Yes the second amendment came up. There was a huge supreme court issue that was ruled in favor of it. As a matter of fact Barrack Obama came out in support of it (At least I think he did, it was so nuanced, most people shook their head and wondered what he said). One highlight of the campaign was when Obama made the bitter people in Pennsylvania clinging to their guns comment. He lost Pennsylvania to Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Guns were a huge factor in that democratic campaign.
As for Gay Marriage, Both Barack Obama and John McCain are opposed to it. Both support civil unions. Which you will find most people around here and the nation do.
One huge reason the republicans lost congress in 2006 was because Democrats gay bashed Mark Foley. They attempted to make him look like a pedophile, when all he really was is a gay man in the closet that had the hots for a young man. That was pretty cynical for a party who champions gay rights. But hey it worked, the media played along, so all is fair in politics.
So you can go into your Sissy fit and threaten to leave with your bat and ball because you are on a blog that is conservative and you are not, or you can continue to attempt to try to defend your comments in a thoughtful way. either way its a pro choice blog, you can choose to stay or leave.
It’s good to get a little bantor going on again. It’s too bad you can only find opposing views and discussions about them here on our site compared to the liberal ones.
Shady, you are not the first liberal political operative to attempt to manipulate public opinion of our site. We’ve survived targeted attacks from your colleagues and the liberal press before but we will continue to give those of all political dispositions a venure for true debate, even if some don’t like that.
That’s because despite our reporting and opinions and the opinions of everyone who posts here (including yourself) we are fair to all participants. Some of your liberal colleagues got mad because we wouldn’t post their vulgar statements and other nasty stuff.
Other than that, everything goes up. Like I said, you have more freedom here that at the liberal sites in the area. Try for yourself. Act like a moderate and post, but don’t hold your breadth waiting for them to put the post up. But pretend honestly, don’t give yourself away. Then share with us your blog name there and the number of posts you sent and we’ll see how you did.
It should be fun. Though I’ll admit it won’t be as fun as democrats joking about people being hurt and losing their homes down south. But the dems have a weird sense of humor I guess.
I’m a Democrat and I’d just like to point out that I was praying for the people of Louisiana and I thought the Republicans postponing their convention was the right and classy thing to do. (Although, I’m sure McCain didn’t lose any sleep over the president not being able to speak) I guess my point is, I don’t like being grouped as a whole as InsidePolitics has done above simply because one person makes a joke while riding on an airplane or few others do so jokingly on a blog.
Regarding the topic, I don’t think RICH should be holding an event at a Catholic Church even if Robach was invited. I don’t think there should ever be an event of political nature at any church whether the politician is Catholic or not. People go to Church to pray and be at piece. A church is suppose to be a sacred place. Holding a political event at any place of worship takes away from its original meaning. If Dollinger wants to deliver his message to Catholics he can invtie them to come listen to him at a neutral site through a message in the Church bulletin.
Goatmc
The people effected by the hurricane appreciate your prayers. I appreciated your prayers. In my church we are divided right down the middle about 50% dem 50% rep. I consider my fellow democrats friends in faith.
The reason we as republicans make a point of such things is because we get slammed in the media when our guys say stupid things like that. The media while probably not as slanted as we think, however it is definitely seriously leaning left. Politics is a strange business, you can say the vilest things one day and be friends the next. We are now in the home stretch of the silly season.
goatmc: I didn’t say dems (all) I said dems (plural). sorry for the confusion.
It’s ok. I was being sensitive. But I hate when my party embarasseses itself by saying things like God is punishing these people or the Republican party with a Hurricane. I just don’t see any humor in that at all. It makes me and others in the Democratic Party look bad. I also want to say that I have trouble with homophones. I just notices I wrote “piece” instead of “peace”. Happy to see the event was moved! Thanks be to God!