[You little moper, don't reply to your own post! Add an Edit: if you want to comment on yourself. And get used to no one posting comments. A lot of people may be interested enough to read what you write, but many people are too lazy to come up with a thoughtful response they feel comfortable with.]

Anyway, I think we discussed this in depth last night, but I don't know if I got to explain my viewpoint on the specific issue too much.

I think that the Colorado bishop is going way too far. What he's really doing is reinterpreting the idea of right and wrong, but more specifically, the idea of sin and its implications. What he's essentially saying is that if you vote for a candidate who is Pro-Choice, you are sinning.

Now, he may be exercising authority he doesn't have, but I think the main problem here is that he's being stupid. The idea of sin is not something to be toyed with so lightly. He's also has an awfully simplistic view of politics.

I guess he must be pretty angry.

But I do not see Bishop Smith's statements in the same light. Of course, he may be a little clumsy in what he says, but realize that this is what the church does all the time. The Pope is a little bit better at this: he usually says something like, "Well, this guy is doing a good job with ____, but I think he is wrong on the idea of ______".

And what you said about Catholics needing to focus more on social justice: I think there are many Pro-Life Catholics would consider the rights of the unborn to be a very big part of the social justice issue.

And the truth is that the Catholic Church, since, well... Rome has been a political as well as religious institution.