If you’re up on the news this morning you’ve heard that the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops went against

Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas

precedent and voted against elevating Tucson’s Catholic bishop to president of the group.

Gerald F. Kicanas, who came to Tucson to lead the diocese’s 350,000 Catholics nearly 10 years ago, received 111 votes to the 128 votes received by New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. The Times called it a “surprise pick” and labeled Kicanas as representing the “more liberal ‘social justice’ tradition of the American Church.” Normally, I think New York Times reporter Laurie Goodstein is spot-on on her reporting, and maybe she’ll fill out the piece more as the day goes on, but right now it is in great need of some nuance. Let Godblogging supply just a tad.

First, Kicanas is about as “liberal” as I am pope. He’s a moderate that leans slightly right. Trust me, I used to write for the Catholic paper here, and as a columnist, my views were moderate and leaning slightly left. I’ve spent plenty of time chatting with him about various issues and more times than not, Kicanas sides with (or at least gives in to) the more “conservative” wing of the Church.

Second, saying that a Bishop who supports the Church’s longheld teaching on sheltering the homeless, feeding the hungry and welcoming the immigrant is “liberal” is just poor reporting. Kicanas is right down the middle on that one; simply because some conservatives see abortion as more important than other forms of social justice doesn’t mean other forms of social justice are liberal – or, God forbid, less.

Let’s give Kicanas the liberal test: Does he support women’s ordination? Nope. Optional celibacy for priests? Nope. Married clergy? Nope. Ordaining openly gay men? Nope. Does he fight abortion? Yes. Does he fight euthanasia? Yes. Does he fight war? yes. He is, in other words, pro-life, not just anti-abortion, and sits – for the most part – squarely in the moderate middle, for which many a Tucson Catholic is grateful.

But because he doesn’t fall off the cliff and refuse communion to politicians who support abortion rights, apparently some in the conference think he’s too liberal. That and the fact that groups like BishopsAccountability.org reared their heads and brought up the one thing they could find on Kicanas – that he approved the ordination of a man whom BishopsAccountability.org says Kicanas knew molested a minor. Kicanas denies knowing about the minor and knowing Kicanas – and having held him over a hot iron as a pretty aggressive reporter myself – I’m certain he didn’t. Did he make a stupid decision (as so many priests in leadership did 20 years ago) in allowing a guy was caught having sex with other seminarians to stay in the seminary? I’d say yes. But you know what, then I’d be accused of being biased against homosexuals in the priesthood. You can’t win for losing with that one.

But I digress. Point is, the conference may or may not have wanted to have the whole sex scandal brought up again and that may be why they voted for Dolan (although he’s obviously not clean as a whistle in that area either). But more likely than not, this vote has to do with abortion,  homosexuality and politics. Kicanas has not refused communion to politicians who say they support legalized abortion rights in some form or fashion, unlike other bishops who have said they would deny communion to such politicians. Ditto for politicians who are out and proud with support of same-sex marriage.

I’m fairly certain that if a group of let’s-abort-all-the-babies-we-can politicians showed up at the Cathedral en masse to make a statement by trying to receive communion, Kicanas would deny them. He would not be denying them because they were pro-abortion rights politicians, per se, but because they were showing up to mock the sacrament.

Some may say that a politician who supports abortion rights (or, the other bugaboo in the Bishops’ Conference, same-sex marriage) is mocking the sacrament. Yet, that is not the case. One can personally be against an evil and still think there is another way to end it other than ONLY through legislation. (Yes, really, people can think this.) In the end, the receipt of communion is between every individual and God. Period. Kicanas gets that. Apparently, the Bishops’ Conference – full of completely sin-free men, no doubt – doesn’t.

Primary commandment the Hutaree group is breaking

Where to start on this Tuesday morning? How about the insane “Christian” militia group trying to jump-start Armageddon out of a Michigan base? Granted, living in Michigan’s weather might make one cross over to the dark side, but I’ve never known snow drifts to cause folks to gird up in weapons and plot to kill a police officer. Who are these weirdos and how on earth do they get “kill a cop and start a violent standoff with the law” out of anything in the Bible? Fact is, of course, they can’t, as their website demonstrates by grasping at straws. The biblical quotes the group (named Hutaree, whatever that means) posts on the site have absolutely nothing to do with killing or bringing about the end times courtesy of a sniper scope. These guys may claim to be Christian, but as JC himself said, you’ll know Christians by their love – not their insanity.

The battle for the hearts and minds of agnostics has heated up with the atheist billboard message that was hoisted in mid-February being plastered over by a “God-country-family” billboard, courtesy of Raul Robb, a Tucson financial adviser. I didn’t like the billboard from the Center for Inquiry because I think they should come up with a better message. Their billboard read, “Are you good without God? Millions are.” Well, duh.

The billboards are popping up across the nation

There are plenty of people who argue that the only way you can be good is if you have a belief in a higher power or religion in your life, and it is certainly borne out in many ways. Who, for instance, is the first on the scene of a natural disaster? Usually not Atheists Are Us. But just as many believers do good because they feel called to it by their religious upbringing, there are also nonbelievers who do good because they believe their humanist stance requires it. Point is, we should be nice to each other, God or not, and far too often, we aren’t. Which, if you’re an atheist is no big deal, but if you’re a believer whose religion preaches loving one’s neighbor and you don’t do that – well, you give your religion a bad name.

Finally, for people who are still confused by the health care overhall, particularly in the issue of federal (aka your taxes) funding for abortion, Kathleen Parker has broken down the bits and pieces to show why the health care bill probably will fund abortion. Sadly, it doesn’t explain why legislators (and the general public) who call themselves pro-life do not object (at least not strongly enough) to further funding a war that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people, including children and pregnant women, and was never considered “just” in terms of the loophole allowed pro-lifers under just war doctrine.

It is no secret that God Blogging has little to no respect for Planned Parenthood, so it won’t be a surprise to readers that I’m passing on a video of an undercover taping at a PP clinic done by LiveAction, an anti-abortion movement led by young people. (Note: I label LiveAction anti-abortion instead of pro-life because I can’t determine from their web site if they are also against the death penalty and unjust war or for massive social services and extensive educational funding for those born into poverty — all pro-life values. Note #2: I point out that LiveAction is spearheaded by the young because, for most of its existence, the anti-abortion movement was led by older folk who wouldn’t know YouTube if it smacked ‘em up side the head. This youth-led movement is a serious change.)

For people who wonder – and surely some do – my distaste for PP comes from their shift from supporting access to birth control (their aim in the early days) to an almost total focus (and financial dependence) on abortion. The final straw was when a nurse I met in Dallas showed me a memo encouraging her and her PP clinic co-workers to “push” more abortion services so the clinic could makes its monthly revenue budget. The report a few years ago in Consumer Reports showing that two of the most ineffective condoms to use were sold by PP, which was followed by a report that showed those were the two most popular condoms sold at PP at the time, lent fuel to the fire. (Fair and accurate reporting note: CR also noted that there was one condom sold at PP that received CR’s higher rating.)

Now, there are the LiveAction videos, the latest of which you can find over at Fallible Blogma here, where the doctors and nurses speak for themselves. And before anyone jumps on me in the comment section saying I’m an ignorant prude or a religious nut trying to push my agenda, please read my post on birth-control here, and keep in mind that some of us view unwed pregnancy as an economic and societal issue, not a religious one. Additionally, not all of us who are against abortion came to that conclusion through Divine inspiration but rather, like my agnostic and atheist friends, through reason: As one such friend told me, wrong is wrong, even if there is no God.