I see the site's version of Suzanne Forgach has slunk in.

I'm no christian, mainstream or otherwise, but it is really unfair to that faith to call that Nazi in Alabama a "Christian." He is a "minister" for Christian Identity, the white-supremacist Aryan Nations "church."

Two comments:

I follow a spiritual path based on The Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes, published in 1927. This spiritual path has many spiritually progressive centers globally, known by various names: Unity, Christian Science, Religious Science now known as Centers for Spiritual Living, Divine Science and others. Because it is so eclectic and inclusive, many do not recognize it as a "mainstream" religious institution. It defies the label: Organized Religion, because it is neither organized nor a religion.

A recent Spiritual Thriller, Pope Annalisa by Peter Canova, is a real exploration of the concepts of religious freedom and the workings of the Roman Catholic Church. I have referenced this book innumerable times, here and elsewhere. I wonder why people who object to the RCC haven't taken my challenge to at least visit the website: www.popeannalisa.com. Change does not happen by pointing fingers; it happens by a change of heart. I hope this does not seem like I am pointing fingers. I just want people to look at alternatives to the status quo.

Here you go IrishPat,,, some of what I've read in the bibble that makes me think it declares women to be inferior to men. Thanks skepticsannotatedbible.com.

Gen 3:16, Exo 22:18, Exo 34:23, Lev 12:2-5, Lev 15:19-24, Lev 27:3-7, Num 3:15-16, Num 27:8, Job 14:4, Psalms 51:5, Psa 58:8, Isa 3:12, Luk 2:23, 1Cor 11:3, 1Cor 11:7-9, 1Cor 14:34-35, Eph 4:22-24, Eph 5-33, Col 4:33, Tim 2:11-15, Pet 3:1, Pet 3:7, Tit 2:5, Joh 2:13-14, Rev 14:3-4, Rev 19:2.

Lev 27:6 is clear as can be....

Just to ensure fair and equal balance,,, go ahead and reel off all of Cheese&Rice's quotes telling us that men and women are equals,,, maybe a little something something about how no man shall enslave another. How many words is that 10? Keep your waters clean..

I certainly understand that these issues were politically incorrect for Jeebus to bring up. Correct? I can also understand that there would have been no civil war here ( the United States) or for that matter, perhaps no Inquisition had Jheezwiz stepped up to the plate.

Just the Inquisition alone, on it's own merits, proves there is no gad in heaven, or remotely that if there is a gad, she's amoral. Probably the latter. Thank you Wikipedia.

My guess is that gad is kinda 2 dimensional, not very nuanced.....

No flames just the facts. From the beginning, Sr Simone Campbell is a fake and Ms Maddow a biggot. PLesae stay on subject.............

enough said. Have a great day "oncearepub"

What is objectionable , what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but they are INTOLERANT. The evil is not what they say about their cause but wha they say about their opponnents.JFK

Standing in a garage does not make you a car- going to church does not make you a Christian. Actions define what you are.

Any Woman, Latino, Gay or any ohter minority who Votes for these Narrow minded and Bigoted Republicans is Dumber then a Box of Rocks.

It's nice that the nuns went out on tour to tell us about what is obviously immoral. That also goes for the State Senator from Colorado. Thanks religious folks for pointing out not only your own hypocrisy but also your own non-value in the human race.. Please, go to heaven!

We the people-petition re:Enforce federal 501(c)(3) regulations by removing the tax-exempt status from churches that engage in political activity.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/enforce-federal-501c3-regulations-removing-tax-exempt-status-churches-engage-political-activity/fBD4hNSr

The late highly regarded Moral Theologian Monsignor William Smith did an excellent course on the errors of Liberation Theology and why it fails as authentic Catholic Teaching and how it radically apposes the true teachings of Jesus Christ. As well as why Cardinal Ratzinger's office then Pope John Paul II condemned the movement and it's teaching founders.

Monsignor William Smith was "the" finest most respected Moral Theologian in America. John Cardinal O'Connor's own private Moral Theologian.

I rest my case.

For Catholics there are three sacred deposits of faith. This used in order to understand the true teachings of the catholic church. These are the essential elements from which we (the laity) draw our recognition to what is, authentic catholic teaching.

1) Sacred Teaching Is it what Jesus himself taught through divine revelation the holy scriptures?(The first deposit of faith divine revelation of God the Bible)

2) Sacred Tradition Is it the teaching tradition as practiced and preached by the apostles and the saints throughout the centuries? (The second deposit of faith, Tradition)

3) Sacred Magisterium We catholics believe that Christ ordained the Church as the instrument through which His teachings would be preserved and promulgated throughout the world for all time. Because he said, "No man has revealed this to you Peter. But my father in heaven. And I say unto you, thou art Peter, the rock, and upon this rock I build MY church" "He who hears you, hears ME".

For any teaching to be embraced by the faithfull it has to pass that test. Which as I explained, Liberation Theology does not. Thus it's condemnation. That and of course the fact that you cannot reconcile Marxism and a disbelief in God, with Catholic theology. It's an impossible equation.

In regards Sr Simone Campbell, the topic of my discussion here to which Liberation Theology and everything I have posted here is meant to stay on topic with, Sr Campbell has a thinly veiled vaneer "cathlicity" which she hides behind to propogate a false theology ..............Liberation Theology. As I said, I am most interested in the Church's teachings on Moral Theology and of authentic Catholic Teaching. Of course I have to have solid fundemental anchors for the solidification of that understanding. Thus the mentions of Popes, respected priests, theologians and a deep appreciation for those I have found to be those I respect the most. Fr Benedict Groeshel, Fr John Hardon, Msr William Smith ect ect. BTW Monsignor Smith was a Professor of Moral Theology at St Joseph's Semiinary in Yonkers NY for 27 yrs and it just happens I am watching a six hour university course on Moral Theology as delivered by Msr Smith (The Moral Magisterium of John Paul II) of late. Kind of a summer project of mine. He was a Moral Theologian.

All that aside, as I said in posts above Sr Campbell rejects the teachings of Christ on His divinty, his resurrection and his virgin birth ect ect. She rejects the teachiings of the church on womens ordination and several other issues. Thus my interest in her. It is not the bus tour, but the false way in which she was introduced on the TRMS. A poor downtrodden beat up by the Magisterium/Vatican nun all because she wuldn't speak out against abortion and euthenasia. False she was rebuked by the Vatican because she is teaching a false doctrine.

The subject was not on abusive priests. But I do answer that ? above. I think my first post. I doubt you'll like the answer.

People falsely accuse the catholic church as haviing been silent during Hitler's Germany reign. Standing idlely by while 6 million Jews were murdered. Although untrue, if such a story creates such a scandal against the Catholic Church at that time how much more will coming generations have reason to question people like Sr Campbell who in her own words has said, "I do not call myself pro life because of pride." when the generations to come measure the fact that she and her NETWORK sisters stood by silent while 50 million children were aborted. ?????????????

If I lie to one person I injure that person and maybe several others around hm/her. I commit a grave sin.

If I teach a false doctrine, causing scandal in the church I injure ALL who hear me. And that number increased exponentially. That is part of why Sr Campbell draws my attentions. She is polluting the waters for possibly, generations.

Just as we don't need a church to interpret the gospels, we don't need a Supreme Court to interpret the US Constitution. "Nothing, no one should come between us and the founding fathers and what they wrote in the Constitution." BTW, I know this will upset some teachers unions, but with that perscription, we no longer need teachers, administrators or schools. Heck lets get rid of colleges universities and all centers of higher education. Nothing should come between us and the resources and materials we have available to us through local libraries and book stores. We have the materials, who needs anyone to teach us. Nothing should come between us and sources of education. Why would anyone need a professor to instruct us on the meanings of the great philosophers. Plato, Socartes and all the rest are ours! After all, educators have harmed us. How many have commited crimes ect. They are failed people/humans. I had a ninth grade science teacher who was guilty of making bomb threats to my local high school. I bet everyone has an example to add. Damn them all.

Nothing should come between us and what we believe!!!!!!!!!!!!! Math science social studies, history, the arts ect ect. No Supreme Court, heck, no congress, we'll make our own laws.

I think the point is obvious. It doesn't make sense. It amounts to anarchy. But I may have found a place in some "occupiers" heart.

But I have learned how to exercise kindness, decency and act in a humane fashion while reading my intended write in for President's posts here directed at me. To which I am forever gratefull.

I guess you can't degrade an old nun. I should pick some younger woman like Sarah Palin? Well at least he's justified Rush Limbaugh in his calling Sandra Fluke all the bad names he called her. She's certainly not an "old nun". She's game! Not sure if that lets Lawrence O'Donnell off the hook for his critical accounts of Anne Romney's riding a horse to address her MS condition though. "dressage" I think he called it. Hummmm, is she an "inbetweener" one of those where you just use your best judgement? What is she, 60 something? Heck, she may be Sr Campbell's age! Oh oh O'Donnell, watch out you Mr indecent, inhumane unkind something or other.............................

I am hungry, Polly wants a cracker. That's a "parroting" phrase I know well.

VOTE oncearepub for President! I am, he's got ALL the answers.

But he is wrong about the Catholic Church vs Hitler's Germany. At least according to Albert Einstein

We must remember that the Holocaust was also anti-Christian. After Hitler revealed his true intentions, the Catholic Church opposed him. Even the famous Albert Einstein testified to that. According to the December 23, 1940 issue of Time magazine on page 38, Einstein said:

Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks...

Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.

Let's really run it in.................

Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust

If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first... Remember the word I spoke to you, 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
John 15:18-20

In recent years, the media have accused the Catholic Church of either helping the Nazis or being silent during the Holocaust. As an example, the January 26, 1998 issue of Time magazine on page 20 claims that the Catholic Church apologized for "collaborating with the Nazis during World War II." Even the new Holocaust Museum in New York unjustly criticized Pope Pius XII for being silent during World War II. The Church has recently spoken on this topic.

The Israeli consul, Pinchas E. Lapide, in his book, Three Popes and the Jews (New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1967) critically examines Pope Pius XII. According to his research, the Catholic Church under Pius XII was instrumental in saving 860,000 Jews from Nazi death camps (p. 214). Could Pius have saved more lives by speaking out more forcefully? According to Lapide, the concentration camp prisoners did not want Pius to speak out openly (p. 247). As one jurist from the Nuremberg Trials said on WNBC in New York (Feb. 28, 1964), "Any words of Pius XII, directed against a madman like Hitler, would have brought on an even worse catastrophe... [and] accelerated the massacre of Jews and priests." (Ibid.) Yet Pius was not totally silent either. Lapide notes a book by the Jewish historian, Jenoe Levai, entitled, The Church Did Not Keep Silent (p. 256). He admits that everyone, including himself, could have done more. If we condemn Pius, then justice would demand condemning everyone else. He concludes by quoting from the Talmud that "whosoever preserves one life, it is accounted to him by Scripture as if he had preserved a whole world." With this he claims that Pius XII deserves a memorial forest of 860,000 trees in the Judean hills (pp. 268-9). It should be noted that six million Jews and three million Catholics were killed in the Holocaust.

We must remember that the Holocaust was also anti-Christian. After Hitler revealed his true intentions, the Catholic Church opposed him. Even the famous Albert Einstein testified to that. According to the December 23, 1940 issue of Time magazine on page 38, Einstein said:

Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks...

Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.

In another, similar statement, Einstein referred explicitly to the Catholic Church (Lapide, p. 251). This is an extraordinary testimony by an agnostic German scientist of Jewish heritage. Even though there were traitors in her ranks, the Church still opposed the Nazi movement.

The December 23, 1940 issue of Time magazine contains an interesting article about Christians living in Germany, both Catholic and Protestant, who opposed and suffered under the Nazis. On page 38, it claims that by late 1940 over 200,000 Christians were prisoners in Nazi concentration camps, with some estimates as high as 800,000. On page 40, it reports on the Archbishop of Munich, Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber, who led the Catholic opposition in Germany against the Nazis. In an Advent 1933 sermon, he preached: "Let us not forget that we were saved not by German blood but by the blood of Christ!" in response to Nazi racism. In 1934 the Cardinal "narrowly missed a Nazi bullet", while in 1938 a Nazi mob broke the windows in his residence. Even though he was over seventy and in poor health, he still led the Catholic German resistance against Hitler.

Not trusting the new regime, the Vatican signed a Concordat with the Reich on July 20, 1933 in an attempt to protect the Church's rights in Germany. But the Nazis quickly violated its articles. In Lent 1937 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge" (With burning sorrow) with the help of German bishops and Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII). It was smuggled into Germany and read in all German Catholic churches at the same hour on Palm Sunday 1937. It did not explicitly mention Hitler or Nazism, but it firmly condemned the Nazi doctrines. On September 20, 1938, Pius XI told German pilgrims that no Christian can take part in anti-Semitism, since spiritually all Christians are Semites.

The recent slander against the Church and Pope Pius XII can be traced back to 1963 with Rolf Hochhuth's play, "The Deputy." In this play Hochhuth criticized Pius for being silent and portrayed his silence as cold indifference. Even though fiction, people took it as fact.

Pope Pius XII was a diplomat and not a radical preacher. He knew that he first needed to preserve Vatican neutrality so that Vatican City could be a refuge for war victims. The International Red Cross also remained neutral. Secondly, he knew how powerless he was against Hitler. Mussolini could quickly shut off electrical power to Vatican Radio during his broadcast (Lapide, p. 256). Finally the Nazis did not tolerate any protest and responded severely. As an example, the Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht in July 1942 protested in a pastoral letter against the Jewish persecutions in Holland. Immediately the Nazis rounded up as many Jews and Catholic non-Aryans as possible and deported them to death camps, including Blessed Edith Stein (Lapide, p. 246). Pius knew that every time he spoke out against Hitler, the Nazis could retaliate against the prisoners. His best attack against the Nazis was quiet diplomacy and behind-the-scenes action. According to The 1996 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia (V8.01) under Pius XII, "Wishing to preserve Vatican neutrality, fearing reprisals, and realizing his impotence to stop the Holocaust, Pius nonetheless acted on an individual basis to save many Jews and others with church ransoms, documents, and asylum."

The charity and work of Pope Pius XII during World War II so impressed the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, that in 1944 he was open to the grace of God which led him into the Catholic faith. As his baptismal name, he took the same one Pius had, Eugenio, as his own. Later Israel Eugenio Zolli wrote a book entitled, Why I Became a Catholic.

But Pope Pius XII was not completely silent either, especially in his Christmas messages. His 1941 and 1942 Christmas messages were both translated and published in The New York Times (Dec. 25, 1941, p. 20 & Dec. 25, 1942, p. 10). To prevent retaliation, he did not refer to Nazism by name, but people of that era still understood him, including the Nazis. According to The New York Times editorial on December 25, 1941 (Late Day edition, p. 24):

The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas... he is about the only ruler left on the Continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all... the Pope put himself squarely against Hitlerism... he left no doubt that the Nazi aims are also irreconcilable with his own conception of a Christian peace.

Also The New York Times editorial on December 25, 1942 (Late Day edition, p. 16) states:

This Christmas more than ever he is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent... Pope Pius expresses as passionately as any leader on our side the war aims of the struggle for freedom when he says that those who aim at building a new world must fight for free choice of government and religious order. They must refuse that the state should make of individuals a herd of whom the state disposes as if they were lifeless things.

Both editorials recognize and highly praise Pius' words against Hitler and totalitarianism.

Now there were traitors in the Church who were Nazis or helped Hitler. There were Catholics who committed sins of bigotry. There were also Catholics, who, out of fear or indifference, sinned through silence. The Church is full of sinners for whom Christ died. We killed Jesus with our sins (Is. 53: 5-6). But Pope Pius XII and many Catholics did not remain "silent." Could 860,000 Jewish lives be saved by "silent" indifference? In our own day, there are people who claim to be Catholic but promote and participate in abortion, assisted-suicide and artificial birth control. In the next century, will the world also falsely accuse the Church and the Pope for being silent during the "culture of death" holocaust?

NIHIL OBSTAT:
Reverend John T. Folda, S.T.L.
Censor Librorum

IMPRIMATUR:
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Bishop of Lincoln

May 27, 1998

The NIHIL OBSTAT and IMPRIMATUR are official declarations that a book or a pamphlet is free from doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the NIHIL OBSTAT and IMPRIMATUR agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.

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IrishPat,

Finally!

NOW we are getting somewhere. Why couldn't you have said this in the beginning instead of just calling Sister Simone a fake over and over - because that made you sound like a troll! You have a point of view that is valid, although I don't agree with it, but it does NOT make you a troll, and it does give us something real to discuss and it does help me understand you better!!!

Why don't you give us on the board the same respect and try to understand where we are coming from also?

Do you think maybe the Socratic method would work better for us that the direct confrontational method?

Outlawing the building of Mosques - since mosques serve " more as a foothold into a society, as a foothold into a community, more in the cultural and in the nationalistic sense."

This is precisely the approach of David Barton and the Christian Nationalist movement as they infiltrate Christian churches with "Patriotic" videos and prepared American "history" series for Sunday School classes. America of Christians, by Christians, for Christians (actually only for some Christians).

Yet another attack on the First Amendment in the hopes the Supreme Court will reverse itself and rule that the First Amendment applies only to the Federal Government - not to the state governments. Federal "Rights" to religious freedom and free speech then become state granted "privileges" .

Adam_Selene

Oh ye of little faith. IrishPat7 was 100% correct all along.

After going to see the Nuns on the Bus in Janesville, WI, I found on facebook a video the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters had recorded of Sr Simone Campbell earlier the same day, in which Sr Simone described candidly that “we asked for help in DC, and our colleagues, all the big players, they came together and helped us brainstorm this.” Certainly made me wonder who were “the big players” in DC that helped make this happen. Well, we can now verify one of them: Faith in Public Life, the George Soros-funded, Center for American Progress-associated political progressive organization that is also engaging in a media campaign against the Fortnight for Freedom, as shown in this recent Advisory Memo to Journalists from the USCCB. Among other efforts, they put out talking points to try to get journalists to politicize the Fortnight for Freedom and trip up bishops — see also Fr Z’s coverage and commentary of the Advisory Memo.

Nuns on the Bus supporters hold up a peace flag behind Sr Simone, to block the view of the “Stop Obama’s HHS Mandate”/”Stand Up For Religious Freedom” signs, a message they seemed to regard as contradictory to their own. Here, the “stop sign” peeks out from behind the flag.

Well, no wonder the Nuns on the Bus so entirely wanted to evade and hide the religious freedom message we brought to them in Janesville. No wonder all Sr Simone had to say about it, while walking right next to FIPL staffer Casey Schoeneberger, was “it’s complicated”!

The photo at the top of this blog post shows Sr Simone with Casey Schoeneberger, who traveled on the bus doing media relations for them. The picture below is from the FIPL staff page, which also explains, “Before coming to Faith in Public Life, Casey participated in the Associate Program at NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby. At NETWORK, Casey advocated for the protection of federal safety net programs.”

Casey Shoeneberger, Media Relations Assistant for Faith in Public Life

A June 14th news article about the Nuns on the Bus verifies Casey’s role with the bus tour:

“The sisters are merely raising concerns about Paul Ryan’s budget and saying that a budget that decimates services for the poor does not follow their religious values,” said tour spokeswoman Casey Schoeneberger.

When I met up with the Nuns on the Bus in Janesville, Casey accompanied Sr Simone closely and her media role was obvious. As I queried Sr Simone about her views on the HHS Mandate and the Fortnight for Freedom while she walked back toward the bus following the brief press conference, and she mainly only reiterated, as described above, that “it’s complicated”, Casey was also responding to me, for instance insistently correcting my perception of something eyebrow-raising I thought I heard Sr Simone say and hurrying Sr Simone away from me. The photo at the top of this post shows Casey accompanying Sr Simone to where CNN had set up for an interview.

So what is “Faith in Public Life”? It’s bad news, and certainly does not have Catholic concerns faithfully at heart. As Sr Mary Ann Walsh of the USCCB quoted from this page that has all the details, they are “a group founded with help from a pro-abortion group long directed by John Podesta called the Center for American Progress. . . (CAP); like the CAP it has received funding . . . from billionaire atheist George Soros. . . . ”

If you visit the facebook page for FIPL, Nuns on the Bus is actually their “cover image” (their main image on the page, with which they represent themselves) and they are steadily sending messages about the NETWORK bus tour on facebook and on their website.

The bus tour has now just ended, but I think one thing it’s helped make it very crystal-clear is why the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was right to specifically suggest that women religious leaders should not be involved with NETWORK Lobby. This is pure progressive politics, in coalition with other progressive “big players”, without any distinction made (indeed a refusal to make a distinction) between NETWORK Lobby’s perspective and the stridently pro-abortion politics of secular progressivism.

[UPDATE: additional details you may find interesting:]

The first leader of Faith in Public Life, Rev. Meg A. Riley, describes some of her previous qualifications, and the group’s founding.

While Unitarian Universalism is my home base, I have spent the past eighteen years building relationships with national leaders across the faith spectrum. I have served on national boards including The Interfaith Alliance, Americans United for Separation of State, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and Interfaith Worker Justice. This means that I have relationships across a spectrum of faith.

I have been part of founding two nonprofits for interfaith work: In 1997, anticipating the Million Man March of the Promise Keepers, I worked with others to launch Equal Partners in Faith, which worked to link racism and homophobia and to challenge the Promise Keepers’ premise of being nonsectarian. Before the UUA even had a Public Witness team, I appeared on dozens of national TV shows.
Following the 2004 elections, I gathered with other people of faith at the invitation of John Podesta from Center for American Progress, to reflect about what we might do. I emerged from that meeting as the leader of a group empowered to start another nonprofit, which has become Faith in Public Life (FPL). See www.FaithinPublicLife.org. Next year I will complete two terms as founding board chair of that group. FPL is amazingly effective, well-connected, and creative. Founded on the principle of open source support for religious groups on the ground rather than institutional self-promotion, we have quickly become a go-to group for progressive religious initiatives.

From the site “Discover the Networks”, which was linked to by USCCB’s Sister MaryAnn Walsh to supply background information on Faith In Public Life:

Established in 2006, Faith in Public Life (FPL) is a tax-exempt charity which was originally launched to strengthen the progressive evangelical movement. Its founding mission was to counter what it describes as the modus operandi of President Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, in which “faith was often deployed in service of a narrow and partisan agenda.”

While 40 religious leaders throughout the United States played some role in FPL’s founding, the principal founders were Jim Wallis of Sojourners; Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; Melissa Rogers, director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University; Rev. Dr. Jim A. Forbes, Jr., founder of Healing of the Nations Foundation; Ricken Patel, co-founder and executive director of Avaaz.org, which is a project of Moveon.org and Res Publica; and Sister Catherine Pinkerton, a NETWORK lobbyist who gave the closing benediction at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

FPL’s sister organization is Faithful America, which is also affiliated with True Majority and Res Publica. While FPL has hundreds of affiliates throughout the United States, its primary partners are Sojourners, Interfaith Worker Justice, Vote the Common Good, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Episcopal Public Policy Network, and the National Council of Churches.

FPL also has a close relationship with John Podesta‘s Center for American Progress (CAP). Two of CAP’s senior fellows, Fred Rotondaro and Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, currently serve on FPL’s board. Another FPL board member, Tom Chabolla, is the assistant to the president at the Service Employees International Union, and he previously served as associate director of programs for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Other noteworthy groups affiliated with FPL include People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO), ACORN, the Children’s Defense Fund, the Interfaith Alliance, People for the American Way, the Center for American Values and Public Life, and Pax Christi USA.

A number of prominent leaders in the progressive movement serve as speakers and organizers for FPL. Among these are Greg Galluzzo, national director of the Gamaliel Foundation; Kim Bobo, founder of Interfaith Worker Justice; Sister Simone Campbell, national coordinator of NETWORK; and Rabbi Jonah Presner of the Industrial Areas Foundation.

On June 27th, Sr Simone was interviewed by a reporter for Bill Moyers’ PBS show. Her reponse to “Tell us about your own personal journey. Who are your greatest influences?” does not mention Jesus, or any Catholic leader. Her response to “What does being Catholic mean to you?” has only vaguely to do with Catholicism, but entails a rejection of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, in favor of a materialist interpretation of the story that George Soros would find entirely satisfying.

Fredericks: What does being Catholic mean to you?

Sister Simone: To me it’s that amazing history of spiritual practice, social engagement, witnessing to the fact that Jesus lives in our world now and says that there is enough if we share. The miracle of the loaves and fishes — one of the accounts says 5,000 men ate. Well, the reason they only counted the men was the women and children knew it was the women who had brought all the food! Only the guys thought it was a miracle, the women knew it was about breaking bread and sharing it. This isn’t biblical — this is just my interpretation of it, but to me the miracle was sharing.

Another common troll tactic...declare that you have proven that you are right when you have actually done no such thing.