Rick Santorum: Where Are They Now?

Remember Rick Santorum? I'd imagine most of you do, seeing as those of you whom I don't know personally pretty much ALL found me through Dan Savage's blog. At least, you know that he so offended the left that we can't look at his name without thinking about this. Well, I have to confess that I was a bit curious about what our old friend's been doing since he was unceremoniously not re-elected to the United States Senate. But now I no longer need to wonder, because it seems like old Ricky's been keeping himself busy with such stimulating activities as writing bigoted opinion letters to fine publications like The Philidelphia Inquirer. Let's take a look:

It appears that the pope used the visit to educate a confused Pelosi about the Roman Catholic Church's long-held position on the life issue.

Appearing on Meet the Press just prior to the Democratic National Convention, Pelosi told the country that, over the centuries, the Catholic Church had been unable to define when life begins. "We just don't know," she chirped.

The Vatican's statement after last week's meeting between Pelosi and the pope began: "His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death."

Pope Benedict did not allow any photos of the meeting, making a second and equally bracing instructional point: Dissenting Catholic politicians who deliberately mislead others about the church's core teachings will not be given another chance to do so by having their picture taken with the vicar of Christ.

Ugh. It gets worse:

Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino got so much national attention last fall. Martino, formerly the auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, made the welcome decision to publicly bar then Sen. Joe Biden and other abortion advocates from receiving Communion in the Scranton Diocese. Then, after the November election, he admonished his brother bishops for their reluctance to deal with the issue faithfully.

Last month, Martino took on the most influential family in his diocese, the Caseys. He excoriated Sen. Bob Casey, who claims to be pro-life, for voting to give taxpayer dollars to overseas organizations that perform abortions. He warned that Casey was "formally cooperating with evil."

Martino was not done. Two weeks ago, the Philadelphia native and St. Joseph's Prep graduate issued a strong statement of disapproval to a local, nominally Catholic college, Misericordia University, that had scheduled a speech on campus by someone advocating same-sex marriage. "The faithful of the Diocese of Scranton should be in no doubt," Martino said, "that Misericordia University in this instance is seriously failing in maintaining its Catholic identity."

Then, last week, Martino took on some more of the biggest guns in the diocese: the Irish clubs that organize the largest public Catholic event of the year, the St. Patrick's Day festivities. Through a letter from his Irish auxiliary bishop, Martino warned that if any of these groups went ahead with plans that in any way honor politicians who are not pro-life, he would close the cathedral where Mass is usually held prior to the parade, as well as other diocesan churches. He said he would not countenance anything that created confusion about the teachings of the church.

The reason for the letter: Scranton's St. Patrick's Day parade last year featured Hillary Clinton.

Leave it to Rick Santorum to talk up this guy. He also says that it wouldn't be such a bad thing if the people who are pissed off about this left the church, and I have to say I'm starting to agree. But forget about Santorum. He has been marginalized. His political career is over because of his hateful views on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Martino, however, is a problem. Who the hell does he think he is? What gives him, and by extension the Catholic Church, the right to decide who is Catholic enough to join the party? What gives him the right to blackmail people into following his petty rules? What gives him the right to advocate that Catholic politicians allow their personal beliefs to interfere with they way they govern? You don't like abortion, Martino? Then don't get one. How about that?

This man is denying Christians the right to attend Mass in their places of worship. The people he attacks are his own parishioners. They attend Mass regularly, and donate their money to the diocese. Basically, they pay Martino's salary. I'm not saying that anyone should allow their morals to be bought. I am saying, however, that the people Martino is denying are people who support him. He is turning away would-be followers because of petty political differences.

Matthew 23:23-24 (NIV) says:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

It's not the letter of the law that's important. The Church, and Christians everywhere, should not allow themselves to be bogged down by petty rules, and in doing so miss the spirit of Christ's message. We are not here to judge, Bishop Martino. We are here to make things better in this world. To lessen suffering, not to create more of it. If you really believe that God will be weeding out the wicked from the good at the end of days, why do you see the need to try to do it for Him now with your own twisted morality? WTFWJD?