I am not going to mince words. I don’t care for John Hagee, the senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. I realize this may offend some evangelical readers, but that’s certainly not my intent; and I hope they will, at the very least, understand why a faithful Catholic might take offense at someone referring to his beloved Church as “the Great Whore,” an “apostate church,” the “anti-Christ,” and a “false cult system” (see also, this video of Hagee spewing his anti-Catholic nonsense).

So, needless to say, I wasn’t exactly thrilled when Senator John McCain, who I strongly support, announced that he was “very honored” by Hagee’s endorsement. It disturbed me greatly when Governor Huckabee associated himself with Hagee by speaking to his Church, and it bothered me as much, if not more, when McCain publicly embraced this joker.

That having been said, let’s consider the facts. Senator McCain strongly repudiated Hagee’s anti-Catholic views, not once, but twice:

We’ve had a dignified campaign, and I repudiate any comments that are made, including Pastor Hagee’s, if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics. I sent two of my children to Catholic school. I categorically reject and repudiate any statement that was made that was anti-Catholic, both in intent and nature. I categorically reject it, and I repudiate it. And we can’t have that in this campaign. We’re trying to unite the country. We’re uniting the country, not dividing it.

Now, that may not be good enough for the dems, but I think it is a damn fine statement by the good senator–certainly much more forceful than Governor Huckabee’s comments when he was confronted about Hagee’s views.

To be sure, I would rather McCain completely disassociate himself from Hagee, but his failure to do so (no doubt as a matter of political prudence) is not nearly enough for me to sit out an election that may, among other things, decide who gets to fill as many as three Supreme Court vacancies in the next four years. I mean, seriously, do the dems really believe that faithful Catholics are just going to sit on the sidelines this November because one of McCain’s high-profile supporters is a bigoted twit? Do they honestly think that this sort of thing matters more than Senator Obama’s unwillingness to support legislation designed to provide basic medical care to babies who survive botched abortions?

The bottom line is this: On the non-negotiable teachings of the Catholic Church, Senator McCain is the clear choice for faithful Catholics (even with his deeply troubling support of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research). And no amount of jeering by dems over Hagee’s endorsement of McCain is going to change this fact. Besides, I would think Obama and Clinton supporters have plenty of other things to be concerned about.

I am not saying who y’all should vote for, mind you. I just thought some of our readers might want to participate in the process.

O.k., I am just kidding. You really should vote for us. More importantly, you should vote for me. If for no other reason than to make Morning’s Minion shake his head in disbelief, and send Michael I. completely over the edge. :)  

Instead, I would like to acknowledge the tireless efforts of the foot soliders in the pro-life movement; many of whom will brave the cold today to stand up for a “Culture of Life” in this country. God Bless you all. Thank you for being a voice for the voiceless; for being people who are willing to defend the most vulnerable members of our society. It is a call that we all should heed. As Pope John Paul the Great once remarked:

The inviolability of the person, which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights — for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture — is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination . . . The human being is entitled to such rights in every phase of development, from conception until natural death, whether healthy or sick, whole or handicapped, rich or poor . . . [Moreover, if,] indeed, everyone has the mission and responsibility of acknowledging the personal dignity of every human being and of defending the right to life, some lay faithful are given particular title to this task: such as parents, teachers, healthworkers and the many who hold economic and political power.

And to that, all I can add is: Amen.

(Cross-posted at RedState)

Let me stop with a story. One ordinarily does not repeat in public what the pope says in private conversation, but I asked and John Paul gave me permission to tell this one. When during the O’Connor years I had occasion to meet with the pope, he would always ask, “How is Cardinal O’Connor?” And I would always say that Cardinal O’Connor is flourishing and is an inestimable gift to the Church. One time I went on to say, “You know what Cardinal O’Connor said the other day, Holy Father?” “No,” he answered. “What did Cardinal O’Connor say?” “Cardinal O’Connor said that he gets up every morning and prays that he will go to bed that night without having discouraged any impulse of the Holy Spirit. Now isn’t that a beautiful thing for a bishop to say?” A pause of several seconds. “Yes,” said the pope, “that is a beautiful thing for a bishop to say. I told him that.”

John Cardinal O’Connor. John Paul the Great. I think about them, I thank God for them, I talk with them, every day.

And all the people said: Amen!

Remember when I told you not to do this?

Well, this is what happens when you don’t listen to me.

(Cross-posted on RedState)

Time to mend some fences, I’d say.