Jennifer Granholm Quotes
Rush Limbaugh, we expect nonsense from him. But the Vatican, that's another story. When the Vatican is so threatened that it launches attacks on nuns, well, you know what they say in politics, a hit dog hollers.
In addition to being a Roman Catholic priest, Father Coughlin was an outspoken radio commentator who was well known for his controversial political opinions, see {598783}, {598784}.
Smith was the first Roman Catholic to run for President. He was very popular but there was a substantial amount of anti-Catholicism in America at the time. He lost, probably by the margin of the anti-Catholic vote.
Condoms and other birth control usage had been forbidden by the Catholic Church. However, most American Catholics utilized artificial birth control devices anyway. However, the official church positions inhibited and influenced politicians throughout the nations. Even as late as 1963 selling birth control devices was illegal in parts of America. A pharmacist was sentenced to jail for filling a prescription for a condom for a couple where the woman could not bear a child safely as the result of a physical condition. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction.
This is a classic example of institutional reluctance to examine history in the light and morality of the present. Nations have difficulties coming to grips with their pasts just as Churches and other institutions do.
The Roman Catholic Church hierarchy had just cracked down on some nuns and their orders who were discussing and debating classic church positions, like male only priesthood, birth control, women’s roles in the society and in the search. There were many strongly worded admonishments from the Vatican. Down found it odd that the Church Fathers should be so distressed by activist nuns when their reaction to Priest sexual predation of young boys was by comparison, so mild.
The United States was governing the Philippines after the Spanish American war. Most Filipinos were Roman Catholic and before the Americans even took over there were a large number of Catholic priests who were sexually active in different ways. Many had housekeepers/concubines, others had relations with women who they learned were vulnerable in the confessional. Still others were homosexuals and preferred young boys. Americans were much more prudish than many other countries where lecherous men of the cloth had a long history. The American authorities simply removed these priests not realizing that there was still with many countries laws and traditions that left the disciplining of clergy, even for criminal matters, to the religious authorities. The Catholic Church was then very defensive about sexually predatory priests. The Vatican made many protestations that the U. S. Government were interfering with the prerogative of the church to run its own religious affairs. American Catholics and Catholic leaders also complained about the religious “interference”. Roosevelt knew full well that the Church had done little or nothing about the Filipino lecherous priests before the Americans took over, and he had no confidence that they would do so in the future. And he was adamant that religious officials should be subject to the civil law and civil authorities for behavior of all citizens with no exemptions for clergy. When the Catholic church realized the poor PR that they were getting from the worst priestly offenders, it tended to back off overt confrontation, and came to a diplomatic agreement with America over the issue. Most countries resolved this issue the way Roosevelt and the Americans did. Clergy were subject to civil law in all things.
Jennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-American politician, lawyer, educator, author, and political commentator serving as the 16th United States secretary of energy. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 47th governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011. She was the first woman to serve as Michigan's governor, and she earlier served as attorney general of Michigan.
