As to the pope and the justices. I think I’ll wait until the situation really arises before I get my knickers in a big knot. As I opined previously, a person’s own moral beliefs will most likely be drawn from his religious beliefs - can’t help it. And it will impact his view of moral situations. I’m not ready to accept that the pope’s “mandate” will determine those justices’ positions more than their own already developed moral code. BTW could you please find the link to where the pope issued that edict? Call me silly, but I seen/heard various references to it - by those with your position on the issue - but I’ve never seen the original document. Hmm. Any possibillity that something has been misquoted/taken out of context/exaggerated for political purposes? No - never happens. So before we go any further — where’s the beef?

I know this is one of your key soapbox issues, but to me it seems like you are patchworking a bunch of different things together to make the case a major one so that it’s hard to see the real pattern.

May we boil this whole thing down to “you” - which is, after all, what it’s probably about.

As far as the Catholic Church goes - don’t look to me to defend the canonical position on gays, birth control, clergy celibacy. I don’t, I can’t, I won’t even try. Screw ‘em - that’s why I don’t belong. That being said, it doesn’t mean I don’t agree with most of the basic tenents of the religion and accept many of the moral beliefs that they do. But some of them I don’t accept - capital punishment being another one. There are some people who deserve to be killed.

Be that as it may. You are not a Catholic and therefore are not expected to live according to the beliefs espoused by that sect. I am concerned by one comment you made, “most of my family and a good portion of my friends are being told by said organization that I’m inherently evil”. That represents, at least, an overstatement and exaggeration as it pertains to your “family”. Of those of us who are still living, who’s Catholic? As for the others, they either know the “real truth according to Christ” or not, and are no longer relevant. I don’t know how many of your friends are actually Catholic - and - further - accept what the Church is teaching re: homosexuality. My only comment is: The Church has been wrong before (many times)on various issues; this is another.

Now on to your hysteria about the Church and SCOTUS. Catholic-bashing as it relates to the government of the United States pretty much went out with the election of JFK in 1960. Because the US government was founded by “Christians”, most of the moral values of that society were incorporated into the Constitution. And by virtue of the fact that the Catholic Church was the first Christian Church, many of the moral values of the Catholic Church are intertwined into the values contained in the Constitution. From a purely historical point, let me remind you that most of the Founding Fathers held the pope and the Vatican in approximately the same esteem as you do. Here’s where we part company big-time though. I truly feel the Constitution is suffiently dynamic enough to address modern issues; it is not the role of the court to look to “trends and opinions” from foreign nations to establish our laws. That is the sole province of our elected branches of government at the local, state, and federal levels. The courts are there only to APPLY the Constitution to the laws. If a law is found to be unconstitutional, then the electorate can amend the constitution (it’s been done!)to better reflect the trends and opinions of the GOVERNED. This does not seem to me to make me an isolationist. By virtue of technology we exist in a global society to a certain extent. But until and unless I have the right to determine the laws, mores, and values of the governments of other countries, they don’t have the right to such input for my government. That does not in any way, shape, or form isolate the United States from the world. If the values espoused in the rest of the world are so great - they will be accepted and espoused over here and then will become inculcated into our society and subsequently into our laws and government.

Now as to your aspersions against Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts - what specific decisions are you referring to in your collective diatribe?

Stay Tuned.