With Florida’s bill to expand Church Carry heading for the Governor’s desk, there has been some amount of hair pulling among media, but not at the rate you’d think. The problem is this bill when was being discussed in committees found some supporters on the House Democrat side, specially those who had churches in not-so-nice neighborhoods and may have been subjected to crime activity themselves.
Catholics bishops in Florida seem to always have been on the side of Gun Control. It ranks me that a person can be a child molester or a murdered and he will be welcomed with open arms in a church with a school in the premises, but me, the armed and very law abiding citizen is treated like a leper was treated in some passages of the Bible. Even the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines self defense and the defense of others as “… not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others” but yet, Bishops do not find contradictory to deny parishioners to carry the tools of Self Defense in the House of God.
So reading some articles about the passage of the bill earlier today, I found a letter the Bishops sent in March when the original unmodified bill was being discussed:
First and right out the bat, discard the notion of “Catholic opposition to SB 489.” Catholics did not oppose the bill but the Bishops did. I know they think they speak for all of us, but not even the Lord suggests that.
Gun Free Zone signs in Florida have little to no power behind it. Unless a location specifically mentioned in the statutes as GFZ, anybody can paint all the gun signs they want in a business or location and you can pretty much ignore them and carry concealed understanding that if caught and asked to leave, you do so immediately. Seriously, don’t argue as trespassing with a firearm is a felony in Florida.
If you remember, at first I complained about the law opening the door of optional Gun Free Zone signage with the power of law behind it which included penalties. This was just too much of a possible temptation for future Legislatures to cave when other sections of society demand they wanted their own signage with penalties for ignoring it. The requirement was eventually dropped because religious institutions figured out the obvious: It made them a target. It was so obvious even the Bishops got it:
The signage requirement was eventually dropped and the bill was reduced to a very simple and straightforward text without new penalties or burdens for those with a Florida CWL.
It strikes me a hypocritical by the Bishops that they would gamble and hide on criminals not knowing that churches without schools on property were allowed to have armed parishioners while most Catholic churches with schools couldn’t. If you are proud of your stance against guns, the shout it to the four winds and do not hide behind the skirts of other denominations and then claim moral superiority.
And now, I am just waiting for the Governor to sign the bill so I can wear my Sunday’s best.
Given the Pope, are you surprised at the attitudes of the Bishops?
The Catholic Church is a church, but it is also one of, if not the, longest-lived political establishments in human history.
The Pope has nothing to do with the retail operations of the local archdioceses other than when they veer way off course from the doctrine. How else do you think they managed to keep the scandals encapsulated?
Pope John Paul II faced Nazis and the Soviets. He’d brought child molesters and have them whipped in St Peter’s plaza, but by design that is the way the Church works: local archdioceses are independent..
The Church is just as corrupt as any other entity created by humans – more so because they claim to represent God while practicing that which He finds reprehensible.
CC has it 100% correct. The Church is a business, first and foremost. Their mission may be to share the word of God and save souls, but when the rubber hits the road, they are there to make money.
And, the higher up you get in any business, the less in tune you get with the average customer. These policies are not being pushed because the average attendee at mass wants it. They are being pushed because management wants it.
“…in tune with the average customer”. That’s a good way to describe one of the central elements of Rolf Nelson’s excellent “Heretics of St. Possenti”.
Hm, it would be fun to send the authors of that letter a copy of that novel.
By the way, I notice the letter was signed by some bureaucrat, not by the bishop. I wonder if that is significant.