Coalition of nuns calls for impeaching Bush and Cheney

[DesertRat]

A progressive group of U.S. nuns has called on Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney because of their roles in the war in Iraq.

“The National Coalition of American Nuns is impelled by conscience to call you to act promptly to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for ... high crimes and misdemeanors,” the group wrote in a letter written on behalf of its board members.

The letter says that impeachment is warranted for their “deceiving the public under the false pretense that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction” and “destroying” the reputation of the United States and the good will of other nations.

“The time for impeachment is now — before the example of George W. Bush’s regime is set in stone,” they wrote. “Future generations will thank you for preserving the freedom of our nation and its relation to the entire human community.”

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173352587402&path=!living&s=1037645509005

[SalmonChantedEvening]

1. Hats off to these good people :)

:patriot:

[rosesaylavee]

2. The Vatican would do well to just turn over half

of their authority to the women of the Church. They would see a resurgence in the faithful and the deviants would be drummed out.

Former Catholic here - and nun-taught.

[DesertRat]

3. I agree with you

But you and I know that will never happen. My daughter and I each benefited from a Catholic education, run by dedicated and progressive nuns.

[rosesaylavee]

4. I first heard about and read Mary Daly in my

Catholic college - that's how progressive they were.

I do hold out hope that one day, the logical reasonable people who are Catholics will win out over the nutjobs and allow women to consecrate the Mass and hold positions of authority higher than Mother Superior.

Really. Its ridiculous to have it stay the same when its obviously not working and not growing the faith. Not that I would go back - committed 'fallen away' catholic that I am, very happy in my new faith which is Unitarian Universalism or aka the 'dark side'. :)

[truedelphi]

5. I don't know about you but I spent my HS years

Finding out through my Catholic education how awful and immoral the war in Vietnam was.

A screwed up religion in its dogma (miss Mass on Sunday and you burn for eternity, etc), but occassionally the Church has let the Truth come shining through

[MissWaverly]

6. I agree with you

I am also a former catholic and went to the catholic school, I never had trouble with doctrine other than their
treatment of women, celibacy for priests and nuns, and birth control. I have no trouble
with the communion of saints or any of the other tenets.

[rosesaylavee]

9. Always enjoyed hearing the long version of the

litany of saints during Mass. Very poetic and lyrical.

[MissWaverly]

13. I have a CD of the monks chanting

When I am stressed, it comes in handy, I used to feel during the mass that something special was happening.
I still find services uplifting.

[TheDoorbellRang]

15. I'm also a former Catholic

and it sounds like we have the exact same reasons for becoming disenchanted with the Church. My husband and I, both with Catholic educations, do credit the Church for teaching us how to think re theology. I'd wager there are not many with Catholic educations that fall for the fundie credo.

It'd be interesting to see how many of us "fallen away" Catholics there are here.

[ThatsMyBarack]

23. Welcome to DU, Doorbell!

Avon calling! :rofl:

[TheDoorbellRang]

24. Thanks, you rascal, you!

Avon calling, indeed. :rofl:

Now here's the scoop behind my user name. From Wikipedia:

...Rex Stout was one of many American writers closely watched by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, journalist Herbert Mitgang discovered when he requested Stout's file for his 1988 book, Dangerous Dossiers...In the vague, bizarre phrase of one of the documents in his dossier, Stout was described as 'an alleged radical' ...

J. Edgar Hoover himself and the FBI's powerful publicity machine came down hard on Stout in 1965 when his novel, The Doorbell Rang, was published by the Viking Press. About one hundred pages in Stout's file are devoted to this novel, the FBI's panicky response to it, and the attempt to retaliate against the author for writing it.

"The Doorbell Rang" is one of my favorite books, wherein the great detective, Nero Wolfe, takes on J. Edgar Hoover's nasty little F.B.I. tricks and beats them soundly. The book ends with J. Edgar Hoover himself standing outside Nero Wolfe's door:

The doorbell rang. I got up and went to the hall and saw a character on the stoop I had never seen before, but I had seen plenty of pictures of him. I stepped back in and said, "Well, well. The big fish."

He frowned at me, then got it, and did something he never does. He left his chair and came. We stood side by side, looking. The caller put a finger to the button, and the doorbell rang.

"No appointment," I said. "Shall I take him to the front room to wait a while?"

"No. I have nothing for him. Let him get a sore finger." He turned and went back to his desk....

The doorbell rang.

[calimary]

16. Me, too, rose -

It's too bad the Vatican insists on keeping AT LEAST half the Catholic population disenfranchised and at arms' length. They're ignoring a HUGE brain trust and a lot of different - and MUCH needed - perspectives. After all, it isn't the nuns who've been molesting altar boys...

It's BEYOND about time that women had a seat at the table. But it's one of the few places left on earth where women are still treated as second-class citizens. One of the reasons why I don't go to church much anymore, either.

[rosesaylavee]

17. The nuns who taught me in college were some of the strongest willed

and smartest women I have met. Some were considering leaving the Church - but remain nuns and committed to their vows - when JP2 stated in the early 80s that women had no place around the altar. It was interesting to be exposed to that kind of commitment and strength in belief.

They were MUCH smarter than the very small group of priests and very very witty too. Yes, the Church is foolish not to tap into that.

[calimary]

18. It's funny, all the nuns I knew either died off or left the order.

The high school I attended, which was run by the nuns, now is all laity. Not a nun to be found, other than a single elderly lifer who's more of an administrator than anything else. There are a few elderly visitors from time to time, and that's it. It used to be that civilians were in the minority. Now there's nothing but. It used to be a two-school franchise - a junior school and a high school. But years ago they had to sell off the junior school because there just weren't enough nuns left to fill the teaching staff. So they decided to concentrate on just the high school and jettison the junior school. Now, there aren't even any nuns teaching there any longer.

I think that's a fairly broadbased trend. The other Catholic elementary school where my kids went, near there, had ONE elderly nun coming over from a nearby convent to teach music and run the kids' choir. She finally died. Her replacement was a series of lay people. Their recruitment these days is worse than the military's.

[rosesaylavee]

19. Right. There are fewer and fewer choosing that

way of life. A couple nuns would admit that the celibacy thing was troublesome for them. Out of my class, there was one - just one - girl that chose to stay and be a nun. The order that taught me was Blessed Virgin Marys or BVMs. Would imagine that the group that taught me are either retired or soon to be.

It's a very hard life and there are other ways to serve the community without the painful sacrifices and subservient fealty to less than perfect men.

[calimary]

21. Ours was the RSHMs - Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary.

Yeah, what kind of inducement is there, anymore? A life of complete subjugation to "less than perfect men" indeed. Not everybody's cut out to be a Mother Teresa, and I don't know of ANY girls - in my graduating class or in my daughter's (or any others before her) who chose to embrace that vocation. Besides - no guys!

[emilyg]

7. Good for them. Go Sisters!

[regnaD kciN]

8. But...but...but...

...aren't Christianity and its followers supposed to be evil incarnate? :sarcasm:

[hootinholler]

10. As long as they use Nun-violent methods...

Stolen pun from this thread.

-Hoot

[Captain Hilts]

11. You go, girls! nt

[Imagevision]

12. Perhaps we should wait until Bush/Cheney bomb Iran and start ww3

[Senator]

14. Nuns On The Run To Impeach -- Running To DC ??

Does anyone know if they're planning to go to DC in person?

I'd pay bigtime to help support such a trip.

---

[lonestarnot]

20. Woot! Nunnies!

[ClassWarrior]

22. LOL

Penguins rock!!

NGU.

[lonestarnot]

25. Heh!