I didn’t write about it at the time, but the Archdiocese of Minneapolis enraged the pro same sex marriage lobby by daring to, gasp, teach their flock about the Church’s stance on the issue. The Archdiocese, using money donated for the purpose, sent out educational DVD’s to parishioners to help them form their consciences in preparation for the November 2^nd election.

Now I have been told that Minneapolis is home to the most radical GLBT contingent outside of San Francisco. But man the accusations of anti gay bigotry hurled at the Church were way over the top.  Just Google Minnesota Catholic Bishops  DVD to get the picture.

Many of the critics did not even bother to watch the DVD.  But many of the critics claimed that the Church is putting their opposition to same-sex marriage above their concern for the poor.

Right. The Catholic Church never talks about social justice and the preferential option for the poor.       Neeeevh!

Give me a break. The Church is one of the biggest Charitable institutions in the world.

Well now we have what Matthew Archbold is calling the The Most Anti-Catholic Political Ad You’ll Ever See

“A Democrat Party supporting independent non profit group has sent out perhaps THE most anti-Catholic political advertisement I’ve ever seen. Sometimes there’s a little subtlety to anti-Catholic political rhetoric but not this time. This is in your face anti-Catholicism. A postcard was sent out to voters with a photo shopped picture of a Catholic priest wearing a campaign button saying: “Ignore the Poor.”

As you can see the pic takes up nearly the entire length of the postcard. It’s anti-Catholicism is not one point of many. It’s the point.”

There are a lot of Catholics in Minnesota.  The scary thing is that the campaign thinks that such an anti Catholic add is going  to be effective.

The courageous Bishops need our prayers as they fight  the good fight.

UPDATE:

Commonweal, a progressive Catholic publication, has this on their web site:

DFL spokesman Donald McFarland has issued the following statement:

The ad is part of a two-piece mailing that highlights and criticizes the policy views of Dan Hall, a preacher who is the Republican candidate for the Minnesota Senate. I enclose both sides of both pieces. I understand that some Republican bloggers have taken one image from the first piece, and claimed that the mail is somehow anti-Catholic. But the text explicitly criticizes Preacher Hall for distancing himself from policy views that have been taken by the Catholic Archdiocese, by the Lutheran Synod, and other leaders in Minnesota’s faith community. Dan Hall is willing to enlist God and religion in his campaign when it helps him — but in fact, his views hurt the poorest and sickest among us, and this mailing holds him accountable for those views.

“You can see the second mailing here. It also refers to Hall as “Preacher Hall” (I can’t find any evidence that Hall refers to himself that way). Why the DFL would use the image of a man in a Roman collar to depict a lay chaplain who is a member of a nondenominational church remains mysterious.”

Commonweal then decides  that the post card is not anti-Catholic. I am much more skeptical. Especially with their second update:

“I’ve never worn a Roman collar,” Dan Hall told me. “No one in my church does.” Asked why he thought the DFL would use such an image, he said, “I have no idea. You’re offending all kinds of church people, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish.” Hall explained that, probably as a result of this dustup, he’s received a great deal of media requests, concluding, “In the end, it’s probably going to help me.”

So at the very least they are painting with a very broad brush.  Sorry. Not. Buying. The propaganda.”  Oh and why hasn’t the clarification been made public? It is only up on Commonweal and other blogs that read the Commonweal post.