BishopAccountability.org
	Double Standard By Lucy Mcvitty Weber Concord Monitor April 5, 2011 http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/249671/double-standard On Thursday, at a rally outside the State House, Catholic Bishop JohnMcCormack expressed concern over the choices made by the Republican majority in crafting the proposed state budget. The bishop spoke of our obligation to care for the poor and the vulnerable, and of his concern that the budget fails to live up to this obligation. On Friday, Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt posted on his Facebook page that the bishop was a "pedophile pimp who should have been led away from the State House in handcuffs with a raincoat over his head to hide his disgrace. He has absolutely no moral credibility to lecture anyone." Bettencourt was quoted on the WMUR website saying that the bishop "stepped on to secular soil yesterday and he should not be above being called out on the merits of his words and actions." But this is not the first time the bishop has trodden the secular soil. In each of the five years I have served in the House, the bishop has sent messages to the House Judiciary Committee stating the position of the Catholic Church on pending legislation. Time and again the members of the committee have received letters expressing the opposition of the Church to marriage equality for gay citizens, and to abortion for all women. Bettencourt must have received those messages personally during the two years when we served together on the Judiciary Committee. I do not remember Bettencourt ever questioning the bishop's moral authority on those occasions. Apparently, the bishop loses moral authority only when he speaks of our duty, common to every faith tradition I know, to care for those who are most in need of our help.
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