Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Proper Nomenclature

Home
Catholic
Source of San Diego ‘Vote Democrat = Mortal Sin’ Bulletin Flyer Revealed – Hint: Not the Church

Source of San Diego ‘Vote Democrat = Mortal Sin’ Bulletin Flyer Revealed – Hint: Not the Church

Last updated on: November 7, 2016 at 12:10 pm by Keith Michael Estrada

Source of San Diego ‘Vote Democrat = Mortal Sin’ Bulletin Flyer Revealed – Hint: Not the Church 2016-11-07T12:10:08-07:00 Keith Michael Estrada

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

2016.10.16.IC.Insert copy

Picture of the flyer that would eventually make its way into several San Diego Catholic parishes’ bulletins.

Over the weekend, more clarity was brought to what was a flyer with an unknown source that had found its way into several San Diego Catholic parishes’ bulletins.

On Friday, 4 November, we shared that flyers warning Catholics that a vote for a Democrat is a mortal and that those with unconfessed mortal sins should expect eternal damnation were discovered in Mass-goers bulletins at Immaculate Conception Parish in San Diego, California.

While many media outlets were quick to associate the flyer’s message with the parish and Church teaching, we soon learned that the flyer was not reviewed or approved by the Pastor of Immaculate Conception. Additionally, the Diocese of San Diego released a statement by Bishop Robert McElroy rejecting the publication’s outrageous, unrefined conclusion and corrected several written remarks made by the Pastor of Immaculate Conception in a separate bulletin article.

After obtaining a copy of the flyer, we saw that much of the content was taken directly, verbatim, from San Diego-based Catholic Answers’ bulletin insert publication. Catholic Answers quickly rejected any conclusion, teaching, or suggestion that is not explicitly found in their publication and noted the differences between their own work and that found in the parish bulletins.

The source of the flyer was unknown at the time of our last comments on this story, that is, not being the Pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish nor Catholic Answers, and could not be found online through numerous creative Google searches.

On Saturday morning Chris Stone’s article for the San Diego Times revealed the conservative group “Ecclesia Militans” as the source responsible for the flyer and included a previous draft of it on online.

While some groups organized protests against Immaculate Conception upon hearing news of the – unauthorized and inconsistent with the teaching of the US Catholic Bishops’ – flyer, San Diegans Larry Greenbank and Allyson Smith showed up to defend the pastor as not having had anything to do with the controversial flyer, Stone reports.

Greenbank identified himself as a member of Ecclesia Militans, whereas Smith has not been identified with having participated in creating the flyer. Moreover, after speaking with the San Diego Times, Smith posted a comment on the article – shared on her Facebook profile – that seems to a) not take credit for the flyer, b) attribute the flyer to the Pastor of Immaculate Conception or, at least, suggest the Pastor approved of the flyer, and c) contradict, boldly and plainly, the guidance of the US Catholic Bishops on voting. We asked Smith if she knew who created the flyer and have not heard back.

Both Greenbank and Smith appear to be active in GOP/Conservative causes and may be the same persons quoted in ultra-conservative media outlets, with the former preferring that aid be withheld from various groups of migrants and denying climate change on his personal website.

Smith, on the other hand, is also a member of the “Catholic Media Coalition“, which, among other causes, supports a boycott of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection and embraces “The Lepanto Institute” – an organization described as destructive by Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia – as a “Catholic Watchdog Group”.

A picture of a flyer copy found in Immaculate Conception Parish's bulletin.

A picture of a flyer copy found in Immaculate Conception Parish’s bulletin. Here’s a PDF of an earlier draft of the flyer, submitted to the San Diego Times.

We reached out to Mr. Greenback via e-mail to learn more about Ecclesia Militans, their intentions, their use of Catholic Answers’ publication, and their access to parish bulletins in the San Diego area and have not heard back. We will update this article if receive comment after publication.

With the information we have, it seems to be the case that, as far as the Voting Democrat = Mortal Sin flyer is concerned, the Pastor of Immaculate Conception did not approve of or review the flyer, and Catholic Answers is not responsible for it either.

Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego. Image by the Mission of San Diego.

Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego. The Bishop of San Diego issued a strong statement against of the teachings found in Immaculate Conception Parish’s bulletins, those authorized and unauthorized by the Pastor. Image by the Mission of San Diego.

Mindful of IRS rules, it does seem the Parish did not employ its resources to promote or oppose voting for a specific candidate – other articles within the actual bulletins were simply poorly written and poorly selected. However, in some sense, it does appear that members of Ecclesia Militans may have plagiarized, taking without permission, work from Catholic Answers, may have damaged the reputation of Catholic Answers in some minds, and used parish resources, without permission, and violated the trust of those who do not keep bulletins under lock and key, to advance a poorly grounded argument against voting for Democrats. Of course, their work is at the very least irresponsible, possibly scandalous, in addition to being divisive and inconsistent with the teaching of the US Catholic Bishops – they have harmed the reputation of the Church.

As soon as we learn more about what we’ve considered above, including which other parishes had the flyers organized, and whether or not any parishes approved of Ecclesia Militans doing so.

Until next time,

Keith Michael Estrada

Catholic News

Catholic Social Teaching

Immaculate Conception Parish

Intrinsic Evil

Intrinsically Evil

Keith Michael Estrada

Lepanto Institute

Mortal Sin

President of the United States

San Diego Union-Tribune

Previous Post

November 4, 2016

Breaking: Statement by Most Rev. Robert McElroy concerning the distribution of political material at Catholic Parishes (Update on Catholic Answers; Source revealed.)

Next Post

November 7, 2016 "Father Frank, Live!" on Facebook: Using the Dead to Elect Trump? Going too far? (Disturbing images; Update on body, Priests for Life.)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Benedict XVI Canada Capital Punishment Capitalism Care for Creation Catholic Committee of Appalachia Catholic News Catholic Social Teaching Catholic Tradition - Art Catholic Worker Catholic Worker Inspirations CST in 140 Characters or Less Diocese of San Diego Faithful Citizenship Father Frank Pavone Chronicles Fathers, Mothers, Saints, and Doctors Francis Guest Posts Gun Violence Humor, Parody, and/or Satire Interfaith Dialogue John Eudes John Paul II Marriage and Family Migration New Evangelization News Not a formal post. Our Lady of Guadalupe Paul VI Popes Pro-Life Racial Justice Releases Religious Freedom Repeat/Repost Saints Socialism Thomas Aquinas Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2020 July 2019 June 2018 May 2018 March 2018 December 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which topic is a major focus in both Psalms and Proverbs?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jewish festivals The tongue/speech Temple measurements Sacrifices