Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Bishop Rene Gracida Teamed Up With Anti-Latino, Anti-Immigrant Groups To Put Out A Vicious, Anti-Obama Message to Over 3 Million Latinos

Retired Texas Bishop Rene Gracida records show beyond the shadow of a doubt went to extreme measures to both team up and utilized funding from anti-Immigrant and anti-Latino group to put out his anti-Democratic party, anti-Obama, anti-Abortion message to Latinos. One major media entity that covered this story in a moderate way was MYLATINONEWS.COM -- the web link of the mentioned tenebrific story can be found at http://mylatinonews.com/2008/11/hispanic-voters-get-anti-obama-message-funded-by-anti-immigrant-group/ -- this story by Will Evans, Center for Investigative Reporting.
Evans reports: “Texas Bishop Rene Gracida says that Catholics (target: Latinos) cannot, in good conscience, vote for Obama. Now, in a last-ditch attempt to derail Latino support for Obama, an anti-illegal immigration activist have teamed up to blast out Gracida’s message by email to nearly three million Latino voters and reaching even more people by radio.”
The story adds: “Randall Terry … says it was his idea. He enlisted Gracida, who made national headlines in 1990 by excommunicating three Catholics (from Robstown and Corpus Christi) for assisting with abortions. In 2004, Gracida gave a special benediction for the Republican National Convention.”
In the English-language version of his anti-Obama message, Gracida says, “A Catholic cannot be said to have voted in this election with a good conscience if they have voted for a pro-abortion candidate. Barack Hussein Obama is a pro-abortion candidate.” The truth is that Obama’s presidential rival John McCain, according to the Washington Post, when he initially announced for office said he was not in favor of doing away with ROE VS. WADE (the landmark case that legalized abortion); however later McCain after meeting with religious conservatives would be persuaded to modify his position.
Terry, according to MYLATINONEWS.COM, called the email blast “a blockbuster because Obama is desperate to take the Hispanic vote.” He told MYLATINONEWS.COM the emails went to “2.9 million Hispanic voters” as well as “100,000 whites.” He would correct that to “100,000 Americans” -- then quickly said that “… didn’t sound quite right either. He said he hasn’t had much sleep, due to this last-minute effort.”
What? LATINOS, according to Bishop Gracida’s teammate – Randall Terry – are not genuine Americans. They are Catholics but not Americans – how degrading for a bishop to team up with a hater: someone that degrades Hispanics to the level of less full citizens, and implicitly and explicitly implies Latinos are not worthy of dignity and respect: the two ingredients that Catholics believe assure one to be treated with full humanity.
RightMarch.com Political Action Commission (an anti-amnesty group for Mexican/South American immigrants which provided financial and logistical support for the Gracida’s expensive media campaign and which bought a bit of radio time in Ohio, and procuring the massive email list to reach Latinos) stated in their website: “These are POWERFUL, ‘in-your-face’ ads that will have a STRONG impact on Senators. We've said it before, and we'll say it again: many times, these legislators have to ‘feel the heat’ in order to ‘see the light.’”
But Rightmarch.com emphasizes not the anti-Abortion issue but the anti-Amnesty issue: “ …We finally have a program, called ‘E-Verify,’ that promises to cut down on the blight of illegal aliens taking American jobs… and some pro-illegal immigration Senators want to put an end to the program!... However, unless Senators act now, this valuable program will sunset on November 29, 2008."
The anti-abortion issue has been used a lure by retired Bishop Gracida to lure Latinos to a political campaign that in effect works against them and El Pueblo Latino in general.
How does the above anti-Amnesty issue correlate with Bishop Gracida’s message? “It is not hard to connect the dots. The aim of Gracida’s propaganda message veiled under and justified under ‘Anti-abortion’ really has an indirect aim: to target Mexican immigrants and to discourage funding to Hispanic-heritage and cultural programs at universities and to stop funding to GED programs such as those affiliated with Gulf Coast Council of La Raza,” explained Joe Ortiz, Civil Rights Coordinator for the American GI Forum.
RightMarch.com – which provided the financial and logistic support for Gracida’s message -- also injects: “Chris Simcox, honorary chairman of Minuteman PAC, said (we’ve) sent Washington a ‘piercing message that voters are fed up with coddling illegal aliens’… Simcox said (some politicians) can blame their ‘overwhelming defeat’ on their support for Spanish-language ballots, Spanish-language sermons, government benefits for illegal aliens and ‘amnesty proposal,’ and allowing towns to become sanctuaries for illegal aliens.”
RightMarch’s president, William Greene, made illegal immigration his top issue last year (and now it is being fueled by the enrollment of individuals such as retired Bishop Garcida who will go to extremes to advocate for an ultra conservative message). A fundraising letter of support for Greene from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps PAC described Greene thusly:
“* Bill has been a leader in the fight against illegal immigration as a grassroots activist, delivering millions of messages to Capitol Hill from constituents, demanding NO AMNESTY for illegals;
* He has personally mustered with us on the U.S.-Mexican border as a volunteer with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, standing watch to report the illegals streaming unhindered across our officially undefended Arizona border;
* Bill has helped us to raise tens of thousands of dollars for MCDC operations and projects, such as the Border Fence Project…
* He has pushed hard for congressional bills to de-fund pro-illegal immigration groups like the ACLU and La Raza, to take away their ill-gotten gains stolen from the pockets of unwilling and unsuspecting taxpayers.”
Terry said, reported on MarchRight.com less than a handful of days ago, that radio hosts are picking up the Bishop Gracida ad and broadcasting it for free. Some individuals are paying for airtime themselves.”
“The glory of this is that it’s free,” Terry said. “It’s viral!”
Here is a translated version of the message sent out by Retired Bishop Gracida via his anti-immigrant friends:
“I am Bishop Rene A. Gracida, reminding all Catholics that they need to vote in these elections with an informed conscience. A Catholic cannot say that he/she voted in this election in good conscience if he/she votes for a candidate in favor of abortion. Barak Hussein Obama is a candidate in favor of abortion.”
This magnificent message of retired Bishop Gracida is available as a radio ad and was aired on Hispanic radio stations. Visit the link that follows to listen to it: ( http://www.randallterry.com/ ).
A outright racist website warns before the election: “Remember the words of Bishop Gracida when you enter the voting booth this Tuesday.”
[Note: In Texas U.S. Senatorial Canidate Rich Noriega was targeted as well as others Hispanics such as State Representative Abel Herrero (D-Nueces County). When will honest Hispanic candidates have a fair chance to win with retired Bishop Gracida’s deceptive and manipulatory tactics?]

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steven Stewart (Steve_in_PA) wrote:

It is extremely disturbing to me that any clergy would tell anyone that they cannot vote a particular way because of any issue. These clergy do not recommend excommunication for fighting in a war in spite of the command to love one another as one's self.

The world is not a simple as these men pretend. (Note that the Catholic church allows no women in clergy.) And these men exercise incredible hypocrisy injecting their demands into government while insisting that the government should have no place in religion.

It has been more than two hundred years since this nation was founded on separation of Church and state. Yet the Church is still trying to control how people vote. I will not be a slave to dogma enforced by clergy.

Debra Proto's plan may be intentionally ridiculous. But it is at least as sensible and reasonable as a plan that tells women what they may or may not do with their bodies and dictate who free Americans can vote for.

Anonymous said...

from www.streetprophets.com

Bishop Rene H. Gracida Wins the First Annual Coughie Award!
by Frank Cocozzelli
Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 04:47:55 PM PDT

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

The Catholic Right, Part Seventy

In an effort to recognize the member of the Catholic Right who does the most to embarrass American Catholics while stoking the fires of the culture wars and take a sledgehammer to the wall separating church and state, this column will annually bestow The Coughlin Award, (AKA the Coughies).


And in a landside for his eleventh hour qualifying submission, this year's recipient is Bishop Rene H. Gracida, of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas for his demagogic anti-Barack Obama radio ad.

* Frank Cocozzelli's diary :: ::
*

But before we discuss what earned Bishop Gracida this honor, a few words about the award's namesake.


The Coughlin (or as I affectionately refer to them, "the Coughies") is named after the infamous 1930s radio priest and noted anti-Semite, Rev. Charles Coughlin whose media diatribes against FDR and Judaism while being openly sympathetic to the racist policies of Adolph Hitler made him a role model for today's TV and radio preachers and "conservative" media personalities. Such advocacy was clearly antithetical the very definition of the word "catholic," which, according to Webster's Unabridged Dictionary means:

Catholic Cath"o*lic\ (k[a^]th"[-o]*[i^]k), a. [L. catholicus, Gr. kaqoliko`s, universal, general; kata` down, wholly + "o`los whole, probably akin to E. solid: cf. F. catholique.]

1. Universal or general; as, the catholic faith.

Men of other countries [came] to bear their part in so great and catholic a war. --Southey.

Note: This epithet, which is applicable to the whole Christian church, or its faith, is claimed by Roman Catholics to belong especially to their church, and in popular usage is so limited.

Not narrow-minded, partial, or bigoted; liberal; as, catholic tastes.

Of or pertaining to, or affecting the Roman Catholics; as, the Catholic emancipation act.

Thus, the 2008 Coughie goes to Bishop Rene H. Gracida shot to the top of the running with a negative radio ad -- produced in collaboration with anti-abortion extremist, all-around crackpot, and recent Catholic convert Randall Terry. Terry and His Eminence managed to get just the right mix of after-life anxiety and neo-Carlism to make their ad an afront to American standards of pluralism.


What earned Bishop Gracida his Coughie? Well, as Randall Terry declares in his sponsoring press release that Gracida "boldly states" in his ad:

This is Bishop Rene H. Gracida, reminding all Catholics that they must vote in this election with an informed conscience. A Catholic cannot be said to have voted in this election with a good conscience if they have voted for a pro-abortion candidate. Barack Hussein Obama is a pro-abortion candidate.

Among the runner-ups for this year's Coughie were, excommunicator extraordinaire Archbishop Raymond Burke. There was also perennial favorite, fellow culture warrior Bill Donohue, to name two. But Bishop Garcida outdid both of these frontrunners.

Much like Archbishop Burke, the Corpus Christi bishop is quick on the draw to excommunicate Catholics who are actively pro-choice, going as far back to 1990 in doing so - and actually serving written decrees of excommunication. And much like Bloviating Bill, discretion or good taste aren't even considerations. No, it was Bishop Gracida's added twist of anti-Arab racism that clinched it: "Barack Hussein Obama!

Never mind the fact that Arab Christians might use the name Hussein or that one of the giants of Catholic (or for that matter, Christian) theology, St. Augustine of Hippo was of Arabic origin. When abortion is your sole obsession (hey, who needs universal healthcare or a living wage?), damn the hypocrisy and let's bring out the baser aspects of our nature!

So Bishop Gracida, for your vital role in keeping the culture wars going while others of your faith attempt to seek common ground and coexistence, this Coughie is for you!

Anonymous said...

CALA, EDC, Catholic faction/gracida, doctors pac, shadow of govt, corporations ... the dots have been connected.

Anonymous said...

forgot to add ... anti-immigrant groups...

Anonymous said...

I understand the SOLT priesthood in Robstown is now international. It was begun by an supposed ..., Father Flannigan.. Who order was started in 1958 and was not recognized until 1994 or 1998 by Bishop Gracida. Numerous complaints were filed against Flanigan

Now I understand why the flyers were circulating against certain candidates. The SOLT group owes Gracida for allowing married deasons and so forth to operate in the church... they owe him.

Anonymous said...

Gracida has lost all credibility. I am a Catholic. The SOLT group will be under the microscope.

Anonymous said...

and GRACIDA and cronyies.