Tom Roeser lays cards on table:
READERS’ NOTE; This story [“The USCCB Pontificates”] …as all others in this blog…reflects my personal opinion and not that of any organization with which I am voluntarily affiliated—civic, charitable, political, social and religious. This is stated so as to notify any board or advisory committee members of such organizations of my independent status as a journalist and my right of free speech… in case they are contacted by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago urging them to silence me…as was attempted last month. For further information see U.S. Constitution’s 1st amendment written by James Madison and adopted December 15, 1791.
Roeser felt obliged to make this perfectly clear because he was about to call unfavorable attention to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — though not before dissecting what Agence France Presse said about the much-debated Arizona immigration law.
The USCCB, he wrote,
sought to use the name of the Catholic Church officially [to] help the Obama administration pass ObamaCare if Hyde language were included, [and] is now wantonly and partisanly interfering in domestic politics by issuing a statement that wraps electoral aspects of the immigration issue in the folds of social justice where in fact they do not belong.
Etc., to good effect.
Roeser was slapped by the cardinal archbishop for what he wrote, as you may recall, via a letter to the board of Catholic Citizens of Illinois, whose board Roeser chairs.
That said, bloggers with a life might follow R’s lead here and embed such a self-defense in their work, even those whose profile is not as high as his.
And by the way, read carefully what he says about this blog and me. It’s finely tuned, and I endorse it without reservation.
Blithe Spirit 
I am in complete agreement with Tom Roeser, having asked him sometime back to write about the Catholic doctrine as it pertains to illegal immigration. Roeser made my day when I read his blog post first thing this morning.
How unfortunate and presumptuous for the U.S. Catholic Church to claim that it is the authority on Arizona’s tough immigration law. Its leaders have set themselves up as the interpreters of the law to decide what is right on the hot-button political issue of illegal immigration that has nothing to do with the theology or the doctrine of the Catholic Church. This is so sad for the Catholic Church, and for the people it serves, to convey that it’s fine to disregard the law!
I applaud Roeser for his excellent almost daily blog postings which are read widely and eagerly. Likewise to the wonderful blogs attributed to Jim Bowman and which I likewise enjoy reading.
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