alright folks lets make sure we file the proper complaints about using a tax exempt status to gather and perform political acts so they lose thier tax exempt status as well as soem much needed cash. If they want to play in the field they have to pay and who are they to decied the right to equalty. They can't hold their own marriages together so why should we listen to them. A bunch of bachilors telling people how to live together. Remember their past and all of the hate they have generated.

agreed... correct me if Im' wrong but wouldn't fundraising for a political cause by a church make the IRS a little interested?

seriously, can the church not find something more worthy to take a second collection for? Like maybe heating assistance? this is ridiculous. i'm a disgusted catholic....do the campaign in private with members that care to participate and allow us others to be able to attend mass without being shoved this issue in our face.

also if you read between the lines the church will collect and only report at or above $100 and they wont have to report those under so they get to hide the identies of their beloved flock but there are ways to identify the flock members, stay tuned for those updates dont want tospill the beens just yet. But when those names appear then you can judge who you want to call a loving and christ like catholic.

Give more money to the Catholic Church........the Pope needs a new gold plated *****.

Dig infoman dig...

this is disgusting and obnoxious behavior. these people are acting very christian-like. what a disgrace!

Exemplary example of the Catholic Church to stand up for morality. Good job!

babydoll79: I don't blame you at all for being a "disgusted Catholic."

Here is the complaint and information from the Maine Ethics Commission:

http://www.miketidmus.com/blog/mt-uploads/maine_ethics_com_letter_to_nom.pdf

Lyn

the truth hurts. its the message not the messenger but small minds can't see that. But that is what happens when a towns direction is determined by how much can they get through handouts from other taxpayers and discourage good business from coiming here, where else do the kids have to go but away. But i dont want to tax your mind any more besides you need to get back to that low paid job, dig away, dig away, dig away little boy.

Via: http://yubanet.com/usa/Maine-Ethics-Commission-Hits-Hard-on-Opponents-of-Same-Sex-Marriage.php

"The four organizational donors (National Organization for Marriage ($160,000), Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland ($100,000), Knights of Columbus -- Washington, DC ($50,000) and James Dobson's Focus on the Family ($31,000), gave 99.999% of the money raised to Stand for Marriage Maine PAC. They circumvented Maine’s campaign reporting law to avoid disclosure of the true contributors.

The Ethics Commission will consider the request for an investigation filed by Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate at its meeting on Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 9:00 am in Augusta. The Commissioners will decide at that meeting whether to conduct an investigation regarding the compliance issues brought up in Karger's complaint letter.

Lyn

I can't believe the catholic church is going to get this involved. The catholic church shouldn't be getting involved with politics PERIOD! I am involved everyday with the catholic church and make huge donations to them through my business, but they can rest assure that will end very quickly! They keep going the way they are going now.....there won't be catholic churches for much longer. They are digging themselves a hole. They need to smarten up and stay out of politics. You don't see any other churches getting involved. This is insanley ridiculous.

'eddiebauer', I agree with the comments above, and mostly with yours. NO church organizations should get involved in politics. If the Roman Catholic Church found it necessary to involve itself with being anti-anything (as in this case, the anti-gay marriages), then they should simply not perform such marriages and leave it at that. People have freedom of religion, as a given political right in the US, and the Roman Catholic Church is still the largest and most potential religion on the face of the earth, but those who operate the religion out of Rome may not (or may) have given the go-ahead for the Portland Diocese to begin their private campaign on anti-gay marriages.

Anyway, if a church does not approve of such marriages, shut up and refuse to marry those gays who want a marriage together. Nobody will force the Catholic Church to marry them, even if they file a suit against the church. Go to a church where gay marriages are sanctioned!

Go Catholics!!!

eddiebauer: I can understand why you feel that way. I am not Catholic but I agree with you there. But I will add one thing more.....there are other churches getting involved in a similar manner.....fundamentalist Christian churches. These are the churches , including Catholic, that have inserted themselves into doing all they can to repeal this. It is too bad, but there it is.....

I also agree very much with Cre8RoyalPalm's comments....and have said it all along. They do not have to marry anyone......so why are they making this such an emphasis of their's with all the other things they should be addressing....and the list is long. It is unbelievable!

All I can say is that all of you that are for same sex marriage are lucky you don't live in Iran. They don't put up with that BS there.

All I can say is that all of you that are for same sex marriage are lucky you don't live in Iran. They don't put up with that BS there.

JMTnovember17 - another christian acting in an unchristian manor.

JMTnovember17..........sounds like YOU should live in Iran. Conservatives now defending the "laws" of Muslim countries.......TFF!

Hey, The truth hurts, don't be so sure of yourself.

Is it gay Jeff or Mainejeff. Get a life.

JMTnovember17........Stop trying to change the subject. Obviously, you admire Iranian/Muslim "laws". You must be pretty proud of yourself......especially with this being the anniversary of 9-11.

I hate it when people on here assume your gay because you are for gay marriage.......Grow Up!

"LIVE AND LET LIVE"

Meaning: The quote live an let live basically means that you need to live your life the way you want to, while other people live their life the way they want to.

Who are you JMTNovember to tell someone that they are lucky they are not living in Iran....who are you kidding..... we are "ALL" lucky we are not living in Iran...ever think of it that way? We are all living in a great country where people should be able to be themselves and be happy without the catholic church or anyone else for that matter telling them the way they should be living their lives.

I also agree with MaineJeff about you changing the subject. Lets focus here..this is about the Catholic church raising money for something they shouldn't be raising money for. They should be providing heating assistance or feeding the hungry children..or better yet taking care of their own bills they are constantly whining about never having enough money for!

'JMTnovember17'...Iran would not want anyone from the US or any other westernized country to live there. They enforce their immigration laws. Yes, they despise homosexuality and gays, and it is against Islamic rule of law and theory, but is this a reason to kill them? 'mainejeff', I don't think 'JMTnovember17' abides with Islamic law, but I think his message means that the Islamic nations do not allow for homosexual activity, and neither does he. The defense of Islamic countries recently came to more focus when we have (well, I did not) vote (52% of Americans did) for Obama and his list of appointees who avow Shiite rule and have had direct association with it.

I'm not gay in any sense of the word, not like to even think about it, but it is a way of lifestyle for many around the world. If we cannot cope with this being a part of societies, then we must have no choice to live with the fact. There are a lot of things I do not like, but I cannot change things. From the first day of my life, I was born into a strict Roman Catholic family, went to a Catholic parochial school in Bangor and attended Saint John's church. Never, did I see, hear, or was involved in any detrimental activity there, or any other Catholic church I went to. I also attended, at various times, Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist, Hebrew, Orthodox Greek, Pentecostal, Born Again, and Islamic churches, synagogue's and mosques. I feel, along with some study, I have attained some level of understanding of the religious principals and theories of life, although I cannot say I'm educated in this.

I'm against gay marriage, but I accept it as it is. If gays want to marry, it is fine with me. If there is a future fallout from this, let God Himself control this, or if it happens to be political (which I would doubt this would happen) let the people of the US vote on upholding it or pay the consequences. Just let people live their lives the way they want to; nobody controls my life (except my wife) and we have the mind and fortitude to simply tell someone who try to control our lives to 'get lost' or something. As for gay marriages? Again I say let this go...nothing we say will change anything.

Oh don't worry, the Mormons will get involved, as well as all sorts of "Family Values" organizations.

The fun is just beginning. The opponents of same-sex marriage are well-organized, determined, and very connected.

They pulled it off in California - they may very well pull it off in Maine. November is still a ways off.

All they need to do is lie, play on people's fears, and rely on the tendency of people to not vote.

They'll send the message loud and clear in Maine that they sent in California and other states.

They'll send the message to your children, gay and straight, that it's NOT OK to be gay, that it's shameful, that you are evil and dirty, that there is something damaged about you - that you deserve to die.

And the child suicides that they take absolutely zero responsibility for, the silent and massive ranks of the dead, will continue, in Maine, as it has in many other states. The oppression, the judgment, the hypocrisy will go on, and it'll all be swept under the dirty carpet, as usual...

And the (self) righteous will sleep in their warm beds at night, as they have for decades, conscience-free, while gay people continue to struggle for the basic things everyone else takes for granted.

And this differs from libs rasing money how? It doesn't. The church is doing what needs to be done. Libs collect money any way they can. The lib biased media simply doesn't publish it.

Very poor comment at 5:07 PM.

AionAC : I wish so much that what you detail there was not reality.

Back ion the 1960's when the Society of Friends was collecting funds for anti Vietnam War rallies, the IRS threatened to remove their tax exempt status, it seems that when churches use their collection for political purposes they forfit the right to that tax exemption , UNLESS of course they are the Catholic Church which can do just about anything it wishes including hiding the hundreds of rapes of children by its clergy.

What surprises me is that anyone would follow this discredited "religion"

Cre8: Like you, I have experienced and attended many churches throughout my life (mainly one though)....but have attended with friends and family other churches, synagogues,etc. It is a wonderful thing to do.....and one then can know what they really believe. I am not Catholic but have enjoyed many masses and glorious Christmas Eve services at the Catholic church. Mostly now I just attend one church and does not happen to be Catholic.

"Just let people live their lives the way they want to; nobody controls my life (except my wife) and we have the mind and fortitude to simply tell someone who tries to control our lives to 'get lost' or something." YES....BRAVO.....I agree.

It's good to see the Catholic Church and other churches take a stand and speak out against immoral behavior.

Deride us and call us names. It makes us more determined. Don't like it? Don't donate. Like you all say, "It's none of your business what we do."

All the hysterical, crying, spitting critics are going to be down in the dumps come November.

Good comment captainandy. Well said !!

Doesn't this affect the church's tax exempt status?

You can always count of the Roman Catholic Church to do it's best to harm others and to violate their equal civil rights when those civil rights are not aligned with the Church's baseless dogma. It really is too bad that the church works so hard to harm people who do no harm to others. The catholic church has no freaking clue what morality is. All it knows is dogma.

I'll give them a hint: Golden Rule. Don't harm people who have never harmed you.

Good thing I'm not Catholic, or now I'd have to quit.

It's time that the IRS pull tax exempt statuses from any churches. Apparently, in order to maintain that tax exemption, the church must comply with certain requirements, one of which is to stay out of the political arena. Failure to do so means not that the church violates some constitutional duty, but only that it places its tax exempt status at risk. Just what a church may do in the political arena has been the subject of much writing, including lengthy regulations by the IRS and interpretations of those regulations. It appears that the Roman Catholic Bishop in Maine has decided that he is willing to push the envelope on those restrictions.

Stop the untaxed money from PAC's like the RC Church and you will see a pull back from this unethical and illegal action but that church. Keep the status quo and there will by no repercussions for this behavior. Liberals raise money but not from a tax exempt group that by law, has to stay out of the fray. So your point, once again, captain is ignorant of law and fact. Catholics do have other things on their plates should they choose to help rather than interfere with the lives of people that they exclude. Heat, feed, cloth your flock and leave us sinners to live our lives with the same civil rights as every other roman catholic has in maine. Simple, follow the rules about tax exemption or pay taxes on your collections. Your remember rules, love thy neighbor, don't hold false witness, do unto others, your list goes on and on.....