Archive for the ‘Catholic’ Category
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
Just to put in my two cents on the strange case of Anne Rice, who announced on July 30th that she was leaving Christianity but still follows Christ. The reasons she gave for denouncing Christianity were,
…that she refuses to be “anti-gay,” “anti-feminist,” “anti-science” and “anti-Democrat.”
Hmmm…. well, if she thinks Christianity is all that, then why did she join it in the first place? I’d also like to know who in the world has informed her that Christianity is all that? If she thinks it is all that, then I propose she really never became a Christian to begin with… at least not any form of Christianity that I’ve ever heard of. Now it’s possible she has confused Christianity with those who call themselves Christian while holding these toxic tendencies… and while I wouldn’t want to say they aren’t Christian, I would say they need to reflect a bit deeper on what it means to be a Christian and maybe, just maybe, they might have a change of heart.
I think the clue to explaining Ms. Rice’s confusing statement and puzzling move may lay in the realization that she probably confused Christianity with Christ … and while this can be an honest mistake it overlooks one very sad reality: Human beings proclaim a set of values and quite often fail in many ways to live up to those values. That’s kinda what it means to be Fallen… oh, but if I say that then I’m just making those Christian sounds and I loose Ms. Rice’s attention. <sigh> what to do?
Tags: anne rice, God, Religion, Roman Catholic, Theology
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Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
If the latest reports are true, I believe a case can be made… a very convincing case… that what we now have in Rome is a pope who is infallible alright… infallibly negligent, to the point of criminality. What else can one conclude when one sees this pope chastise a cardinal who criticized another cardinal for making slight of the sexual abuse of minors perpetuated by priests and then follow this with a document that talks of the sins of sexual abuse in the same breath as the “sin” of ordaining women to the priesthood? I guarantee you’ll soon hear spin from the Vatican, and those who think the Vatican needs defending, to the effect that one shouldn’t confuse the two sins simply because they are addressed in a single document.
(cough cough)
Well… if one shouldn’t confuse the two then why treat of them both in one fell swoop? Why did some genius in the Vatican decide doing so would be hunky dory? What’s behind this decision, one may well ask… contempt for the critics of the Vatican? Invincible ignorance of the impact it could have? Stupidity?
Whatever the reason, one can rest assured that infallibility has, indeed, reared it’s ugly head for the world once again. Please color me fallible.
ADDENDUM: Said document reportedly has been released. Full text is available as a PDF…
Tags: cardinal Schönborn, pope benedict xvi, Religion, Roman Catholic, sexual abuse, sodano
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Saturday, July 10th, 2010
Announced on July 6th, the pope has appointed Msgr. Robert McElroy as the new auxillary bishop of San Francisco. Full story can be read here…
Tags: california, Religion, Roman Catholic, san francisco
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Friday, July 2nd, 2010
In the latest development of an incident I commented on here a while back, here and here, Reuters News Service is reporting that the pope met with Cardinal Schönborn about his criticism of Cardinal Sodano and the Vatican issued a statement saying,
“Regarding accusations against a cardinal, we remind everyone that, in the Church, only the pope has the authority to accuse a cardinal,” said the statement, a rare case of the Church making its internal bickering public.
The full report can be read here.
I find it striking that a pope will publicly rebuke a cardinal for rebuking a cardinal. Where, exactly, do we find this imperative in the Gospels? Maybe we find it in Canon Law? Anyone have a clue on this or is this a case of a pope simply throwing his weight around against a cardinal who clearly is trying to remove some of the toxin in the Church over the mishandling of sexual abuse cases?
ADDENDUM: Good article from the NY Times, “Church Office Failed to Act on Abuse Scandal.”
Tags: cardinal Schönborn, pope benedict xvi, Religion, Roman Catholic, sexual abuse, sodano
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Saturday, June 19th, 2010
There is a pretty good article located at National Catholic Reporter, that brings up some interesting ethical points regarding Bishop Olmsted’s excommunication of the Sister of Mercy, Sr. Margaret Mary McBride. I posted a little
commentary earlier regarding the situation.
Here’s a quote from the article:
While theologians and canonists dispute whether excommunications can be issued so broadly and unequivocally without a more detailed process, the primary objections deal with issues at the heart of the case. Both the recent reactions, as well as writings, of a range of theologians and canonists whose work spans a good portion of the liberal-to-conservative spectrum, suggests that the approach of Olmsted and his chief ethicist, Fr. John Ehrich, while defensible under the most rigid reading of canon law, is outside of the mainstream of scholarship and thinking on the matter.
These experts faulted Olmsted’s action for several reasons:
- It does not, for instance, take into account such factors as the intent of those involved, a consideration regularly applied to other complex moral problems.
- It does not ask if the death of the fetus — assured whether the decision was to do nothing to save the life of the mother or to remove the fetus from the mother’s womb — should even enter into “the moral framework” in this instance.
- Its application in this case is inconsistent with the approach the church takes to other grave public sins, such as support of the death penalty, war, or clergy accused of sexual abuse, including rape, of children.
- In a pastoral sense, the sanction was unnecessarily heavy-handed, given the agonizing circumstances involved. (more…)
Tags: abortion, catholic healthcare west, olmsted, Roman Catholic, sexual abuse, sisters of mercy, Theology
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Sunday, May 30th, 2010
The Tablet is reporting that Cardinal Pell of Australia is bragging that the new English translation of the Missal is not in “Barbecue English” like the current translation apparently is, in the good cardinal’s mind.
Hmmmm…..
I wonder if he is familiar with the Greek New Testament and is therefore aware that it’s written in Koine Greek (or in other words “Street Level Greek”). Does he think we need to polish the gospel up a bit too? Apparently he doesn’t want the unwashed to be able to understand the mass. Odd attitude for a Prince of the Church, that. I’m just sayin’…
Tags: Catholic, missal, pell
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Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
If you haven’t heard yet, Bishop Olmsted of the Roman Church has excommunicated a Sister of Mercy who served on the ethics committee at a hospital for her role in the decision to end the pregnancy of a woman whose death was a certainty if the baby was carried to term.
Now this is a disaster on several levels. Here we have a religious insitution, the Roman Catholic Church, which seeks to serve as a voice of morality for the world. This mission is playing out in the following way: If you are a bishop or priest and have raped a child, then you will be reassigned after a slap on the wrist. You certainly should not be excommunicated, let alone be handed over to the legal authorities. However, if you recommend abortion to save the life of the mother, you’re out of here… anathema… don’t let the door hit you on the butt on your way out.
Never mind the fact that the intent was to save the life of the mother…
Who the hell are these people and why are they masquarading as the Body of Christ???
Tags: abortion, Ethics, Roman Catholic, sexual abuse, Theology
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Friday, May 14th, 2010
Here is the latest development in the story I reported on earlier…
(Hat tip to America magazine’s blog, In All Things.)
Tags: cardinal Schönborn, fessio, Roman Catholic, sexual abuse, sodano
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Friday, May 14th, 2010
Divine Acton. How do we understand and talk about God acting in the world if everything is evolving?
So to continue what I began in part 1, part, 2 and part 3…The concept of divine action, or how we understand God acting in the world, is critical for a lot of different reasons. As we saw earlier in part 2, how we understand God acting directly impacts our concept of God as creator, and as we saw in part 3, how we understand God acting in the world impacts our understanding of how God acts specifically as creator of the human soul. (more…)
Tags: Evolution, God, Philosophy, Religion, Roman Catholic, Theology
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Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
In the developing story regarding some comments made by Cardinal Schönborn, an article penned by Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., my former employee and the founder of Ignatius Press, has appeared at Reuters FaithWorld. Fr. Fessio doesn’t contend that the cardinal was misquoted, but he does go to some length to “put the quotes within their context”. By doing so, he seeks to persuade his readers that the cardinal’s comments about Cardinal Sodano’s mishandling of the sexual abuse crisis were not an “attack” but were “criticism.” Truth is, however you characterize what Cardinal Schönborn said about Cardinal Sodano, the words were meant to convey the damage and harm caused by Cardinal Sodano’s inappropriate actions. Again, according to the report from The Tablet, (more…)
Tags: cardinal Schönborn, fessio, homosexuality, ignatius press, Religion, Roman Catholic, sexual abuse, sodano, Theology
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