Another bishop has announced, with full episcopal authority, that abortion is intrinsically evil. He apparently thinks the word "intrinsic" will give abortion the gravitas of an absolute. There is some political and moral collateral damage to raising abortion to the level of an absolute. Absolutes tend not to have a context. God, my favorite absolute, has no context.
When we focus all our attention on abortion, we seldom talk about poverty, the widespread abuse of young women (rape, incest, prostitution and patriarchy) and a culture that uses violence as a solution to our problems. War, capital punishment, violent movies and games -- these suffer no scolding from our bishops. But these are the prelude to abortion.
We have watched as Hurricane Sandy and a subsequent storm devastated the east coast. Have we heard anything about climate change from our bishops?
Denial of climate change is intrinsically evil. Rendering the planet unable to sustain human life does not seem to have any redeeming quality. I don't think we should have the choice to destroy our species. Abortion can kill one at a time. Climate change will kill millions. But the bishops are silent. Abortion consumes all their attention.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
A Deluded History Lesson
A recent email from a
distantly-related gentleman arrived this week, gushing over a “non-political”
homily presented by a midwestern priest.
This priest plays a game of verbal tag with the Gospel reading for the
28th Sunday, (the wealthy young man who wants to enter the Kingdom)
and then concentrates his attack on all people that question or oppose the
Church’s position on abortion, same-sex unions, stem cell research and the “non-negotiable”
issues at hand.
This priest makes the
stunning leap of logic that links Obama, Democrats and any pro-choice Republicans
and Libertarians with Nazi genocide.
The “flaw” of being pro-choice disqualifies a person as being unfit to
hold public office, just as the “flaw” of anti-Semitism should have
disqualified Hitler from receiving the vote of any right-thinking German.
This delusional history
lesson fails to mention that Hitler received the votes of millions of German
Catholics who had no real problem with his anti-Semitism; the number of
Catholic pastors who preached sermons in support of Hitler vastly outnumbered
those clergy opposed to the Nazi Party.
Prior to his election to the Papacy, Pius XII signed a concordat with
Hitler, firmly establishing the privileged position of the Catholic Church in Nazi Germany. This agreement was signed
shortly after Jews were legally excluded from teaching and operating schools in
Germany. And who received their
property? You guessed it, the
Catholic Church.
The more the Church embroils
itself in factional strife, the further it departs from serving the people of
God.
29 October 2012
Clap and the world claps with you...
There is a priest, mid thirties in age, in a midwestern diocese who instructed his parishioners to stop clapping during the liturgy--because clapping is not part of our Catholic heritage. What seminary wants to claim this man as an alumnus?
29 October 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Peace, for God's sake, peace!
"Peace"---Jesus' first word to the assembled disciples following His Resurrection is usually interpreted as His effort to calm His frightened friends and fellow Galileans in the presence of a visitor from the dead.
Fearful, betrayed, adrift in a hostile and riotous city, it seems likely that they needed calming by the Teacher. Recently, though, I've wondered just what the disciples were engaged in at that moment. As the first assembly of Christians, I suggest that they were arguing: about when and how to escape Jerusalem; who to follow now that Jesus was dead; was John alone supposed to carry the responsibility for Jesus's mother and any other family members cut loose by the murder of Jesus? Perhaps Jesus just needed them to focus on the first principle and the Great Commandment.
In the ancient Christian tradition of debate, argument, tirades and vilification, we carry on in the pews and the social halls. Peace would be a welcome balm for the ugly tangle of electoral politics and standards of orthodoxy. Peace should be the beginning of our invitation back to all those divided and dismayed Christians who have parted ways with us in the past.
How many of the entrenched Catholics on the left and right would be able to hear Jesus calling for peace over the tumult of acrimony?
15 October 2012
Fearful, betrayed, adrift in a hostile and riotous city, it seems likely that they needed calming by the Teacher. Recently, though, I've wondered just what the disciples were engaged in at that moment. As the first assembly of Christians, I suggest that they were arguing: about when and how to escape Jerusalem; who to follow now that Jesus was dead; was John alone supposed to carry the responsibility for Jesus's mother and any other family members cut loose by the murder of Jesus? Perhaps Jesus just needed them to focus on the first principle and the Great Commandment.
In the ancient Christian tradition of debate, argument, tirades and vilification, we carry on in the pews and the social halls. Peace would be a welcome balm for the ugly tangle of electoral politics and standards of orthodoxy. Peace should be the beginning of our invitation back to all those divided and dismayed Christians who have parted ways with us in the past.
How many of the entrenched Catholics on the left and right would be able to hear Jesus calling for peace over the tumult of acrimony?
15 October 2012
DID WE DO THAT?!
The persuasive power of the Internet is truly awesome!
Just two weeks ago on this site, I speculated why this papacy was so eager to reincorporate disgruntled Anglicans and Tridentine dissidents, yet ignore the millions of nominal Catholics who have chosen to walk away from the Church.**
And now, Pope Benedict has directed the bishops to explore ways to reconnect with these disaffected Catholics. He has remembered that the shepherds are responsible for their entire flocks. This is a good step forward, and one that deserves the support of all struggling Catholics.
**No, I am not really claiming credit for the Pope's announcement. My delusions run through entirely different channels. Peace to you.
15 October 2012
Just two weeks ago on this site, I speculated why this papacy was so eager to reincorporate disgruntled Anglicans and Tridentine dissidents, yet ignore the millions of nominal Catholics who have chosen to walk away from the Church.**
And now, Pope Benedict has directed the bishops to explore ways to reconnect with these disaffected Catholics. He has remembered that the shepherds are responsible for their entire flocks. This is a good step forward, and one that deserves the support of all struggling Catholics.
**No, I am not really claiming credit for the Pope's announcement. My delusions run through entirely different channels. Peace to you.
15 October 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Hopeful Signs of the Times
Few dark nights fail to have points of light.
As a Church, what can we recognize, and what can we reveal?
The American Catholic hierarchy has consistantly proclaimed the need for immigration reform as a human right.
The Church has provided clear support for universal health care in the United States, despite the brouhaha on contraceptive services.
The Church continues to struggle to obtain a good education for disadvantaged children.
Despite some bitter obstructionism from within, the Church continues to uncover and cope with child sexual abuse and the disgraceful history of cover-ups.
Take heart: Just becuase the Church may move with the grace of a hog on ice does not mean that it's not moving in the right direction!
20 September 2012
As a Church, what can we recognize, and what can we reveal?
The American Catholic hierarchy has consistantly proclaimed the need for immigration reform as a human right.
The Church has provided clear support for universal health care in the United States, despite the brouhaha on contraceptive services.
The Church continues to struggle to obtain a good education for disadvantaged children.
Despite some bitter obstructionism from within, the Church continues to uncover and cope with child sexual abuse and the disgraceful history of cover-ups.
Take heart: Just becuase the Church may move with the grace of a hog on ice does not mean that it's not moving in the right direction!
20 September 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Left Questions Right
LEFT QUESTIONS RIGHT
(In
which the author poses questions and observations, and gratefully accepts the
same from the readers of this post.)
Little
Tent, Big Tent?
Why the
disparity from Rome, where we actively pursue disgruntled Anglicans and
Tridentine Catholics, while shedding millions of Vatican II era Catholics as so
much dandruff?
The
Politics of the Eucharist, 2012
In a
highly polarized election year, will the American hierarchy once again use the
Eucharist as a weapon to draw party lines?
Fortnight
of Hypocrisy
Bishops
cry out to protect religious liberty from government intrusions, yet many of
the basic rights insured by the Constitution are denied to Church workers,
particularly women.
The
Latin American Church Recreated in El Norte?
How is the
Church in the United States responding to the vast movement of peoples from
Latin America? Apparently by
aligning the hierarchy with the conservative establishment.
Theology
of the Pelvis
It seems
that the Gospels fail to be sufficiently judgmental about sex and gender. So it has been up to the Church to
twist, spindle, squelch and rend human sexuality into a bizarre anti-human
form. Few pornographers concentrate
as minutely on other people’s sexual activities.
Bishops
in the Bedroom
Why do
Catholics, unmarried and married, so overwhelmingly ignore the Church’s teachings
on sexuality, specifically birth control?
Boundary
and Connection in the Body of Christ
Religious
liberty in America has often meant walking away in disagreement. Where are the boundaries of sect, and
how to maintain connection with all of Christ’s Body?
A
Church in Relapse
Have you
considered that the hopeful openings breeched by Vatican II were a spell of
remission for a gravely diseased Church?
Are we now in a relapse? What can we learn from those women and men who
deal with their cancers as part of their lives?
Remnant
vs. Leftover
A
favored self-description for religious minorities, since biblical times, has
been “the faithful remnant.”
Strangely, it is frequently used self-righteously to establish a group’s
moral superiority. Can we
distinguish between a faithful remnant and an anachronistic leftover?
19
September 2012
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