Faith takes a hit with religious people behaving badly

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/faith-takes-hit-religious-people-behaving-badly
MGB:_Faith has to do with trust in God, not loyalty to the Church. The true test of faith is that it endures, not because of, but despite the antics of religious sects, from the Catholics to the Evangelicals.

The racism of Trump supporters and their association with the bishops might alienate some Catholics, but it won’t shock them.

The Church’s opposition to religious marriages for gays and lesbians, who are legally entitled to marry, civil or religious, and the sour grapes of the Church as an employer when gay employees do so, is unfortunate but expected. I am sure some leave over this nonsense, but not most.

Absolutely nothing about seeking birth control for all women, including Church employees or insisting that when the Church says it will accept a bill that duplicates the status quo (which, if you are starting with a health plan subsidized originally by the health insurance exclusion, has absolutely no regulation of abortion funding) is going to have people leave the Church or the Democratic Party. They may be manipulated into voting GOP, but that is because the GOP lies about what is going on. That the bishops agree to participate in that lie may have liberal men and women leave the Church, but if their faith is in Christ and not Chaput, they likely will just roll their eyes.

Humanae Vitae is universally ignored, so modern Catholic youth don’t leave over it, but we are getting warm. From about the same time, the pressure for female ordination has grown. It has grown so much that ordaining women deacons is now being considered seriously, but that won’t be enough. There is no good reason outside the hierarchy’s echo chamber for not ordaining women and until they start doing so, people will find nothing in the Church to be loyal to.

Links for 5/8/18

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-5818
MGB:_Usually if the professorship is named, there is sponsor involvement. Nuncio, call your office.

Conservatives are playing with incentives. They are trying to make it look like they are doing something to keep immigrants out and this was an easy target. It is one that only an election will fix, although as soon as the topic comes up, they will counter with protecting the unborn, even though there is no viable plan to do so.

Pelosi should promise to make Hillary or Bernie Speaker and impeach both Trump and Pence.

Young people leave because they no longer have to go to Church once they leave the house, if they did then. Want to test the theory? Bless gay marriage and ordain women.

Harry grew up in machine politics. That is not to be underestimated, just ask my Prendergast cousins.

Rust Belt Obama-only voters stayed home and the pro-life voters came out in force because of Hillary’s get out the vote response to the Partial Birth Abortion question. At that moment, Trump looked pro-life, even though he is not.

America is a nation settled by the second sons of nobility. 5% of us are related to these people, liberal or conservative and everyone likes a good wedding and the resonance of the Anglican rite in te culture.
Most faith based providers and federal agencies have the good sense of making sure there is a non-sectarian provider and that they themselves respect the rights of people who get services to not be proselytized. If the matter goes to court, it is an easy win.

The base and Trump will give the Dems the election. Anyone who calls this a pro-life election needs to be excommunicated for being stupid.

Vatican silence on Cardinal Pell's trial is a turn from a long history

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/distinctly-catholic/vatican-silence-cardinal-pells-trial-turn-long-history
MGB:_A healthy Church strives for martyrdom, not freedom. Imagine the witness of a Pope dying because he condemned Hitler. Sadly, the Popes could not. It is an essential change for Pell to face trial, but that should have been thought of as the minimum. I will be impressed if the Vatican pays all related civil penalties rather than claiming sovereign immunity and the myth that bishops are not employees of the Holy see.

Trump to address NRA today in Dallas. They deserve each other.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/trump-address-nra-today-dallas-they-deserve-each-other
MGB_There should never have been an end date on the assault weapons ban. Thank you, Bill Clinton.

Militias have been superseded by the National Guard. There is no logic behind the amendment or at least in restricting assault weapons to Guard members and veterans, with penalties against letting young people use them.

It is not Gary that sells to Chicago gang bangers, it is the rest of Illinois. Want to stop this? Legalize drugs. All drugs. And provide treatment for mental illness on demand by individuals or their families.

There are plenty of common sense reforms and even more ways to get the guns, from simply buying up gun stores and all their inventory to house to house health and safety inspections to take guns out of violent neighborhoods (no criminal charges, just seizures) to forcing gun makers selling to the Government to not sell to private entities. We might even disarm police, especially if they have incidents of harming unarmed people.

No Republican would ever go with any of it, which is the best reason not to vote for them at any level.

As for Trump, his name is not appropriate in serious discussions not involving impeachment. Another reason to fire all Republicans. Even the pro-life ones. Especially the pro-life ones because their propaganda is as toxic to the truth as the NRA’s.

Links for 5/3/18

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-5318
MGB:_Someone send Dana’s column to Alec Baldwin for Saturday Night’s show.

Hawking had every reason to believe God was a jerk, however it did not make him a jerk, so it did not matter. His last conclusions about what preceded the Bing Bang are actually in line with the doctrine that the universe came from nothing. No time, no matter, no space, no physical laws. No God waiting in the wings. Of course, he is a physicist, not a theologian. His views are totally consistent with the concept of a created universe, whether he acknowledges the Creator or not, except by his actions. He does not have to for God to love him.

Francis practices poverty to the extent possible in his personal life, rather than keeping alive the practice of Pope as Roman Emperor. Some bishops do this too, others do not and these are the ones complaining, the ones that like nice meals, black town cars and people serving them. Francis practices the humility of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. With most others, the reenactment of Holy Thursday is a sick joke.

Napa should include me. Half of my book on Papal Anachronists concerns St. John Paul, both Veritatis and Evangelium.

Regarding Starbucks, Zionism is not a race. It is neo-conservatism.

It seems that the Religous Freedom wing of the bishops was simply anti-Obama.

Ojeda seems to be showing, quite effectively, that the Tea Party movement is simply Repblcian perforance art. If he wins, he proves his point.

The 10,000 visitor per weekend mark sounds like there is both a vibrant Latino Church in Chicago as well as a good tourist trade. How many people attend St. Patrick’s each weekend? It is probably the same ballpark.

Trafficking will continue as long as anyone is considered ”illegal” and prostitution is a crime, which assues the women are criminals instead of victims. In both cases, law enforcement is likely part of thhe problem.

Fr. Conroy has his job back. No word wheter Ryan’s CoS had to go to the woodshed. I am sure Ryan is not the first conservative to bristle when the Chaplain offers more than a feel-good prayer. If that is all they ever did, then the post should stay empty. Thank Heaven it is sometimes the voice of courage and the left should always celebrate that.

Firing Fr. Conroy fits Paul Ryan's pattern when it comes to the poor

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/firing-fr-conroy-fits-paul-ryans-pattern-when-it-comes-poor
MGB: Ryan's politics cry to Heaven for vengeance, both in regard to poor families (and the aborted because of poverty) and the working man. Someone should warn him by excommunicating him, but his Ordinary back home is almost as conservative as he is. 

To be clear, Fr. Conroy resigned when requested, rather than letting Ryan cool off or admonishing him. That Conroy thinks Ryan is too far gone to admonish speaks volumes about the Speaker, who like any reactionary, cannot handle conflicting information.

There is no alliance between the Catholics and Fundamentalists, that is a function of the reactionaries in each camp, although more Fundy's are reactionary as a percentage of their total than Catholics, which is the cause of friction within the Church. Whether they are Neo-Cons has to do with their attitudes on Israel. If they agree with Peter Berkowitz, like MSW, they are Neo-Cons.

Matthew 25 is as much a parable about poverty as it is about justification. When you give to the poor, imagine you are giving food or money to Jesus.  Are you going to give Jesus beans and rice or a steak? Put another way, what do you want to spend Eternity eating?

Links for 5/1/18

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-5118
MGB: Seidel is all wrong and the bishops are idiots for supporting him. This is another case of putting loyalty and tradition above truth. Human sexual behavior is always culturally bound and any marriage between two people is sacred and should be both respected and blessed, as well as being a constitutional right that cannot be revoked by statute. The only justice that thought differently is long buried and the new one will make the Court unanimous.  The pernicious thing is that this bill will never pass. It is merely a device for fundraising money from idiots who believe his siren song.

I suspect that high school civics classes teach about the abortion debate, including the logic behind Roe and privacy rights (not secrecy, but the right to be left alone). The religious ramifications of this don't even come into play for most people. They have been overshadowed by the reverse simony of the Catholic bishops at the Republican altar.

The leadership of Catholic University of America has joined the plutocracy. No wonder Napa likes them so.  Sadly, their football team is not good enough to justify those numbers. George Mason students are at least conscious enough to sue, although a little research shows exactly how the Koch's are related to the school. Maybe they need a tuition refund.

I would call the Glendon award more of an Anachronist convention than a Republican one. The GOP would have thrown Maciel under the bus at the first sign of trouble. I recently reviewed Evangelium on both my website and in a book on Papal Anachronists. It was not as well done as Saint John Paul sycophants think it was, so the naming is apt. Of course, the encyclical does play right into the GOP conspiracy to snag Catholic voters for causes they have no hope of winning, so maybe it was a Republican event.

Disagree with Newman. The Heartland can only be taken by the Democrats if they jettison People of Color and sexual minorities (actually, women are the majority). If Rosanne had a guess whose coming to dinner moment where a character brings over a gay or ethnic paramour, then you would see how that question really plays out.  Of course, that show has been done other places and the Heartland does not watch it. Is there a way out? Occupy Capitalism so that working class America and ethnic America finally see the common interest that the Capitalists are trying to disrupt. That will take jobs, not television.