Flogging

Yeah, it was another long, long Lent, complete with the media and every detractor against that Church that still draws breath flogging the Church and Pope Benedict. Jesus said "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". The New York Times says "rocks here, hard rocks, get your rocks here.."

Having been molested when I was 8 or 9, I can completely relate to, and still have to fight, the attitude of "string 'em up!" And I thank God that I don't know if my molester was a priest or not, and I try not to imagine it as so. Also, in the intervening years, I've learned some hard lessons about mercy and forgiveness, so I'm less apt to lash out about the issue.

I won't get into an analysis of the sexual abuse, the abusers, the bishops that kept it discrete, the therapists that enabled abuse to continue. I'm not an expert on any of those topics, and neither are most of the Church's current detractors. Most of the Church's fiercest critics are not interested in rooting out all sexual abuse in society, or else they'd be also relentlessly scouring the foster care systems, the public schools, and daycare programs as well.

Detractors' primary interest is the shame the Church by the failings of some of its' members, and to try and change the Church's doctrines and disciplines that they find most offensive to popular sentiments:

- Ordaining women won't eliminate abuse, or else you'd never see female teachers bedding male students.

- Married clergy won't eliminate abuse, or you'd never see married men sexually abusing minors.

- Blessing the use of contraception won't eliminate abuse either, instead it would just encourage already familiar forms of sexual abuse, like the current hook-up culture.

Sexual abuse is a feature of fallen human nature, not a feature of Catholic doctrine or discipline.

A Pig by Any Other Name

Nobody knows the trouble that Genarlow Wilson's seen.

The courtroom was packed with supporters and cameras Friday as Georgia's top justices heard arguments over whether a young man serving a 10-year prison term for consensual oral sex with a fellow teenager should be freed.

Poor boy, somehow got busted for what the media's calling "consensual oral sex" with a minor. Only It wasn't some awkward episode in the back of his parents' car. This was a romp at a party that included sexual contact with multiple underage, inebriated females, videotaped for future self-aggrandisement. So lurid was the video, it was labelled as Child Pornography by federal authorities.

The sex act was videotaped by another partygoer -- and that tape shows the faces of several underage girls. David Nahmias, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said earlier this week: "We have advised that the videotape at issue constitutes child pornography under federal law and should not be knowingly distributed, received or possessed outside of law enforcement and judicial proceedings."

Wilson was acquitted of a rape charge, stemming from the same party, for having sexual relations with another girl that prosecutors asserted was too drunk to consent. This kid, though only 17 at the time of the offense, has perfectly emulated his hip-hop heroes in their objectification of women and using them for careless sexual gratification. Whatever his mother may say, he's far from innocent.

You may see the smiling visage of the young man on CNN, clean cut, with a cross dangling around his neck. Here's a shot from the party:

Sorry, but this image has been deemed Child Pornography. If you were to see this image, you'd see a smiling, happy Genarlow Wilson at a gang-bang. Sorry to disappoint.

Wilson's supporters are pushing for retribution against the D.A., who released the tape to media and other judicial bodies. Ostensibly, the outrage is that the tape makes their unfairly persecuted angel look like just another pig.

"Why do you care about this, St. Jimbob" you may ask. I've got daughters, and believe me, after a stunt like this, jail is the safest place for guys like Genarlow Wilson.

Know Thy Enemy

From CNN's continued gloating about their homosexuality poll:

For the Rev. Mel White, the founder and president of faith-based gay rights group Soulforce, the poll results were a "tremendous relief."

"The poll is such good news," White said Thursday. "Over half of America thinks we don't have to be healed from a sickness; suddenly we are OK as we are."

White, once a ghostwriter for the Revs. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Billy Graham before coming out in a public sermon in 1993, said the church was the barrier to nationwide acceptance of gays and lesbians.

"Until the church changes, this debate will go on and on and on," he said. "Once the church changes, it'll be over."

Good to know that there's still tension between the World and the Church, and the World knows that it cannot win the argument unless the Church cedes her authority. It's also good to know the stakes that the other side is playing for.

Slouching Toward Sodom

My, my. The handbasket is picking up speed:

Poll majority: Gays' orientation can't change

In addition to orientation, a majority is coalescing around the rainbow flag for adoption and marriage issues. More people have a sitcom view of human sexuality anymore, and it will continue to worsen, especially when they pass those mores onto their children:

CNN's Paula Zahn speaks with a transgendered 7-year-old and her family.

The video report includes the parents telling how horribly sad their son was until he was allowed to dress like a girl. How could good parents countenance waiting one nanosecond before allowing their child to dictate their own identity. Were I as good a parent as these folks, I'd have already changed my son's name to 'Godzilla' and let him exclusively dress in reptile costumes.

But, I should be mindful of my criticism. The closer our comfy handbasket gets to the iron gates of Dis, the more likely this will apply here:

Belgian Bishop Accused of Homophobia
Belgian homosexual activists have brought charges against Mgr André-Mutien Léonard, the Roman-Catholic bishop of Namur, for homophobia, a criminal offence in Belgium according to the country’s 2003 Anti-Discrimination Act. In an interview last April in the Walloon weekly Télé Moustique, the bishop is said to have described homosexuals as “abnormal” people.

We are not to blaspheme the popular sacrament, as our intolerance will not be tolerated.

Satan Workin' It.

A couple things jumped out at me from recent statements from different people. Here's the first:

"When I stopped communicating about my problems," he wrote, "the darkness increased and finally dominated me." - ex-pastor Rev. Ted Haggard

Ladies and Germs, get to Reconciliation. Find time if you're busy, and make time if you're really busy. Be wary of the excuses that keep you from making a good confession. Don't fall for the placation that "Well, Jesus has already forgiven my sins, so there's no need." I think Ted will now agree that that sophistry just doesn't hold when you're in battle.

Another tidbit, this time from Madison, Wisconsin, from people upset that the bishop is very intent on informing his flock:

Later, Scott said he thought the church leaders over-reacted and showed that they don't trust their parishioners to form their own opinions on civil matters.

If you are in a Catholic Church, there is an implied obligation to listen to your bishop. And the bishop has the obligation to inform the souls under his care with the Gospel and pertinent spiritual guidance. That's the way the Church has run for thousands of years. People are free to leave the Church and do their own thing, another long-standing tradition: schism.
There should be no differences between your civil and spiritual politics if Christ is truly Lord of All. If there are areas where you won't let Christ reign, then you really don't accept His reign at all. The Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin is trying to remind his flock of that.

MIGHT be Perceived as Sexually Inappropriate?

From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

"From his home on the island of Gozo, near Italy, Anthony Mercieca described a series of encounters that he said Foley might perceive as sexually inappropriate.

Among them: massaging Foley while the boy was naked, skinny-dipping together at a secluded lake in Lake Worth and being naked in the same room on overnight trips."

Talk about oblivious. These events are not just perceived as inappropriate, they are inappropriate, and a priest should know that. Unless the priest gig is only active so long as one's clothes are on.

Mercieca, 72, told the Herald-Tribune he and Foley became fast friends when Mercieca moved from Brazil to Florida in 1966 and "loved each other like brothers."

Mercieca said he taught Foley "some wrong things" related to sex, though he wouldn't specify what he meant. He also said they were naked together in a sauna twice.

Mercieca said that, at the time, he considered his relationship with Foley innocent. But he now says he could see how his actions could be labeled inappropriate.

Once again, the disconnection from reality and sound moral judgment is appalling. Are we penitent yet?

Mercieca was adamant that his encounter with Foley was an aberration, and that the Catholic Church never had to send him for counseling during his 38 years in the priesthood in Florida.

"I have been in many parishes, and I have never been" accused, he said.

Never been accused, or never been caught and PUBLICLY accused? Forty years ago, this was unthinkable, and so many abuse tales were relegated to 'Twilight Zone' credibility. Not so anymore.

Is the deference to sin to blame for the Foley episode? Of course not:

One night, when Mercieca says he was in a drug-induced stupor, there was an incident he says he can't clearly remember that might have gone too far.

"I have to confess, I was going through a nervous breakdown," he said. "I was taking pills -- tranquilizers. I used to take them all the time. They affected my mind a little bit."

Substance abuse and depression are the hallmarks of closeted gay men, regardless of vocation. Maybe the reviled "Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations With Regard to Persons With Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Sacred Orders," has some merit, and should be used instead of thrown in a seminary closet, along with the seminarians who persist in deference to the Magisterium.

Naming Names

Foley will give archdiocese name of alleged abuser, says CNN. Wow, I'm sure that Mr. Foley has had ample time to peruse Google, the John Jay report, and any public archdioscesan records for a suitable patsy.

Mark Foley is intending to work with the Archdiocese of Miami and Greater West Palm Beach for the purpose of revealing the name of the particular priest who is involved so the archdiocese can then deal appropriately with the issue," said Gerald Richman, one of Foley's attorneys.

Richman said, however, he will not press criminal charges against the still-unnamed clergyman because of the difficulties the case would face.

It's the perfect cover, as Foley doesn't have to actually prove anything, he just has to name someone who has been accused in the past, and his area was full of them. By telling the Archdiocese, the name will leak out, and the heat will be on someone else.

I must admit, if Mark's story is true, then it is a lamentable crime, and the perp should be tarred as such. But, Mark's a politician, and in a politically untenable situation he's lobbed out this charge of abuse. It makes it really hard to be sympathetic, even for this abuse "survivor" (I've never bought into the whole "abuse survivor" thing, it didn't kill me, and I don't need a medal, thank you).

Surrender Saves Lives

1780, West Point, New York:

General Benedict Arnold, commander of the fort at West Point, doesn't mince words. "People are dying out there, and we have a means to stop it, but for the Continental Congress' insistance on fighting the British" Arnold states. At a meeting of the Concerned Tories of New York gathering, General Arnold laid out his opposition to the continued resistance to the Crown, despite the huge toll it's taken in colonial lives." There are these grand notions of taxation, representation, and civil liberties, but to demand that colonists lay down their lives for these principles is outside their experience. Accepting British rule and tyranny is the lesser evil."

Arnold is currently on a speaking tour of the greater New York area with aide Major André, winding up in August.

In other, more modern news:

Bishop goes to bat for AIDS victims

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Bishop Kevin Dowling's toughest fight is agains HIV/AIDS, which infects more than 5 million people in his native South Africa

His most courageous battle is against the Vatican, which has denounced the use of condoms, saying they promote immorality and promiscuous behavior.

But they're also considered key to promoting safe sex, and in 1994 Dowling became the first African bishop to urge the Roman Catholic Church to consider lifting its ban.

'In certain moral issues the church closes off debate,' said the 62-year-old bishop. 'I don't believe that's healthy. Moral and ethical issues are not black and white.
...
For millions of sub-Saharan Africans, the whole concept of pre-marital abstinence and being faithful to one's mate, as prescribed by the church, is totally outside their real-life experience, Dowling said. Dowling compared the church's stance on condoms to the impossible rules Pharisees imposed on people during Christ's day.

'How do you protect life in a far from ideal situation?' he said. 'Why do we maintain this stance when the issue is that millions are dying? To be authentically pro-life, we can't focus entirely on issues like abortion.'

[ emphasis mine]

Continuing a tradition of traitors in New York.

So, the availability and advocacy of condoms is the answer for preventing STDs AND doesn't encourage an atmosphere of licentiousness? Well, then America should be disease free and very modest in it's respect for human sexuality. Oh, what's that you say? It isn't? Well, I guess that we should listen to the Magisterium instead of the horomonal urges, eh.

Discernment in progress..

God's love..

World's love..

Any doubts ? If I may be so bold as to critique TRUE's version of love:

Yes, Love is awesome, you should read the latest papal encyclical. It may help you clear up the misconceptions you have about love.

Yes, she is awesome, but not in the manner you're suggesting. God made her, and loves her as a unique creature with talents that are ignored in your rush to market her as a commodity.

No, I doubt that clicking your link is going to help anyone find love. Prayer is the way to get that.

Your name, 'TRUE', belies your purpose. For truth in advertising, try 'ILLUSION'.

Really.