Being the gadfly that I am, I often comment on news stories posted on the Religion News Service. That they haven’t banned me [yet] is a marvel and a credit to their impartiality.
Last week I left my mark once again on a story about a priest who was fired by the Catholic Church for refusing to say a revised form of the Mass prayer. I had protested that the Catholic cult is quick to fire him, but seems to have difficulty firing their child raping shaman. I pondered how Catholics can stand by and be silent participants in the shamefulness the Church represents.
I received this response from a reader claiming to be a Franciscan:
“Speaking as a Catholic who loves my faith, but is offended by the abuse scandals and the cover-up, I respond: I remain in the church because it is my home. Because it is my faith. Because I will not be run out of my home by politics, legalism, or other sundry aspects of this admittedly dysfunctional family. … There is a world of difference between a shaman and a priest…and between a cult and a church for that matter, your feigned outrage and inflammatory language notwithstanding”. - Thomas Rooney OFS
And my reply:
Thomas,
My outrage is not feigned. It’s quite real. Oh, not about the fired priest…one less priest is a good thing.
If your faith is predicated on managing a women’s uterus for her; or objecting to the happy union of gays; or condemning third world peoples to massive over population on one hand, or death by AIDS on the other through demonization of condoms… none of which are teachings of Jesus … then perhaps your faith is simply part of the problem, and an obstruction to a solution.
A world of difference between a shaman and a priest? Really?
Shaman: “A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or sorcery for purposes of healing, divination, and control over natural events.” http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shaman
The catholic priest is certainly a medium between the natural world and the spirit world. He practices magic in the form of prayers and incantations to a make believe deity, and encourages others to pray to sway natural events through supernatural means.
But in another sense you’re correct: the Catholic Church also venerates/reveres dead body parts of beatified corpses … something many Shaman would find repulsive.
As for there being a world of difference between cult and religion? Hmmm… not in the dictionaries I’ve accessed:
Cult: “A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.” http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cult
One man’s cult is another’s religion. The early Roman’s saw Xtianity as a cult (“The Christians as the Romans Saw Them” Robt. Wilken). Little separates cult and religion except perhaps as it relates to accumulation of wealth. A religion is a cult with a large treasury. In that respect, perhaps Catholicism isn’t a cult. In all other respects it is. The Pope is the charismatic figure, and you all live not as thinking 21st century purveyors of reason and reality, but in the unconventional manner of medieval credulous peasants.
Now, let’s get back to the child molesting priests and the hierarchy that covered it up. How many were promoted, reassigned, and handed a nice retirement package? How many were fired, or excommunicated like the nun in
That you are still a member of a church steeped in hypocrisy, delusion, corruption, sexual obsession and patently evil precepts makes you an enabler and as much a part of the problem as the dysfunctional church itself.
As for it being your “home.”: When a home becomes a source of abuse people with a grasp on reality, courage, and self respect find another.
The truth hurts. I’m thinking my days commenting there are numbered.
8 comments:
You go guy!
Your reply was spot on Hump. I must admit out of all the flavours of Xitanity, Catholicism is the one that I despise the most, particularly their obsession with sexuality and their determination to ensure that a person's sexual fulfilment is never realised. The Religious News Service must be more tolerant than the Christian Post. Everything I've ever commented there has been deleted.
Religious News Service is better than most. Yonat Shimron left the Raleigh N&O to go work there, and she's always been very fair with us heathens in her coverage here.
Another brilliant rant, Bart. Like!
Excellent Post!!!
Couldn't have said it better, Hump! Well done.
Very similar to what I posted on a rightwingers blog, who mocked the politicians attending the NY Bishop Dolan's first Mass as a cardinal:
Blogger:
"The Politics of Dad
Over my Dad's the other day and he's watching the news and His Eminence New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan was giving his first Mass at St. Pat's after being elevated to cardinal by Pope Benedict and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was sitting in the front row of course with NY Senator Charles Schumer and the Governor of the State of New York Andrew Cuomo and the old man goes "all those politicians sitting in the front row what a bunch of jerks!" That about sums it up:)"
Shaw Kenawe's comment:
"The guys saying the Mass were in the brotherhood of child rapists and the politicians are jerks? Ha!"
Any member of the catholic church, however innocent is part of the problem. Every single member gives these evil old men power, money and legitimacy. Swelling the ranks of that organization of liars, frauds and murderers, they fuel the power of this mega cult with their ignorance and gullibility.
Catholic saying they do not agree with the Church's actions speaks nonsense. They may utter their disagreement, but in action they are making this beast bigger and uglier and more powerful.
"Well we didn't know". Well now you do... No more excuses.
I have always hated Catholicism even as a child when my grandmother took me to mass sometimes. I hated it even more when I was enrolled in a Catholic school and did not make it through the first year. I am proud to say that even as I child I took shit from nobody and ended up getting thrown out indefinitely LOL! Catholics here in New York are about as pious as the hypocritical priests that run the racket. They pretty much live as if God did not exist till something bad happens then they remember to pray. They drink, smoke marijuana and cigarettes, fornicate, adulterate all week. On Sunday they are redeemed at mass and get to do it all over again. There is no greater hypocrite in all of Christianity than a Catholic!
Once again, Hump, you manage to very eloquently express a lot of the same thoughts and feelings I have on this subject. I'll have to check out Religious News Service to see what it's like. I typically have been going to Christian Post and reading/commenting there. There are a whole host of right wing zealot nutjobs on that site, but there are a fair number of skeptics too.
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