Doctrine

Bonnie Erbe, Useful Idiot

Back to Africa: Pope Benedict told a tumultuous welcoming crowd in Yaounde, Cameroon's capital, that not only do condoms fail to prevent the spread of AIDS, "On the contrary, they increase the problem." It was his most provocative, delineated anti-condom pronouncement since his election in 2005. Moreover, he made the statement as he began his visit to the most AIDS-ravaged continent. In Africa, more than 25 million people have died of AIDS, and another 22 million plus are living with the disease.

The Pope advised them, according to the Reuters news agency, to exhibit, "correct behavior regarding one's body." Very helpful! That advice is completely useless to the typical "woman" in Africa who contracts the disease. Her profile is that of a teenage virgin sold into marriage against her will and "betrothed" to a much older man with many lovers who carries AIDS and refuses to use protection.

Pope Benedict has shown no sympathy for wives whose husbands have AIDS. A less compassionate or understanding view of their situation than his is hard to fathom.

Stop Your Moaning, Karen

I could keep my house warm for a year on the "bold statements" the bishops have put out recently. In light of the 54% of Catholics who voted for Obama, please show me how they have worked.

Barna has analyzed the vote breakdown for president and determined a whopping 88% of evangelicals voted for McCain and only 11% for Obama.

Barna determined evangelicals not by whether they said they were evangelical but by how they responded to 9 questions.

Have you ever wondered exactly what an evangelical is? Here were the criteria to qualify as an evangelical, according to Barna:

Born again Christians" are defined as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents are not asked to describe themselves as "born again."
"Evangelicals" meet the born again criteria (described above) plus 7 other conditions....

Those include saying their faith is very important in their life today; believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that Satan exists; believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today. Being classified as an evangelical is not dependent upon church attendance or the denominational affiliation of the church attended. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as "evangelical." [ed.- Emphesis, mine]

Which is why it would have been nice, over the last 30+ years, if our bishops and priests had been talking to us about the sanctity of marriage, the enormous importance of keeping our families strong, and our duty to God's law and the Church's teachings and, oh by the way, here's what they are.

But no. Instead we have heard about the feelings of gays and their families, and the importance of inclusiveness ("Jesus hung out with sinners") and we've sang "Gather Us In" eleventy billion times and learned all about our carbon footprints.

A Catholic Funeral

The Rev. Jeffrey Leger, pastor of St. Catherine Church in New Haven, put a new policy into effect last month, stipulating that funeral directors can no longer solely plan funerals. Instead, they must now plan them with Leger, who has final say.

The new policy, which Leger outlined in a 10-page letter to funeral directors, strictly enforces church law and liturgical practices that limit such things as the types of readings, music and eulogies at funeral Masses.

Ron Rust, owner of the William R. Rust Funeral Home in New Haven, said the policy will interfere with his longstanding business of coordinating funerals that are held at St. Catherine.

The policy marks "an intentional and wrongful interference" in the dealings between the funeral home and its customers and will cost Rust funerals and income, according to his suit filed Aug. 7 in Nelson Circuit Court.

He's seeking a temporary injunction halting implementation of the policy, pending a trial seeking monetary damages from Leger and the archdiocese.

Rust claims a "right to direct funerals in accordance with the wishes of the family of deceased individuals without the constraints" of Leger's policy, it says.

In his letter to funeral homes, he said the purpose of a funeral Mass is to "illumine the mystery of Christian death in light of the risen Christ," and that everything must focus on the Christian hope of resurrection.

Anything that could distract from that should be avoided, he wrote, adding that eulogies, recorded music and nonbiblical readings such as poetry and letters are forbidden except under limited circumstances.

Such personalized features should take place at the vigil service, typically held the evening before the Mass at either the church or the funeral home, he said.

As for me, when I kick it, I want the cheapest funeral money can buy. I also want everyone to stand up at my wake and tell everyone what a lout I am and that if I am lucky that I barely made it into the worst neighborhood in purgatory. Then I want everyone to go to confession and then follow behind the hearse on their knees doing penance for me. I'll probably need it.

Presbyterians Vote On Elimination of 6th Commandment

San Jose, CA., Jul 8, 2008 / 11:57 pm (CNA).- Reaction continues to the decisions of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), which took place between June 21 and June 28. The assembly nullified proscriptions against sexual behavior outside of marriage and called for a vote to delete the church’s constitutional standard requiring fidelity in marriage and chastity in singleness. It also initiated a process that could remove mention of the Bible’s prohibition against homosexuality form the Heidelberg Catechism.

Jesuits

A man walks up to a Franciscan priest and a Jesuit priest. The man asks: "Fathers, how many novenas do I have to say to receive a Mercedez Benz?"

The Franciscan priest asks: "What's a Mercedez Benz?".
The Jesuit priest asks: "What's a novena?"

am praying mightily for you today, as are many other lay people around the world. In a way, I feel I am praying not only for you, but to you. And many, many others feel the same way.

There is nothing very complex about our plea to you. We love the Church. We know that St. Ignatius loved the Church. Regardless of the actual numbers (I know there are faithful Jesuits; I know there are "moderate" Jesuits) your image is not that of men who love the Church. Yesterday at Mass, I told a fellow parishioner that I was writing a pilot set in a Jesuit house of formation and he rolled his eyes and gave me a lecture. This is not some pet peeve of mine.

Things did not get this way because you like to wear plaid shirts instead of clerics and we're a bunch of wacko fanatic legalists. They got this way because you (and your retiring leader and the one before him) have remained silent while very public Jesuits have made very public displays of speaking out against the Church's teachings. Jesuit professors have systematically stripped our children of their faith while our complaints have fallen on deaf ears. You are causing us great pain and you don't seem to care. You care mightily about the poor and about issues of "justice." Why don't you care about us?