Pope Francis, Catholics, and Christians in the news worldwide
annielou said:
Christians in general,and Catholics specifically, are delusional if they support the current administration. The Republicans continue to maintain trickery positions that uphold an immoral economic system while fronting issues that spark racial and social resentment toward "others". I am particularly appalled by those who claim to be within a catholic tradition but who are really continuing a history of bigotry that is uniquely American, and not Christian.
I think Pope Francis would, for the most part, agree. Cardinal Dolan seemed to say as much in his comments on the Dreamers. He also implied that support of the Administration is un-American, a point with which I agree wholeheartedly.
Dolan also was quick to condemn Bannon's idiotic remarks about immigrants: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/09/07/cardinal-dolan-steve-bannons-comments-immigration-are-insulting-and
And, Newark Archdiocese's own Cardinal Tobin has been even more unwavering in his support of immigrants: https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2017/05/17/tobin-calls-trump-immigration-policies-cruelty-innocent-people/
Klinker said:
annielou said:
Christians in general,and Catholics specifically, are delusional if they support the current administration. The Republicans continue to maintain trickery positions that uphold an immoral economic system while fronting issues that spark racial and social resentment toward "others". I am particularly appalled by those who claim to be within a catholic tradition but who are really continuing a history of bigotry that is uniquely American, and not Christian.
I think Pope Francis would, for the most part, agree. Cardinal Dolan seemed to say as much in his comments on the Dreamers. He also implied that support of the Administration is un-American, a point with which I agree wholeheartedly.
thought it time for a little levity -- Joanne, are you around?
A high ranking Vatican priest child pornography suspect was recalled to Rome under the cover of diplomatic immunity.
VATICAN CITY — A high-ranking priest working in the Vatican’s embassy in Washington has been recalled after U.S. prosecutors asked for him to be charged there and face trial in a child pornography investigation, Vatican and U.S. officials said Friday.
The State Department said it had asked the Vatican to lift the official’s diplomatic immunity on Aug. 21, and said the request was denied three days later. For the State Department to make such a request, its lawyers would have needed to be convinced that there was reasonable cause for criminal prosecution.
Child Porn Suspect Protected by the Vatican
mtierney, it's not 'fun'. He's actually tweeting politics. He's tweeting in a climate of massive compensation to historic survivors of child abuse particularly in religious organisations (we're talking about some cases going back more than 60 or 70 years, as revealed in the recent Royal Commission) - the Catholic and Anglican churches could end up paying out billions.
We're also smack in the middle of a national poll on marriage equality (poll opened this week, results to be announced November I think).
We're in the middle of an enormous ethical fight over land rights variously framed as Native Title, mining rights, and the 'usual conservation concerns'. In fact, what's happening is that the federal government is steadfastly insisting on funding a foreign-owned enormous mining project that noone wants or needs and that no bank will fund, and that has already been shown to have lied about employment figures and projected sales - the company's owners are known fraudsters, and tax cheats. But we're meant to support them, and (apparently) the Church does too.
We're entrenching social inequality, we're giving up what were our traditional values of A Fair Go and tolerance, and we're letting a power-crazed Nazi-inspired former police officer redesign our immigration and citizenship legislation so that he'll feel safe in White Australia.
I haven't even touched on the euthanasia debate in two State parliaments.
No, this man's methods of communication aren't 'fun', it's what clever Jesuits have always done: communicate their message directly to the people whose hearts and minds they consider they're responsible for. It's political.
The use of humor is really all about getting the Catholic message out, using social media.
"Whether in art, online culture, or political discussion, Christians should be giving an example of how to evangelize and to speak to the challenges society faces today. “You need the contemporary expression of Christian faith,” Bishop Umbers said of what the Church needs from its faithful today.
The writings of Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis’ Laudato si', can provide such a template for living an “alternative” lifestyle as a Christian, while also speaking to contemporary culture, he indicated.
“You can promote a coherent alternative lifestyle, which is what Catholicism really is in our society.”
Bishop Umbers was born and raised in New Zealand, joining the personal prelature of Opus Dei before moving to Sydney to finish his degrees in economics. After guidance from a mentor, he discerned a call to the priesthood, upon which he travelled to Rome and then to Spain to continue his studies. He was ordained a priest of the prelature in Spain in 2002. Fourteen years later, Umbers was consecrated a bishop, becoming in 2016 the youngest bishop in Australia, at the age of 45.
Five or six years ago, he told CNA, he got his first Twitter account and started to use it regularly. In the past several years, he has used his twitter account to reach out on issues affecting Australian society – as well as to joke about a variety of topics: “You can have fun with memes.”
Part of the reason he’s drawn to memes, Bishop Umbers said, is not only because they match his sense of humor, but because of his own limitations. “I have an artistic vision with zero talent,” he joked.
More seriously, memes do indeed convey a message. Like political cartoons, which have spread powerful ideas and opinions for centuries, memes can also convey earnest information.
The creation of a meme culture in online Catholic spaces, or use of other kinds of social media outreach can help reach out and participate in conversations. In fact, he said, people tend to take notice when a conversation is constructive, rather than a “flame war.” Also, he warned, any conversation can sometimes face the threat of miscommunication, or being “overly ironic.”
Honesty and consideration can add balance to online evangelization. “I tell people all the time: be yourself,” Bishop Umbers said. He also advocated that Catholics online display their convictions, and even make “strong comments” – but also advised them consider what they say before they type.
The bishop also urged that Catholics online have faith and conviction in their beliefs – especially if they dabble in memes or in online discussions. “[It] takes a certain confidence in your own faith,” he said of online participation and discussion. This confidence can even help bring out the humor of the whole situation.
While throughout history “believers have always had a go” during important disagreements, poking fun at topics and laughing about the misunderstandings is “a lasting human tradition.”
It’s this sense of conviction that Bishop Umbers hopes believers can bring to conversations happening not only online, but in the Archdiocese of Sydney.
Australian society is currently experiencing “rapid secularization” and increasing “sectarianism”, he said, as issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia come to the center of Australian political debates.
While more Catholics continue to identify as Catholic, as opposed to the shift to “non-religious” among other Christian groups, some Catholic institutions have remained quiet or even supported positions that fly in the face of Church teaching.
“To stand up for Catholic teaching puts you, once again, on the margins”: Bishop Umbers explained that taking a counter-cultural position is likely to impact funding of Church programs as time goes on.
The marginalization of traditional Christian beliefs, however, does not mean that people do not listen or that people do not take interest in the Church’s arguments. “You’re definitely not irrelevant,” he said of the Christian voice in the public square.
Rather, he said, effective communication and coordination seem to be the major stumbling-block facing the Church in the Sydney area.
“That’s where social media can play a big role,” Bishop Umbers offered.
For example, he pointed to a successful social media campaign started by three young women which protested the expansion of abortion in the Australian state of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital. The young pro-life advocates started a twitter hashtag that started to change the conversation surrounding abortion, and inspired local communities to get involved.
“Because of them, there was a huge campaign across all the parishes to have people sign a petition.” More than 80,000 signed the petition, which eventually contributed to the bill’s defeat in parliament, the bishop said.
The center of a successful online campaign like the one in New South Wales, or of a meme, or of any mode of evangelization, lies, at its core, in the truth, Bishop Umbers said.
“Really it’s an expression of who you are, and I think that’s where evangelization comes from,” he said of online engagement. “It’s not a campaign. It is truly a sharing of your own convictions and your own thoughtfulness.”
I read the article. It's still political. Like cartooning and also like satire.
SRO at St. Patrick's Cathedral!
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/nyregion/padre-pio-st-patricks-cathedral.html?ref=todayspaper
From the NYT Article: " Legions of the faithful were drawn by the story of Padre Pio, an Italian man who bore painful, never-healing wounds on his hands"
Leaving aside for the moment all of the war, genocide, rape and child abuse in the world, one wonders why a loving and kind God would do this to a man. Seems to me that a supernatural entity which gives people painful never healing wounds would be more of a demon than a god.
What we would refer to as a Focused, Non Terminal Repeating Phantasm or a Class 5 Full Roaming Vapor and a nasty one too.
I believe this is where faith steps in. In the hypercritical, secular world in which we live, there is no trust in God, Government, or much of anything else.
mtierney said:
I believe this is where faith steps in.
Or denial. But, just for the sake of discussion, are you saying that you have faith that God inflicts horrible painful wounds on his followers for..... what reason? If Christ died for our sins, why is it necessary for folks like Padre Pio (if, contrary to Church records, he wasn't just a mentally ill fraud) to suffer these grievous wounds? A kind father (here on Earth) does not cut open his children's hands and feet. Why would a kind and benevolent Father in Heaven do that to his children?
In real life, would anyone let a someone who pierced their kids hands and feet baby sit their own kids? I know I wouldn't.
Klinker said:
mtierney said:
I believe this is where faith steps in.
Or denial. But, just for the sake of discussion, are you saying that you have faith that God inflicts horrible painful wounds on his followers for..... what reason? If Christ died for our sins, why is it necessary for folks like Padre Pio (if, contrary to Church records, he wasn't just a mentally ill fraud) to suffer these grievous wounds? A kind father (here on Earth) does not cut open his children's hands and feet. Why would a kind and benevolent Father in Heaven do that to his children?
Bueller?
are there instances of cyber bullying on MOL?
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/from-the-editor-why-are-the-comment-boxes-gone-57891
I was a wife and mother when this change took place. I grew up with the Latin Mass, attended Catholic schools, but was open to, but not enthusiastic for an English Mass at the time. What I very much did like was having the priest facing the congregation.
Did change result in better understanding, while decreasing the solemnity? Some parishes offer Latin and Spanish Masses. Perhaps the international Latin was a better fit for all?
mtierney said:
I was a wife and mother when this change took place. I grew up with the Latin Mass, attended Catholic schools, but was open to, but not enthusiastic for an English Mass at the time. What I very much did like was having the priest facing the congregation.
Did change result in better understanding, while decreasing the solemnity? Some parishes offer Latin and Spanish Masses. Perhaps the international Latin was a better fit for all?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/30/opinion/sunday/catholics-nigeria-traditional-mass.html?ref=todayspaper
Better a Mass no one understands than one that is understand by only the majority of the Congregation? Just out of curiosity, what is your argument for this supposition?
And why target Spanish Mass when Mass is given in German, Dutch, Filipino and a dozen other languages?
mtierney said:
I was a wife and mother when this change took place. I grew up with the Latin Mass, attended Catholic schools, but was open to, but not enthusiastic for an English Mass at the time. What I very much did like was having the priest facing the congregation.
Did change result in better understanding, while decreasing the solemnity? Some parishes offer Latin and Spanish Masses. Perhaps the international Latin was a better fit for all?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/30/opinion/sunday/catholics-nigeria-traditional-mass.html?ref=todayspaper
The author of the NY Times piece is really allied with those who think the Church would be better as a smaller, more exclusive club. I don't think that's a good model for the Catholic Church, and fortunately there are a lot of knowledgeable and well-respected voices who also think that way (the Pope is in that category, and our Cardinal in the Newark Archdiocese is as well). I don't think the use of the vernacular is a barrier to appreciating the solemnity and power of the Mass, fwiw.
[Edited to clarify last point]
yeah, I'm about to go to bed (it's after midnight here). On Friday morning Pell appeared in court again after several months. Not much happened. There won't be anything of interest until March next year!
Good news from some 40 Catholic institutions.
More than 40 Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.
wedjet said:
Good news from some 40 Catholic institutions.
More than 40 Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/03/catholic-church-to-make-record-divestment-from-fossil-fuels
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Christians in general,and Catholics specifically, are delusional if they support the current administration. The Republicans continue to maintain trickery positions that uphold an immoral economic system while fronting issues that spark racial and social resentment toward "others". I am particularly appalled by those who claim to be within a catholic tradition but who are really continuing a history of bigotry that is uniquely American, and not Christian.