Pope Francis, Catholics, and Christians in the news worldwide

https://thefederalist.com/2019/06/18/churches-should-ditch-projector-screens-bring-back-hymnals/

My parish in Ocean County recently installed projection screens. One helpful aspect is that for a few minutes before Mass begins, parishioners settle in and watch an informative program. I really don’t like the look of numerous electronic screens in the church setting, but  it is our reality today in our homes and in our pockets.

Stained glass windows and the iconography that so many find beautiful and comforting in chapels, churches and cathedrals started as ways to teach less literate and well-educated faithful the stories and prayers important to the faith. 
As education became more widespread, more texts was incorporated in the spoken language of the region, so worshippers could read more about each relevant passage for themselves. After the Reformation, as grassroots bible study groups became more popular, you’d find the technology used to spread knowledge of the faith would include more music (that worshippers could also learn and study at home) and prayer and study books (they’d own and likewise study at home). 
So it makes sense that having progressed from Sunday School films and animated features, there’d now be screens inside the prayer halls, using digital tech. Keeps the message relevant for the young, and those who find it hard to hear, or follow. 
seems like clever marketing. 

Well, we know one place where Pope Francis has no influence.....

Judging by the looks of these two, they may be working for the other side.

..

mtierney said:

..

 Only the "best people".

What does it mean to be trumps spiritual advisor?   

It has been frequently remarked in Chile that the Catholic Church which in past years has played a leading role in mitigating conflicts in this society is nowhere to be seen today.  The prelate have said nothing, because they carry no weight.  No one listens to the church anymore, and given the anarchy that reigns in the streets, the teachings appear to me to be totally ineffective.  Five centuries of work gone.

Copihue said:

It has been frequently remarked in Chile that the Catholic Church which in past years has played a leading role in mitigating conflicts in this society is nowhere to be seen today.  The prelate have said nothing, because they carry no weight.  No one listens to the church anymore, and given the anarchy that reigns in the streets, the teachings appear to me to be totally ineffective.  Five centuries of work gone.

 The Church didn't do themselves any favours by supporting the Pinochet regime.  

I really do feel your pain and I am sure that the situation on the ground is scary but I think it is also a bit more complicated than may be apparent to you at this moment.

How do you spell Chutzpah?

Klinker said:

I really do feel your pain and I am sure that the situation on the ground is scary but I think it is also a bit more complicated than may be apparent to you at this moment.

 Of course it is very complicated, and I don't claim to know everything that's going on.  But I would love to see priests with good relationship with the community up front in a non-political way.  In the US I met many, many great priests, and I wish they would come down here for a while.  I would feel better anyway.  Maybe this is a purely selfish motive.

This evening's paper.  This church is burning as I write:  https://www.latercera.com/nacional/noticia/saquean-parroquia-santiago-vandalos-usan-confesionarios-barricadas/894047/

Copihue said:

Klinker said:

I really do feel your pain and I am sure that the situation on the ground is scary but I think it is also a bit more complicated than may be apparent to you at this moment.

 Of course it is very complicated, and I don't claim to know everything that's going on.  But I would love to see priests with good relationship with the community up front in a non-political way.  In the US I met many, many great priests, and I wish they would come down here for a while.  I would feel better anyway.  Maybe this is a purely selfish motive.

 My parents were friends with a former Catholic priest from Chile when I was growing up.  He had dabbled in "liberation theology" and, as a result, was arrested, imprisoned and tortured.  After he was released and exiled to the US, he learned that it was his own Bishop who had turned him in to Pinochet's thugs.

Those memories don't go away.  When my own nephew told me the story of his incarceration during the Pinochet years, though twenty five years had passed, his body and voice literally shook as he told me the story.  

I hope your dad's friend is OK, and that the collective memory of those years control everyone's impulses from repeating those abuses.  Like most Chileans I want order to be restored, but never with the brutality that was used by Pinochet with the assistance of some members of the Church. 

mtierney said:

https://thefederalist.com/2019/06/18/churches-should-ditch-projector-screens-bring-back-hymnals/

My parish in Ocean County recently installed projection screens. One helpful aspect is that for a few minutes before Mass begins, parishioners settle in and watch an informative program. I really don’t like the look of numerous electronic screens in the church setting, but  it is our reality today in our homes and in our pockets.

 You travel to Ocean County to attend mass every week?

ridski said:

 You travel to Ocean County to attend mass every week?

 No, I live in Ocean County. After living in MOLand for 47 years, a part of my heart/head still claims residency! You truly have missed many of my posts, Ridski, I did comment on my trek south. Always said, only death or taxes would make me leave Maplewood — thankfully, it was taxes which uprooted me.

I suspect you won’t hear any of this in great detail until the actual decision.
re: George Pell and the High Court

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-11/george-pell-high-court-decision-to-be-announced-on-wednesday/11692402

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/11/high-court-to-decide-if-cardinal-george-pell-can-appeal-child-sexual-abuse-conviction

It’s now 5:50pm, Monday, Canberra time.

For those following the George Pell case, the High Court décision on whether he’s allowed to appeal has just been handed down:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/13/george-pell-high-court-appeal-cardinal-granted-final-appeal-against-child-sexual-abuse-conviction

Now this has got to be beyond embarrassing for Church leadership who continually declare they’ve sorted out the problems.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/16/three-more-altar-boys-claim-they-were-abused-by-priests-in-vatican

Clearly, the behaviour’s rife. We live in an age when such things are known and not swept under the carpet. People, regardless of rank, should be accountable and systems amended so that there can be no recurrence. 
This is such an abuse of trust and power. 

I am aware of the danger in mixing religion and politics, but that ship has sailed thanks to today’s no-holds barred society. Perhaps what we need is more religion, not less...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/opinion/church-religion-2020-democrats.html

mtierney said:

I am aware of the danger in mixing religion and politics, but that ship has sailed thanks to today’s no-holds barred society.

"Today's" society?  The ship sailed at least 40 years ago.

mtierney said:

I am aware of the danger in mixing religion and politics, but that ship has sailed thanks to today’s no-holds barred society. Perhaps what we need is more religion, not less...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/opinion/church-religion-2020-democrats.html

But who's religion? 

Many of the colonies (and thus the nation)  were founded by Protestants, often fleeing the oppression of the Pope and pro Catholic regimes.  Should we return to the ways of the Pilgrims and their puritan brethren who had no time whatsoever for Papist heresies?

mtierney said:

I am aware of the danger in mixing religion and politics, but that ship has sailed thanks to today’s no-holds barred society. Perhaps what we need is more religion, not less...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/opinion/church-religion-2020-democrats.html

 It must be noted that the author of the cited opinion piece states that her faith leads her to the opposite of the GOP goals we hear so much about:

"Assuming leftism to be inherently antagonistic to organized religion does a great disservice to both the history of progressive movements and modern progressivism itself, as collective belief provides both a program and a passion essential to anti-oppression movements. In many ways, the political is made more significant when intertwined with the spiritual, as belief supersedes political motivation in pursuit of a world vision that is exalted as the will of God. In the words of Dr. King: 'Religious obligations are met by one’s commitment to an inner law, a law written on the heart. Man-made laws assure justice, but a higher law produces love.'

"Beyond politics, perhaps what we lose with the decline of collective belief more than anything is this notion of radical love, one that extends beyond identity politics or civic obligation. As I consider the generational decline of organized religion, I imagine the good collective faith can still achieve. These days, when I participate in a climate march or donate money to organizations like the Trans Women of Color Collective, I do so as much out of religious obligation as a political one. Beyond a tendency toward compassion and empathy, religion has ingrained in me the notion that I am indeed my brother’s keeper; that another’s well-being is inextricably bound up with my own."

Klinker said:

Many of the colonies (and thus the nation)  were founded by Protestants, often fleeing the oppression of the Pope and pro Catholic regimes.  Should we return to the ways of the Pilgrims and their puritan brethren who had no time whatsoever for Papist heresies?

 For the record, the Pilgrims were fleeing the Church of England's alignment with the state and compulsory worship requirements, and not Papists.  And William Penn was imprisoned in England for his Quaker faith by the Church of England. Again - not the Pope or his agents. And of course, Roger Williams (Rhode Island) was fleeing the Pilgrims in MA when he left for RI - again, not "Papists."

With Thanksgiving around the corner, just seems worth getting the history correct. 

finnegan said:

Klinker said:

Many of the colonies (and thus the nation)  were founded by Protestants, often fleeing the oppression of the Pope and pro Catholic regimes.  Should we return to the ways of the Pilgrims and their puritan brethren who had no time whatsoever for Papist heresies?

 For the record, the Pilgrims were fleeing the Church of England's alignment with the state and compulsory worship requirements, and not Papists.  And William Penn was imprisoned in England for his Quaker faith by the Church of England. Again - not the Pope or his agents. And of course, Roger Williams (Rhode Island) was fleeing the Pilgrims in MA when he left for RI - again, not "Papists."

With Thanksgiving around the corner, just seems worth getting the history correct. 

 To be fair, the Pilgrims viewed the High Anglican Church as a form of Catholicism. Many other protestant settlers (the Huguenots are but one example) were fleeing directly from Papist oppression.

Whatever their relationship with the Anglican Church, the Pilgrims themselves were openly and aggressively anti Catholic.  They referred to the Pope as "the antiChrist" and banned Catholic priests on the penalty of death.

As you said, it is worth it to get the history correct. 

finnegan said:

Klinker said:

Many of the colonies (and thus the nation)  were founded by Protestants, often fleeing the oppression of the Pope and pro Catholic regimes.  Should we return to the ways of the Pilgrims and their puritan brethren who had no time whatsoever for Papist heresies?

 For the record, the Pilgrims were fleeing the Church of England's alignment with the state and compulsory worship requirements, and not Papists.  And William Penn was imprisoned in England for his Quaker faith by the Church of England. Again - not the Pope or his agents. And of course, Roger Williams (Rhode Island) was fleeing the Pilgrims in MA when he left for RI - again, not "Papists."

With Thanksgiving around the corner, just seems worth getting the history correct. 

 +10

"With deep conviction I wish once more to declare that the use of atomic energy for purposes of war is today, more than ever, a crime not only against the dignity of human beings but against any possible future for our common home. The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral, as I already said two years ago. We will be judged on this. Future generations will rise to condemn our failure if we spoke of peace but did not act to bring it about among the peoples of the earth. How can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war? How can we speak about peace even as we justify illegitimate actions by speeches filled with discrimination and hate?"

- Pope Francis, Hiroshima, November 24

From The Onion:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY WISHES TO ALL!

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/dinners-deliveries-and-drives-how-some-catholics-are-serving-up-thanksgiving-for-the-poor-62733

When getting ready for Christmas, be sure to set up the creche...

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-letter-on-nativity-scenes-shares-the-story-behind-a-beloved-christmas-tradition-39354