Courting Catholics

In the wake of the passing Senate Bill 6239 which is expected to go to the Washington State House of Representatives this week, it appears that opponents of marriage equality have wasted no time in getting their demonstrations started. As early as Friday morning, members of a Catholic charitable organization known as the Knights of Columbus already showed their presence on the Capitol steps carrying a sign stating “Knights of Columbus Support Marriage Exclusively Between One Man & One Woman”.

It's okay, guys, the Knights didn't get the memo that Jesus is cool with you too.

The Knights of Columbus, whose ability to help raise $1M along with the Catholic Church and other anti-marriage organizations during the 2008 California Proposition 8 battle, seem to be in a bit of a bind themselves these days with most of their money and donations going to anti-gay marriage as opposed to relief work right on the heels of their 130^th anniversary, as Nicole Sotelo reports in the National Catholic Reporter:

“On the surface this sounds benign, but “family life” is the Knights’ terminology for predominantly anti-gay initiatives, whereas “community projects” represents soup kitchens and food pantries… Additionally, in 2009 and 2010, Knights officials contributed $200,000 as noted in annual reports to Vox Clara, the bishops’ committee responsible for turning back the clock on the liturgy and implementing the recent controversial language changes in the Mass. They have been a significant funder of the committee since 2006. Over the same time period, the Knights donated almost $1.2 million to fund the bishops’ newly created committee that works against equal protection for gays and lesbians and dubbed it “charity” in their annual report.”

Although Washington has historically been considered one of the most non-religious states, the Catholic Church represents the largest religious organization in this state with 1,058,721 members, inclusive of the Archdiocese of Seattle and the Diocese of Spokane. While many Washington Catholics such as Governor Christine Gregoire (D) - who helped to endorse this bill – are split on the issue of same-sex marriage, they can also be great allies in the fight for greater civil rights.

As same-sex marriage becomes a closer reality for residents of Washington State, it will be increasingly important for members of equal rights groups to garner increasing support religious communities in raising money and awareness about the facts of marriage equality and help to assuage concerns about the negative impact of allowing gay marriage and in speaking out, as I have in my own personal blog, about addressing the fundamental dissonance in fighting against marriage when monies raised could be going toward more constructive ends.

OneAngryCultist: Love Thy Neighbor

In a recent article on the Catholic Lane, retired schoolteacher and fellow, Seattle OCCUPY activist and writer Robert “Bob” Struble, Jr. writes about the ongoing problem of institutional child abuse. In his recent articles, Paterno, Pedophiles, Homosexuals, and Cowards; and Homosexuality/Pedophilia Correlation? Struble explores the recent Penn State sex abuse scandal in which assistant coach Jerry Sandusky had been found guilty of sexually assaulting or having inappropriate contact with at least eight underage boys as indicative of the moral decline of society due to the growing acceptance of homosexuality.

In the first article, Struble writes:

“Cultural commissars in the West urge citizens to worship at the altar of a much-touted triune ethic – tolerance, diversity and choice. This secular trinity militates against the influence of righteous indignation. It demands that people who express disgust at sexual sins be reprogrammed. Teach them to reconsider their negative attitudes. Show them that a tendency to look down on homosexual sex is wrong in itself. Brow beat them with the notion that such a critical attitude is condescending and judgmental.”

Putting aside any snarky reference I could make by invoking Matthew 7:1-5, there is a tendency in our culture to censor language that is perceived to be intolerant or that doesn’t respect the current values of diversity and choice and with good reason –this kind of language kills people!

 In a free society we do have the right to speak our minds, however the point at which this language and dialogue infringes upon the lives and liberty of others, I take serious concern.

In specific regards to Catholic social teaching, of which Mr. Struble should be well aware, sexual minorities, “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” Quoting the controversial archbishop of the airwaves, Fulton Sheen, Mr. Struble writes in agreement:

“Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil…, a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment…. Architects are as intolerant about sand as foundations for skyscrapers as doctors are intolerant about germs in the laboratory. Tolerance does not apply to truth or principles.”

Immediately following, in his own words, Bob additionally calls for an end to, “the prevailing idolatry about inclusiveness. We need, rather, to exhibit the militancy and intolerance that Jesus modeled when he cleansed the temple.”

So, Bob, tell us what you really think about the teachings of Jesus who enjoins all Christians to, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk. 12:31). Thousands of Catholics struggle on a daily basis with deep-seated problems related to being faced with having to choose between being true to themselves or their faith – I for one think they are owed at least a modicum of tolerance.

In his second article, Bob attempts to make the case that the child abuse case at Penn state is not only a moral problem, with which I fully agree, but correlates homosexuality to pedophilia – clearly something I cannot endorse. Pedophilia cannot in any way be related to homosexuality.

Pedophilia, as defined by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems is “a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age” and has nothing to do whatsoever with homosexuality even in cases where the abused are of the same gender of the abused.

In essence, pedophilia is a profound psychological and emotional disorder that cannot be correlated in any way to homosexuality in which relationships formed between same-sex partners are most often consensual in nature, as with heterosexual relationships, and based on positive regard for partners and are not typified by power-dynamic disparity as in the case of pedophilia.

Continuing, Bob predicts:

“That if social mores continue their downward trajectory, and society reaches such a level that NAMBLA’s agenda gets mainlined into the culture (as was its equivalent in ancient Greece and Rome); then the social climate will be about as libertine as we read about in pagan antiquity, when there was not much about pedophilia that scandalized people… 

At that point, homosexuals and homosexualists (their heterosexual backers) will not be compelled to conjure up so much anger or indignation whenever someone associates them with pedophilia. To the extent that all sex is considered good sex, no stigmatizing of deviant sexuality will exert enough social suasion to make people feel guilty about sexual relations with children.”

With all due respect, Bob, NAMBLA represents a socially deviant organization that I can guarantee the majority of the LGBTQI community along with the rest of society views with equal disdain as you yourself hold. Also, as something of a lay-historian myself, I’m profoundly disappointed in Bob’s anachronistic reading into the fall of ancient Rome which most historians now assess as being due to extreme economic pressures brought about by territorial expansionism and not about sexual excess and moral denigration. 

Historically speaking, same-sex attraction as understood in the ancient world was understood differently than it is today. While the cultural practice of pederastry as practiced to a small extant in Ancient Greece and Rome may be to some extant equitable with hebephilia – a related but different disorder from pedophilia and something against which Paul rails in Romans – there are cultural contexts which separate making such a drastic comparison to NAMBLA.

These two articles fail to pass biblical and intellectual standards of editorial excellence and are indicative of a small-mindedness that should not be confused with the great academic and loving religious values present in Catholicism, instead they appear to regurgitate the same old “gays are bad because the pope says so” arguments that contribute to a strong social stigmatization of the Church.

I humbly, yet frankly, ask the author to look deeper into the issues at stake as well as inform himself better on the Spirit of the Gospel as opposed to the letter of the law and enjoin him to make a sincere and loving inventory based on love of his sisters and brothers and cease depriving what he likely would not appreciate having deprived himself – the right to love their partners as themselves.

In Dedication to Ss. Sergius and Bacchus
(Aren't they cute?!)

Catholic Priest: Homosexuals Are Putrid And Depraved

The El Paso Times features this paid advertisement from local priest Fr. Michael Rodriguez.  I would otherwise ignore this, but Joe Jervis from Joe My God found his contact info.  Feel free to give Rodriguez a piece of your mind. I especially urge my Christian readers to give him a reality check.

"Engaging in depraved and unnatural sexual acts will lead directly to the ruin of both the homosexual's body and soul," [Father Michael] Rodriguez writes. "Our very anatomy cries out against the lie that homosexual acts are 'ok.'" Rodriguez closes his screed by saying we live in a "godless society" that condones homosexuality. "Reflect, first there are (a) individuals committing mortal sins of a homosexual nature; next, evil extends its tentacles to (b) society as a whole accepting homosexual and homosexual activity as 'normal"; and finally, iniquity's victory is all but sealed when (c) laws are enacted which impose the putrid homosexual ideology on everyone, while those who, rightfully resist it, are ridiculed, attacked, and persecuted," Rodriguez writes.

 

 Call his office:  915.779.1583  Fax him:  915.779.6263

 

The Pope Said Some Stuff Or Whatever

The Pope had a big Catholic party in Madrid this past weekend, with over 1.5 million faithful gathered to hear his words on pressing issues facing Catholics today. Instead of taking the opportunity to urge his followers to, oh, I don't know, END WORLD HUNGER, Il Papa addressed what is clearly the largest problem facing Christians in the modern world: gay marriage!!!11!!!

The 84-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church had to cut short the speech, when powerful winds and sheets of rain struck at a vast air base, whipping off his skullcap, shaking the stage and knocking over at least one tent. 

Though he was unable to complete the homily, Vatican officials said on Sunday that the content of his entire speech the previous evening was still valid and could be published. 

In the address, he attempted to give at the airbase of Cuatro Vientos Spanish for Four Winds the pope struck at the heart of social reforms in countries like Spain. 

"The Lord calls many people to marriage, in which a man and a woman, in becoming one flesh, find fulfilment in a profound life of communion," he told the young pilgrims. 

Thanks, Pope, for your words of wisdom.

It's clear the continued anti-gay rhetoric from Vatican leadership has inspired some locals, as a scheduled kiss-in staged by LGBT activists was prevented from even approaching the event by police.  Even more disturbingly, a volunteer for the event posted an insane death threat in La Voz Libre, urging the faithful to bring deadly chemicals with which to attack queers:

“I have hydrochloric acid and 50 bottles of benzyl bromide, with that we can make a good asphyxiating mixture. We have less than eight days to get organised, to kill queers and in the name of God. Come on mates, we need some fertilizer, I repeat we do not need money, just bring fertilizer, naptha, gunpowder or matches or a lighter will do. The only aim is to kill these dirty queers. On their anti-pope march is a good time to get them together and impale them and then burn them as queers.”

 Of course, the nutjob didn't have the acid or any of that other crap and is now claiming the statement to be a joke.

Ha.  Ha.  Ha.

German Cardinal Doesn't Hate The Gays, Hopes For Change

There is a ton of radical invective against LGBTs in mainstream Catholic clergy, with the bishopric making firm statements against gay marriage and similar gay-related struggles, such as Nicholas Dimarzio of Brooklyn's refusal to extend services to pro-marriage equality legislators.  However, last May a survey indicated that the majority of Catholic Americans now support equal rights for gays, and it appears the Church leadership may be paying attention to this and other signs of the times.

In July, a service was held in the Boston archdiocese to minister non-judgmentally to LGBT parishioners, and one German Cardinal is taking a step further in softening the Vatican's approach to gay Catholics.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, while far from giving his whole support to the gay community, had this to say:

"All who want to participate, open up to the Gospel and join the community of the Church, are welcome. I cannot bless a gay relationship, but I can pray for people who request it. It would be a big step if each were integrated, but this has not yet been achieved everywhere."

Is this statement a sign of the political times among Marx's flock?  Queerty notes that his statement comes while a push in Germany is underway to upgrade LGBT "registered partnerships" to full marriage equality. I hope that more Catholic leadership pays attention to current social and political climes and softens its stance against LGBTs.  

The Archbishop Of Maryland Says Something Pointless

Since the advent of marriage equality in New York State and Washington DC, the state of Maryland is gearing up for a similar debate that will hopefully bring gay marriage to the thousands of LGBTs living in that state.

LifeSiteNews (an anti-gay online rag that invalidates same-sex marriage by putting the word in quotes) reports that Archbishop Edwin O'Brian isn't so happy about it, and had strong words for the states Catholic governor.

"'Maryland is not New York,' wrote Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore in a statement to LifeSiteNews Tuesday. 'During the 2011 session, Maryland lawmakers chose not to redefine marriage because they listened to their Maryland constituents and stood by their deeply-held moral convictions.'

"A Maryland same-sex 'marriage' bill passed the State senate in February, but it failed in the House of Delegates in March. At that time, Gov. O’Malley had promised to sign the bill if the House had approved it.

"But he has now pledged to step up his efforts following the example of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a fellow nominal Catholic. 'There are times in Annapolis when a governor’s support can move an issue over the goal line,' O’Malley said Friday."

I lived in Baltimore when O'Malley ran for governor, and I have to say I'm a fan.  Congrats to O'Malley for standing up for civil rights.  Also: Edwin O'Brian might be disappointed.  Baltimore has a thriving gay population, not to mention its proximity to Washington DC, one of the great gay meccas in our country.  

Illinois Refuses To Fund Discriminatory Orgs, Catholics Clutch Pearls In Shock

50 years ago, Catholic Charities formed a relationship with the state of Illinois, garnering them millions over the years and placing thousands of the children in their adoption services with families in the Prairie State.  This week, that relationship has ended, with Illinois declining to renew contracts with the faith-based organization.  Why?  Because Catholic Charities is refusing to abide by Illinois state law and continues to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

The newly passed Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, which was designed in order to provide more homes with loving parents, is the cited reason for the breach.  In essence, if Catholic Charities had provided adoption services to couples who have civil unions in Illinois, they could have avoided losing state money.  All they had to do was obey the law, put aside their discriminatory policies, and give children loving homes with gay couples seeking children.

Now, of course, they're quick to point fingers at the state and blame them for oncoming detriment to the children in their "care."

From the Chicago Tribune:

"Though four Catholic Charities agencies had already stopped licensing new foster parents, three of them will seek an injunction from a Sangamon County judge on Tuesday to continue serving families and abiding by Catholic principles that prohibit placing children with unmarried cohabiting couples.

"'We’re not sure what the state is intending to do or how it’s intending to do it,' said Peter Breen, an attorney with the Thomas More Society representing Catholic Charities. 'It’s a surprise. But it’s also very disturbing. The impact on the [nearly 2,000] children in Catholic Charities care will be catastrophic.'"

Right.  And that impact could have been avoided if Catholic Charities had simply stopped being assholes about gay folk.  Instead, they continue to flout common sense and scientific studies on the issue of gay parenthood, and now their government check won't come in.

I hope this is a lesson to faith-based organizations hoping to continue to deprive children of every loving home possible: you can't do your job if you flout law, conventional wisdom, and common decency.  If these people really cared about these children, they would set aside their idiocy and choose the no-brainer: Accept gay couples as valid parents.  

Vatican Gets Whiny About UN Resolution For Gays

The Vatican's head of the Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, Archbishop Tomasi, stomped his ineffectual feet over the UN's resolution supporting global LGBT rights in a statement denouncing the promotion of non-discrimination on the worldwide stage.

Via LezGetReal:

"The resolution marks a change. It is seen as the beginning of a movement within the international community and the United Nations to insert gay rights in the global human rights agenda."

Yes!  You're right, padre!  And people are starting to understand that that's a good thing, no thanks to you.

It's worth noting that the Vatican really has no ability to do anything about the resolution, as they're not even a member nation of the UN.  So there.  

LA Archbishop Condemns LGBT Education Bill

A bill recently passed the California Assembly mandating that school curricula be amended to include the contributions of LGBT civil rights heroes and is currently sitting on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown, awaiting his signature.  While many hail this bill as an educational measure that will help to stem the tide of bullying-related deaths among gay youth, some are not so happy, claiming that it is yet another attack on the family unit.

Notably, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez has denounced the law as an intrusion on parental rights, stating:

"'The family is God's first beautiful gift to us,' Gomez writes. 'Because each one of us came into this world as the fruit of a mother and a father's love.'

"'America needs strong families to nurture the values and virtues we need to live as a free and just people.'

"The measure, Gomez said, is a 'dangerous government intrusion into parents' rights.'

"'This amounts to the government rewriting history books based on pressure-group politics. It is also another example of the government interfering with parents' rights to be their children's primary educators.'"

Not only is this a misleading statement, I would like to point out that it is functionally untrue.  This is not "rewriting history books," it's "including shit that actually happened." Plus, if Californian parents truly felt that they were their children's primary educators, they would all homeschool their children.  Here's the difference between the conservative and progressive movements: one relies on obfuscation, misleading statements, and censorship, while the other chooses to promote truth, facts, and clarity of policy.  I don't think I need to point out which is which.

The Newest Justification Against Marriage Equality: The Prong Has To Penetrate The Socket

Bill Donohue, that wackster over at the American Catholic League, dissolved into a meltdown of frothing outrage over the passage of same-sex marriage, burping out some nonsense about electrical sockets and prongs.

"'In order to keep the human species alive, it has to be between a man and a woman, right?' Donohue explained. 'I mean, let’s face it. If you want electricity, if you want juice, you can’t have two sockets touch each other or two prongs. The prong has to penetrate the socket.'"

Thanks, Bill. That thoughtful illustration has finally convinced me! I need to power my electronics with vagina! Or something.

Archbishop Dolan: Gay Marriage Will Lead To People Marrying Their Sisters

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

"That’s what’s going to happen here. You think it’s going to stop with this? You think now bigamists are going to want their rights to marry? You think somebody that wants to marry his sister is going to now say 'I have a right.' I mean it’s the same principle, isn’t it?"

My desire to get married isn't leading me to want to marry my sister, oddly enough.  I mean, she's got my genes so she's a goodlookin' gal, but I'm going to pass on that.  Thanks, Archbishop Dolan.

NY Archbishop Gets Cranky, Insists Gay Marriage Is Socialist

Marriage equality is almost a foregone conclusion in the Empire State, and that has NY same-sex marriage haterz in a panic, with the Catholic Archbishop freakin' the hell out.  Evidently, gays getting hitched equals Chinese communism.

"Last time I consulted an atlas, it is clear we are living in New York, in the United States of America – not in China or North Korea.  In those countries, government presumes daily to “redefine” rights, relationships, values, and natural law.  There, communiqués from the government can dictate the size of families, who lives and who dies, and what the very definition of 'family' and 'marriage' means.

"But, please, not here!  Our country’s founding principles speak of rights given by God, not invented by government, and certain noble values – life, home, family, marriage, children, faith – that are protected, not re-defined, by a state presuming omnipotence."

I'm not sure which North Korea Archbishop Dolan is thinking of, but I'm not sure Kim Jong Il is super into gays...

"Thou Shalt Not Steal," But Destroying Another Man's Property? Sure!

This is sad.

The unfortunately named "Piss Christ" photograph was destroyed in Avignon on Sunday.  The work of art had previously caused a huge amount of controversy when it was first exhibited in 1989, attracting the ire of Senators Helms and D'Amato, as its production was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The image, a crucifix immersed in urine, shares a common theme with many other works by artist Andres Serrano-- he uses bodily fluids like blood and urine in many of his pieces.  The painting was being exhibited alongside a private collection in Yvon Lambert's stately mansion as a celebration of his 10 years of art collecting.

The local archbishop called the photograph "odious" and called for its removal.  The owner of the collection complained about religious extremist threats and protests, and then finally on Sunday four people between the ages of 18-25 entered the exhibition and attacked and destroyed the photograph.

"When New York artist Andres Serrano plunged a plastic crucifix into a glass of his own urine and photographed it in 1987 under the title Piss Christ, he said he was making a statement on the misuse of religion.

"Controversy has followed the work ever since, but reached an unprecedented peak on Palm Sunday when it was attacked with hammers and destroyed after an 'anti-blasphemy' campaign by French Catholic fundamentalists in the southern city of Avignon.

"The violent slashing of the picture, and another Serrano photograph of a meditating nun, has plunged secular France into soul-searching about Christian fundamentalism and Nicolas Sarkozy's use of religious populism in his bid for re-election next year.

"It also marks a return to an old standoff between Serrano and the religious right that dates back more than 20 years, to Reagan-era Republicanism in the US."

This is disgusting.  What right do these people have to walk into another man's home and take a hammer to his personal property?  Where's the Commandment for that?

[Guardian]

Score One For the Gays: Major Defection At National Organization For Marriage

NOM has been, in recent years, the loudest and most effective opponent against marriage equality in the US.  Their vile spokesperson, Maggie Gallagher, has been guilty of the worst kind of misleading rhetoric, propagating the (blatantly untrue) theory that children cannot be raised in a healthy environment unless their parents are opposite-sex and married to each other (never mind that she has had a child out of wedlock).  Perhaps highest on their list of crimes against humanity is their victory in Maine, effectively barring thousands of gay couples from having equal protection under the law.

The group suffered a huge setback this week, as one of their top organizers defected very publicly, announcing that he now supports same-sex marriage.  Louis Marinelli, who ran NOM's Facebook page and almost single-handedly masterminded their joke of a bus tour last year, is now a loud opponent of NOM's campaign of hate.  Read Jeremy Hooper's exclusive over at GoodAsYou, he has an excellent timeline of the events leading up to Marinelli's mutiny.

NOM, of course, has gone into an apoplectic fit of denial, essentially writing him off and insisting he was nothing more than a contracted bus driver, as well as deleting the Facebook page started by Marinelli.

 

It seems that NOM's addiction to lies and subterfuge has no end, even when their top organizers admit publicly that they're wrong.

Finally, Marinelli Tweeted today his own challenge to the President regarding DOMA (via JoeMyGod):

This circus just gets better and better.

Gee, Thanks, Pope!

Jews everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief-- Pope Ratzboner says it's not their fault that Jesus was killed!  Phew!

Hey you guys!  You're still going to hell.

"In the second book in his series Jesus of Nazareth, set for release on March 10, Pope Benedict XVI says that the Jews are not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus Christ, reports the Associated Press.

"Though it is not the first time the Church has made that argument -- in 1965, the Vatican's Nostra Aetate stated that Jesus' death could not be collectively be attributed to either the Jews of the era or those alive today -- scholars believe that the reminder in a more accessible media form could assist in combating modern-day anti-Semitism."

I'm sure all my Jewish friends are REALLY concerned about the Pope's opinion on this.  On behalf of them, I would like to thank Mr. Silly Hat And Prada Shoes for FINALLY forgiving them 2000 years later.

*eyeroll*

[TheRawStory]

German Lawyers Charge Pope With Crimes Against Humanity

The Irish Times report that two German lawyers are takin' their A-game to the leader of the largest religion in the world in the International Criminal Court.

"They claim the Pope 'is responsible for the preservation and leadership of a worldwide totalitarian regime of coercion which subjugates its members with terrifying and health-endangering threats'.

"They allege he is also responsible for 'the adherence to a fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of HIV-Aids infection exists' and for 'the establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes'.

"They claim the Catholic Church 'acquires its members through a compulsory act, namely, through the baptism of infants that do not yet have a will of their own'. This act was 'irrevocable' and is buttressed by threats of excommunication and the fires of hell."

Cute.  I doubt it'll go anywhere-- since if the Pope is held accountable for dogmatic rulings then any religious leader in the world would be equally culpable.  I mean, what popular organized religion ISN'T guilty of similar (if not exactly the same) crimes?

Personally, I would prefer the Pope be taken to task for covering up child abuse, but hey, that'll never happen. 

[IrishTimes]

OneAngryCultist: Calling Cardinal Bullshit

In an article released Monday on Irish Central, Archbishop Cardinal Francis George shot back against LGBTQ activists who had recently picketed Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral, protesting the Church's attempts to block equality and civil unions in that state:

Some members of the Gay Liberation Network demonstrated in front of Holy Name Cathedral on Sunday, February 13, protesting against Catholic Church teaching on the immorality of homosexual genital relations and opposition to so called 'gay marriage.' These are deeply felt issues, because they speak to the personal identity of some and to the religious beliefs of others. No matter the issue, Catholics should be able to worship in peace, without fear of harassment. An open display of prejudice against the Catholic Church because of resentment of Church teachings prejudices civil discourse in our society.

Umm... alright. So, you feel you're being persecuted after spending so much time and MONEY trying to ensure that others don't get the same rights that you enjoy? FUCK YOU!

Does anti-Catholicism exist in America? Yes. Is it terrible? Yes. Do Catholics as a whole deserve the bad-wrap by association? No - some of the sweetest, kindest, and sexiest people I know are Catholic. Does the institution of the Church deserve a bad rap? Not entirely - although I will rally against the against the INSTITUTIONAL exclusion and discrimination that DOES exists. Is it fair that they use the "victim card" when being faced by groups they routinely discriminate against? Absolutely not! Therefore, loudly and proudly I say: FUCK YOU! Cardinal Francis and get back to doing the good shit your god on a stick demands.

Catholics: We Hate Cereal!

These guys really make my job easy.

Catholics:  Revising history and hating on breakfast food.

The Catholic Church has released a new edition of the Bible aimed at making the Scripture easier for Amurrica to understand.  In doing so, the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) made some, uh, interesting changes:

"The word 'cereal,' originally referring to bushels of wheat, had been removed because of fears readers might confuse it for a breakfast food.

"'Booty' had been replaced with 'plunder' because it has also come to mean 'buttocks' or 'sexual intercourse.'

"In what may be a sign of deference to Jewish history, the word 'holocaust,' which has come to refer to only the specific period of history where millions of Jews were killed, had been replaced with 'burnt offerings.'"

I have to say that I am saddened by this, but not for the reasons you might think.  I read the Bible as a young person, not because I'm particularly Christian, but parts of it are actually a good read.  Even more importantly, its stately, archaic language encouraged me to learn the many meanings of certain words.  I wish that we would stop making things dumber for America, or we'll all end up speaking newspeak.  And that would be doubleplus ungood.

[RawStory]

The Pope Addresses a Very Important Topic

Essentially:  Don't give your baby a fucked up name.

"The pope, who baptized 21 children on Sunday at a traditional annual ceremony at the Vatican, said afterwards that every new member of the faith acquires the character of a son or daughter of the Church 'starting from a Christian name.'

"This, he said, was 'an unequivocal sign that the Holy Spirit gives a rebirth to people in the womb of the Church.'"

This guy.  He just gets better and better.  I guess he's tired of baptizing the Bronxes, Maddoxes, Apples, and Suris of the world.  So name your child James, Matthew, Mary, or Agnes.  Or you'll be in trouble with THIS GUY!

You name that child right!  Or I'll eat it!  Or something.

[Reuters] 

The Pope: In the Good Old Days, We Could Touch Kids All We Wanted! The Rest of Us: *Horrified Silence*

Holy Senile Pontiff, Batman!

Hey!  I'm a nice guy, really!  RAWR!  BLACK MAGIC!

I'm sad to say that yes, the leader of the largest organized religion in the world said this:

"'In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children,' the Pope said.

"'It was maintained — even within the realm of Catholic theology — that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a "better than" and a "worse than". Nothing is good or bad in itself.'"

Click on this to see the entire world's reaction:

REALLY?  So we finally have confirmation of something we both dreaded and suspected-- that you, Fuhrer Ratzboner, have given tacit approval of the sexual exploitation and abuse of children?

He then goes on to say that kiddie porn is becoming acceptable.

I'm speechless!

Well not really:  He claims that the Catholic Church isn't interested in labeling things as "evil."  Uh.  Since WHEN?!  I think the millions of gays, heretics, non-Christians, ad nauseum who have been murdered and oppressed over the millennia feel that your Church's stance might have been a bit different all these years, Ratzy.

Dear Holy See:  You guys really need to lock him in his Popemobile and throw away the key.  He is officially starting to blather like an insane person. 

[The Belfast Telegraph]