Archive for the ‘catholic’ Category

Geogre Carlin used to make a Joke about meat on Friday that ended:

I bet somebody is still in hell on a meat rap

As I’ve mentioned before Carlin and Catholics ignored (and tend to still ignore) the 2nd part of the rule that says you are supposed to substitute some other sacrifice if you drop the meat restriction on Fridays.

That is what I thought of when I saw the report on Morning Joe about the CBO numbers. They reported the base numbers and left out a few things:

Although CBO completed a preliminary review of legislative language prior to its release, the agency has not thoroughly examined the reconciliation proposal to verify its consistency with the previous draft. This estimate is therefore preliminary, pending a review of the language of the reconciliation proposal, as well as further review and refinement of the budgetary projections.

Even better via the same national review article is this link from Congress Daily:

Final cbo scores to replace preliminary just released expected Friday or Saturday, a leadership aide says

So the actual numbers will be released during the dead zone of news, where it will be buried as Glenn Reynolds says “perhaps after the vote“.

Will Morning Joe correct or mention this before the show ends? Considering they just repeated the uninformed “nuns” spin again without caveat (why am I not surprised that Margaret Carlson is celebrating on the air?) I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

Update: I should give Carlson a shout out on one thing. She did point out that the conventional wisdom that he doesn’t stay if the votes aren’t there didn’t apply in his two trips to Copenhagen.

…you know, ones that take church teaching seriously:

Recent statements from groups like Network, the Catholic Health Association and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) directly oppose the Catholic Church’s position on critical issues of health care reform.

The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, the second conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious in the United States, believes the Bishops’ position is the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church.

Protection of life and freedom of conscience are central to morally responsible judgment. We join the bishops in seeking ethically sound legislation.

Via the American papist who also notices some math issues concerning the only Catholics the MSM like as does OSV:

Network’s letter, about health care reform, was signed by a few dozen people, and despite what Network said, they do not come anywhere near representing 59,000 American sisters.

The letter had 55 signatories, some individuals, some groups of three to five persons. One endorser signed twice.

There are 793 religious communities in the United States.

The math is clear. Network is far off the mark

In the words of the Curt Jester:

The numbers don’t really matter. After all nuns who lie about the numbers they represent would never lie about the bill not supporting funding of abortion.

I do find it rather odd the people using the the phony numbers of nuns think this is an argument in favor of the bill. So most Americans being against the bill doesn’t matter, but somehow this does?

For reasons that don’t have to be explained, memeorandum doesn’t find this worth reporting, nor I suspect doesn’t the MSM. At least when I report you know that I have a bias. The MSM will show this the same due diligence that they gave the John Edwards story when it actually mattered.

Adrienne said it best on Wednesday:

We could use a St. Patrick right about now to drive the snakes out of Washington…

Yup that’s about it.

It’s stuff like this.

Some 60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns Wednesday sent lawmakers a letter urging them to pass the Senate health care bill. It contains restrictions on abortion funding that the bishops say don’t go far enough.

Of Course that fine Catholic Norah O’Donnell who I’m sure as a good catholic is opposed publicly to the intrinsic evil of abortion celebrates this stuff. Maybe the St. Patrick’s day people might want to consider who they have lead parades celebrating saints in the future.

I’m told that Joe Scarborough reads this blog, before he talks about the split between the bishops and nuns and beclowns himself doing so I suggest he read a few people who are actually in the know such as, oh I don’t know the Anchoress:

The sisters (not nuns) who signed this endorsement are part of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). While they do represent some 59,000 sisters in the US, that should not be taken representative of the feelings of all those sisters. Just as the Firefighters Unions regularly endorse Democrats while the firefighters themselves tend to vote more conservatively, not all of the sisters whose leadership belongs to the LCWR will endorse or agree with this December/March statement.

I wrote a little about the LCWR here, from which I invite you to draw your own conclusions.

These religious are basically what is left of the leftist sisters – the mostly boomer sisters who have issues with the authority of the hierarchy and have come to rather delight in sticking their fingers into the eyes of Catholic orthodoxy. I would never recommend anyone casually passing judgment on their overall faithfulness; that would probably be unwise and uncharitable, too. But I do not think it is inaccurate or uncharitable to suggest that some of these sisters “self-actualized” in 1972, and have decided to stay right there, in that heady chapter, as the narrative has moved on.

Most of the orders these women are attached to are dying out because young Catholics are not attracted to their way.

And of course big Journalism notes (via the Jammiewearingfool) that the going rate of 30 pieces of silver has increased with inflation:

You see, the Catholic Health Association is a for-profit company that works for some Catholic hospitals as a sort of trade association. It isn’t part of the Church nor does it represent any official group of religious Catholics, nor does it serve as a source of Catholic teachings.

The truth is that CHA chief Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity nun, is paid around $800,000 a year to advocate for this trade association, not the Catholic Church. She is not an altruist like nearly every other member of the actual Church that serves in an official capacity.

As I said there is a reason why the Vatican has spent a year investigating religious orders in the US.

Lets remind my fellow Catholics (such as Norah O’Donnell) and inform non Catholics (such as Joe Scarborough) about the rules concerning Mortal Sin:

1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”

1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother.”132 The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

Ironically Little Miss Attila had a post yesterday quoting a slew of different bibles all using different wording but all of the same quote:

NIV: It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin…I hope and trust that the message is coming through.

It isn’t an easy thing at times to resist membership in the millstone club, there can be incredible incentives to lead others to sin. $800k is a pretty incredible incentive.

I have the same thing to say about “Sister” Keehan as I did about another nun Donna Quinn, and her public and active support of abortion:

As I’ve said before Catholicism is a voluntary activity. If sister Quinn wants to push Abortion and aid at abortion clinics, it’s a free country, she just shouldn’t do it as a Catholic nun. If she insists on doing it as a Catholic Nun and her superiors do nothing then they ought not to be whining about the Vatican investigating them. It’s a variation of the murder your parents cry as an orphan business.

Sr. Keehan will do what she wants and the left, the White House and the media will fawn on her as we saw today on Morning Joe and she will be celebrated for the rest of their lives…

…after that they’re on their own.

Your choice ladies. I’m include you in my prayers today.

…so blogging might be light.

Lucky for everybody others are on the ball:

Casey Fiano takes a pause from her pro life blogging to remind us of the small annoyances that the Obama administration brings us:

“An international partner”?? This may be an international relief effort — with the United States as usual giving far more than any other country — but that hasn’t kept other countries from flying their flags. France, Germany, and Croatia are all flying their flags, just like every other country. I doubt anyone in Haiti is weeping over the French, German, and Croatian occupations taking place because of it. No one besides Obama is idiotic enough to think that flying our flag means that we’ll be seen as an occupation force. It’s perfectly clear to everyone with a brain that we are in Haiti for one reason alone, and that is to give relief.

Considering the amount of money, time, and manpower we’ve contributed to the relief effort in Haiti, one would think that Obama would be proud to have our flag flying in Haiti. But Obama isn’t a president who is proud of his country, is he? He’d rather apologize for the United States than take pride in it. We are literally saving lives for no gain of our own in a foreign country, and he’s still apologizing.

If we aren’t even allowed to be proud of the country when we are doing a humanitarian mission when will it be.

At the other McCain Smitty has a word about St. Patrick’s day at google:

As a Christian, I’ll venture as a default position that Saint Patrick would be as excited about the attention directed at himself, and not Christ, as, say, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be.
Heaven forbid anything ever be about me personally, in all seriousness.

I don’t know it sure looks like a cross on that G to me and anyways we Catholics don’t have a problem asking the saints to pray for us. After all these guys have proven that they know what they’re doing.

Meanwhile the Washington Monthly bemoans CNN’s desire to try to actually get people to watch them.

This is easily the worst decision CNN has ever made. That the network probably reviewed Erickson’s work before hiring him, and offered him a job anyway, suggests CNN’s professional standards for what constitutes “an important voice” have all but disappeared.

The point here isn’t that it’s disappointing to see CNN hire yet another conservative voice, adding to its already-large stable of conservative voices. To be sure, it’s frustrating, but it’s nothing new.

The problem here is with Erickson himself.

Well Erickson did give me CPAC credentials so that’s a strike against him.

And if you need a sign of spring, look no further than the site of Father Z. He not only give you a taste of the birds of spring he handles the attacks on the Pope exactly the right way:

Pray.

Just pray.

Forgiveness for the haters.

Forgiveness for the failings of all professed Catholics.

Consolation for the damaged.

Courage, health and length of days for the Pope.

And he provides a prayer for those who might not have one handy.

I’ll be back in a bit, meanwhile pop in The Quiet Man and enjoy St. Patrick’s day