Posts Tagged ‘religion’

How clear is the morality of the Polanski case?

Posted: September 29, 2009 by datechguy in catholic, opinion/news
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…Even that darling of liberal Catholicism Father Thomas Reese gets it:

Imagine if the Knight of Columbus decided to give an award to a pedophile priest who had fled the country to avoid prison. The outcry would be universal. Victim groups would demand the award be withdrawn and that the organization apologize. Religion reporters would be on the case with the encouragement of their editors. Editorial writers and columnist would denounce the knights as another example of the insensitivity of the Catholic Church to sexual abuse.

And they would all be correct. And I would join them.

But why is there not similar outrage directed at the film industry for giving an award to Roman Polanski, who not only confessed to statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl but fled the country prior to sentencing? Why have film critics and the rest of the media ignored this case for 31 years? He even received an Academy award in 2003. Are the high priests of the entertainment industry immune to criticism?

Via ABC and hotair. If the case is so clear even Fr. Reese can’t justify it then the defenders of Roman Polanski have a problem on their hands. If James Carroll agrees then it’s all over.

Thou shalt have no other Gods…

Posted: September 29, 2009 by datechguy in catholic, internet/free speech, oddities
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…but who?

I’m honestly starting to lose count of how many of these there are. No “mmm mmm mmm” in this one or creepy substitutions of The One for Jesus, but kudos to the teacher who came up with the “change has come” drone. Reminds me of “one of us, one of us.”

I thought prayer in school was forbidden? Then again it isn’t just schools:

First Mate was absolutely aghast at the idol-worship connotations of this video. The Gamaliel Foundation is a community-organizing group that acts as the ground troops for Barack Obama’s domestic policies, especially health-care reform. Anyone who has spent any time in church will recognize the worship cadence of this clip

Are we mishearing?

The Anchoress has this to say:

So, I hear all three things, and this suggests to me that perhaps some at the rally did -for whatever reason- begin by using the name “Obama.” People can be very irreverent and think they’re merely being clever, or having a little lark. But upon repeated listenings, I think it is wrong to jump the gun on this and make the accusation of idolatry. If we insist on hearing what may not be there, then we need to ask if our own ideology, which may tempt us to believe the worst simply because that’s what ideology does, is in charge of us. And if our ideology is in charge, name the Idolater.

But all of this reminds me again, how easy it is to allow our political enthrallment to overtake our good judgment. And then we open ourselves up to a very different sort of judgment, don’t we?

Hey ya think he we didn’t have example after example we might not be in this spot?

What was that line from old Abe again:

“Don’t kneel to me, That is not right. You must kneel to God only.”

And Rush will be hitting it today. You know if people were actually familiar with religion they might recognize what they are doing. If you are Catholic and doing this, remember most churches offer the Sacrament of Confession on Saturday afternoons before the first weekend mass.

Went to morning mass today…

Posted: September 29, 2009 by datechguy in catholic, local stuff
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…as it is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, St. Raphael the Archangel (Book of Tobit for you protestants out unfamiliar with him thanks to Luther) and St. Gabriel the Archangel.

I went to Immaculate Conception since we don’t have a Tuesday mass at my parish. They held their mass in the chapel (Many Catholic churches have small chapels where the more sparsely attended weekday masses can take place without the expense of opening up the main church) It is a little smaller than the size of my kitchen and living room combined. There were about 16 people there counting me and not counting the priest.

One fellow had a little kid not more than 2 years old with him. She was a very active child and remained so all during mass. I could see the father was very embarrassed as he tried to keep her occupied.

A lot of people get angry about that kind of thing, but looking at the chapel I saw that counting myself there were only 4 adults below the age of 50 present. Our city has 8 Catholic churches for a population of 35,000. The Diocese of Worcester will be closing at least three and perhaps as many as 4 of the city’s churches over the next 9 months.

I think we should be very happy that he was there with his child. I wish the Chapel had 20 parents with kids all trying to keep them in line this morning. If we had more of them perhaps Fitchburg’s Catholics wouldn’t be wondering which churches will still be around this time next year.

Update: Hey it’s one of the Anchoress‘ favorite feast days too! I knew that woman had taste.

Adrienne proves the biblical phrase true…

Posted: September 27, 2009 by datechguy in catholic, fun
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…ask and you shall receive.

Now all we have to do is exchange numbers ourselves and we will have a Massachusetts, Georgia, Montana axis!

Of course we can discuss parish stuff and the Papacy and the sacraments all that good Catholic stuff so we have more in common.

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