Posts Tagged ‘religion’

Pope Benedict Crazy like a fox

Posted: January 28, 2009 by datechguy in catholic
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Told ya:

Statement of His Excellency Bernard Fellay, Superior of the Fraternity of St. Pius X

We have become aware of an interview released by Bishop Richard Williamson, a member of our Fraternity of St. Pius X, to Swedish television. In this interview, he expressed himself on historical questions, and in particular on the question of the genocide against the Jews carried out by the Nazis.

It’s clear that a Catholic bishop cannot speak with ecclesiastical authority except on questions that regard faith and morals. Our Fraternity does not claim any authority on other matters. Its mission is the propagation and restoration of authentic Catholic doctrine, expressed in the dogmas of the faith. It’s for this reason that we are known, accepted and respected in the entire world.

It’s with great sadness that we recognize the extent to which the violation of this mandate has done damage to our mission. The affirmations of Bishop Williamson do not reflect in any sense the position of our Fraternity. For this reason I have prohibited him, pending any new orders, from taking any public positions on political or historical questions.

We ask the forgiveness of the Supreme Pontiff, and of all people of good will, for the dramatic consequences of this act. Because we recognize how ill-advised these declarations were, we can only look with sadness at the way in which they have directly struck our Fraternity, discrediting its mission.

This is something we cannot accept, and we declare that we will continue to preach Catholic doctrine and to administer the sacraments of grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Menzingen, January 27, 2009

Exactly as predicted. Who wants to be on the society putting out such a statement if the excommunications weren’t lifted? anyone? Bueller, Bueller?

Damian Thompson comments:

The arrogant group took its time, I must say, but by punishing and disgracing Williamson it has helped clear the path for eventual reconciliation with Rome. Let’s hope that this nasty old man now takes himself off to the SSPV or some other loony sect. He can be their Pope (or Führer, if he prefers).

I’ve gotta blogroll this guy. One disagreement with his article I suspect the Pope anticipated this result and if he didn’t the Holy Spirit did. Via LGF.

Update: Well this is going to win a lot of friends in the Catholic community. Perfect timing too right after the Society’s move and the Vatican statements.

Well at least Obama will be behind them 100% and if nothing else it will guarantee Israel good press for at least 30 seconds, maybe longer!

Update 2: Catholic and Enjoying says he didn’t know that Bishop Lefebvre’s dad died in a concentration camp. Neither did I.

I was just thinking…

Posted: January 26, 2009 by datechguy in baseball, catholic, opinion/news, personal, Uncategorized
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Going over the press’ feeding frenzy over the Pope’s decision some things struck me:

If Williamson had been an Iman the press coverage of him would either be non-existent or be considered a hate crime in Canada, Sweden and Holland. It would be really nice if just once the antisemitism in Islam got a tiny bit of attention.

Have you noticed that on any given week you can find a story that starts with “Pope’s decision/action on” and ends with “criticized”. You can bank on this with the media. In fact You can see the same thing with “Israel decision/action on” “criticized” the same way with the same media. All the “beautiful” people seem to hate both. Then again the pope is unlikely to cut off anyone’s head, nor is Israel. (This comes under my “indirect proofs” theory concerning God and Catholicism).

Other than Charles Johnson I haven’t seen anyone mention the truther/Kennedy conspiracy stuff in reports. These are things that the media doesn’t want to touch for some reason.

And speaking of this stuff have you ever noticed that people never seem to believe in only one conspiracy? On occasion they might be short one but they never believe in only one. Sort of like a Lays commercial.

You know just once in one of those dramas where the lone cop is cautioned by their higher ups about being wrong or the doctor who defies all convention over an odd diagnosis or the investigator who is so convinced that that guy is innocent if they were actually wrong once on the screen itself and then have them deal with that over and over during the rest of the season.

Everyone knows that they are wrong sometimes, but they never know it at the actual time they are wrong.

There is no darker time then the time between the last game of the World Series and the begining of spring training.

Once you reach a particular age a rather large percentage of your social calendar is spent at funerals.

And you know you are getting old when your regular doctor is younger than you. Once that happens its very rare that it changes.

Speaking of Chips once Cape Cod Chips came out suddenly everybody had kettle cooked chips for sale, that’s how you know your product is good.

How do you know times are bad? The wonder bread thrift store. The guy who runs it tells me his business is up 40%.

How many of studies that we hear about on the news actually pan out? Someone should do a study on it.

100 years from now people will still be laughing at the three stooges.

There is nothing that brings inner peace more than sitting in a room with your spouse, even if you aren’t doing or watching the same thing. I don’t know how widows or widower’s handle it.

Do you remember what you did with your time 20 years ago when you didn’t have a PC or internet to play with? It’s almost like that time didn’t happen isn’t it?

I still have high hopes that I will be able to make it to 50 without a cell phone, if I can make it to 60 without one it would be even cooler.

And finally I noticed this on election day. If you spend 8 hours watchhing traffic you will be shocked at how many accidents don’t happen.

Hey lets bash what we don’t understand

Posted: January 26, 2009 by datechguy in catholic
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The press and many blogs have gotten a lot of mileage out of going after the Pope for including Bishop Williamson among the 4 Bishops excommunication was lifted this week.

This guy Williamson is without question a piece of work as Charles Johnson points out he’s both a holocaust denier and a 9/11 truther. He is without a doubt a Nelson award winner.

However those people crying bloody murder know nothing about the Society of St. Pius X, the background concerning excommunication (warning this link is VERY dry) or even what it means. I give Johnson credit for pointing out that the removal of Excommunication doesn’t re-instate him as a bishop but the idea that the Pope is not going to do something toward reuniting tens of thousands of Catholics to the church because one particular Bishop has idiot ideas on non church matters doesn’t wash.

If you want some commentary from people who actually know what all this means check out here here and here and here.

Lifting excommunication gives access to legitimate sacraments. A Catholic knows how important this is. It would literally be necessary for a person to be on the point of death to even receive absolution. If the successor of Peter chooses to loose that danger to their souls its not for anyone else to deny it.

In real terms the idea that a guy like Williamson should not be able to have his excommunication revoked while people like Pelosi, Biden, Kerry, Cuomo and the Kennedy’s and many other Catholic pols who have actively sought to promote abortion and facilitated it doesn’t wash. Any rant from Andrew “I’m a catholic in good standing but I’m in a Gay marriage and the church is evil in it’s beliefs.” Sullivan just shatters the irony meter.

And it looks like there has already been interesting payoffs for the Pope on this

Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the Society of St Pius X and, as of today, no longer excommunicated, has responded to the Pope’s gesture in the following letter. In it, he describes Benedict XVI as “benevolent” and “courageous”.

I’m beginning to think that the Pope’s gamble will pay off. Sources close to the SSPX tell me that Bishop Williamson has infuriated his episcopal colleagues with his venomous and stupid rant about the Holocaust – but when will they condemn him publicly? Surely they cannot hope to have their suspensions lifted until they have done so.

In fact it has already started:

The head of the Society of St. Pius X has distanced the traditionalist group from statements by Bishop Richard Williamson questioning the reality of the Holocaust. In an interview with the Swiss journal Le Temps, Bishop Bernard Fellay said that he “deplores the fact that a bishop has given the impression of implicating the Society with a viewpoint that is absolutely not ours.”

This combined with moves by the church condemning his statements are likely to put Williamson in a position where he has to publicly rejected by the bishops and faithful of the society to get full communion back. It will also force the society to back up the Church if it chooses to place any sanction on him for his public statements. The Society being forced to backup a church sanction is an enviable place for the Vatican to be.

I suggest keep an eye on Damian Thompson’s blog who is all over it.

UPDATE: Great summery at NRO here.

UPDATE 2: Atlas Shrugs is a fine anti Jihad site and the Simon Wiesenthal Center does good work, but Catholic Theologians they’re not. Isn’t this the same person in a blog war with Charles Johnson over his assertion that Vlaams Belang is too closely related to fascist right groups? (BTW I don’t have a problem with either Geller’s or Johnson’s positions as they are both in my opinion decisions of conscience)

It would seem to me that if the Vatican came down on him before the excommunication he could tut tut it away crying discrimination against the St. Pius X society. He might have even gotten reluctant support from the other three Bishops and members of the society. Instead the exact opposite has happened, now the Vatican has power to put pressure not only on him but the Society has publicly condemned his statements. I suspect a lot more of this to come. This Pope is a lot smarter than anyone gives him credit and nobody will give him any.

Update: BINGO!

I second his motion

Posted: January 25, 2009 by datechguy in catholic, opinion/news
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Don Suber in his just ask me column gets it exactly right on the nonsense column comparing Princess Di and Michelle Obama. It is an insult…to Obama:

Mrs. Obama is an accomplished lawyer, pretty good mom (from what I see) and a person of substance who would not fritter away a good marriage for a roll in the hay. Di had her good points, but she was Paris Hilton with underpants.

I don’t like Mrs. Obama’s politics and her neo-patriotism was bizarre. That said, I respect her as a first lady because she acts like a lady first.

I know Baxter meant it as a compliment but America is no place for royalty. As Princess Caroline just found out.

One of my pet peeves is the idolatry over Princess Diana. It is an odd phenom. I like this Mike Barnicle from the week of their death:

And an odd thing happened today. If you believe in God, or a higher being, it’s almost as if God tapped the news media around the world on the shoulder at about 1 o’clock this afternoon and said, “It’s time to straighten your priorities out. Mother Teresa is dead.”

For five straight days we have been making Princess Diana larger than life. She seems like a very wonderful woman, a nice woman. She was 36 years of age. A woman died in Calcutta today who spent all of her life touching the poor and helping the poor. And I’m going to be interested, and I think many Americans would be interested to see if Peter Jennings and Dan Rather and CNN and Tom Brokaw go to Calcutta.

His Boston Globe column of that week on the subject, which I’ve been unable to find free online, was one of the best things he ever wrote.

The fact that Mother Teresa died the same week and the media was forced to give her funeral the same coverage as Diana is one of my “indirect proofs” of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.
I’ll be doing a post on the subject of “indirect proofs” later in my religion series.

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