Month: Feb 2020

Robyn Peoples, left, 26, and Sharni Edwards, 27, pose together after becoming the first same-sex couple to marry in Northern Ireland, in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, Tuesday Feb. 11, 2020. (Credit: Liam McBurney/PA via AP.)

Northern Ireland’s bishops have “welcomed” proposals that would not allow religious ministers to perform same-sex marriages against the teachings of their Church bodies, as well as protect the free speech rights of those opposed to same-sex unions.

LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Northern Ireland’s bishops have “welcomed” proposals that would not allow religious ministers to perform same-sex marriages against the teachings of their Church bodies, as well as protect the free speech rights of those opposed to same-sex unions.

The bishops’ remarks came in a UK government “consultation” on “Religious Same Sex Marriage,” after the territories ban on the practice was ended by the Parliament in London as part of what should have been a routine bill on the province. The same legislation also legalized abortion in Northern Ireland.

Although both same-sex marriage and abortion are now legal, Northern Ireland is not governed by the legislation on these issues which cover the rest of the United Kingdom.

Currently, same-sex marriages in Northern Ireland must be exclusively civil and cannot include religious elements such as hymns or Bible readings. The new legislation will open the door to religious same-sex marriages.

The “consultation” is a common practice in the UK to get feedback from the public on proposed legislation before it is enacted.

The Catholic bishops said they supported the so-called “triple lock” in the proposal to protect religious organizations, namely:

– officiants will only be able to solemnize same-sex religious marriage if the governing authority of the religious body they belong to has given its written consent to same-sex marriage.

– the legislation will make clear that religious bodies (and individual officiants) cannot be compelled by any means, including by the enforcement of a contract or a statutory or other legal requirement, to perform same-sex marriages or otherwise be involved in same-sex marriages.

– there will be equality law protections so that religious bodies and individual officiants do not unlawfully dicriminate if they refuse to solemnize marriages because of the sex or sexual orientation of the couple.

“The Catholic Church holds as a central tenet of its Christian belief that Marriage is the permanent, life-long union of one man and one woman, open to the generation of new life. We believe that the family, based on marriage, provides the fundamental building block of society,” the bishops said in a statement.

The bishops also supported sections of the law that that said discussion or criticism of same-sex marriage will not of itself be a legal offence and “that people remain free to express views, including critical views, about same-sex ‘marriage’, so long as this is not done in a threatening, abusive or insulting way and is not intended to stir up hatred or arouse fear.”

“The Catholic Church, as part of its universal teaching, holds that every person should be treated with love, dignity and respect and that discussion of the often complex and deeply personal issues involved in this area should be conducted with the utmost sensitivity, understanding and care for those involved,” the bishops said.

PAT SAYS

The RCC can do what it wants when it comes to gay marriage.

I have already told the consultation being undertaken by the Northern Ireland Office that The Oratory Society and its priests are not only willing, but eager, to offer marriages to same sex couples.

31^st January 2020

The Rt Hon Julian Smith MP

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

​

CONSULTATION WITH CHURCHES ON SAME SEX MARRIAGE

​

Dear Secretary of State,

I have been made aware that the Northern Ireland Office is consulting with the churches on the question of same sex marriage.

I am the Presiding Bishop of The Oratory Society and our clergy are recognised as marriage officiants in Northern Ireland and marriage solemnisers in the Republic of Ireland. We have been celebrating same sex blessings for over 30 years.

We would wish to become marriage officiants for same sex marriages in Northern Ireland just as we are marriage officiants for opposite sex weddings in Northern Ireland.

We already are marriage solemnisers for same sex marriages in the Republic. There are many same sex couples who would like to be married by a priest / clergyman in marriages recognised by the GRO for Northern Ireland as these are people of faith and want a spiritual dimension to their marriage.

I look forward to Northern Ireland allowing us to celebrate same sex marriages.

Sincerely yours,

+ Pat Buckley

I have been blessing gay unions for over 30 years.

I will now be happy to legally celebrate same sex weddings.

FERMANAGH born priest, Fr Brian D’Arcy has spoken out in defence of a dancing priest after he was heavily criticised for appearing on the 
RTE hit TV entertainment programme, ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

During his time staring on the show Fr Kelly has received abusive messages, some calling for him to quit the show.

One message received asked the priest to ‘give up dancing for lent’.

Callers to ‘Liveline’ criticised the priest with one man remarking, “Jesus Christ never went out dancing for women or anything like there’s no reason why a priest should do it either.”

Fr Brian D’Arcy jumped to the defence of Fr Kelly describing him as a “dedicated priest”.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Fr Brian said, “His priestly life comes first. He uses all his talents as a good human, bringing joy wherever he goes. He is a brave man to put himself out there in ‘Dancing With The Stars’.

He’s in the market place, as we priests are supposed to be. He doesn’t wrap himself up in cotton wool behind presbytery walls.”

Sixty-six year old Fr Ray Kelly will be familiar to many here following his TV debut where viewers watched the cleric’s fancy footwork as he stepped out on the dance floor with professional dance partner, Kylee Vincent.

Speaking to RTE about comments from a section of the general public Fr Kelly said, “I have been a priest for 31 years and I have never experienced that level of criticism that I have received during this programme.”

Gardai have been alerted to incident related to the priest. Despite requesting to quit the show, Fr Kelly, on the advice of production has stayed on. Although his time on the show began a little shaky, after receiving only one point from judge Brian Redmond the first week the Meath priest has managed to hit up to 15 points in recent weeks.

LISTEN TO RAY KELLY SUPPORTERS AND CRITICS ON RTE LIVELINE.

https://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/share/radio1/21715664

PAT SAYS

Kelly’s appearance on Dancing with Stars is certainly causing controversy.

Ireland, understandably, is very anti clerical now. The sight of any priest doing anything will cause comment.

Blind faith Catholics (Cathbots) who are a dying breed, are still priest worshippers and go all weak at the knees when they see a 66 year old priest, with sciatica, trying to dance. Ray makes all these feel warm and fuzzy.

LSome Irish people dont give a dam one way or the other.

Others of us cringe at the likes of Darcy and Kelly seeking attention.

I spoke to a priest who trained with Ray who said: “Back then, Ray would only be 5 minutes in a room when he would ask: “Would you like me to sing for you?””

I think a lot of people vote for Ray so they can have a good laugh at his expense

Dancing is not brave.

Criticising the hierarchy public is brave!

Working with lepers of any kind is brave!

Going against the flow in society is church is brave !

Ray is a 66 year old comfortably off and privileged parish priest seeking attention

He must have been taken off the breast too soon?

Entertaining and singing priests promoting themselves on the media comes with a health warning.

Remember Eamon Casey, the womaniser and son denier, Michael Cleary the arch hypocrite who preached no sex before marriage who fathered at least two children, and Tony Walsh, the singing paedophile priest.

Catholic News Service

When the Vatican’s wartime archives open to researchers March 2, it will be just the start of what should be a long, slow process of studying, analyzing and publishing findings, said the Vatican’s archivist and librarian.“We have to have the patience to wait and listen to the results” dozens of scholars are expected to produce over the coming years from what is known to be “inevitably slow and complex” work, Cardinal Jose Tolentino Calaca de Mendonca told reporters Feb. 20.

Only by expecting and letting scholars take the time to do their job thoroughly can the examination and discussion of this controversial wartime period have “certain” and document-based evidence, he said.The true task of a historian, he said, is to understand and submit to the truth, untangling the reasons behind historical events.“The church is not afraid of history and faces the assessment of historians and researchers with trusting certainty” that the meaning and spirit of what was done will be understood, Cardinal de Mendonca said.

The cardinal was one of a number of Vatican archivists who spoke with reporters at the Vatican press hall about the upcoming opening of the archives related to the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII.A vast amount of materials from the period of 1939 to 1958 will be available for consultation and study by qualified scholars or academics.

The materials come from not just the Vatican Apostolic Archives, but also multiple other archives, such as from the Vatican Secretariat of State, which include documents regarding internal church governance and the Holy See’s relations with states, nongovernmental organizations and the international community.Johan Ickx, director of the archive of the section for relations with states, told reporters staffers have digitized almost their entire archive, starting with 1939 and reaching just shy of 1958, since they only “started doing it nine years ago.”

“We are now past 1.3 million documents” already scanned and available online for study or to request printed copies, he said.To offer an example of what one could find, he said, “There are documents of ambassadors coming to the Holy See,” meeting with Vatican officials and staff, expressing their opinions, concerns and plans, and documents or correspondence related to other diplomatic contacts and activity.There also will “certainly be documents” related to a hypothetical or “presumed” plan by the Nazi regime to kidnap Pope Pius, he added in response to a question.

Ickx said, “I think the researchers that come will be astonished when they see” all that is in their archive.Much is already known from the extensive research carried out in other archives around the world, but the opening at the Vatican “will still change something, that is, for understanding the truth better. I am certain of this,” he said.

Other archives making their documentation available from the time period include the congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Evangelization of Peoples and Eastern Churches, the Apostolic Penitentiary and the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Vatican office in charge of St. Peter’s Basilica.By Carol Glatz | Catholic News Service

PAT SAYS

I have always held the view that the Vatican made a balls of WW11 and the persecution of the Jews.

I am, of course, ready to be corrected by scientific and objective study.

I welcome the new open study.

I look forward to see its outcome.

By Andrea Kuszewski Science 20We look at heroes and do-gooders as a special sort of breed; people who possess extraordinary traits of altruism, or self-less concern for the well-being of others, even at the expense of their own existence. On the other end, sociopaths also have an extraordinary set of traits, such as extreme selfishness, lack of impulse control, no respect for rules, and no conscience.As crazy as it sounds, there may be a closer link than than most people would think between the extreme-altruistic personality and sociopathic personality. Would it shock you to know that two people, one with the traits of extreme-altruism (X-altruism) and the other the traits of a sociopath, could be related? Even siblings? And that their personality traits are very similar, with only a few features to distinguish them? Research by Watson, Clark, and Chmielewki from the University of Iowa, “Structures of Personality and Their Relevance to Psychopathology”, present a convincing argument in which they support the growing push for a trait dimensional scheme in the new DSM- V to replace the current categorical system.Personality has consistently shown to be extremely heritable. However, the same genetic material arranged and weighted in a slightly different way, may at times express as vastly different phenotypes: the “extremely good” and the “extremely bad” individual. How is this possible?At a first glance, one would be compelled to put the sociopath and the X-atruistic person on opposite ends of a personality scale. After all, the chances of a serial killer running into a burning building to save a child are pretty slim, right? And wouldn’t a hero-type be one of the last people likely to break rules? WRONG!!!!Someone who goes out of their way to help others, even at the expense of their own welfare, is actually more likely to break rules than the average person. Think of Dr Ross from the early days of the TV show “ER”. He was constantly pushing limits, breaking the rules, throwing caution to the wind, all for the sake of the child-patient, even when it ultimately meant getting fired. On 9/11, after it was apparent that the buildings were about to collapse, teams of firefighters were called back, yet they disobeyed orders and pushed on anyway, only to perish in the quest to possibly save even one more life. Those are the actions of a hero, or an X-altruistic personality type. But consider the type of rule-breaking that the X-altruist engages in- would you classify it as criminal, or even unlawful? How does motive factor in?People whom we consider to be heroes (or X-altruists, as I am referring to them here), while among some of the most admired individuals, they possess many of the same traits as the sociopath. However, there is a fundamental difference in the motivation behind their actions that distinguish them from their nasty cohorts. Incidentally, that one difference is vitally important in determining if someone turns out to be the comic book hero or more like his archenemy.X-altruists are compelled to good, even when doing so makes no sense and brings harm upon them. The cannot tolerate injustice, and go to extreme lengths to help those who have been wronged, regardless of their personal relationship to them. Now, I am not speaking of the guy who helps an old lady cross the street. I am speaking of the guy who throws himself in front of a speeding bus to push the old lady out of the way, killing himself in the process. The average, kind, thoughtful person does not take these kinds of extreme personal risks on a regular basis.If you asked someone with an X-altruistic personality why they take the actions they do (and I have personal knowledge of at least one person like this), they would tell you that they couldn’t help themselves. When they are faced with that moment, they just act. Compulsively. Barely considering any other course. The lack the impulse control to stop themselves from doing “the right thing” when it comes to the welfare of others, yet ironically, it almost always results in some form of negative consequence for themselves. They have no problem breaking the rules when it means helping an innocent, yet they highly value the importance of obeying rules in other contexts. That’s crazy, you say? Now you’re getting the idea.The word “altruism” conveys images of people like Mother Teresa or Gandhi, passive, extremely self-less people. They are altruistic, sure. But the X-altruistic person is anything but passive or meek. They are often feisty, argumentative, independent, idealistic risk-takers and convention-breakers. Sound sort of like the sociopathic personality? Let’s take a closer look at some similarities and differences between the two.Sociopath:low impulse controlhigh novelty-seeking (desire to experience new things, take more risks, break conventionno remorse for their actions (lack of conscience)inability to see beyond their own needs (lack of empathywilling to break rulesalways acts in the interest of himselfX-altruist:low impulse controlhigh novelty-seekinglittle remorse for their actions (would “do it again in a heartbeat”)inability to see past the needs of others (very high empathy)willing to break rulesacts in the best interest of others, or for the “common good” (because it is the “right thing to do”)Both X-altruists and sociopaths have high impulsivity, need for novelty, and the tendency to break rules, but there is a fundamental difference in the motivation driving their behavior. Someone who is altruistic is always looking to the idealistic good situation, or the way things should be in a fair and just world. They are able to empathize- feel what the other person is feeling, or imagine themselves in another’s shoes. This empathy is the force that moves them to engage in heroic behaviors. They have a need to live in “a fair and just world”, and will go to great lengths to try and maintain that. They are driven by factors outside of themselves, externally motivated drives, such as aiding the plight of society or serving the “greater good”.The sociopath, on the other hand, is motivated by internal factors; selfish desires and the advancement of their own cause, rather than the causes of others or society as a whole. They don’t have the ability to empathize, so they see no logic in acting in any way other than selfishly, since they cannot imagine themselves in anyone else’s position. Everything they do is driven by their quest to satisfy their own needs, rather than (and often at the expense of) the needs of another person.If an altruistic person is able to empathize, and thus is motivated to help others, the X-altruistic person has too much empathy for others, driving them to break rules and put themselves in harms way in order to alleviate the suffering of others or bring fairness to the world. That extreme empathy, combined with a lower impulse control, the need for novelty, and an intolerance for injustice, is the trait formula of the X-altruistic personality. Because this type of person often engages in such extreme behavior that results in harm to self on some level, he earns a spot on the dysfunctional end of the personality scale, nearing psychopathology.Interestingly, these two type of individuals, the sociopath and the X-altruist, may appear similar in their displays of behavior, and at times, even confused for the other type. If an X-altruistic person is compelled to break rules without remorse in order to help a disadvantaged person, is may seem as if he is acting rebelliously, especially if the motives behind his behavior are not known. On the other hand, a sociopath may donate a large sum of money to a charity, a seemingly altruistic behavior, but his actions may have been motivated by his selfish need to appear better than or more generous than a colleague. The defining characteristic that separates the two personality types is their ability to empathize, either not at all or too much, which then drives the extreme behavior of each.So while the X-altruistic person indeed acts for the good of the people, he often violates laws, breaks rules, or otherwise causes ripples in the order of society. To be a good citizen, we are required and expected to follow laws at all times. But we can all agree that the world needs extreme heroes; they are the ones who consistently go above and beyond the call of duty, for self-less reasons, even when it could mean losing their job, receiving hefty fines, or even serving time in jail.But are they really criminals? Or do we need to bend the rules at times in order to allow for these types of do-gooders to continue on their path, bringing righteousness and justice to an otherwise corrupt world? Where do we draw the line between criminality and heroism?Here’s an even better question:How exactly do we support necessary rule-breaking for virtuous intent, yet punish malicious rule-breaking for ill-intent? Can it be done? Maybe someday we will be able to write public policy that actually serves the best intent of the people, even if it means that once in a while, some rules need to be broken in the process.I want to send a message out to all of those heroic, X-altruists out there, continually putting their butts on the line for our well-being: Thank you. The world is a better place because you dare to do good… even when it seems crazy to do so.*For more on the HEXACO Personality Inventory and how traits define psychopathology, look here. (this was added after posting the original article)

Catholic schools slow to accept cultural significance of black hair

Feb 20, 2020

by Sarah Salvadore NCR

On the first day of third grade, J.B. wore cornrows to school. When his grandmother, Joan Batts, went to pick him up, she saw the principal waiting for her. Rubbing the top of J.B.’s head, the principal told Joan, “We don’t accept this,” according to a complaint filed in the New York State Supreme Court.
J.B.’s school, Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy in Jamaica, New York, spelled out a ban on natural hairstyles in its grooming policies. They gave the family a week’s time to change the child’s hair. Unwilling to do that, the boy’s mother, Lavona Batts, moved her son to another school and filed a discrimination lawsuit.

Batts’ case isn’t unique. The problem of hair discrimination disproportionately affects black students. A high schooler in New Jersey was forced by a referee to cut his dreadlocks or forfeit his wrestling match. A Catholic school in Louisiana sent a 11-year-old girl back home for her braided hair. In California, a high schooler was suspended for wearing braids.

At least 11 Catholic schools in Queens, New York, the borough of New York City where Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy is located, adopt strict hair policies. They assert that natural hairstyles are “extremely distracting” or “attention seeking.”

According to critics, these grooming policies are Eurocentric in nature, displaying a bias against hairstyles associated with racial identity.

From our sister publication: A Place to Call Home, a new series focusing on women religious helping people who are homeless. Read more

Catholic schools setting Eurocentric grooming policies shows inconsistency in the “Christian message,” said Dr. Kathleen Bellow, director of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans.

“We tell children, ‘God is in you. But, in society at large, we only accept the parts of you that look like us. Because God wouldn’t have cornrows. God wouldn’t have dark skin. God looks like us — God is white.’ And I think that’s the impression, that God in goodness is affiliated with white culture,” said Bellow.

Schools, she said, encourage all students to wear styles similar to white people. Whiteness, say scholars, is considered the pinnacle of Western Civilization. “It’s not just that it’s a good civilization, but it’s the blessed civilization — the one considered to most closely exhibit God’s will,” said María Teresa (MT) Dávila, former associate professor of Christian ethics at Andover Newton Theological School, a Protestant seminary located in Newton, Massachusetts, and now associate professor of practice at Merrimack College in North Andover.*
Last year, New York State passed amendments to ban hair discrimination.

An amendment to the New York City Human Rights Law protects people with “natural hair, treated or untreated hairstyles such as locks, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, fades, Afros, and/or the right to keep hair in an uncut or untrimmed state” without facing bias.
Neither law, however, applies to religious institutions such as Catholic schools.

But the schools should observe the regulations, said Dávila. Policing black students’ hair is a vestige of America’s racial and segregated past, she said, harkening back to the public hygiene codes that were imposed on black people.
As more black Catholic schools close down due to lack of finances, and as the public school system continues to fail, black families are sending their children to predominantly white Catholic schools, for a lack of better options. “And these schools are not prepared to receive folk who are ‘other’ than them. We have lived predominantly segregated lives in the Catholic school system,” said Bellow.

Blackness and the Catholic Church

Pope Francis has been a vocal anti-racism advocate. Yet, church leaders and institutions have not adequately responded to the problem, critics say.

The U.S. bishops’ document on racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts,” calls out racism as a sin, but does little to implicate white privilege or demand self-reflection that goes beyond “historical wrongs”.

“So a school system, a church or Sunday school is not feeling pushed to do the kind of self-reflective reading and action that would lead to changing the dress code policies. And that’s the problem with this document,” said Dávila. It allows the bishops to get away with not demanding that their schools re-look at their dress code policies, she said.
C. Vanessa White, professor of spirituality and ministry at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, said that the 1979 pastoral letter, “Brothers and Sisters to Us,” contained stronger language than the 2019 document, yet little changed. While institutions of higher learning are preparing leaders to be sensitive to cultural differences, she said, administrators who form and implement school policies lack such knowledge.

“Who is teaching them how black people’s hair has been historically weaponized against them? We are confronted with leadership in educational institutions who are still very much Eurocentric,” said White.
What White found especially concerning is that schools are looking for loopholes to enforce their policies, instead of “being pastoral, ministerial or disciples of Christ.”

The teachings of Vatican II, said Bellows, have not been catechized to the Catholic community at large. While Gaudium Et Spes recognized the importance of culture in the full development of people, few in the church embraced it.
“And that’s why you still have a Catholic school administrator who would treat a child so unkindly, because she’s protecting the whiteness of Catholic Christianity, instead of protecting the human dignity of this young man,” she said.

“There are young men in the seminary who are chastised for wearing their hair in braids or twists. You can’t be a priest with hair that way. So the lack of appreciating cultural diversity runs throughout the church. And this is happening at a time when we are recognizing six African Americans as candidates for sainthood,” said Bellow.
Dávila points to the “heavy clericalism” in the church that forces homogeneity. Voices that try to raise the issue of racism and micro-aggression are pushed aside. “It’s [clericalism] not going to allow a relook into our religious school policies that are damaging to the human person.”

Effects on children

When a child is sent back home for their hair, it has a deep psychological and spiritual effect, according to critics of school hair policies. “The child is made to feel there is something wrong with them. And that’s a trauma that can’t be erased,” said White.

Batts admitted that her son loved his cornrows and was “humiliated, distressed” and felt unaccepted. She tried talking to the principal, but received no response. While she looked for a new school for her son, her mother began researching the law. They approached attorney Oliver Koppell to file a lawsuit on their behalf, alleging discrimination.

“This is a matter of significant emotional effect on people. The way people wear their hair is an important aspect of their being. It’s like trying to regulate a Sikh’s turban,” said Koppell.

The lawyer said it’s been difficult to get the school to respond to the lawsuit. “We tried to serve them with a copy of the summons and complaints, but they kept sending our process server back,” said Koppell. A few weeks ago the school finally accepted it through their lawyer, but Koppell has yet to receive an answer.
John Quaglione, the deputy press secretary of the Diocese of Brooklyn, of which Immaculate Conception Academy is a part, said that the board of directors have amended the school’s policy and as such, there is no longer any hair policy listed in the student handbook.

The updated handbook is not yet available on the school website as of this publication. The academy’s site does feature photos that include a number of girl students who are wearing their hair in braids, cornrows and other longer natural styles.

Hair braiding is more of a shared experience, and in many cases a family-involved process over steaming cups of tea or coffee, where many hands change. It follows a familial network of touch and community, even in salons. But when a center of education imposes hair policies, it sends out a message to black children that everything they hold dear and familial is not going to help them flourish in school, say critics of the hair policies.

“That is at the root of racism, at the very heart of how we’ve experienced racism in this country, which is that blackness does not help people flourish, and therefore it has to be beat out of them,” said Davila.

Church and the perception of culture

The natural hair movement has been growing in the past few years and many black people are embracing their identity and culture. At the Oscars this year, “Hair Love” won for best animated short. The film is a poignant and joyful tale of accepting and loving natural hair. Walking the red carpet with the producers and director was Texas public high school student DeAndre Arnold, who was told he couldn’t attend graduation unless he cut his dreadlocks.

Bellow said that American society views blackness through a superficial lens, without understanding that “the hair, the music, the dance and the food are really expressions of the culture.”

The perception of African culture, is heavily influenced by Western ideals, she said.

The church, said White, needs to move beyond its place of isolation and ignorance, and embrace different cultures. While the faith is booming in Africa, India and South America, the church has done very little cultural preparation for people that come from those regions.

“The church has to do the hard work of understanding God’s creation, diversity in God’s creation, and then practicing that appreciation we talk about in glowing terms in our social teaching,” said Bellow.

Taking the legal route is not going to get policies changed, because the law makes an exception for church institutions, said Davila. She thinks that the arguments need to be theological and ethical — going back to Catholic social teaching. And for this, the bishops need to lead the way.

“We talk about protecting the family, we have the March for Life. But what about protecting the black family?” she said.
The academics say that Francis points to diversity as being essential to the human family. He stresses that diversity is an attribute of a God of mercy. But bishops have been less out front.

“We can cry racism all we want within the Catholic Church and schools, but if we are not actively noticing cultural and racial biases in dress codes and how schools function, we are not going to make the changes,” said Davila.

*María Teresa Dávila’s professional affiliation has been updated.
[Sarah Salvadore is an NCR Bertelsen intern based in New Jersey.]

PAT SAYS

Colonists down through the ages, always showed no respect for the cultures of those they colonised.

The RCC were always on the side of the colonists and indeed were colonists themselves.

Our own Ireland was an RCC colony, politically and spiritually.

Mind you, the current Irish generation are calling “time” on the RCC here.

Not before time!

The whole business of the RCC in the US having objections to the natural hair styles of these people is neo colonial behaviour.

Shameful!

Father Bucci

Christopher White Crux Now

Feb 2020

A Cistercian nun at the Valley of Our Lady Monastery near Prairie du Sac, Wis., organizes Communion hosts (Credit: CNS.)

NEW YORK – A Rhode Island priest who was recently under fire for denying communion to politicians who voted in favor of legislation supporting abortion rights is once again in the spotlight for saying that abortion is worse than pedophilia since it “doesn’t kill anyone.”

“We are not talking about any other moral issue, where some may make it a comparison between pedophilia and abortion,” said Father Richard Bucci on Sunday, doubling down on his previous comments. “Pedophilia doesn’t kill anyone, and this does.”

He went on to tell Rhode Island’s NBC 10 News there are more children who have been killed by abortion than have been abused.

“Now, I don’t know what else I have to say about it, this is the teaching of the Church. The Canon Law of the Church, the Second Vatican Council, and the First Catechism of the Church. I don’t know what more evidence I should have to present,” said Bucci.

Bucci had previously sparked an outrage among some parishioners and local politicians after distributing a flier which said that every state legislator who voted last year to keep abortion in state law would be denied communion.

RELATED: Rhode Island priest denies communion to legislators who support abortion

“In accord with the teaching of the Catholic Church for 2000 years, the following members of the legislature may NOT receive Holy Communion, as are all the officers of the state of Rhode Island, as well as Rhode Island’s members of Congress,” said the flier, which was distributed at Sacred Heart Church West Warwick.

At the time, a spokesperson for the diocese of Providence told Crux that the priest had made the decision and distributed the flier at the “local parish level” and he had not consulted with Bishop Thomas Tobin.

“For every sacrament, the Church provides detailed norms for preparation and reception. It is the pastor’s duty to apply them within his parish, in accord with Church law. This includes the proper reception of Holy Communion as outlined by the Code of Canon Law,” said the official diocesan statement in response to the earlier incident. “Because the Church entrusts to each pastor the duty of teaching, sanctifying, and governing his parish, the daily pastoral and administrative decisions are made at the local parish level.”

The diocese did not immediately respond to Crux’s request for comment on Bucci’s latest remarks.

Follow Christopher White on Twitter: @cwwhite212

PAT SAYS,

Here we have another cleric who just doesn’t get it when it comes to paedophilia.

He wants to class paedophelia as a second class sin compared to abortion which he regards as a first class sin!

Catholic and Catholic clerics are like rabbits in headlights when it comes to abortion

Of course abortion is a big moral issue. Of course abortion can often be a grave sin.

But it is silly to at all compare abortion and paedophilia and say paedophilia is the lesser sin.

Yes a human being (in my opinion) is killed when aborted.

But many victims of paedophilia take their own lives and many others suffer a long, slow death over a life time because of abuse.

I suspect that this priest is a secret clerical paedophilia denier!

Will compulsion succeed where conversion has failed on Vatican financial reform?

John L. Allen Jr.Crux Now Feb 18,202

ROME – When Pope Francis recently addressed the ongoing financial reform of the Vatican, he couched the argument in largely spiritual, pastoral and moral terms.

Financial breakdowns recently brought to light, the pope said, “beyond their possible criminality, are hard to reconcile with the nature and purpose of the Church, and they’ve created confusion and worry within the community of the faithful.” He was speaking to Vatican judges on the occasion of the opening of their judicial year.

Though the pope avoided specifics, the reference almost certainly was to a recent contretemps involving a $220 million land deal in London (mostly financed by collections from Peter’s Pence) in which the Vatican’s Secretariat of State allegedly tried to skirt reporting requirements for a loan intended to buy up the remaining shares of the property.

That’s an especially alarming development, given that the Secretariat of State also bears the lion’s share of responsibility for enforcing the Vatican’s own accountability and transparency measures.

Francis is indisputably right that such shenanigans are tough to square with the Church’s moral teaching or the clear injunctions of the Gospel. Yet the hard truth is that such contradictions, by themselves, rarely have been enough to spur real reform. Instead, the Church tends to react in most compelling fashion only when facing some external threat.

The rise of the great mendicant orders, for instance, came in response to the rapid urbanization of the high Middle Ages and the threat of losing the city poor. The Council of Trent, and the internal housecleaning it unleashed, were driven by the Protestant Reformation and the loss of half of Europe.

So, what’s the threat the Vatican is facing today? In a word, here it is: Money.
When Francis was elected on a reform mandate almost seven years ago, cardinals were motivated in part by a suspicion that in financial terms, the Vatican’s ship was taking on water. That’s really all it was back then, a suspicion, since no one actually knew how much money the Vatican was losing, but there was a palpable sense something was amiss.

Since then, the reality of the situation has become steadily more apparent. The Vatican is carrying a bloated and unsustainable payroll, it has extensive real estate holdings that return virtually no profit, and it faces a looming pension crisis which, if left unaddressed, could produce a financial Chernobyl all by itself.

Last October, Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi predicted that the Vatican would be bankrupt by the year 2023.

Despite the reassuring tones of Bishop Nunzio Galantino, Francis’s handpicked chief of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), that there’s no risk of going broke and all that’s needed is a spending review that’s already underway, many insiders will tell you that Fittipaldi’s projection isn’t that far off unless something dramatic changes.

Added to that already alarming scenario is the threat that due to the recent cycle of scandals and departures of key personnel associated with the reform cause, the Vatican could return to global “blacklists” of suspicious financial actors. Should that happen, it would become much more difficult for the Vatican to access international currency markets, and it would face significantly enhanced transaction costs as banks and regulators insist on rigorous due diligence measures to process any Vatican money.

That threat of returning to semi-pariah status is hardly theoretical, since this spring the Vatican faces its next round of review by Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering agency and the primary gatekeeper for European states to global “whitelists” of virtuous actors. In theory, should Moneyval conclude that the Vatican is backsliding on its stated commitment to reform, failing to enforce the ambitious new laws on transparency and accountability adopted under Pope Francis, it could lead to censure from the Financial Action Task Force, the global network of anti-money laundering evaluators.

If you ever wonder whether such denunciations make any difference, consider the example of Liechtenstein. Once considered a classic example of a rogue nation, Liechtenstein was hit with a series of FATF sanctions in the late 1990s that took a significant toll.

According to the 2011 book The Money Laundry by J.C. Sharman, from 2000 to 2002 the net income of banks in the tiny country fell from $560 million to $255 million, tax collections on banking activity plummeted from $65 million to $27 million, and assets managed dropped from $114 billion to $97 billion.

“It was a real disaster,” one official was quoted as saying. “Our foundations trembled.”

The fallout got the attention of Liechtenstein’s bankers, and they cleaned up their act. (Ironically, Swiss lawyer René Brülhart, recently forced out as head of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, made his reputation as director of Liechtenstein’s financial intelligence unit from 2004 to 2012, where he spearheaded the clean-up operation.)

If Pope Francis truly wants change on Vatican finances, in other words, perhaps he shouldn’t put all his eggs in the basket of metanoia and personal conversion, however desirable those things obviously are.

Maybe what he really needs right now is somebody to put a gun to the head of the system … and, as fate would have it, Moneyval may be ideally positioned to do just that very soon.

Follow John Allen on Twitter: @JohnLAllenJr

PAT SAYS

The bankruptcy of the Vatican will be a step in Gods will for its reform.

Corruption sets in where there is power, fame and money.

God removes power when he wants to reform.

I find it hard to believe that the RCC can ever be reformed.

But if it ever happens it will be through total humiliation and annihilation.

by Clifford Longley The Tablet Thousands of transgender people and their supporters take part in London’s first ever Trans Pride march through London, Sep 2019 Photo: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/PA Images St Valentine’s Day may not be the ideal moment to meditate on the relationship between sex and gender, except perhaps to cry “Vive La Différence!” But it can’t be escaped. The Government is conducting a consultation on reform of the law, and the controversy over transgenderism has come up repeatedly in the Labour leadership hustings. All four candidates have been asked if they would support a reform of the law to allow people to chose their own gender, without first having to comply with medical or psychological criteria. With minor reservations, all four said they would. There is a undoubtedly a strong current running in that direction, by no means only on the left. My only qualification for offering an opinion on the matter is that of someone who was, a long time ago, a male single parent of three children. A family household without an adult female could not function within a normal – that is to say, more or less traditional – set of rules about gender roles. I was brought up within those rules, and never questioned them until I had to. Indeed since university I have often rued that it seemed to be the ugliest men who got the prettiest girls (not being particularly ugly myself). I read somewhere that a woman’s largest sex organ is her skin, covering her whole body. I doubt that could ever be said of a man. My main conclusion is that for the vast majority of the population, including myself, gender is not fluid. It is stable and we are comfortable with it. I did not condition my son into being male nor my daughters into being female. There were no other options, nor did we want any. But it is an undoubted fact that there are some who are born male who devoutly wish to be female. They are not feminised men – they are hard-wired so that their image of themselves does not fit the category they were assigned to at birth. Their sex and their gender do not match. This is mysterious, but it is what nature has done to them and ought to be respected. I do not think it has anything to do with masculinity or femininity, which, as I have said, are social constructs. And I do not know – and I am not sure anybody does – what all this has to do with sexual orientation. In other words a transgender person can be gay or straight (though those expressions may need more careful definition than we usually give them). The major problem that has been raised by the campaign for the rights of transgender persons to self-identify concerns those who were born male and still have all the male sexual apparatus, but who wish to identify as female prior to or apart from the appropriate surgical procedures. They wish to have access to exclusive female facilities such as public toilets. Unsurprisingly, not all women like the idea. It is unhelpful simply to dismiss that attitude as “transphobic bigotry”. In theory at least, a sexual predator with fully functioning male reproductive organs could enter a place reserved for women, just by claiming to be one. I, a father of girls, would strongly oppose that. Penises, erect or flaccid, do not belong in female toilets. They can be instruments of sexual violence. In such a setting, they are threatening. The other problem with gender self-identification is in competitive sport. Penises come with testicles, and testes produce testosterone, the predominantly male sex hormone. It is established medical understanding that testosterone is what triggers puberty in boys, and they then grow on average taller and stronger than girls of the same age, along with other changes. So an adult transgender female – formerly male – will still have years of development behind her under the influence of a normal male level of testosterone. She will still be taller and stronger than a non-transgender female of the same age. The problem isn’t solved by imposing limits on her testosterone levels now or in her recent past, as some of the governing bodies of sport are doing. She doesn’t shrink to a smaller size and shape as a result. It isn’t her levels of testosterone now that makes her faster and stronger. It is the levels throughout her past life. So it is likely she will outperform non-transgender women. Is that fair? How sporting bodies solve this is their problem, but it won’t be sorted be hurling insults around. These issues raise strong emotions, which makes their calm discussion difficult. Significantly, all the Labour leadership candidates agreed that they do need to be discussed, and that there are difficult areas. That surely implies that there have to be some limitations to self-identification, for the good of all sexes and genders including those in transition. But otherwise, why can’t we all just live and let live? PAT SAYS The writer has presented us with food for thought. And he is right to call for live and let live. But when it comes to the NHS and treatment life saving treatments for cardiac, neurology and organ donation should take precedence over sex change ops, in my opinion. MY PECTORAL CROSS There were some comments on the blog yesterday about my pectoral cross – calling it ostentatious and very Catholic. It is not ostentatious. It is made of iron and is silver plated. It was bought on Ebay in its iron form for £40 and the silver plating cost another £20. It was designed and made by a prisoner in Auschwitz – and that is its principle attraction to me. It shows, on one side the crucified Jesus and above him the Father”s sending the Holy Spirit. On the reverse in German, is the prayer from the Mass: It is unashamedly Catholic. I am a Catholic. Not a Roman Catholic but a Catholic. The Catholic Church is greater than the RC denomination.

Melanie Finn Irish Independent

‘Dancing with the Stars’ priest Fr Ray Kelly has complained to gardaí after receiving an abusive phone call at his parochial house.

It comes after the singing cleric (66) received a slew of cards and letters at his home in Oldcastle, Co Meath, following his appearance on the RTÉ show.

While many have been surprised by his level of support from the voting public, he has also been sent lots of negative messages calling on him to step down from the show.

“One particular card said: ‘Remember what happened to John the Baptist when a woman danced for him? He was beheaded’,” said Fr Kelly.

“There was one [card] last week that came in: ‘Fr Ray, wouldn’t it be a wonderful witness with Lent coming, if you now for the nation decided to pull out of DWTS and show the nation just the sacrifice you’re making by pulling out?'”

The cleric, who found fame in 2014 thanks to his rendition of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ at a church wedding, was recently forced to take action after receiving a “very abusive” expletive-filled phone call.

2Targeted: Fr Kelly said the criticism he had received could be down to him ‘stepping out of my field a little bit’.

“Every second word was the F word… priest, parish, parochial house, housekeeper, fat effing belly dancing around the floor.

“The man left his number on the phone and his name.

“His number showed up on the landline. I answered the phone and went into my messages and there it was.

“An hour or two later, I was in the house and I answered the phone again. He said: ‘Can I speak to Fr Ray Kelly please’ and I was suspicious about it.

“I said: ‘He’s not here, can I take a message?’ He said: ‘Can you tell him from me…’ and the whole spate again.”
After consulting with the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ production team, Fr Kelly was advised to make a formal complaint to the gardaí.

He said it was “hard” being on the receiving end of such negativity and he was trying not to let it affect him personally.

“For a while there, I was letting it come in [to my head]. As a priest, I’ve worked hard for 31 years. I’ve never gotten a huge amount of criticism for anything I’ve done. This is going back to singing ‘Hallelujah’ or doing ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.”

Asked why he thought he provoked such a strong reaction, Fr Kelly said it could have been down to him “stepping out of my field a little bit”.

PAT SAYS

Why in the Name of God would anyone want to harm Ireland’s own Fred Astaire?

I know that there are Cathbots who would love harm to come to me. After all I expose Cathbotology all the time.

I get letters from good Catholics saying that they offered up their Holy Communion that I’d get cancer.

But why Sugar Ray?

He is a PP. He tows the party line on everything.

Maybe people hate priests in Ireland that much now that the very sight of a priest sends people dolally?

I can understand people being embarrassed by the sight of Big Ray trying to dance.

It is cringe worthy.

But maybe Ray has some form of attention deficit disorder and needs all the attention he can get.

A bit like the other guy Darcy O’Donnell.

CANON 880 ClHAPTER II : THE MINISTER OF CONFIRMATIONl Can. 882 The ordinary minister of confirmation is a Bishop. A priest can also validly confer this sacrament if he has the faculty to do so, either from the general law or by way of a special grant fro the competent authority. Can. 883 The following have, by law, the faculty to administer confirmation: 1° within the confines of their jurisdiction, those who in law are equivalent to a diocesan Bishop; 2° in respect of the person to be confirmed, the priest who by virtue of his office or by mandate of the diocesan Bishop baptizes an adult or admits a baptized adult into full communion with the catholic Church; 3° in respect of those in danger of death, the parish priest or indeed any priest. Can. 884 §1 The diocesan Bishop is himself to administer confirmation or to ensure that it is administered by another Bishop. If necessity so requires, he may grant to one or several specified priests the faculty to administer this sacrament. §2 For a grave reason the Bishop, or the priest who by law or by special grant of the competent authority has the faculty to confirm, may in individual cases invite other priests to join with him in administering the sacrament. Can. 885 §1 The diocesan Bishop is bound to ensure that the sacrament of confirmation is conferred upon his subjects who duly and reasonably request it. §2 A priest who has this faculty must use it for those in whose favor it was granted. Can. 886 §1 A Bishop in his own diocese may lawfully administer the sacrament of confirmation even to the faithful who are not his subjects, unless there is an express prohibition by their own Ordinary. §2 In order lawfully to administer confirmation in another diocese, unless it be to his own subjects, a Bishop needs the permission, at least reasonably presumed, of the diocesan Bishop. Can. 887 A priest who has the faculty to administer confirmation may, within the territory assigned to him, lawfully administer this sacrament even to those from outside the territory, unless there is a prohibition by their own Ordinary. He cannot, however, validly confirm anyone in another territory, without prejudice to the provision of can. 883, n.3. Can. 888 Within the territory in which they can confer confirmation, ministers may confirm even in exempt places. PAT SAYS Why are many bishops refusing to do their Confirmations and delegating priests to celebrate that sacrament – in stark contradiction of Canon Law? The bishop is the primary minister of confirmation. The bishop CAN delegate a priest to do confirmations in unusual circumstances. But not as a permanent situation. The problem is that most bishops are not pastors. They prefer admin at a desk. They have vocations to accounting, not to ministry!