Church sees gray where there's only black and white

Seattle Post-Intelligencer/New York Times ^ | 5/4/02 | Maureen Dowd

[ppaul]

It took them three days and a deafening chorus of disapproval before they ostensibly agreed on a one-grope-and-you're-out policy. They can still water that down at the bishops conference in June.

Sickening.

[zbogwan2]

When the cardinals issued a statement targeting "notorious" predatory priests, that notorious protector of predators, Cardinal Bernard Law, was hiding in a friend's apartment inside the Vatican.

Law was probably with one of his homo/pedophile buddy Cardinals doing their homo sex rituals too?

[berned]

The Words of Jesus, in Matthew chpt 7:

15 "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really wolves that will tear you apart.

16 You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You don't pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles.

17 A healthy tree produces good fruit, and an unhealthy tree produces bad fruit.

18 A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit.

[Snuffington]

Rome has resisted modernity, clinging to black and white.

Oh if only that were true!

Dowd's biggest self-contradiction here is that she advocates "grayness" in virtually all areas of the faith. She's right to criticize the waffling and dishonest application of standards in the American cardinals and bishops. But her remedy seems to be to shift their waffling into areas where she'd like to see it, rather than to return to a firm moral standard in ALL areas.

[MarMema]

And this is exactly why I strongly support all of my RC brethren, but without hesitation do not support the leaders in their church who have failed them.

[RaceBannon]

When the cardinals issued a statement targeting "notorious" predatory priests, that notorious protector of predators, Cardinal Bernard Law, was hiding in a friend's apartment inside the Vatican

This is the most sickening statement of all. When I heard about this last week, I was in shock, that Catholic Leaders would condone child rape as long a it is held to a minimum. Raping one or two is ok, it is only raping a lot of little boys that is bad.

This religion needs to be abandoned, immediately, that or this man needs a good lynching, for he just said it is ok to rape YOUR little boy!!

[RAT Patrol]

We know faithfully married women who are forced to violate the Vatican stricture against birth control if they don't want 13 babies. We are friends with gay Catholics who are expected to sacrifice intimacy to maintain their faith.

This is where she wanders off. If she wants to be a New York Times editorial writer she must adhere to the rules of her office. She is free, of course, to pursue something else.

I really don't think she is qualified to say what the doctrine of the Catholic Church should be. I don't think someone should just go into a denomination and say "I am Catholic, but I don't believe this this this and this..." and expect an entire Church to say "Okay, let's change our entire belief system to accomodate you." There is a religion to fit everyone in this Country. If there isn't, make one up yourself. It's done all the time. But this idea of verbal intimidation and coercion to force an assembled group of people to accomodate every contrary belief Maureen Dowd thinks they should is crazy. She makes herself into an Opinion Nazi when she does that. If she doesn't like it "No views for you!!!!"

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

We know faithfully married women who are forced to violate the Vatican stricture against birth control if they don't want 13 babies. We are friends with gay Catholics who are expected to sacrifice intimacy to maintain their faith.

Typical Dowd column; long on rhetoric, short on facts. She leaves out the capital sins of sloth and wrath, which she has been repeatedly guilty of committing, including in this piece. Her contempt for Law and his fellow aiders and abettors, which is well deserved, is undermined by her venom for the disciplines and doctrines of Roman Catholicism.

[history_matters]

Thanks for the ping and the pesonal support.

Aside from Cardinal Bevilacqua and perhaps a handful of bishops, all of the rest have not only failed us -- they have failed Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Maureen Dowd has repeatedly attacked the Catholic Church, so lets remember her point of view has its own agenda and carries with it her own baggage.

But she is spot on when she notes how disgusting and perverse it is that the Cardinals see gray regarding sexual abuse -- when the rest of the world can see it in black and white -- and Catholics like me are seeing RED.

[ppaul]

Yeah.
Interesting how she condems perversion within the church,
but defends it outside of the church.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Still violating the Eighth Commandment. Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide violates Scripture. You're still skating on thin ice, newbie with your thinly veiled attack against Catholicism. Don't be coy, evasive and spineless. Write what you really want to say.

[Gophack]

And this is exactly why I strongly support all of my RC brethren, but without hesitation do not support the leaders in their church who have failed them.

Thank you for your unity at this time of strife. I know that Catholics and our non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters are united in our effort to expose the depravity of homosexuality and the lies of abortion, through love and prayer and truth. When we agree on so much, and work together to end the immoral acts of our generation sometimes our differences seem trivial.

God bless.

[maryz]

And while conservatives back home yammered that the answer was a return to clerical austerity, Cardinal Edward Egan luxuriated at a five-star hotel near the Pantheon. (Add Gluttony to the list.)

Is her point that Egan is a conservative or that he is hailed by conservatives or that the conservatives "yammering" are wrong?

The cardinals chose defiance over deference to the expectations of their devastated flock, which thought that celibacy, women priests and married priests might be discussed.

Some of us thought that dealing with priest-molesters might be discussed, or does that constitute mere conservative "yammer[ing] about a return to clerical austerity"?

[Angelique]

when the rest of the world can see it in black and white -- and Catholics like me are seeing RED.

Repetez, if there is molestation, there should be investigation of the accusation, and if charges are filed by a prosecutor, then the Church should allow the law to prevail. If the Church had taken this position, there never would have been this scandal.

I recently saw a show about pedophila, and there was testimony by child victims, and how many years these guys were locked up. While it dealt with girls, the pedophiles all told how careful and cunning they were. It was gross, but it explained how a priest could get away with his position of trust with little boys.

[Angelique]

You are right on the money.

[ppaul]

One notes that the TV evangelists, men of more conservative fews, when caught in acts, that if sinful, were far less serious than molesting children, were disgraced, their ministries collapsed and, if in violation of the law, prosecuted fully. One can only hope a similiar fate awaits these so called Catholic mountebanks.

That is, I am afraid, not very likely.

[superfluousdude]

[Salvation]

This person needs to talk to someone who is literate about Vatican II and how it has affected Catholic lives for the better. Come into the new century, please.