Catholic Church shows us what matters

[Scooter]

So while not a single bishop who sheltered and enabled pedophile priests has been disciplined, and particularly egregious cases like Cardinal Law have been shielded from criminal prosecution by hiding them in the Vatican, this guy gets sacked for saying what everyone knows is inevitable:

Pope Benedict XVI has sacked an outspoken Australian bishop who had called on the church to consider ordaining women and married men.

The Vatican said in a statement Monday that the pope had “removed from pastoral care” Bishop William Morris of the Toowoomba diocese. That language was unexpectedly strong by Vatican standards. However, no explanation for the move was given.

Australian media say Morris recently published an open letter saying he was being removed for a 2006 message to the faithful in which he argued that a shortage of priests should prompt the church to consider ordaining women and married men.

[MajGenl.Meade]

It doesn't make any sense to me at all. I wonder what the argument is for this double standard?

[Gob]

The bible says so, somewhere....

[MajGenl.Meade]

The bible says so, somewhere....

How silly. Of course it does not.

[Gob]

Ok, then the Pope says so...

[Sean]

The bible says so, somewhere....

How silly. Of course it does not.

It's on one of the two famous 'missing' pages from the bible.
The other of course being this one...

[MajGenl.Meade]

Ok, then the Pope says so...

Now you're on to something!

I note that last year a Dutch priest was punished severely for displaying World Cup elements in the service. Apparently there was a commentary:

Blessed Mary to Jesus - oh but he's fallen, he's fallen... picked up by Simon who weaves through a crowd of players looking like bystanders - my my - and now it's Simon back to Jesus and he's down again! The ref allows Veronica and the rest of the medical team to wipe his face with the magic sponge and he's up - hasto leave the pitch for a few minutes - and now it's a one-two, beautiful, by the daughters of Jerusalem - the cross is up! Oh but no-one could quite rise to it. Goal kick.

I guess I can see why they sent that priest off!

[dgs49]

What is a perfectly rational and reasonable statement of private opinion may be unacceptable when delivered, for publication, by a high-level official of the organization.

Imagine what would happen to, for example, a Secretary of the Treasury, who opined while delivering a Commencement address at Harvard, "...the whole country is bankrupt, but the politicians are just playing games to hide it because they want to protect their positions in the coming election..."

Statement of opinion...

Undoubtedly true...

Would get him sacked in a NYMinute.

But of course, we are speaking about the Catholic Church, so the pedophile scandal must be brought up, regardless of whether it has any connection with the matter at all.

[Long Run]

Good point, Dave. Actually, the Bishop should be commended for taking a public stand for what he believes, even knowing it would likely get him removed from his position with the Church. It takes those pushing the agenda publicly, and those doing it behind the scenes to make a difference -- if that is possible.

[rubato]

"...
But of course, we are speaking about the Catholic Church, so the pedophile scandal must be brought up, regardless of whether it has any connection with the matter at all.

A normal person might think that the largest and longest running child sex ring in human history is lacking in moral authority.

As the score grows from hundreds to thousands of victims in dozens of countries (every place they've looked, so far) and over as long as human memory can recount one wonders why it has not been expelled from more places. More victims than Bin Laden.

yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

But of course, we are speaking about the Catholic Church, so the pedophile scandal must be brought up, regardless of whether it has any connection with the matter at all.

It is completely connected when a bishop who asks the Church to "consider" the ordination of women and married men is disciplined and bishops who facilitated child rape were not. It speaks to exactly where the mind of the official Church stands on those issues.

[loCAtek]

As well as a complete myth, the biggest child traffickers exist today in Asian (non-Christian) countries.

India:

More than 2.3 million girls and women were believed to be in the sex industry, and experts believed that more than 200,000 persons were trafficked into, within, or through the country annually. There were approximately three million trafficking victims in the country, and two thousand rescues a year. Women's rights organizations and NGOs estimated that more than 12,000 and perhaps as many as 50,000 women and children were trafficked into the country annually from neighboring states for commercial sexual exploitation. According to an International Labor Organization (ILO) estimate, 15 percent of the country's estimated 2.3 million prostitutes were children, while the UN reported that an estimated 40 percent of prostitutes were below 18 years of age. Tribal persons made up a large proportion of the women forced into sexual exploitation. 8

http://www.iast.net/thefacts.htm

[Crackpot]

Rubato is just starting to believe his own hyperbole.

[dgs49]

Don't cite facts to rubato, it confuses him.

He and Andrew (same person?) were probably rejected when they applied to be altar boys and have never gotten over it.

[Crackpot]

Hey, Don't blame them. We all can't be blessed with a cute ass.

[Gob]

Well at least this guy didn't argue with the pope

A Roman Catholic bishop has been found guilty of importing child pornography in a case that has sent shockwaves through Canada and the Church.

Bishop Raymond Lahey was stopped at Ottawa Airport after border guards found 588 images and dozens of videos of naked boys as young as eight on his computer and phone.

He was also carrying a bag of personal sex toys. He was found guilty on the charge today.

It is extremely rare for a bishop to be found guilty of a criminal charge. The case will also likely act as a test of the Vatican's new strict sex abuse laws, which it approved last year.

The bishop’s crimes are especially shocking for Canadians because Lahey was the public face of an historic apology and $15million (£8million) settlement for victims of sexual molestation by a priest in his diocese.

Pope Benedict is believed to have asked top Church officials in Canada to do what they can to alleviate the distress caused by the arrest of such a high-level figure

Lahey was charged after being intercepted at Ottawa Airport while returning home from a trip to Europe in September 2009.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1LW7VNFcN

[Big RR]

A living example of Matthew 6:21--For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

There's treasure in a strong church with or without pedophile priests, but none in a church split on dogmatic portions. So we see where the church's collective heart is, and it's not in protecting its parishoners, but in protecting its treasure.

[loCAtek]

NigRR, first you have to convince them dogma and religion aren't the same thing; when they still won't believe the dictionary.

[Big RR]

Well Lo, I guess you have to first ask "according to whom"? I would think the RC church would say that they are--keys to the kingdom and all that.

[Joe Guy]

NigRR, first you have to convince them dogma and religion aren't the same thing; when they still won't believe the dictionary.

You don't have to use racial slurs to make a point, Loca...