Saturday, July 19, 2008
Catholic politics
The Pope has urged young people to stay away from the "spiritual desert" he says is spreading through the world. Pope Benedict XVI was speaking to a vast audience in Sydney at the climax of the Catholic Church's World Youth Day celebrations.
IMO: That sounds sensible enough. I agree that Christianity and Islam both seem to be hell-bent for hypostatisation, or for yet more crazy rules of an ersatz secular kind, or for both. In Islam, Blears almost sounds an unwanted lifeline, and for the Catholics, there is seemingly no hope - hence the reasonable warning..
The Spanish church is at loggerheads with the country's socialist government, which is seeking to review historically strong ties between church and state and move to a more secular system.
IMO: Is complaints by the church against secular reformers the way to proceed, though.
Many maintained their rage against a church that they see as still reluctant to go after errant priests and properly care for victims. Helen Last, spokeswoman for lobby group In Good Faith and Associates, dismissed the papal apology. 'It's just a drop in a bucket - a bucket full of tears that all of us who work with victims (of perverted RC priests) have been sitting with for 25 to 30 years in Australia,' Last said.
IMO: Yes, as I heard it, the Church was its own worst enemy. And you almost wonder that the Pope would dare to go to Australia. I can well remember, as one case out of many which perhaps illustrates the low standards of the Catholic religion, when a Brother X.... was considered a holy man, with only one fault. His boasting. Apparently he had boasted that he went to brothels (ie implying he was not, unlike other priests, a pedophile, or had UTAP conquered the urge to bugger little kids). And about the last thing that seems to be required is noisy riots for the Pope as if he were a latterday Billy Graham.
The Pope has urged young people to stay away from the "spiritual desert" he says is spreading through the world. Pope Benedict XVI was speaking to a vast audience in Sydney at the climax of the Catholic Church's World Youth Day celebrations.
IMO: That sounds sensible enough. I agree that Christianity and Islam both seem to be hell-bent for hypostatisation, or for yet more crazy rules of an ersatz secular kind, or for both. In Islam, Blears almost sounds an unwanted lifeline, and for the Catholics, there is seemingly no hope - hence the reasonable warning..
The Spanish church is at loggerheads with the country's socialist government, which is seeking to review historically strong ties between church and state and move to a more secular system.
IMO: Is complaints by the church against secular reformers the way to proceed, though.
Many maintained their rage against a church that they see as still reluctant to go after errant priests and properly care for victims. Helen Last, spokeswoman for lobby group In Good Faith and Associates, dismissed the papal apology. 'It's just a drop in a bucket - a bucket full of tears that all of us who work with victims (of perverted RC priests) have been sitting with for 25 to 30 years in Australia,' Last said.
IMO: Yes, as I heard it, the Church was its own worst enemy. And you almost wonder that the Pope would dare to go to Australia. I can well remember, as one case out of many which perhaps illustrates the low standards of the Catholic religion, when a Brother X.... was considered a holy man, with only one fault. His boasting. Apparently he had boasted that he went to brothels (ie implying he was not, unlike other priests, a pedophile, or had UTAP conquered the urge to bugger little kids). And about the last thing that seems to be required is noisy riots for the Pope as if he were a latterday Billy Graham.
# posted by uv : 10:06 PM
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