Pope Francis, Catholics, and Christians in the news & Bible verses

mtierney said:

Animosity toward those who dedicate their lives to others as priests, ministers,  teachers, scout leaders, etc etc, place themselves in a position of vulnerability. 



It’s funny you should say the words “place themselves in a position of vulnerability”

Pedophiles seek out positions where they can exploit their victims who are vulnerable, and whose parents would never suspect them to be depraved sexual predators… coaches… scout masters…. Priests…seems like the perfect position for pedophiles to operate from.


Mtierney would do well to quit defending the indefensible. The Catholic Church has allowed itself to be defined by the actions of priests who should have been marched into the police station rather than being coddled. So many victims here. The direct victims, victims families, all those who placed their trust in priests. All those who benefited from the good works of the Church - works that were defunded so that the Church could cover legal defenses and settlements. 




An excellent career summary by a brilliant investigative journalist. Nota Bene the section in which Mr Marr explains the standing of the Church under the Law until sweeping legal reforms changed its tax & charity status: it didn’t own property, didn’t employ priests,  wasn’t responsible for the actions of these independent adults so didn’t have to pay compensation….!

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/11/george-pell-flew-higher-than-any-australian-priest-but-he-chose-career-over-the-safety-of-children  

Plus the contradictions of the ‘Melbourne Response’ - that here, we’ve always accepted - a world-first compensation scheme (ie really an insult) for survivors, when other nations already had successfully redressed victims/survivors. 


mtierney said:

ridski said:

No. That's arguably a worse question, because it's a failure to answer why the heck you'd equate someone who covered up for pedophiles who reported to him with Jesus' foster father, and doing a year in white collar prison with being nailed through the hands and feet on a massive cross on a hill. 

You live in Maplewood, right? How do you know, with absolute certainty, that Pell was guilty? Or, as I suspect, you just might have a predilection to find a priest guilty? Having no clairvoyant abilities, I trust the process and legal system to do their jobs without prejudice. I understand, however, that any clergy member, once suspected, will forever be regarded as guilty by haters.

Mr. Ridski's statement (highlighted) about Pell, that he was "someone who covered up for pedophiles who reported to him", is supported by the findings of Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.


mtierney said:

 I understand, however, that any clergy member, once suspected, will forever be regarded as guilty by haters.

Animosity toward those who dedicate their lives to others as priests


Some of the coolest people I've ever met were clergy, so don't pull that BS with me. 

Pell, however, was not cool. Whether he was a pedophile himself is still to be determined, as the family of one of his accusers (now deceased) is now pursuing a civil case against him, but he definitely covered up for at least one pedophile priest in his charge, and appears to be well aware of other abuses going back to the early 70s. I can read, mtierney, even here in Maplewood. So wind your neck in and understand that just because he's one of yours it doesn't make him a good man.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/11/george-pells-death-could-renew-distress-for-ballarats-child-abuse-survivors


Quoted from this article:

“Suppression of the truth comes from the church’s canon law 489 which orders every bishop of a diocese and archbishop of an archdiocese, to maintain and keep under lock and key a secret archive of clergy criminal cases. This means that everyone from the pope down to the bishop in your local diocese maintains such files. Canon laws must be obeyed by clergy.”  Emphasis added by me. 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/16/sexual-abuse-victims-know-the-truth-george-pell-allowed-lives-to-be-destroyed-to-protect-himself-and-the-catholic-church

So, yeah, Pell might have originally been upholding canon law but it wasn’t moral or fair-dealing with parishioners’ lives or mental health, and it was against the laws of the land. Further, this author makes it quite clear that the burden of blame/crime/sin lays as heavily with the hierarchy passing on the wrongdoer (to probably continue the wrongdoing) as the sinner/criminal. So, under canon law, Pell is not fit for sainthood. 
The Shovel, a satirical newssheet, has a couple of wry observations on Pell’s passing. 


joanne said:

Quoted from this article:


So, yeah, Pell might have originally been upholding canon law but it wasn’t moral or fair-dealing with parishioners’ lives or mental health, and it was against the laws of the land. Further, this author makes it quite clear that the burden of blame/crime/sin lays as heavily with the hierarchy passing on the wrongdoer (to probably continue the wrongdoing) as the sinner/criminal. So, under canon law, Pell is not fit for sainthood. . 

But he was just following orders.


Finding your way….  

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253343/hanging-up-jersey-when-god-calls-an-athlete-away-from-sports

from the article..


Hanging up the jersey: What happens when God calls an athlete away from sports?

Young people in sports jerseys

Young people in sports jerseys react after winning a friendly soccer game at World Youth Day in Panama in 2019. | Jonah McKeown/CNA

Jonah McKeown

By Jonah McKeown

St. Louis, Mo., Jan 15, 2023 / 08:00 am

St. John Paul II once said that “every Christian is called to become a strong athlete of Christ — that is, a faithful and courageous witness to his Gospel.”

Though the saintly pope was clearly speaking allegorically, he himself was a lover of sports, as are billions of people around the world.

Only a small fraction of all athletes will play their sport at the collegiate level, and far fewer will make their chosen sport a career. Nevertheless, in the U.S. in particular, sports and the pursuit of excellence in sports often can become more than a pastime and instead a way of life — especially for young people at the top of their game.

But what happens when, so to speak, the jersey comes off? Two prominent Catholic speakers, both of whom had successful athletic careers before embracing vocations, spoke to CNA this month at the SEEK23 conference in St. Louis about what happened when God called them away from their sport.

‘If Christ is not the center of my life, something else will be’

Sister Miriam James Heidland of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity described sports as her “first love,” having been interested in watching and playing them since she was young. She went on to play Division 1 volleyball in college.

“I was never good enough to go pro, so I knew that wasn’t going to happen, but I really wanted to pursue a career in sports journalism, work for ESPN or something,” Heidland told CNA.

and..

‘I wanted to be great at something’

Father Chase Hilgenbrinck, a priest of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, serving in his second year as vocations director, played soccer in college and at the professional level. He grew up in an athletic family and as a child idolized famous athletes such as basketball legend Michael Jordan.

“Growing up, I was just kind of like any other American kid who just wanted to be great at something,” he recalled to CNA. The priesthood was not at all on his radar.

Father Chase Hilgenbrinck. Credit: Diocese of Peoria

After playing soccer at Clemson University, Hilgenbrinck played professionally in Chile before joining Major League Soccer in the U.S. He ended up playing for the New England Revolution in Massachusetts.

At first, he wanted nothing to do with the priesthood. Previous instances when people had told him he would make a good priest had gone “in one ear and out the other.”

Hilgenbrinck started to hear and respond to God’s call to become a priest when he realized the various “jerseys” that he wore throughout his life weren’t bringing him the fulfillment he truly desired. But when Hilgenbrinck first heard the call to become a priest, he said he wasn’t living as an “authentic Christian man”; he described himself as spiritually “still a boy.” He wanted to be a soccer star, not a priest of Jesus Christ.

“So often in life, we believe … that we even have greater desires than God has for us. ’Why isn’t he fulfilling my desires?’ I feel like I desire more than he desires, which is a false premise, and it’s a misconception,” Hilgenbrinck said.

“We start to cover our lives with things, because we’re afraid that God’s not going to show up. So we start putting on jerseys,” he said.

“Whatever those things are: it could be music, it could be academics, it could be our job, it could be a relationship in our life. All these things are all different jerseys that we might wear, so to speak, throughout our lives.

While playing soccer professionally in Chile, a country where he had no connections and did not yet speak the language, Hilgenbrinck had fallen back on what he knew, which was the Catholic Church. Later, his interest in practicing his faith started to grow. He was struck by a quote from the late Pope Benedict XVI: “You are not made for comfort. You are made for greatness.”

He resigned from Major League Soccer in 2008 to enter Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Peoria in 2014.

Hilgenbrinck — who today dabbles in soccer coaching when he has the time — encouraged every coach to be “a good translator of virtue.” For Hilgenbrinck, a quote from St. John Paul II struck him as profound: “Sports are a school of moral virtues.”

“An athlete who goes to practice every day and trains — look at all the virtues that they’re learning in one single day of training. And they do that every day and then they play in games, and the discipline that it takes; realizing that a team is bigger than me, sacrificing for teammates, for the team or for the win, putting myself last so that the team can be first, losing with great class, winning with great humility. I mean, all these things that we learned,” Hilgenbrinck said.




"Not since King Hamlet appeared to Bernardo, Marcellus and Horatio on the battlements of Elsinore Castle has a ghost caused so much trouble. The late Cardinal George Pell, speaking posthumously by means of a previously unpublished article and an anonymous text of which Pell is now known to be the author, has shown the face of the opposition to Pope Francis in all its overwrought self-absorption."

The rest: Pell's posthumous complaints have diminished his legacy | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)


The quotable, meme-able Pope. January 20, to a conference on liturgy: "Please, the homilies: they are a disaster. At times I hear someone: 'Yes, I went to Mass in that parish… yes, a good lesson of philosophy, forty, forty-five minutes.' ... Eight, ten, no more! And always a thought, a sentiment and an image. Let people take something home with them."

Participants in the course “Living liturgical action fully” (20 January 2023) | Francis (vatican.va)


Don’t always agree with the Pope, but he might approve of the NY Passionates Sunday Mass on TV! Always get a short homily, but one that sends a solid message. St Mary’s in Singapore is a bit longer, but meaningful, and delivered in a crisp, clear British accent — and the choir is heavenly!


nohero said:

The quotable, meme-able Pope. January 20, to a conference on liturgy: "Please, the homilies: they are a disaster. At times I hear someone: 'Yes, I went to Mass in that parish… yes, a good lesson of philosophy, forty, forty-five minutes.' ... Eight, ten, no more! And always a thought, a sentiment and an image. Let people take something home with them."

Participants in the course “Living liturgical action fully” (20 January 2023) | Francis (vatican.va)

a homily delivered in St. Peter's church in New Brunswick in the mid-80s was so bad it was the last straw that ended my practice of Catholicism.

homilies don't get much worse than that.


I found the timing of these statements interesting, what with the recent departure for warmer climes of Pope Benedict and his indicted co conspirator Cardinal Pell.

Pope Francis calls for end to anti-gay laws and LGBTQ+ welcome from church


GoSlugs said:

I found the timing of these statements interesting, what with the recent departure for warmer climes of Pope Benedict and his indicted co conspirator Cardinal Pell.

Pope Francis calls for end to anti-gay laws and LGBTQ+ welcome from church

What the Pope said in that interview is consistent with what he's been saying for years, but sometimes what he says gets noticed more in the general press.

A brief overview from Fr. James Martin, from 2021 - Pope Francis is making space for LGBT people in the church—with limits. And it’s a huge step forward. | America Magazine


GoSlugs, Pell is still above ground. His ‘real’ funeral will take place in the next few days in Sydney. Meantime, he’s lying in state at St Mary’s cathedral.
It had become a tradition to tie ribbons on the railing fence around the cathedral in memory of child survivors of abuse; in recent weeks, grounds men have been instructed to remove these because they’re ‘disrespectful’. Um, yeah, riiight. 
Anyway: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/26/unfinished-business-ballarat-abuse-survivor-to-tie-a-ribbon-at-st-marys-before-george-pell-funeral


joanne said:

GoSlugs, Pell is still above ground. His ‘real’ funeral will take place in the next few days in Sydney. Meantime, he’s lying in state at St Mary’s cathedral.
It had become a tradition to tie ribbons on the railing fence around the cathedral in memory of child survivors of abuse; in recent weeks, grounds men have been instructed to remove these because they’re ‘disrespectful’. Um, yeah, riiight. 
Anyway: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/26/unfinished-business-ballarat-abuse-survivor-to-tie-a-ribbon-at-st-marys-before-george-pell-funeral

His body maybe above ground but, you know.


Food for - thought. Or some such thing. You know?  cheese


GoSlugs said:

His body maybe above ground but, you know.

if those guys really and truly, sincerely believe that there is a heaven and hell, how terrifying must the prospect of death  be for them?


Never mind. I remembered they get a last confession 


ml1 said:

if those guys really and truly, sincerely believe that there is a heaven and hell, how terrifying must the prospect of death  be for them?

That’s why they have the Rosary and bottled holy water…


ml1 said:

if those guys really and truly, sincerely believe that there is a heaven and hell, how terrifying must the prospect of death  be for them?

I've pondered this.  The only conclusion I could come to is that they don't really believe.


The burden on their Confessors must be ginormous 



Will the Pope, and two other leaders of Christianity — plus George Clooney — succeed in saving the world’s newest nation?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/world/africa/pope-francis-south-sudan.html


mtierney said:

Will the Pope, and two other leaders of Christianity — plus George Clooney — succeed in saving the world’s newest nation?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/world/africa/pope-francis-south-sudan.html

The idea that a bunch of white guys are going to save a sovereign African nation is, well, (awkward pause) you know.


That is an extremely racist reaction and comment. 

If South Sudan cannot look for help within its own black neighborhoods — certainly not from Sudan —  what would you suggest?  Obviously, the nation is turning to their Christian community — of multi-colored hues.


mtierney said:

That is an extremely racist reaction and comment. 

ROTFLMAO!!!!!



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