Category: Culture
Really? Crime Against Faith. Really?
When I saw this, “Vatican Says Women Priests a ‘Crime Against Faith,'” I thought I was reading a headline from The Onion, but after further review this is an actual news story posted on the Telegraph.co.uk — then I kept reading. Headlines like this are why our “liberal” denomination’s practice of Christian faith is important. We are an oasis for those that discover that they can no longer journey in faith in their current denominational expression of Christian faith. There will be many in Catholicism that will applaud this move as a necessary protection of orthodox faith and the many are will be primarily in developing countries or are in post-industrial countries so invested in the institutional Catholic church that their very identity as well as their world view is challenged by the idea of women priests. The people in the pews that practice orthodox Catholic catechism are good people, but Pope Benedict XVI and the men that protect him, and orthodox Catholic faith, are segregating themselves from the rest of practicing Christianity. Not to mention that the Pope, as the Vicar of Christ, by extension just claimed that women ordained into Christian faith and those that recognize their ordinations are Christian criminals. Has he read the New Testament? Mary Magdalene went and told the men, who were hiding, that she has seen the risen Christ? Really?
Vatican Says Women Priests a ‘Crime Against Faith
by Fiona Govan | Telegraph | 15 July 2010The new rules issued by the Vatican puts attempts at ordaining women among the “most serious crimes” alongside paedophilia and will be handled by investigators from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), considered the successor to the Inquistion.
Women attempting to be priests, and those who try to ordain them, already faced automatic excommunication but the new decree goes further and enshrines the action as “a crime against sacraments”.
Read the New York Times reporting:
Vatican Rulse Equate Pedophilia and Ordaining Women
by Rachel Donadio | The New York Times | July 15, 2010VATICAN CITY — The Vatican issued revisions to its internal laws on Thursday making it easier to discipline sex-abuser priests, but caused confusion by also stating that ordaining women as priests was as grave an offense as pedophilia.
he decision to link the issues appears to reflect the determination of embattled Vatican leaders to resist any suggestion that pedophilia within the priesthood can be addressed by ending the celibacy requirement or by allowing women to become priests.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” Turns 50
Have I ever mentioned that I don’t like to read? This morning the CBS Sunday Morning Show covered the 50th anniversary (birthday) of To Kill a Mockingbird. Katie Couric reported on the celebration of publication of this novel by Harper Lee. Click here to visit the CBS website to read the entire article or watch the video.
I don’t remember having to read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school. Many people did. Lisa can’t believe that I was not required to read it except to say that I did go to public school in Texas. She grew up in Virginia. Given what the state of Texas is doing with textbooks during the last decade she may be right to be suspicious of the education I received. I am concerned for my sister’s kids. My family moved around while I grew up. Here are the cities and towns where I attending primary, middle and high school: Garland, Paris, Sour Lake, and Waco. Anyway, the first time I read this book was in October 2004 on our 15th wedding anniversary trip. It took me three days. I had seen the film several times, even on the big screen, and own the DVD.
A favorite quote. “They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions,” said Atticus, “but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” -Atticus (114)
I’m a film person. I watch To Kill a Mockingbird at least once a year and sometimes a few times more. I enjoy the moment when the kids shame the adults into returning home rather than hanging Tom before the trial. I also like the scene where Atticus and Scout are on swinging on the porch after Scout has a bad first day at school. Atticus give sage advice about needing to see something from another persons point of view. Finally, I like the scene where a neighbor tells Jem that the world needs people to do the hard things that other folks don’t want to do or can’t do. His father, Atticus, is one of those people.
If you have not read To Kill a Mockingbird pick up a copy and do so.