Wednesday 16 August 2017




Catholic woman bishop on recruitment drive in Ireland

Image result for bishop bridget mary meehan
BISHOP MARY BRIDGET MEEHAN (centre) with Rosemary Smead (left) and Barbara Duff

Bishop Mary Bridget Meehan celebrating Mass. She hopes to encourage other women to ordination while in Ireland.

Five women who believe they have a vocation to the Catholic priesthood have contacted a US delegation visiting Ireland this month to recruit female priests.
From the US-based Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP), the delegation is being led by Irish-born Bishop Mary Bridget Meehan, who is accompanied by Rev Mary Theresa Streck and Rev Joan Chesterfield.
Speaking of the five women seeking ordination, Bishop Meehan said they “already have theology degrees and diplomas in spirituality”.
A Mass celebrated by Bishop Meehan, in a community centre on Dublin’s South Circular road, was attended by “35 to 40” people earlier this month, while the delegation met a similar number more recently in Drogheda.

NOIRIN NI RIAIN

They have also visited Glenstal Abbey at Murroe, Co Limerick, where they met former Abbot Mark Patrick Hederman and Nóirín Ní Riain who was ordained Rev Nóirín Ní Riain, minister in the One Spirit Inter Faith Seminary Foundation, last month.

DOM HEDERMAN


Bishop Meehan said she had also met Limerick parish priest Fr Roy Donovan who last week called for the ordination of women to the Catholic priesthood and objected to the introduction of a male-only permanent diaconate in his Cashel archdiocese before completion of a report by the papal commission on women deacons.
The meeting with Fr Donovan was “very open” she said, and he had put her in contact with a woman who believes she too has a vocation.

Image result for father roy donovan limerick
FATHER RPY DONOVAN

Bishop Meehan was raised to the episcopacy in 2009 at Santa Barbara, California, after ordination to the Catholic priesthood at Pittsburgh in 2006.
Her family is from Crosskerry, near Rathdowney, Co Laois, but they left Ireland for the US in 1956. Nowadays, she holds weekly liturgies, including Mass, at the Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community in Sarasota, Florida.
In 2007, she and fellow women priests were excommunicated by Pope Benedict. He decreed that anyone “who attempts to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the woman who attempts to receive a sacred order” was automatically excommunicated. However, this decree has been rejected by the ARCWP.
In North America, there were about 250 Catholic women priests and 11 women bishops, Bishop Meehan said. Their ordinations were valid “because of our apostolic succession within the Roman Catholic Church”, she said.
Ordain
“The principal consecrating Roman Catholic male bishop who ordained our first women bishops is a bishop with apostolic succession within the Roman Catholic Church in communion with the pope. Therefore, our bishops validly ordain deacons, priests and bishops,” said Bishop Meehan.
As well as in the US and Canada, the ARCWP has members in Latin America and, increasingly, in the rest of the world.
They seek equality for women in the church at all levels, including at decision-making and ordination levels, and prepare and ordain qualified women (and men) to serve as Catholic priests.
Theirs is “a renewal movement” within the church which aims at “full equality for all within” as “a matter of justice and faithfulness to the Gospel”, she said.
She and other members of her delegation are back in Ireland for August and hope to encourage other women towards ordination while here.
They would also “love a dialogue with the bishops” in Ireland and believe there is “a new spirit in the church” since the election of Pope Francis in 2013. They feel “in harmony with a lot of what Pope Francis is saying”.


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AND NOT TO FORGET THE "STRANGE GOINGS ON" IN ARMAGH



THE PRIESTS OF GOOD OUL ARMAGH

(Sung to the tune of "The Boys From The County Armagh"


There's one quare diocese in Ireland,
With clergy so gay and so lewd;
Where Grindr has lavished its bounty,
It's an Eden for those looking screwed.

I love Saint Patrick's cathedral,
Where Rory did broadcast his pubes;
And it bears in the heart of its bosom,
Amy Martin's attachment to boobs.

It's our own Irish see,
Once home to Tomas O Fee;
And though it often shocks us,
It also provides us with glee.
So though we often chuckle,
'bout Phonsie and Shirley Bassey,
My heart is at home in Ard Mhaca,
With McCamley and lovely Keady.

I've travelled each part of the county,
Dungannon and Ryan so blue;
Castle Dawson where Thomas developed,
His love for lace and and the Twirl;
Pomeroy with its famous computer,
Magherafelt with the priest's little girl.
And where are the guys that can pull  them,
Like the priests of good old Armagh.

It's our own Irish see..........

79 comments:

  1. Splitting my sides to the lyrics of that Armagh song Pat, good one and all so true. When are releasing the single and video lol?

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    1. You didn't think it was a bit crass and crude?
      I can't see how it helps the Armagh situation, in any way - -

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    2. No I didn't because I have a good sense of humour, you should try it, I recommend it.

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    3. I don't know whether that poster has more sophisticated sense of humour than you? I think that's it. I thought the 'song' was a bit obvious and silly and if it was intended as a parody, then why not make sure the lines scanned properly?

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  2. Happy to hear about these ordained women. Effectively, a two-fingered gesture to dear old, oily Pope Francis, the Nazi pope, Benedict, and the fat-headed old pole.

    These old farts have had their mysoginistic and utterly useless day.

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    1. The "Nazi" Pope???? He was 14! He was a child? Ever see the pictures of him back then? A kid!! Typical of you - reverting back to your obnoxious form. Where's all your piety and prayers now? If you are looking for "utterly useless" and "old fart", you need look no further than the nearest mirror, you prat!

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    2. Are you denying that Ratzinger has a Nazi past? He has, and no amount of hysterical protest by you can change this historical fact.

      Regardless of his age, Ratzinger was a Nazi. Period. Something for which he has never publicly apologized.

      Moreover, his age is no moral defence for his willing involvement in one of the most evil ideologies in human history. Other young people, like Maria Goretti, sacrificed their lives rather than submit to evil, unlike the moral coward, Ratzinger.

      So continue to apologise for this man as often as you misguidedly chose. But you've already lost the argument.

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    3. 13.26. Poor old Magsy. Back to his drink fuelled insults. Ignorant & complete misrepresentation of Pope Emeritus Benedict. A great moral leader and teacher. Now, Magsy, stay in your bed awhile longer to sober up......Pat promised he wouldn't allow nutty cranks like you insult any more!!!!!

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    4. Judging by that comment, you've proved my point splendidly: you have indeed lost the argument, since there is nothing rational or persuasive in it your post.

      It is always exhilarating to win an argument through the stupidity of one's opponent.

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    5. No reasonable and balanced person would seriously accuse Pope Benedict of having a "Nazi past" - but then you are neither reasonable nor balanced - are you?

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    6. You misunderstand victory you sad little fool.

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    7. Always hilarious when M Carta accuses others of being "hysterical" :-D

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    8. 15:44, no HONEST person would deny Ratzinger's Nazi past; even he does not deny it.

      It is true that he was conscripted into the Hitler Youth, along with his older brother; but neither of them resisted this.

      Ratzinger is a poor example of moral probity to modern youth, since he failed to show moral courage when it was most needed.

      16:32, I need neither understand nor misunderstand victory; I need only savour it. And in this instance, I do. Oh, I do!

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    9. They had no choice. 14 years old he was! I wonder what you would have done? They probably would've thrown you out of Hitler Youth in any case. You're too much of a dictator!

      Seriously, all very well the likes of you pontificating about what a 14 year old boy should or could have done, in Germany, in the 1930's! Also, this was long before the full reality and horrors of Nazism became known to the whole world at the end of WWII!!

      You are an ass Magna Carta.

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    10. There is always a choice; we are not automatons. Ratzinger (reputed to be highly intelligent) would have known that Nazism was intrinsically evil, yet he, along with his morally spineless older brother, chose (yes, 'chose') to follow the herd and show public solidarity with Nazism, despite the obvious scandal of this.

      Contrast the moral cowardice of Ratzinger with the courage of Sophie Scholl, and others in the White Rose Society: they resisted Hitler's manic war machine and were guillotine for it.

      I know which of these set the better moral example, and it wasn't Ratzinger.

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    11. You really are an obnoxious and bigoted moron aren't you? HE WAS A 14 YEAR OLD CHILD!

      Sophie Scholl would have been a lot more advanced in her thinking at 21 than he would have been. His role in Hitler Youth was minimal in any case and it was short lived. At 14, he was hardly in any position to take a stand and very few understood the full reality of Hitlerism in any case at that stage of events. Your own hatred and bigotry has made reason and sense impossible for you hasn't it?

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    12. As I said, Ratzinger was highly intelligent and much more mature than his age might suggest, certainly a great deal more mature than other fourteen-year-olds of his time.

      In terms of intellectual and psychical development, he was probably Sophie Scholl's equal (if not better). The difference between the two (And what a difference it was!) is a moral one: Scholl courageously made a stand against one of the darkest evils in human history, while Ratzinger, along with his equally spineless brother, retreated into cowardly self-interest and self-preservation.

      It is on Ratzinger's own standards of personal development (which were clearly outside the norm for someone his age) that his conduct must be judged, not on some stylised psychological profile of a person in that age group.

      On one level, your loyalty to Ratzinger is impressive, but hardly warranted: blind loyalty such as yours is never admirable, and always contemptible.

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    13. You were around back then were you? You knew Josef Ratzinger personally when he was 14 years old did you? You - with your myopic hatred and colossal arrogance - are what is truly "contemptible". It is utterly unreasonable to impose what you are attempting to impose on a 14 year old schoolboy in the 1930's - no matter how intelligent you imagine that he was. You are attempting to do so out of sheer malice. Now, like all trolls, you will be determined to have the last word of course. Good luck to you. Most people who read this blog have the measure of you.

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    14. You have the measure of no one, not even yourself; hence the lack of intellectual self-insight and honesty.

      You sound very angry, so I must have been highly accurate in my evaluation of Ratzinger's conduct back then. Actually, we both know I am, and your anger here is an unmistakable pointer to this.

      If you have read anything by Ratzinger on his conduct at the time, you'll realise that he was fully aware of the moral obscenity Nazism was. Yet he did not resist when conscripted into the ranks of the Hitler Youth; he did not protest, neither he nor his brother, as others protested.

      People like you (effectively, moral cowards, too) cannot face the truth about this odious, little German pontiff, so you attempt to sanitise his past morally. But I'm afraid, like Canute, the tide of history is against you, for Ratzinger did, without any resistance whatever, join a fanatical Nazi organisation, either because he actually supported at least some of its detestable ideological self-deceit (for example, that 'racially pure' Germans...'Aryans'...were superior to all others...the 'master race...and therefore had the right to dominate them), or that he wanted just to save his own cowardly skin. Or perhaps it was elements of both. Who can be sure, except the moral coward himself, Ratzinger? (And, of course, almighty God.)

      Through his moral cowardice, Ratzinger publicly and morally endorsed one of the most evil regimes in political history, along with its fanatical, anti-Semitic ideology (what Pope Pius XII called 'the satanic spectre of national socialism'.)

      This scandal Ratzinger has never, publicly, acknowledged, and repented of. Others, like you, have been quick to present a revised, and highly sanitised, version of Ratzinger's time in Nazi Germany. But all to no avail, for the truth is already out there.

      My young heroes are those like St Maria Goretti, who had the moral backbone to lay down their lives in a most brutal way rather than submit to evil. And poor Maria, a little girl, was younger than the odious Ratzinger: only some twelve years of age to his fourteen years. Contrast her courage with Ratzinger's cowardice. But don't dwell on the difference too long, since it can be nauseating.

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    15. Personally, I find Magna Carta somewhat of an anomaly on this blog.

      Sometimes his post are thoughtful, compassionate, insightful, wise - even moving.

      Then other times - as in the above - he is completely irrational and intransigent.

      Where any of us to be scrutinised for what we did - and did not do - when we were fourteen years old, we would all be in hot water and highly embarrassed no doubt.

      Furthermore, given MC's propensity for extreme dogmatism and harsh intolerance, I dread to think what side he would have taken in 1930's Germany!

      A 21year old university student like Sophie Scholl would have had a much more highly developed social awareness than the 14 year old Josef Ratzinger. Do we not owe the boy Ratzinger the compassion, at least, of the benefit of the doubt?

      After all, the world was unaware of the true nature of Nazism in the 1930's. Hitler Youth was akin to the Boy Scouts. Indeed, footage emerged recently of a young Elizabeth Windsor (aged about the same age as Josef Ratzinger then was) and other playmates, giving the Nazi salute. Is she also to be called "the Nazi Queen"? I don't think any reasonable person would call her that.

      The Pope Emeritus' views on Nazism in any case leave no room for doubt, as to where he stood and stands, on such evil ideologies.

      I can only conclude that MC was so damaged by his experiences in Maynooth in the 1980's that he is left in this highly embittered state that he does strive to transcend but - more often than not - he falls back into it and takes refuge in it.

      In which case, he probably needs our prayers and sympathies more than our annoyance and exasperation.

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    16. 16:03, 'Hitler Youth was akin to the Boy Scouts'? You're not serious, surely? The Hitler Youth was designed, in part, to manifest ruthless and brutal Nazi conceptions of Germanic manhood and Darwinian doctrine on natural survival. To this end, the Hitler Youth sought to brutalise young boys, to drive out any natural vestige of compassion, by training them to kill such animals as rabbits with their bare hands. This was to turn them into psychopathic killers who would eventually serve the Reich in some military capacity.

      You, like certain other commentors here, have a highly sanitised (and ignorant) view of Nazi Germany.

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    17. https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-and-hitler-youth-benedict-s-words

      He didn't want to be in HY. He was in it briefly and he did not participate in its activities.

      Not that any of that will make a button of difference to the closed mind and bitter heart of MC.

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  3. People are just not able to accept discipline anymore. The rule seems be if you can't get what you want, ignore the decision - - take it anyway! Do whatever you want. Make it up as you go along. With a stroke of luck you can get others to break the rules too. Then sit around and wait for praise to be heaped on you. Believe me there will be plenty of praise and plenty of hangers-on. Maybe now would be a good time to bask in this 'praise'---while you're still this side of Eternity...

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  4. Ryan is a strange boy indeed.

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  5. MourneManMichael16 August 2017 at 09:00

    The first part of this blog about the ordination/consecration of women priests/bishops provides a focus for an interesting discussion for those concerned with such developments.
    The second 'poetic verse' bit? Well perhaps it's best ignored.I'm more interested in contributor's views on the first part.
    MMM

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    1. Agree with you there MMM!
      They are not exactly the world's best lyrics now, are they? Oh dear...

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    2. 11.22 I see you were on again at 11.18 making the same silly point. Are you at risk of becoming a parrot?

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    3. No, no - - I posted at 11.22 in agreement with MMM as I said..
      But that was my only post today. I am not sure what you meant re/parrot remark?

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  6. Garret Campbell / Mark O'Hagan. Story?

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    1. Who are they? And when can we expect the expose of Ryan? Not that it will make any difference - ask Eamonn McCamley!

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  7. Mario Delpini (Vescovo)16 August 2017 at 11:10

    Questo blog può essere descritto solo come opera del diavolo. I visitatori dovrebbero sapere che il proprietario del blog non è un vescovo cattolico e non ha avuto mandato dalla Santa Sede. Dovrebbero pregare per lui che fosse convertito.

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    1. Surely to goodness the new Archbishop of Milan is not attacking your blog as the work of the devil, casting doubts on the validity of your episcopal orders and asking us to pray for your conversion, Pat??? You have arrived!! lol

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    2. TRANSLATION

      Mario Delpini (Bishop)

      This blog can only be described as the devil's work. Visitors should know that the blog owner is not a Catholic bishop and has not been sent by the Holy See. They should pray for him to be converted.

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    3. The Blog owner is a Catholic bishop and has never claimed to be a member of the RC hierarchy or have a papal mandate.

      Mario Delpini (if it is him) is the RC Archbishop of Milan).

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    4. I shouldn't be concerned about this comment. People like Delpini historically have described as the work of the devil anything which clashes with their world view, anything from Martin Luther to long hair on men.

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    5. Long hair on men, Magna? I'm not sure that it's not the work o'the divil.. You should see what it's like slavin' over a pair of hot hairclippers of a busy Sat mornin' trying to unravel knots and beersick out o'people's hair in this wee poxy punk hairdo place!

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    6. Ha ha Point taken.

      I keep mine short...just in case.😅

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  8. Part 2 is pathetic and really only for pearl-clutchers and people who could do with a bit of sophistication in their lives rather than running around like rednecks gasping at the gays. What people do is none of your business or mine and unless it has an impact on your life, there are bigger issues to be worrying about.

    The irony is that Irish people simply do not give a damn about this sort of thing, and it's a great credit to them. Look at Fr Gabriel Rosbotham in Co Mayo - the people couldn't wait to have him back in their parish. Look at Fr Martin Dolan in Dublin - he got a standing ovation.

    Change in the Church does not come from abstractions and belittling people online. It comes from the real, lived experience of the faithful. And just as same sex marriage was introduced when people realised that gay people are just normal human beings, so a change in attitudes to sexuality in the Church will come when people realise that gay priests are perfectly capable of being good priests, even if the world knows they are gay.

    What might be really useful from you is to use your experiences to help other priests understanding how they can live out their priesthood with appropriate sexuality. It's no use getting on your high horse about low moral standards - look what is behind it. When men have internalised homophobia, inevitably it results in them acting in ways that are inappropriate and it involves severe mental health issues as well, which eventually manifest in unhealthy ways.

    I think it is disappointing that you do not use your gifts more constructively to help men live out their priesthood appropriately instead of berating them on here for their failings.

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    1. So you are saying it's ok for priests to go to gay saunas, live promiscuous lifestyles, use Grindr and masturbate in line?

      Is there no difference between a gay priest and a promiscuous priest?

      Do you think bishops should cover all this up?

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    2. No Pat, that isn't what I am saying. There is a world of difference and I am not endorsing casual sexual encounters. But Pat, the world isn't black and white - people might be tempted for a fleeting sexual encounter - is that the right approach? Clearly not. Are people fallible? Always. Should they be stronger? Yes. But real life isn't as neat as you suggest it ought to be.

      What I am saying to you is that many of these men have little or no sexual maturity because of the system they have been working/educating in - they then act out sexually in ways that are wrong - might it not be an idea to try to help them?

      As for cover up - someone can get things wrong and make a mistake. Why is your first port of call to publicise - have you offered your help to these men? If someone is a repeat offender, by all means, expose it. But if someone has make a mistake and fallen, then they deserve the opportunity to correct that error in privacy (provided we are not talking about sexual assault or anything involving minors).

      You yourself know that there are aspects of our lives we prefer to deal with privately and how painful it is when that is exposed without consent. The unfortunate exposure of your health issues is an example - that was wrong and inappropriate and unfair on you.

      Don't you think that a more circumspect approach would be appropriate? I know it doesn't make for good reader numbers, but it is the right thing to do.

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    3. 11.54 Let's have a free for all, anything goes excuse mentality like yours. Life would be so much better, do anything you like, sure we are all weak, life is not all black and white, don't worry about it because 11.54 says so and excuses everything.

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    4. I take your points on board.

      But the problem is greater than you are stating.

      There is a world wide "homosexualisation" of the priesthood by a "clerical gay cabal" whose members - bishops and priests - seem to have no faith, no pastoral heart and are intent on creating a priesthood in their own image and likeness.

      This movement has been going on in seminaries, religious orders and dioceses for 30+ years.

      It goes all the way to The Vatican.

      I have tried in the past to talk to individual priests - most of whom told me to "F**** Off".

      I then tried writing confidentially to bishops who ignored my letters and did nothing.

      I have no problem with a gay priest - even a gay priest with a loving partner. How could I?

      Its the bigger problem that is the worry - the gay cabal subculture that is undermining seminaries and priesthood.

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    5. Pat, I agree with this and I don't underestimate the issue. But a gay priest who gets himself into trouble is not necessarily part of that. Yes of course he might be and that should be looked at. But there are also many cases where someone loses their ability to cope, they seek to act out sexually, and then they are subject to public shame and ridicule whereas they could, with help, be restored.

      I appreciate that this is not the same as the Jack the Lad clergy you refer to. But I just don't think we can use the lives of individual clerics to fight cabals unless we are certain that they are part of a cabal and not just someone who has fallen into sexual sin. If they are out mouthing off about homosexuality and the evils of the gays, then fair enough, they are imposing on others a life they don't live themselves - that is different.

      I suppose I just hope that you have a lot more information on these cases than we are seeing on the surface of the blog.

      But yes, I take the point you are making about this corrosive sub-culture and you are right to tackle it.

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  9. Glad the female clergy are being assertive. At least the Gardai did not have to turn up outside the meeting to keep the peace. Times are a changing

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  10. 11.13 is the same one since yesterday making this same comment time and time again. It basically is justifying gay clergy who use online websites for sex, for promiscuous sex and also excuses Seminarians of forming gay cabals and bullying heterosexual Seminarians. The silly argument being spouted by 11.13 today and all day long yesterday is that it's ok for these gay clergy. Let's not name them and let's not expose their double lives whilst denouncing gay people themselves.

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    1. Sorry to disappoint 11:56, but today was the first I have commented on the issue. Isn't it remarkable that there is more than one person who doesn't agree with you? That is tough to cope with, but such is life in a democratic society.

      But let me assist you as you appear to have trouble with nuance:

      -I am saying that the first port of call is not online shaming (read Ron Jonson "So You've Been Publicly Shamed to assist you get your thoughts together on this).

      -I am saying that any priest or seminarian who falls into sexual sin deserves the opportunity to correct his course and if he fails to do so then public expose MIGHT be appropriate provided that the same priest is making demands of others that he does not keep himself.

      -I think I made myself clear on promiscuous sex, read again.

      -I never mentioned seminarians but you do appear to have a fevered imagination to extrapolate my comments into support for gay cabals and bullying - just stick to the arguments and keep your imagination under better control.

      As you were a long playing record yesterday and seem to be piping up again today, can you either engage with the arguments being made and refrain from going off on flights of fancy or else just put a sock in it.

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    2. Oh dear 12.22 did I touch a raw nerve luv, oh I am sorry. Thanks for your essay as a reply but you didn't need to repeat what I was already tired of reading before. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

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    3. You're welcome. It is a corporal work of mercy to instruct the ignorant after all:-)

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    4. You would know a lot about a corporal work of mercy! Best laugh I've had all day, you should consider taking up stand up comedy, I also hear there is a shortage of circus clowns - I'll put your name forward.

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    5. Spiritual work of mercy 13:58!!!!
      You are in need of it also.

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    6. Fair point poster 2 @ 14:54! I'm pleased to see that the Grammar Pest isn't the only pedant reading this blog!

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    7. @15.33
      Another "pedant"? - - Join the club. You'll be right at home..

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    8. Please, 15.33, do not place me in the same category as the grammar genius. I found him very annoying. The average citizen had no problem In understanding and quite happily ignoring the youre, jiz, jons, or whatever.
      The difference between spiritual,and corporal is surely a very different matter.

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    9. @16:50, while you are right that the subject matter is quite different, it is insufferably tedious to read gleeful obnoxious corrections that are entirely irrelevant to the subject under discussion. So the distinction between the Grammar Pest and this form of pedantry isn't really all that great.

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    10. Ha ha! That's him told--you're right poster 15.56 - He's definitely in club!

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    11. 18:04
      Gleeful - how do you get that?
      Irrelevant -.How, also, do you get that?
      Some people see things that are not there - this was a simple but very point!

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  11. Pat the lyrics of that song left me howling with laughter, it was great craic all together. Keep up the good work, we all need a laugh and can take life too seriously sometimes. Dublin PP

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    1. Absolutely 12.04!--let it be as you say then - -You are happy enough at us "howling with laughter " at your shortcomings. Thanks for telling us.

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  12. Great lyrics Pat, can't wait for the next installment. Some touchy miserable people on here that need a humour transplant.

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  13. Homophobes Likely To Be Closet Gays, Study Finds
    BY AMRUTHA GAYATHRI @AMRUTHAGAYATHRI ON
    04/09/12 AT 6:33 AM
    Negative attitude towards homosexuality is likely to be more pronounced among individuals who harbor unacknowledged attraction towards the same sex, and who grew up in conservative authoritarian households which forbade such desires, a series of psychology studies have found.

    The study, which analyzed four separate experiments conducted in the US and Germany, provides empirical evidence to suggest that in some individuals homophobia is the external manifestation of repressed sexual desires they feel towards their own gender.


    Individuals who identify as straight but in psychological tests show a strong attraction to the same sex may be threatened by gays and lesbians because homosexuals remind them of similar tendencies within themselves, Netta Weinstein, a lecturer at the University of Essex and the study's lead author, explained.

    In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward, added co-author Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester who was involved in the study, in which about 650 college students participated.

    The researchers said it may not be just a coincidence that several vehemently homophobic public figures are often caught engaging in homosexual acts. They cited examples of Ted Haggard, the evangelical preacher who opposed gay marriage but was exposed in a gay sex scandal in 2006 and Glenn Murphy, Jr., the former chairman of the Young Republican National Federation and vocal opponent of gay marriage, who was accused of sexually assaulting a 22-year-old man in 2007.


    We laugh at or make fun of such blatant hypocrisy, but in a real way, these people may often themselves be victims of repression and experience exaggerated feelings of threat, Ryan said. Homophobia is not a laughing matter. It can sometimes have tragic consequences, he said, pointing to cases such as the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard or the 2011 shooting of Larry King.

    The implicit and explicit sexual orientations of participants were measured by how they reacted to words, and images with sexual associations, during a split-second timed task.

    Students were shown connotative words, and pictures of straight and gay couples, while the computer tracked precisely the time they took to respond. They were also asked to agree or disagree on statements like, I felt controlled and pressured in certain ways, and I felt free to be who I am, to measure how democratic or authoritarian their parents were. For studying the level of homophobia in a household, participants responded statements like, It would be upsetting for my mom to find out she was alone with a lesbian or My dad avoids gay men whenever possible.


    Subjects, who said they were heterosexual, but reported homosexual tendencies during tasks, were more likely to be hostile to gays, the study found.

    In an earlier study, conducted by the Department of Psychology, University of Georgia in 1996, it was found that homophobia is associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies.

    The findings of the study conducted by a team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara, will be published in the April issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

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    1. Geez, we got to wait until April for this earthshaking discovery to be published??? I don't think I can contain myself. Why this study explains everything!! I think I am going to leak it's astounding findings to Pat Buckley's blog ......!!

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  14. To poster 15.36
    I did my MA in Freudian psychoanalysis and most of what you state in your extended post would be broadly in agreement with Freudian thought..It would not be at all surprising to a Freudian analyst carrying out an examination of the patient's unconscious.

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  15. Just a small comment on the ordination of women. I remember from my Canon Law classes that the requirements for all sacraments to be valid is that they have both the correct matter, and the correct form.

    In the case of Holy Orders whether it be Deacon, Priest or Bishop the correct form is obviously the Rite of Ordination as described in the Ceremonial of Bishops. As for the proper matter, as described in numerous Papal documents pertaining to Holy Orders, as well as in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the correct matter is a male baptised Catholic.

    Therefore whether they have a validly ordained bishop ordaining them, according to both Church law and custom it is impossible to ordain a woman as it is not the correct matter for ordination. Of course St John Paul II made this very clear in his 1994 Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.

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    1. Two problems with this approach:
      1. 'Male' and 'female' are elastic terms along a continuum. Exactly where the boundaries lie is iften not clear.

      2. Matter and form are Scholastic categories. Christian sacraments predate this terminology. In other words, for centuries sacraments were celebrated without reference to form and matter.

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  16. Excellent and informative comment. Contributors to this blog would do well to take it very seriously.

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    1. Magna. You are surprising us at 16.46.You actually praise someone without too many words. OMG......Miracles do happen....

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    2. MourneManMichael16 August 2017 at 18:10

      There have indeed been some excellent informative insightful comments here today. Very refreshing to see some well considered argument irrespective of perspectives.
      Thank you in particular Anon @ 11:13. :54. 12:35. & 12:22. and Pat's replies to the points made therein.
      So good to see sensible comment rather than petty mudslinging.
      MMM

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    3. I agree with your choice of comments MMM---Oh.. and also the comment at 15.12 was amusing. Made me laugh...

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  17. Mags @ 15.26. You indeed are clever!!!Very clever!!!! Always believing in your own verbosity. Sometimes interesting, but when under whatever "influence " at times, you betray yourself. Like Pat, you don"t enjoy criticism. Again, rest your mouth awhile.....

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  18. Pat is there no way of simplifying that feckin "I am not a robot" verification process?? Drive ye round the feckin bend it would!

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    1. Perhaps the machine recognises that you are in fact a robot... Better be careful....

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  19. Is there any news of PP in Co. Louth recently stepped aside in connection with previous parish work inner city?

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    1. I think he is attached to a Religious Congregation

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    2. Semi-detached?

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    3. Pat. Did you get information on the PP removed from ministry in Co. Louth, Armagh Archdiocese?

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  20. You travelled through Co Armagh in Dungannon, Castledawson,Pomeroy and Magherafelt.... OK ---- that makes sense. More brains in a false face

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    1. The song is entitled 'The Priests of oul Armagh' as in the Diocese of. Whose wearing the false face now 19.47.

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  21. Lovely words from fatima from A/B Eamon
    Lord help us use our gifts to build up, rather than to tear down; to heal, rather than to wound; to celebrate, not humiliate. #Fatima100

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  22. 20.03 Perhaps Eamon should have ended the prayer more sincerely by praying; "Lord may I answer letters of complaint in future not throw them in the bin. Amen.

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