tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post2145252490060806213..comments2024-03-12T19:57:41.861+00:00Comments on THINKING CATHOLICISM: MAYNOOTH - CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD IN MELTDOWNThinking Catholicismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16589713565062075036noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-54356529517122958922016-09-06T22:55:23.103+01:002016-09-06T22:55:23.103+01:00I am an old man now and recall that the weekly fod...I am an old man now and recall that the weekly fodder for the News of the World among others was 'Vicar accused of assaulting choirboy'. It became a cliché for the contents of the less salubrious Sunday papers. These men were able to marry, to carry out clandestine homosexual affairs (though illegal it was ignored so long as no horses were frightened). And of course, more cases are coming to light in the Anglican Church (the notorious Bishop Ball for one) together with accusations of 'cover up's' at the highest levels. So, my question is, why would anyone believe that opening the priesthood to married clergy is going to stop the abuse of position by priests and bishops in the Catholic Church? One further question (very personal so I will certainly understand if it is ignored). Pat, you say that your 5 years as a priest in Belfast were the happiest in your life. Were you sexually continent during that time? <br />E.L. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-29442618382757637622016-09-06T11:44:07.337+01:002016-09-06T11:44:07.337+01:00I hold those clergy of D&C responsible for the...I hold those clergy of D&C responsible for their contribution. Obviously other difficult times in my life also contributed, particularly the struggle in accepting my sexuality, but i will continue to hold those clergy responsible for their contribution. As for getting a life, I now have a wonderful life and couldn't be happier.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-88168088173727695172016-09-06T11:21:20.493+01:002016-09-06T11:21:20.493+01:00i only know of two 'gay' people - One of e...i only know of two 'gay' people - One of each. I get on well with them - everyone is friendly with them and our priest also gets on well with them.<br />We have to accept people as we find them!<br />Who - indeed - are we to judge?<br />PipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-12380631078205176822016-09-06T10:40:03.207+01:002016-09-06T10:40:03.207+01:00As you said previously, the Wing is small. You wer...As you said previously, the Wing is small. You were your own worst enemy. It would be interesting to hear the priests' version of events - not that we ever will. Stop blaming your own neuroses on everyone else. Deal with them and get a life. Take some responsibility for a change.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-22203254071058277062016-09-06T10:17:59.865+01:002016-09-06T10:17:59.865+01:00I am encouraged to see that a few have taken to at...I am encouraged to see that a few have taken to attacking me ad hominem. I guess if you can't refute me then you have to attack personality. I should like to point out to 17:25 and 16:30 that I am perfectly "all there". A breakdown a number of years ago, in which certain certain clergy of Down and Connor played no small part, does not impact upon the present. These comments should be seen as scandalous to any decent human being and deeply offensive to every reader. <br /> Indeed I did leave seminary, on pleasant grounds and by my own choice. As I explained in my previous post. I did not experience a sudden enlightenment. I came out and accepted my God given sexuality and turned to the clergy for advice, however, I instead vicious bile, some of which I quoted in the previous post. It was a deeply hurtful experience to be rejected by the church in which I planned to dedicate my life simply because I didn't fit into their strict binary. Indeed I did speak out against the corruption and lies of the Roman Church, but let's face it I'm hardly the only one. <br /> 17;47, I agree with you, but as I pointed out, it seems not everyone in Down and Connor agrees. The scriptures are clear that David and Naomi were lovers, try reading scripture more often. The scriptures say: "...the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul...Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul, Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing and gave it to David, and his armour, and even his sword and his bow and his belt." (1 Sam 18:1-4). It goes on to say: "Greatly beloved were you to me me; your love to me was wonderful passing the love of women." (2 Sam 1:27). Have you ever heard a heterosexual man who was so close to another that his soul was bound to another, and say that he loves a man more than women? <br /> Now as for Ruth and Naomi, scripture states that Ruth and Naomi shared the same love for each other as Adam and Eve: "Ruth clung to Naomi."(Ruth 1:1-18). The Hebrew word for clung is "dabaq", this is precisely the same word used in Genesis 2:24 to describe how Adam and felt for Eve. <br /> These comments only fuels me on to continue as I am, I am indeed "all there" despite what the attack on my character may claim. Yes I have gone through hell in the past, but I have come through it stronger and better than ever before. I am proud to be gay, I am proud of what I have come through and the strength I have shown in surviving it, and I am proud that I can think for myself. If people have an issue with who and what I am, that's their issue and I pity their mentality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-21862047358741735772016-09-06T10:03:49.533+01:002016-09-06T10:03:49.533+01:00The case against Teresa being truly good is conclu...The case against Teresa being truly good is conclusive. This wily Pope can ignore facts if he wants but he cannot make them wrong. And I would ask people what is the best risk to take: "What comes first? Upholding Mothers good name or risking condoning the spiritual and physical suffering she enabled and caused and did? Do the poor matter as much to me as her?!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-34272370614347928832016-09-06T09:58:40.444+01:002016-09-06T09:58:40.444+01:00Just to add something to the Mother Teresa debate....Just to add something to the Mother Teresa debate. The worst thing she ever did was to hoard up millions while her nuns were forced to use the same syringe over and over again on the patients. I have googled and there is no refutation of that at all. We need hard evidence to refute such a terrible deed. The excuse that they were doing all they could do under the circumstances is just an excuse. There is no excuse for spreading disease that way. The believers are blinded by faith. Real faith in God should be based on reality and determination to get rid of bias. Any faith that does not care enough about truth is an idol. As Bonhoeffer said we need to be careful that our religious faith in God does not become an idol. The fundamental problem with idolatry is that it cuts you off the real God if there is one. When a saintly person shows terrible serious flaws you can be sure the God they are a saint for is the one they have created in their heads. Jesus made that very point about the Pharisees.<br /><br />It is startling how people on this blog are dismissing Colette Livermore a good woman without reading her book. That is bias pure and simple. As for calling her disgruntled and dishonest that is a biased judgement. Did they walk in her shoes? As for Christopher Hitchens, though he was correct, he should have been a little more methodical in his refutation of Mother Teresa's humanitarianism. But the argument does not depend on Hitchens - there are many testimonies and investigations that support his thesis and those are carried out by people more qualified than those armchair religionists who despise the findings and want them forgotten.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-63173153262751293742016-09-06T08:56:27.264+01:002016-09-06T08:56:27.264+01:00We choose to be who we are because we are thankful...We choose to be who we are because we are thankful for what God has given us. The Christian response is to share of what we have been givenFly on Th Wallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12520198020314816276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-52879313215168712642016-09-06T08:54:43.410+01:002016-09-06T08:54:43.410+01:00Salvation is not earned. It has been won by Christ...Salvation is not earned. It has been won by Christ. What we do we do out of gratitude. We are not paying off a heavenly account or proving a point. We live in the tension of Hegel's Dialectic. We choFly on Th Wallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12520198020314816276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-88015062891136115322016-09-06T07:05:43.712+01:002016-09-06T07:05:43.712+01:00Quote: "My dislike of the venerable Mother cr...Quote: "My dislike of the venerable Mother crystallised in the ’70s. Our popular ‘Divinity’ professor, a young Australian nun, announced her intention of leaving Loreto College, my alma mater and Mother Teresa’s original teaching order, to join the Missionaries of Charity. Appalled, I argued, “Are you crazy? You are young, intelligent with such an impact on your students. How can you possibly join Mother Teresa? She forces her nuns to stop thinking. You’d have to put your brains on hold, swear blind obedience. You’d mortgage your intelligence, your intellect? For what? To mop floors? Anyone can do that. Why should you?’<br /><br />“I’m not giving up my freedom,” my sister-teacher replied, gently. “I’m choosing to obey, to abandon pride and ego for humility. It’s what I want to do with my life.” And she walked into what we thought of as a prison and stayed there till the end of her days."<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-73219856588709414592016-09-06T07:04:46.884+01:002016-09-06T07:04:46.884+01:00Livermore finally left in 1984 and followed her fi...Livermore finally left in 1984 and followed her first calling, to become a doctor. She now works as a general practitioner in Gosford, NSW.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-41746640263103627562016-09-05T23:43:05.217+01:002016-09-05T23:43:05.217+01:00That's a very mature comment and attitude, Ras...That's a very mature comment and attitude, Rasputin.<br /><br />Well done on the young prisoners though.<br /><br />Maybe the experience will help you grow up a little and leave behind some of the adolescent "He-man", self-righteous bullshit you go on with here.<br /><br />Despite the goons who receive all the attention on this website, there are still plenty of committed priests, religious and laity, in the Catholic Church, who make what you have enrolled in, their life's work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-40696261384083249992016-09-05T22:28:32.061+01:002016-09-05T22:28:32.061+01:00I find the current church so pointless. I have enr...I find the current church so pointless. I have enroled in a programme this week to mentor young prisoners and about to be offenders to become real men and go on to to be good citizens in London. This is my catholic mission. And my good deed.<br />The irish catholic church is irrelevant. They are a bunch of self centred faries who could not give a flying fuck about anyone other than them selves.<br /><br />Rasputin<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-14779063530452036282016-09-05T22:00:17.733+01:002016-09-05T22:00:17.733+01:00Pat,
Compassion is what is central to a relations...Pat,<br /><br />Compassion is what is central to a relationship with God. But I have to ask you. Is sexual immorality a sin? Not according to you, or to the Church, or to anyone in this earth, but according to Christ, His Father and the Holy Spirit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-5554478297287838082016-09-05T21:26:58.661+01:002016-09-05T21:26:58.661+01:00Maybe they should give celibacy a try. Obviously, ...Maybe they should give celibacy a try. Obviously, no one celibate, except perhaps the elderly, otherwise there would not be these neverending sex scandalsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-79626028594737596222016-09-05T21:03:47.139+01:002016-09-05T21:03:47.139+01:00Jesus is the answerJesus is the answerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-90477873502624272302016-09-05T19:53:34.751+01:002016-09-05T19:53:34.751+01:00Excellant reply to CC Pat.
MMMExcellant reply to CC Pat.<br />MMMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-64898390979285169802016-09-05T19:49:00.182+01:002016-09-05T19:49:00.182+01:00I echo Pat's thanks. Colette's writings ju...I echo Pat's thanks. Colette's writings just confirms my views of most religious zealots.Thanks for sharing the insights.<br />MMMMourneManMichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-76219108013508350652016-09-05T19:42:54.478+01:002016-09-05T19:42:54.478+01:00I'm not saying anything but the OT and Saint B...I'm not saying anything but the OT and Saint Brigid certainly did say things on this subject and they certainly don't seem to support your position.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-35367641744049661522016-09-05T19:39:06.139+01:002016-09-05T19:39:06.139+01:0018.15 I can't disagree. Elphin was my old dioc...18.15 I can't disagree. Elphin was my old diocese. I am amazed to see the amount of imported priests. While I wish them well this is not the ideal solution. I know I would not like to live in an Irish diocese as a laicised priest I,d feel stifled. I'm not sure what compromise my former colleagues came to.Fly on Th Wallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12520198020314816276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-67405105974167512102016-09-05T18:15:06.671+01:002016-09-05T18:15:06.671+01:00Celibacy is the issue they keep ignoring. Importin...Celibacy is the issue they keep ignoring. Importing priests seems to be their present solution. I can't see that as a long term solution. Just look at the recent appointments in Elphin: <br /><br /><br />Bishop Kevin Doran has announced the following diocesan appointments:<br /><br />Very Rev Canon Eugene McLoughlin, who is retiring as PP VF of Roscommon, to be Administrator Athleague and Fuerty<br /><br />Very Rev John Cullen, PP Kiltoom to be PP Roscommon<br /><br />Rev Michael McManus CC Athlone (Drum), to be PP Kiltoom<br /><br />Rev Kazimierz Wrobel (Archdiocese of Katowice, Poland), CC Athleague and Fuerty to be CC Athlone (Drum)<br /><br />Very Rev Canon Joseph Fitzgerald PP is retiring as PP Castlerea. He will reside in Ballygar and join the parish team at Sacred Heart Parish, Roscommon<br /><br />Very Rev John McManus, PP Kilgefin (Ballyleague) to be PP Castlerea<br /><br />Rev Dusmanta Mahanyak (Archdiocese of Cuttack Bhubaneswar, India), CC St. Mary’s, Sligo, to be Administrator Kilgefin (Ballyleague)<br /><br />Rev Julian Lupot (Diocese of Tagbilaran, Philippines), to be CC St. Mary’s, Sligo<br /><br />Rev John Gannon (Archdiocese of Johannesburg), to be PP Tulsk, which became vacant on the death of Monsignor Austin McKeon<br /><br />Rev Tomasz Grzegorzewski SDB is taking sabbatical leave and has resigned as PP of Aughrim and Kilmore<br /><br />Rev Stephen Ezenwegbu (Diocese of Awka, Nigeria), to be Administrator of Aughrim and Kilmore<br /><br />It sounds more like the UN than a very rural diocese. Maybe that's no bad thing and good luck to them but I wonder about context and enculturation etc. It's one thing sending a priest to one's own compatriots in a large urban centre like London, New York or even Dublin, but a tiny rural diocese with a very defined culture? I would have thought even a Dubliner might take time to find his feet in rural Sligo or Roscommon with its own nuances. Even language and accent in Ireland varies quite a bit so that must pose difficulties for both foreign priests and parishioners. I suppose we just have to move with the times and recognise that even globalisation is a Church phenomenon also and we must welcome diversity. However, I wonder how those former priests in Elphin who in good conscience chose marriage feel who find themselves no longer worthy to offer their priesthood for their local communities? They are looked upon as Judases by many. Very sad.<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-28615815464318337192016-09-05T18:11:47.787+01:002016-09-05T18:11:47.787+01:00True Pat - but basic punctuation and decent spelli...True Pat - but basic punctuation and decent spelling are helpful in making one's points understood.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-79142435268420065492016-09-05T17:47:54.143+01:002016-09-05T17:47:54.143+01:00You are talking through your hat. There is NO evid...You are talking through your hat. There is NO evidence to suggest Jonathan and David, Ruth and Naomi, were "lovers" in that sense. <br /><br />And, by the way, heterosexuals or homosexual, no one "leads" another into mortal sin. Mortal sin is something we do all by ourselves. It requires full knowledge, freedom and consent - otherwise it is not a mortal sin and, in fact, may not be a sin at all. <br /><br />Everyone, before God is responsible only for his/her own actions - no one else's. No one is condemned for the sins of another - only for our own.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-64386871180904240782016-09-05T17:46:03.516+01:002016-09-05T17:46:03.516+01:00I have to commend the contribution at 16.03! Brill...I have to commend the contribution at 16.03! Brilliantly written, pertinent points - well done! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-20381127290224809822016-09-05T17:44:46.662+01:002016-09-05T17:44:46.662+01:00Well said Sean Page.Well said Sean Page.Happy Harry 2016https://www.blogger.com/profile/01940113939356568306noreply@blogger.com