How Chuck translates the message in Fr. Unni's homily is important in the discussion as I believe it will provide the opportunity to see exactly where Fr. Unni isn't being honest. He isn't being honest to parishioners at St. Cecilia's and he isn't being honest about the treatise of the Rainbow Ministry which is operated by individuals who oppose the moral teachings of the Church and leads others to oppose them.
The Catholic Church is not a place we go once a week to be nice to each other, although that is certainly part of a Catholic Community in providing ministries to serve the needs of the parish. It is a place we go to be taught the moral teachings of the Church to use that knowledge to judge our own actions against those teachings. We come to use the Sacraments to bolster our efforts to bring our defiant spirit into surrender. We amend our lives.
We've had many discussions in the com boxes this week with St. Cecilia's parishioners. They are masters at taking things out of context to grant license to sin and scandal.
Oh, the Church teaches us to check in with our own brains to get guidance (but says nothing about making sure our consciences have been formed and are consistent with Church teaching).
Oh, she was just an Altar server wearing an alb giving out Communion (but says nothing about the five priests sitting on their fannies)
When you bring out the proper context, the beautiful people get rather hostile and vulgar. This is the fruit of John Unni's ministry.
We'll explore the reasons why when the other pieces of the puzzle as soon as Chuck's piece gets published.
Meanwhile, here is the final part of Fr. Landry's discussion on St. Cecilia's: The Gospel of Chastity.
For the last two weeks, we’ve been examining some of the larger issues that have been raised by the controversy over a Mass at St. Cecilia’s in Boston to welcome those who celebrate gay pride. We’ve mentioned that those with same-sex attractions deserve and need the full and authentic pastoral care of the Church. Those who are “gay” — meaning those who celebrate sexual activity and culture based on same-sex attractions —are in even greater need of the full teaching of the Catholic Church, since in addition to the normal need for pastoral accompaniment and assistance in resisting temptations they also are vulnerable to severe attacks against the faith, considering that gay orthodoxy involves the rejection of Biblical and magisterial teaching on sexual morality and marriage, and therefore the denial of the authority of Scripture and of the Church.
Central to the Church’s full and authentic pastoral care of those with same-sex attractions is the assistance to live a chaste life. When mention is made of this call to chastity, some in the gay movement shriek with exasperated incredulity, as if chastity were a death sentence to a loveless life or, worse, some type of medieval castration ceremony executed in subterranean Vatican dungeons. Chastity, however, is the precondition for any real love.
Take the time to read it in its entirety. Peace to all who read it.
God bless him for tackling the complexities of this latest scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston.
It is the substance that is cleverly subverted by Fr. Unni.
31 comments:
Carol, The article from Chuck is posted at Rainbow Times, and you may want to count to 1000 (or have a stiff drink) before you take it on. The take on 'conservative bloggers' is noteworthy, as is a final commentary from a Boston psychotherapist. Seems we have our own unresolved issues with homosexuality. Yes, that's it exactly! We can all quit blogging and commenting now!
LOL.
I hope you are exaggerating!
We focus on the woman altar serving and wearing an alb precisely because that is what YOU choose to focus on. I say, leave that poor woman alone, Carol. You should be focusing on the priests who made the decision to handle communion that way. In other words, YOU should be focusing on why Unni ASKED her to give out communion. So don't you twist this all around. You, Maria, and others continually talk about this woman in the most disrespectful ways when what you SHOULD be talking about is Fr Unni. And furthermore, the decision to not recite the Creed is rather a big offense that you don't seem interested in.
Karen, the clinical social worker (cited in RTs article) opines that all "conservative" Catholics have anger issues over homosexuality arising out of unresolved personality conflicts.
How is this psychobabble any different from the diagnosis (until the mid 1970s by the AM Psych Assoc) that homosexuality was a mental illness?
Using psychology and psychiatry as a political/ideological weapon was a mainstay of the Stalin and Brezhnev eras in the Soviet Union.
It's pretty clear where these folks would like to go with this....repress dissent and the free exercise of religion.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm all over Unni.
I realize you want to excuse the woman in the alb whom you claim just happened to be in the right place at the right time for when Unni asked her to give out Communion.
It doesn't gel for me. If Fr. Unni asked her to put a rubber ball on the end of her nose and say the Mass, she would be accountable for saying 'no'.
A grown woman doesn't belong in the Sanctuary wearing an alb. If she's there and the priests end up sitting down and she takes over for them, it isn't happenstance.
I do take an interest in his Liturgical shenanigans, which is why we are spending time keeping his antics under the microscope.
My poetic apprehension on seeing the woman in the alb put me in mind of one of the hags who met Macbeth on that blasted heath.
Hesketh,
You are so right about using psychology as a weapon to repress dissent as we careen towards a totalitarian society. I fully expect to end up in one of Obama's fine FEMA 'emergency centers' someday. I'll be OK though...so long as they don't throw a bunch a snakes into the room with me (I'm OK with rats, though)!
"I fully expect to end up in one of Obama's fine FEMA 'emergency centers' someday."
Oooh Karen! Me too! How will I know you in case we are in the same camp?
All joking aside, I never thought I would ever see a day where such a thought was even considered probable in the United States.
God have mercy on us all! How did we ever let things get to this point?
Veronica
Popular Homosexual and liberal advocate the violent rape of Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorem
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/07/16/real-time-guests-discuss-having-violent-hate-sex-michele-bachmann-and
Jasper
Veronica,
I think that we got to this point in many ways because of our silence. So many of us of the old Baltimore Catechism days were taught to not judge, turn the other cheek, forgive 70 times 70, etc. The next generation, more of 'no right or wrong, just how you feel about something.' Perhaps this would not have been a problem if Satan's minions were playing by the same rules all of this time. They were not and we were blindsighted. Fortunately, thanks be to God in his mercy, many of us now see things very clearly!
PS....you might recognize me by the way I say 'cawfee' and 'tawk' - I haven't completely lost that NY accent!
Jasper, can you imgine the fury if the shoe was on the other foot?
I am sick and tired of this double standard.
"PS....you might recognize me by the way I say 'cawfee' and 'tawk' - I haven't completely lost that NY accent!"
Karen,
That won't work...I have the same accent.
When I first moved to the left coast, I called for a cab and asked them to pick me up on Broad Street, saying "Broad" like a New Yorker. The person at the cab company had no idea what I was saying, until I finally said "Brod" like a west coaster would.
Some more noticeable differences:
orkward -ockward ("awkward")
warter - wahter ("water")
Ha! ha!ha!ha!
Veronica
Karen, Hesketh:
The psychobabbler (cited in the RTs article)is, ironically, named Charles Martel.
Something tells me he won't be a useful "hammer" in holding back future invading Muslim armies.
Breathnach, You are right about the irony, though I hope that he is not the antithesis to the 'Hammer' in these seemly imminent times of Christ/Antichrist.
Veronica, LOL I had similar issues moving to the Boston area - accent aside (as they take out the 'R's that we NY'ers put in!), I had to get used to Tonic being something other than what is mixed with Gin or Vodka, and getting an ice cream-less treat when I ordered a milk shake instead of a frappe!
God, you people aren't tired of all this yet? You are on the losing team, so you might as well move on to another topic. Although, I find you all amusing in your folksy and crazy attempts to get people in trouble. I wonder when you'll just come to terms with the fact that no one (except yourselves) cares about all this. Not the Cardinal, not any bishop, not the Apostolic Nuncio, not the CDF, not the Holy See, and not John Unni. You are roundly mocked in all circles but your own and nobody cares what you think.So, I guess I'm just curious when you'll pick up your ball and go home.
"You are widely mocked in all circles but your own..."
So was Jesus.
"I'm curious when you'll pick up your ball and go home..."
Not to be presumptuous here but....We won't - we are in it for the long haul!
Care to join us?
"I wonder when you'll just come to terms with the fact that no one (except yourselves) cares about all this. Not the Cardinal, not any bishop, not the Apostolic Nuncio, not the CDF, not the Holy See, and not John Unni."
You are absolutely correct. It would be foolish to try to convince oneself otherwise.
However, God cares.
Not to be a stickler for details, but the Holy See very much cares. That is why the content of the 'rainbow ministry' has been deleted and the clapping for sex Mass was recalibrated into a 'welcoming for everyone' - which of course as John Unni said last Sunday - that's meaningless because everyone is always welcome to every Mass.
Cardinal Sean cares. He doesn't care about the souls involved, that's true, but he does care about his own reputation in Rome. You see, he's trying to get out of here and he is being roundly mocked for 'losing his marbles' in every circle but his own.
Strike that. He is roundly mocked for losing his marbles in every circle, including his own.
More importantly to Sean, there are some very significant donors who care.
The Nuncio didn't care - that's true - but I'd keep a close eye on that appointment. He's been seen packing his stuff.
Does John Unni care? You better believe he cares. He wanted to be a track to be elevated to Bishop. Those dreams have just been kicked to the curb. If it's one thing other than pedophiles the Vatican has a fear of elevating to Bishop, it's a priest who has been caught promoting gay sex and marriage.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree!
:)
"Not to be presumptuous here but....We won't - we are in it for the long haul!"
Amen to that!
Anon,the Arians had a similar attitude to you and your cohorts.
All the beautiful people were with them-the power elites, what passed for media in those days, the politicians, many of the generals, and most of the powerful bishops,all fell into line with the heretics. One man organized and fought against them--St. Athansius.
Enjoy your worldly prestige and accolades---while it lasts.
I haven't had the time to check out Chuck's article - but Martel led some gay marriage efforts and Fr. Unni promoted him at St. Cecilia's as a motivational speaker.
I would say this disqualifies him, wouldn't you?
I guess they couldn't find a heterosexual in the Chancery to weigh in on the theology?
The Unni-invertalist elite will go the way of the dinosaur.
I find them a "sad" lot- materially
so rich, spiritually so impoversihed.
Christ unlike "Cardinal Sean" was surrounded by the poor and sinners
admitting sin and yearning for healing.
Soon a corrective will come from
Rome if Unni is not convicted of
other charges.
I don't know, Carol. I don't think the pope gives a flying fig what goes on here. He's got bigger problems. And Bernie Law still has the Pontifical Ear. That alone is incontrovertible evidence for the indifference of Rome. The Holy See does not want a weeping Franciscan run out of his diocese like a bullied schoolgirl.
Of course if "Seán" Pat O'Malley were to strip naked on Boston Common as a sign of renunciation of the world like the emaciated founder of his order, one might discover that he is a more accomplished gastronomist than the man from Assisi. A corpulent friar is a comic relief in Shakespeare, but a tragic crisis in the real world of Boston today.
You've got it right: he cares about his reputation in Rome. Bernie will croak one of these days and a papal basilica will stand empty. Pat O'Malley, with better Italian than Bernie, will be waiting in the portico. Jack and Jim and Mary Fatty O'Neill and the rest of the overfed overpaid coterie will cling to Pat's cappa magna. A cappa magna covers a lot of corpulence and a lot of sins.
Meanwhile, Fr. Higgins celebrates five Masses every Sunday because his parochial vicar is "elsewhere". Only one of the five is a True Mass.
The Church is moribund. In America, In Ireland, In Europe. St. Cecilia's is a com-Unni-ty of crypto-piskies who worship each other's egos and genitals..
..a weeping Franciscan run out of town like a bullied schoolgirl??
LOL.
Jack - you are such a colorful addition to our family.
Contra, nicely said!
Karen, I read the article.
“From a psychological perspective, their level of anger and rage reflects that the issue of homosexuality seems to be something that they have unresolved personal conflicts about, and clearly are struggling with,” he added."
What exactly is it that Martel is accusing faithful Catholics of?
Latent homosexuality?
Carol, It could be that, or simply that we are threatened by people who's sexuality we don't understand because it forces us to question our own fixed notions on the way life should be. I.E., we are too concrete/black & white/rigid. There's a reason they call it psychobabble - take your pick on the meaning! I find the presumptive "anger and rage" phrase more disconcerting (and on par with the 'haters and bigots') -it is a method of dismissing us out of hand. We have no validity since we are motivated by anger, rage, hate bigotry, etc. Good stuff!
PS.....Was I exaggerating? LOL
A corpulent friar is a comic relief in Shakespeare, but a tragic crisis in the real world of Boston today..A cappa magna covers a lot of corpulence and a lot of sins.
ROFLM arse off.
Jack: You just always make my day. I suppose, with every thing else that has been done away with in the Church, that gluttony was also found to be a superfluous sin, a matter of no account, hmm?
Maria
Jack, Maria,
I don't know...could be we have unresolved personality conflicts with the nomatterwhatness of protruding abdomens. I know I do. Why just the other day on the commuter rail some woman tried to squeeze herself into a space that was half her size. My back and neck still hurt from being twisted up against the window. I suppose its me who needs the shrink for having the conviction that its common courtesy to know the size of your touche and calculate the empty spaces?
Karen, no, you were not exaggerating.
Drumming up a shrink to caricature Catholics holding Unni accountable for the salvation of people he is hoodwinking as bigoted malcontents who need to see a shrink to resolve their latent struggles with sin?
I am really disappointed he took that cheap shot.
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