...“Hope is a Christian virtue that is a great gift from God and that allows us see beyond problems, pain, difficulties, beyond our sins. It allows us to see the beauty of God".
Pope Francis said that those who possess this virtue of hope also have the freedom and the strength to see beyond the bad times whether they are to do with bad health or family problems.
And reflecting on the fact that in the Gospel the chief priests question Jesus and ask with which authority does he act, the Pope said: "they have no horizons, they are men who are locked in their calculations, they are slaves to their rigidity”
...“Human calculations “– the Pope said – “close hearts and shut out freedom", whilst “hope gives us levity"...
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Happy Birthday Papa Francesco! | National Catholic Reporter - December 17, 2015
The Church is the only institution left that waits until a man is in his seventies or late sixties to bestow upon him a position of consequence like the papacy. But, at 79, Pope Francis seems to breathe out youthful, and saintly, vigor. I am not his doctor so I have no idea the actual state of his health. But, no one should be writing his obituary and he sure seems young to me. And he seems to be asking the Church to feel young again too. It is a thrilling experience, for him and for us. May his health be good and his determination as resolute as possible. May his wisdom continue to infect the Church. And, may he be given many, many more years to lead the Church of Christ.
…These reforms are all rooted in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and, even more, in the spirit of the Council, a phrase that had become suspect in years past but which can now be uttered without fear. Which leads to perhaps the greatest reform this still young pope is crafting: Where Pope John Paul II called the Church to “be not afraid,” Pope Francis is not only demonstrating on the world stage what it means to act with a real freedom of the children of God, he is also empowering bishops and priests to shed the fear that they might say something wrong, or they might “cooperate with evil” or otherwise get bruised by engaging those whose lives are not pristine and perfect, to be a Church modeled on the mercy of the father in the parable of the prodigal and behaving like the Good Samaritan.
Read complete report: http://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/happy-birthday-papa-francesco
Pope Francis praised Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. Here’s who they were. September 24, 2015
Pope Francis singled out four “great Americans” during his speech before Congress on Thursday. In addition to Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, the pope spotlighted two Catholics who are beloved by many but were controversial during their time.
Francis cited the importance of Dorothy Day, a journalist whose conversion propelled her to found the Catholic Worker movement and advocate for the poor, and Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and one of the most influential Catholic writers of the 20th century. His mentions caused a spike in Google searches for both Day and Merton.
Francis could have chosen from several notable Catholic Americans, but he mentioned two who had been in trouble with the church at different points of their lives, said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of a book on Merton. Day, he said, was told not to use the word Catholic, and Merton was silenced by his superiors for writing against the Cold War. Photo
Thomas Merton
A Catholic writer and Trappist monk, Merton was a hugely influential post-war figure for Catholics — and many non-Catholics. Photo
The pope described Merton as “above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the church. He was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions.” The monk’s contribution to America’s cultural reserves, the pope said, falls under our capacity to pursue dialogue.
After converting to Catholicism and entering a monastery in Kentucky, Merton became one of the most influential Catholic writers of the 20th century.
Here is how Francis introduced Merton before a joint meeting of Congress: “A century ago, at the beginning of the Great War, which Pope Benedict XV termed a ‘pointless slaughter,’ another notable American was born: the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton.”
That framing seems to directly parallel how Merton chose to introduce himself to readers of the autobiography that made him famous, “The Seven Storey Mountain.”…
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Overcome indifference and win peace: 2016 Peace Day Message - Pope Francis - Dec 15, 2015
..Kinds of indifference
3. Clearly, indifference is not something new; every period of history has known people who close their hearts to the needs of others, who close their eyes to what is happening around them, who turn aside to avoid encountering other people's problems. But in our day, indifference has ceased to be a purely personal matter and has taken on broader dimensions, producing a certain “globalization of indifference”.
The first kind of indifference in human society is indifference to God, which then leads to indifference to one’s neighbour and to the environment. This is one of the grave consequences of a false humanism and practical materialism allied to relativism and nihilism. We have come to to think that we are the source and creator of ourselves, our lives and society. We feel self-sufficient, prepared not only to find a substitute for God but to do completely without him. As a consequence, we feel that we owe nothing to anyone but ourselves, and we claim only rights… Photo
In other cases, indifference shows itself in lack of concern for what is happening around us, especially if it does not touch us directly. Some people prefer not to ask questions or seek answers; they lead lives of comfort, deaf to the cry of those who suffer. Almost imperceptibly, we grow incapable of feeling compassion for others and for their problems; we have no interest in caring for them, as if their troubles were their own responsibility, and none of our business.[9] “When we are healthy and comfortable, we forget about others (something God the Father never does): we are unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings and the injustices they endure... Our heart grows cold. As long as I am relatively healthy and comfortable, I don’t think about those less well off.”[10]...
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Update: Jan. 5, 2016
Roman Catholic hierarchy child sexual abuse “cover-ups” - to avoid public outrage & criminal charges falsely accused gay priests, WATERGATE? - Fr. Marty Kurylowicz - December 17, 2009
...A major problem with the hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic Church is that there are no “checks and balances.” When the necessary “checks and balances” are not in place to protect any organization, it leaves "not making waves" the rule that governs the hierarchy and opens the way to many devastating mistakes harmful to everyone and allows corruption to grow... http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/01/rc-hierarchy-child-sexual-abuse-cover.html
R E S E A R C H - E N D S - D E B A T E
Experts to Bishops: Gay Priests Not the Problem
Nov 18, 2009
John Jay College of Criminal Justice - 5-Year Study by American Bishops – Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases - May 18, 2011
...Since the scandal broke, conservatives in the church have blamed gay priests for perpetrating the abuse...
The report notes that homosexual men began entering the seminaries “in noticeable numbers” from the late 1970s through the 1980s. By the time this cohort entered the priesthood, in the mid-1980s, the reports of sexual abuse of minors by priests began to drop and then to level off. If anything, the report says, the abuse decreased as more gay priests began serving the church…
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A report prepared by researchers from New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice on the abuse of children by Catholic priests in the United States between 1950 and 2000 offers a complex portrait of the “causes and context” behind decades of sexual abuse and the sometimes ineffective or even negligent response of U.S. bishops to the problem. Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash., and Chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, said the exhaustive study, five years in the making, offers an explanation, but not an excuse for the abuse scandal that first engulfed the United States before surfacing throughout the global church…
Karen Terry, dean of research at John Jay and principal investigator for the study, told reporters at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on May 18: “There is no single cause of the sexual abuse crisis…
The study sweeps away the suspicion that an influx of homosexual men into the priesthood helped propel the crisis. The researchers pointed out that reports of abuse began an abrupt decline even as more gay men became priests… Photo
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Facts about Homosexuality and Child Molestation - Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D.
Is he a reformer, a traditionalist, or both?
Harvard Divinity Bulletin - Spring/Winter 2014
...In response to the question of why he had not removed Monsignor Battista Ricca, whom he had appointed to a supervisory group at the Vatican Bank, he affirmed his nonjudgmental affirmation of the person and his willingness to keep him in the position—despite allegations that Monsignor Ricca had a homosexual relationship in his past...Thus, Pope Francis makes an important shift insofar as he sharply distinguishes between the criminal act of sexual abuse and homosexuality—and he did not withdraw his appointment of Monsignor Ricca. Will this distinction also lead him to move against bishops who cover up sexual abuse by transferring priests from one parish to another? If he does, that will signal an even more significant shift… Photo
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Part 3b - Pope Francis - “Sharply Distinguishes” - Homosexuality - From - Pedophilia - Making Bishops Accountable Child Sexual Abuse Coverups - SEPTEMBER 17, 2015
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B U R K E - S L A N D E R S - G A Y P R I E S T S
...In the interview, Burke also blamed gay clergy for the church’s sexual abuse crisis, saying priests “who were feminized and confused about their own sexual identity” were the ones who molested children.
Researchers have disputed that claim, and experts note that the reported rise in the number of gay men entering the priesthood since the 1980s coincided with a sharp drop-off in abuse cases…
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Part 2 - OBEDIENT to WHOM??? - Fr. Marty Kurylowicz’s 1997-2015 Protecting Gay Children - vs. - Burke’s Hysterical Antigay Demagoguery - JULY 7, 2015
Pope Francis celebrates 79th birthday - December 18, 2015
Pope Francis celebrated his 79th birthday on Thursday amid hopes among his critics that it will be his last - at least as pope.Photo
While Francis remains enormously popular among most rank-and-file Catholics, a small but vocal group of conservatives who have never much cared for his radical agenda have grown increasingly strident in criticising him now that there is little doubt left about his priorities.
…The Remnant, a small, traditionalist US newspaper, last week wrote an open letter begging Francis to change course or resign, arguing that his papacy was 'causing grave harm to the church'. Organisers say a few thousand people have signed onto the petition.
' …This appalling situation has no parallel in church history.'
To put it more simply: 'Many people in the Vatican want Francis dead,' said Francesca Chaouqui, the woman at the heart of a leaks scandal currently convulsing Francis' Vatican.
In an interview last weekend with Italy's La Stampa newspaper, Chaouqui said Francis' in-house reforms and nominations have emboldened his enemies, many of whom were in the Vatican when Francis was archbishop of Buenos Aires and had a less-than-pleasant relationship with Rome.
Some of these cardinals and bishops are openly resisting his reforms while others inside and out of the Vatican are simply waiting out his pontificate under the argument that popes come and go but the Curia remains…
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Conspiracy theories worthy of a Dan Brown novel sprouted in the Italian media on Thursday, with accusations that Pope Francis's enemies were looking to undermine him after a newspaper reported he had a brain tumor… Photo
The common denominator was that the pope's foes within the Vatican and the Catholic Church want to weaken his authority as a pivotal meeting of world bishops on family issues nears its end on Sunday.
La Repubblica quoted Argentine Bishop Victor Manuel Fernandez as fearing a well-planned "apocalyptic strategy" against Francis by conservatives who want to destabilize the Church and block his attempts to change it.
Leading political columnist Massimo Franco wrote in Corriere della Sera daily that the story was probably "hatched in the most murky Vatican underground and was aimed at delegitimizing the pontiff”.
La Stampa called the saga part of a "calumny to block change".
…But the Vatican's own newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said the timing of "false news" was fishy. "The moment chosen unmasks an attempt to raise a cloud of dust in order to manipulate.”
…Conservatives at the gathering oppose changes to doctrine on issues such as how to minister to homosexuals and divorced Catholics by showing more mercy and less condemnation.
The pope has said he wants to show more mercy without changing fundamental rules.
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Cardinal Wuerl Calls Out Pope’s Opponents - October 18, 2015
Cardinal Donald Wuerl has flatly denied the allegations by some of his fellow cardinals and bishops that the fathers attending the synod are “somehow” being manipulated by the pope and the synod structure that Francis approved. He wonders whether the underlying reason why they are suggesting or saying such things is because “they just don’t like this pope,” and find the church that he is calling for “somewhat threatening.”
In this interview with America on Oct. 18, the cardinal archbishop of Washington charged that a number of his brother cardinals and bishops have their own position and think that some questions now on the synod agenda should not even be discussed. He said some of these people “are speaking, sometimes surreptitiously, sometimes half-way implying, then backing off and then twisting around” and in this way they have "tainted" the synod process in the public eye with their groundless allegations of manipulation, and so cast a cloud over its outcome.
Asked what he would say to those bishops who said and did such things, Wuerl replied:
“There’s not much you can say because if someone isn’t willing to hear you . . . ”…
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Clash of the archbishops: Synod dispute between US senior churchmen goes public - October 19, 2015
Pope Francis has a brain tumor? Sharp denials amid synod silly season - October 21, 2015
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Wednesday (Oct. 21) categorically denied a story from an Italian news agency that Pope Francis has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, calling the report “unfounded” and “seriously irresponsible.” Photo
The brief and unsourced story was published late Tuesday on the website of Quotidiano Nazionale, or National Daily, which said only that a small tumor was discovered “months” ago and that no surgery would be required.
The scoop was quickly called into question, in part because the story provided SO FEW DETAILS and because the Vatican has been swirling with rumors this month during an intense and contentious debate over church teachings among 270 bishops gathered for a global synod on the family.
The synod has featured unusually open arguments and no small amount of public sniping among churchmen, as well as revelations of a secret letter to the pope and accusations of behind-the-scenes “rigging” and “manipulation.”…
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Pope lectures Catholic elders at closing of synod on family - October 25, 2015
…But there were limits. Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, Belgium, said that when he raised the idea in his working group at the synod that committed same-sex relationships could have spiritual value, “bad feelings came up.”
In the end, he said he was pleased that the synod did not delve deeper into the issue of homosexuality.
“That is a point for next time,” he said. “Better to leave it for later than discuss it in a hot and bad atmosphere.” Photo
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Pope Francis, ending synod, excoriates bishops with ‘closed hearts’ - October 26, 2015
Pope Francis, ending a contentious bishops’ meeting on family issues, on Saturday excoriated immovable Church leaders who “bury their heads in the sand” and hide behind rigid doctrine while families suffer…
In his final address, the pope appeared to criticize ultra-conservatives, saying Church leaders should confront difficult issues “fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand.”
He said the synod had “laid bare the closed hearts which frequently hide even behind the Church’s teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult cases and wounded families”.
He also decried “conspiracy theories” and the “blinkered viewpoints” of some at the gathering, and said the Church could not transmit its message to new generations “at times encrusted in a language which is archaic or simply incomprehensible”…
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Pope Francis closes tumultuous synod with an appeal for mercy -October 25, 2015
ROME — Closing a tumultuous Synod of Bishops in which “mercy” was often the watchword for prelates seeking progressive openings on issue such as divorce and remarriage and gay and lesbian relationships, Pope Francis on Sunday declared that “Today is a time of mercy!”
Although he did not mention any of the substantive topics discussed by the Oct. 4-25 synod during a Vatican Mass that closed the event, he did urge the gathering in St. Peter’s Basilica to rely more on God’s mercy and forgiveness.
He warned the bishops of the risk of “becoming habitually unmoved by grace,” of turning a cold shoulder to God’s most wounded children, and of a “spirituality of illusion” that doesn’t let them see the reality of their flock before them and respond to it.
“A faith that does not know how to root itself in the life of people remains arid and, rather than oases, creates other deserts,” he said, adding that moments of suffering and conflict are precisely the occasions for God to show mercy…
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"We have to put mercy before judgment," he said. "Let us set aside all fear and dread. Instead, let us experience the joy of encountering that grace which transforms all things." Photo
Misericordia, the Latin word for mercy, says Church historian Massimo Faggioli, means being close in our hearts to the poor.
"There is a very radical social vision of Francis here," Faggioli says. "For him, 'poor' and 'mercy' means a certain view of the economy, of criminal justice, of the social role of the Catholic Church, of ecumenism, of everything."
But that message is disturbing to many Catholics.
Their unease emerged at the synod — the bishops' meeting on the family in October — in several nasty incidents.
In a leaked letter, 13 conservative cardinals complained the synod was rigged to get predetermined results. And in interviews, some bishops vented their anxieties about the synod outcome.
Francis had urged open and frank debate, but the derogatory tone some bishops used toward him revealed a deeply divided Catholic Church.
In his closing speech, Francis took a swipe at conservatives, saying the true defenders of doctrine are not those who uphold its letter, but its spirit…
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Experts praise Vatican's finance laws, but call for clampdown on crime - December 16, 2015 VATICAN CITY European experts on preventing financial crimes praised the Vatican for significant steps in establishing laws and procedures in line with international protocols, but called for "real results" in cracking down on infractions and prosecuting offenses.
Moneyval -- the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism -- said the Vatican has addressed "most of the technical deficiencies in its legislation and regulations."
"However, there is a need now for the anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing system to deliver effective results in terms of prosecutions, convictions and confiscation" of criminal assets, the experts said in a press release Dec. 12… Photo
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Catholic Church Isn't Doing Enough to Stop Child Abuse - December 18, 2015
..As Kieran Tapsell of the National Catholic Reporter noted, Pope Francis has refused to "change canon law by abolishing the pontifical secret over allegations of the sexual abuse of children by clergy and religious." While the church allows reporting of sexual abuse to the police where civil law requires such an action, only a small number of countries have comprehensive reporting laws. This means that many cases are still covered by the "pontifical secret" and are not reported to secular authorities, perpetuating the cycle of abuse and preventing justice from being carried out.
The Pope is happy to make speeches about the Church's contrition, but he is either unable or unwilling to do more than just talk about the problem. If the Pope and Church were truly serious about addressing the problem, they would start requiring all reports of sexual abuse of children to be turned over immediately to secular authorities. And while the accused shouldn't be punished by losing their jobs while judicial proceedings are underway, they should be removed from positions of influence over vulnerable children. These measures would obviously be unpopular within the curia and papal administration, but they would be signs that the Catholic Church is serious about protecting children and righting their past wrongs…
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Pope Francis Delivers 'Gossiping Is Like Terrorism' Speech In Vatican City - September 4, 2015 Photo
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Friday likened a person who gossips to “a terrorist who throws a bomb,” telling his followers that sowing divisions is a sickness within the Catholic Church.
Speaking during his homily at his Santa Marta residence, Francis criticized people who think gossip is harmless.
“Gossiping is like terrorism because the person who gossips is like a terrorist who throws a bomb and runs away, destroying,” he said. “With their tongue they are destroying and not making peace.”…
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Pope: "the Church’s wealth lies in the poor, not in material riches” December 15, 2015
...Commenting on the first reading from the Book of Zephaniah in which Jesus rebukes the chief priests and warns them that even prostitutes will precede them into the Kingdom of Heaven, Pope Francis said that still today temptations can corrupt the witness of the church... Photo http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/12/15/pope_the_church’s_wealth_lies_in_the_poor,_not_in_materia_/1194531
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Differences Between - Adult Homosexual & Heterosexual - Pornography - July 7, 2015
Such research, could begin to help us to understand the nature - in how and in what ways gay adult pornography differs from adult heterosexual pornography. Adult heterosexual sexual behavior that is not overt, but is benign, such as, public expressions of affection and love for another human being, a simple kiss, holding hands, embracing are ubiquitously displayed endlessly throughout every aspect of society, i.e. in love songs, operas, movies, advertisements, etc. Photo
However, for gay people, these same benign public expressions of affection and love are completely absent in society. Largely, because signs of affection, especially, between two gay males, evoke such hostile reactions from disgust to, as documented, to outright violence, to torture even to death by supposedly heterosexual male onlookers. How, why - on earth would simple expressions of love between two men - evoke in some other men, who claim to be straight - the absolute opposite expression of love - to become to mercilessly want to annihilate another human being(s)?
Burke’s Ruthless - Gay Sexual Repression
Genocide
Instead, these same harmless benign public expressions of love by gay couples have more often invoked intense violence even grounds deserving of the death penalty. But what is most reprehensible is that such unconscionable inhuman, cold-blooded violence directed against gay human beings continues to be ruthlessly fueled by Cardinal Burke’s public statements, such as, referring to gay couples as murders, and most recently his orchestration of Italy's fifth annual National March for Life, on May 10, 2015. Christians are killed “in the name of God.”
Public Obliteration of Any Visual Representation of Gay Couples
This kind of obliteration of any visual public representation of the natural and normal expression of affection and love of gay couples is a severe form of collective homosexual sexual repression promoting violence against human beings, a genocide.
Who’s The Blame for Gay Adult Pornography?
It not only (1) fuels violence against gay people, at the same time fuels the (2) viewing of gay adult pornography, including making it the only source that (3) validates the reality and existence of adult gay people, admittedly not the best source, nonetheless the only source. And who is the blame for this? Those who chose to (a) remain ignorant (vincible ignorance) and those who (b) enforced the ignorance of homosexual sexual orientation i.e. Cardinal Burke. Together, they form a group on the basis of their unquestionable willful ignorance of homosexual sexual orientation an extreme form of gay sexual repression - reinforced by their intense self-righteous attitude that perpetuates their collective blindness - causing the atrocities of structural violence … Photo
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Pope Francis sends letter praising gay children's book - 28 August 2015
The hippos, kangaroos and penguins adorning the cover of Piccolo Uovo (Little Egg) give little hint of the political and religious storm the children’s book has caused. While following the adventures of an egg may seem harmless enough, its discovery of different family types – including same sex – has prompted a backlash by conservatives who accuse Italian author Francesca Pardi of promoting a pro-homosexuality gender theory.
In the book, the egg encounters a pair of gay penguins, lesbian rabbits successfully bringing up a family, as well as other family models, including a single parent hippo, a mixed race dog couple, and kangaroos that have adopted polar bear cubs… Photo
Now Pardi has found an unlikely supporter in Pope Francis, who through his staff has written to the author praising her work. “His holiness is grateful for the thoughtful gesture and for the feelings which it evoked, hoping for an always more fruitful activity in the service of young generations and the spread of genuine human and Christian values,” wrote Peter B Wells, a senior official at the Vatican secretariat of state…
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Catholic bishops find pornography more important than poverty - December 4, 2015
Pope Francis’ emphasis has been on “a poor church for the poor” and the church as a “field hospital.” But the agenda of the American bishops at their annual meeting in Baltimore last month was business as usual, with a focus on abortion, same-sex marriage, religious liberty and, especially, pornography.
The bishops labored over a document highlighting the evils of pornography and went into great detail about erotic stimulation, orgasm and masturbation, reminding us, as some of them do on a regular basis, that masturbation is always gravely evil. Because the church has repeatedly condemned pornography, it is not clear why the bishops put so much effort into this policy paper at this time.
What is clear is that a majority of U.S. Catholic bishops continue to be obsessed with things sexual and continue to ignore the pope’s exhortation to instead focus on issues relating to charity and justice. Thomas Reese, reporting on the bishops’ meeting for National Catholic Reporter, wrote, “Francis wants a pastoral church, preaching a Gospel-based message of love, compassion and justice — not a nagging church wagging its finger at people.”
San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy, a native San Franciscan, has embraced the pope’s message and took his best shot at the bishops’ meeting to integrate Francis’ values into the deliberations on the bishops’ document regarding conscience and voting. Each election cycle, the bishops have issued a paper called “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” which hasn’t been revised since 2007, and was only lightly revised for this 2015 meeting. The document, offered as a guide for Catholic voters, focuses on abortion and euthanasia and repeatedly references same-sex marriage. McElroy eloquently argued that the document was basically flawed in that it does not account for the impact of Francis prioritizing Catholic social teaching…
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On Gay Priests, Pope Francis Asks, ‘Who Am I to Judge?’- July 29, 2013
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis told reporters, speaking in Italian but using the English word “gay.”… Photo
“So much is written about the gay lobby. I have yet to find on a Vatican identity card the word ‘gay,’ ” Francis said, chuckling. “They say there are some gay people here. I think that when we encounter a gay person, we must make the distinction between the fact of a person being gay and the fact of a lobby, because lobbies are not good.”
An article in the Italian weekly L’Espresso this month alleged that one of the advisers that Francis had appointed to look into the Vatican Bank, Msgr. Battista Ricca, had been accused of having gay trysts when he was a Vatican diplomat in Uruguay. The pope told reporters that nothing in the documentation he had seen substantiated the reports.
“The problem isn’t having this orientation. The problem is making a lobby,” he said...
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Pope Francis was in his element when he opened the ‘Door of Charity’ for the poor - December 19, 2015
ROME — Years from now, records will show that the special jubilee Year of Mercy decreed by Pope Francis began on Dec. 8, 2015, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. If you ask the pontiff himself, however, he’d probably tell you it really got underway on Friday.
That afternoon, Francis headed across town to visit a hostel for the homeless run by Caritas, the main diocesan charity in Rome, in order to open a “holy door of charity.” In a sense, it was the natural follow-up to what happened on Dec. 8, when Francis threw open an ornate door to St. Peter’s Basilica that’s otherwise bricked up when jubilees aren’t underway.
That gesture traditionally is how jubilee years commence, but Friday’s rite was a novelty — a pontiff opening a door not to a church, where spiritual indulgences are on offer, but rather a charity center, where the “grace” dispensed is more tangible and this-worldly…
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Thalamus Center
Early Childhood Psychological Development
Growing up Gay
My name is Fr. Marty Kurylowicz, a Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Grand Rapids Michigan ordained June 16, 1979.
In March 1997, after attending a National Symposium of the New Ways Ministry that was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I learned that children as young as 4 and 5 years of age know that they are different. This feeling "different" is only identified in their adult years as being gay. However, the harmful influence of antigay social and religious norms -- in particular, for Catholics, the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings -- are severe and last throughout a child’s lifetime. The harmful effects are not isolated only to these children who grow up to be gay, but also affect their families, siblings, friends and anyone whom they might consider special in their lives. They are a prescribed societal sentence of implicit isolation, which place at risk of suicide so many innocent adolescents and young adults. They stifle an enormous amount of human potential in the world that otherwise could be put to use for finding cures for diseases, offering better ways of maintaining peace among people and improving the quality of life for everyone in the world…
Above - Fr. Marty Kurylowicz’s letter sent to government officials of the USA and others – seeking legal assistance - July 2010 - Photo
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Anti-gay Bias Linked to Lack of Awareness of One's Sexual Orientation and Authoritarian Parenting, Study Shows Photo
Homophobia is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires, a series of psychology studies demonstrates.
The study is the first to document the role that both parenting and sexual orientation play in the formation of intense and visceral fear of homosexuals, including self-reported homophobic attitudes, discriminatory bias, implicit hostility towards gays, and endorsement of anti-gay policies. Conducted by a team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara, the research will be published the April issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
"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," explains Netta Weinstein, a lecturer at the University of Essex and the study's lead author.
"In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward," adds co-author Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester who helped direct the research…
The findings may help to explain the personal dynamics behind some bullying and hate crimes directed at gays and lesbians, the authors argue. Media coverage of gay-related hate crimes suggests that attackers often perceive some level of threat from homosexuals. People in denial about their sexual orientation may lash out because gay targets threaten and bring this internal conflict to the forefront, the authors write.
The research also sheds light on high profile cases in which anti-gay public figures are caught engaging in same-sex sexual acts. The authors write that this dynamic of inner conflict may be reflected in such examples as Ted Haggard, the evangelical preacher who opposed gay marriage but was exposed in a gay sex scandal in 2006, and Glenn Murphy, Jr., 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," says Ryan. "Homophobia is not a laughing matter. It can sometimes have tragic consequences," Ryan says, pointing to cases such as the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard or the 2011 shooting of Larry King… Photo
Across all the studies, participants with supportive and accepting parents were more in touch with their implicit sexual orientation, while participants from authoritarian homes revealed the most discrepancy between explicit and implicit attraction.
"In a predominately heterosexual society, 'know thyself' can be a challenge for many gay individuals. But in controlling and homophobic homes, embracing a minority sexual orientation can be terrifying," explains Weinstein. These individuals risk losing the love and approval of their parents if they admit to same sex attractions, so many people deny or repress that part of themselves, she said…
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“SOMETIMES WE ARE PREJUDICED AGAINST OURSELVES”:
INTERNALIZED AND EXTERNAL HOMOPHOBIA IN THE TREATMENT OF AN ADOLESCENT BOY - MARY T. BRADY, Ph.D. - 2010
Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Vol. 47, No. 4. ISSN 0010-7530
Internalized Homophobia
…Moss (2002)… He describes internalized homophobia in men as a movement from a personal subjective experience of homosexual impulses, which, if threatening, is defended against by a movement towards identifying with “masculine” group hatred towards homosexuality. He notes that the conventional usage of the term “internalized homophobia” “aims to describe and to partially account for a sexual identity characterized by persistent, structured negative feelings, particularly shame and self-loathing. Implicit . . . is the idea that such feelings represent the dynamic outcome of an internalization of the dominant culture’s attitude toward homosexuality”…
…Moss’s reminder that the concept of internalized homophobia relates not only to relatively accessible dimensions of experience but also to profoundly unconscious dynamics essential. He points to the complex manner in which the internalization of social, cultural, and familial rejections combines with intrapsychic issues:
Internalized homophobia is a symptomatic structure. Conceptually it is best thought of as a multilevel phenomenon. At a minimum it refers both to the widespread internalization of the dominant culture’s interdiction against homosexuality and to a particular individual’s defensive and possibly idiosyncratic employment of the interdiction. (Moss, 2002, p. 49)
That is, the internalization of prejudice meets the complexities of psychic reality and developmental processes, intermingling into complex states of shame and superego judgment. Harris (1996) pithily expresses it as follows: “Homophobia, like many aspects of ideology, is both in us and we are in it” (p. 363)… Photo - Definition
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Injustice anywhere is a
threat to
Justice everywhere
Martin Luther King
The Nobel Peace Prize 1964
Martin Luther King Jr.
What you cannot do is accept injustice.
From Hitler – or anyone.
You must make the injustice visible
– be prepared to die like a
soldier to do so.
Mahatma Gandhi
Kids Are Being Hurt!!!
“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed,
well considered and yet fervent public conviction that
the most deadly of all
possible sins
is the mutilation of
a child’s spirit.”
Kids Are Being Hurt!!!
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