Erik Kain and Digby are sitting in for Kevin Drum at Mother Jones. Digby’s post on the Catholic Bishop’s call for civil disobedience to preserve their inalienable right to not pay for contraception made me laugh:
The bulletin insert reminds Catholic parishioners that the bishops have called for “A Fortnight of Freedom”—which they have described as “a special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action”—to take place from June 21 to July 4.
Those fuckers are so goddam ancient and out of touch that this is the catchiest marketing slogan they can dream up. I wonder how many Catholics will go a few furlongs out of their way to preserve this special freedom from something almost all of them have used. And will this help us forget the scores of kids raped under their watch? Unless we’ve all partaken of a few gills of intoxicating spirit, methinks not.
tomvox1
Or is that the catechiest slogan they can come up with?
gypsy howell
So I assume some large percentage of the 98% of Catholic women who use birth control will be going off the pill for a fortnight to ensure their religious freedom. And their husbands will be cool with that. Let’s see if there’s a Catholic baby boom next April.
paradox
I don’t know what “catechesis” means. Or what the fuck a furlong is. It doesn’t look like a good day for the intertubes’n me.
Mark S.
They sure didn’t get this worked up by unjust wars or torture.
ericblair
Also duly noted is that our beanied buddies have started going all William Wallace on us with FREEDOM, just like their pals the gooper wingnuts. Not like FREEDOM has been the standard anticlerical rallying cry for centuries; nope, this is a different freedom altogether.
Gin & Tonic
A fortnight of freedom still beats a period of pederasty.
gypsy howell
A “public action” on birth control? Hmmmm.. that has all kinds of possibilities.
Vince3
Adam Serwer posts there too; did you miss it? http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/05/targeted-killing-and-torture
Everyone’s gettin’ around to agreeing with Glenzilla, even Charles Pierce. http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/obama-kill-list-9257224
You demohawks must be so upset.
Nathaniel
Its my personal faith, shove off, laity is the church, not the hierarchy, y’all are bigoted.
Any other excuses from the other threads I’ve forgotten?
Punchy
I know a lot of words, but even I am not well versed in “fortnight” and “catechesis”. I’m sure the knuckledraggers are agape at such esoteric verbiage.
I’m stunned they like “a special period” of anything. That means the woman aint preggs. Which means the whore is clearly on birth control.
scuffletuffle
Who will rid us of these troublesome priests?
serge
“Catechesis.” Nice touch, my former fellow Catholics. If it ain’t doctrinaire, it ain’t right. Fuck the Vatican.
slag
And on the twelfth day of Freedom my true love gave to me….whoops!
Villago Delenda Est
Pay…no…attention…to…the…Pope’s…butler…selling…Vatican…secrets…
Villago Delenda Est
@Punchy:
A fortnight is two weeks. Brit usage, long since forgotten on this side of the pond.
Joey Maloney
Fortnight: two weeks
Furlong: 1/8 mile
Gill: 4 fluid ounces
Catechesis: religious instruction
Bishop: misogynistic child molester
Any questions?
redshirt
A flagon of forgiveness… not! Nigh well Hell Bound already, sinner.
Jay C
So basically, the American Catholic hierarchy is pushing for a two-week-long PR barrage (fronted by parish priests the length and breadth of the US) to try to gin up hysterical outrage among the laity over threats to their “freedom”? Which is, of course, going to be perceived as little more than yet another round in the Church’s obsessive campaign against birth control?
Good luck with that, Eminences: it’s really proved such a winner in the past….
Keith
Reminds me of my time in Catholic high school, where we had an entire week in theology where our single, male theology teacher taught us that the rhythym method is 90% effective when used properly. And there was this whole spiel about keeping a chart of mucus discharge to know when the right/wrong times are. But the main message was “if you/your partner gets pregnant, it’s your fault, not the rhythym method’s”.
Sounded impractical both then and now.
Villago Delenda Est
Well, it turns out the Devil wears Prada is not just a movie title…
Brachiator
Public action? Are they inviting people to engage in a spot of dogging?
And it’s no coincidence that this fortnight of freedom would end on July 4. Presumably with a bang.
slag
@redshirt: Verily!
Stuck in the Funhouse
OT
Wingnut Gone Wild
scav
@Joey Maloney: Does make me wonder about fore….Score! years ago but that’s in another context entirely.
slag
@Jay C: Nobody expects The Fortnight of Freedom!
maya
Will Catholic Bishops mount their respective limos and go on tour as “Freedom Riders?”
gbear
Well, it probably plays better than their previous slogan, “A Fortnight of Fornication”.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
if they actually succeed in getting past the foreplay and on with the civil disobedience, i wonder if the disobedient laypeople(heh) and the clergy now that i mention it, will have their sexual practices rummaged through the way occupiers became targets of scrutiny once they were “known”.
it would sure be interesting to see how many anti-birth control activists are secret freaks.
flukebucket
Would a bishop in a leather coat be the Fonzi of the Fortnight of Freedom?
The Red Pen
@Punchy:
A fortnight is two weeks.
A catechism is a summary of beliefs. The Roman Catholic Church (among others) maintains a catechism. Studying the contents of this (to acquaint yourself with the beliefs you supposedly endorse as a member of the church) is catechesis.
A call to catechesis will probably work because it sounds really official and most Catholics won’t do it because it’s dreadfully boring. The prohibition on birth control in the catechism (CCC 2270) is so broad that it even rules out the rhythm method (since you know if your heart you’re trying to avoid pregnancy).
The catechism can be changed, but it is extremely difficult to do so. Because it is something akin to a constitution, is it organizationally desirable that it be difficult to change. Unfortunately, in this case, the need for change is glaring and the process simply won’t move fast enough to prevent more trains from careening into what is already a spectacular wreck.
gbear
@slag: I LOL’ed.
The Thin Black Duke
Where’s a pride of lions when you need them?
R-Jud
@Brachiator: This kind of bang, right? Because the other kind is only allowed within the confines of a Catholic marriage.
jeer9
Since I occasionally listen to the EWTN radio station on my long commute home (for the unintentional comedy with which it is rife), I was delighted to hear the experts opine on the exceptions to the Catholic rule that a wife must abstain from contraception. And they are: a.) in order to lure one’s spouse away from an adulterous relationship; and b.) if one’s spouse suffers from a masturbation addiction. In either case, the pill is acceptable, if frowned upon, but at all costs must be purchased without a government subsidy.
Roger Moore
@Keith:
That’s true. It’s just that it’s 90% effective at getting pregnant (the Church’s desired outcome) not 90% effective at preventing pregnancy. The other 10% of the time, you couldn’t get pregnant no matter how hard you tried.
jeer9
Since I occasionally listen to the EWTN radio station on my long commute home (for the unintentional comedy with which it is rife), I was delighted to hear the experts opine on the exceptions to the Catholic rule that a wife must abstain from contraception. And they are: a.) in order to lure one’s spouse away from an adulterous relationship; and b.) if one’s spouse suffers from a masturbation addiction. In either case, the pill is acceptable, if frowned upon, but at all costs must be purchased without a government subsidy.
Waldo
I’m surprised it wasn’t in Latin.
geg6
Fuck these criminals who should not be anywhere other than a jail cell for the rest of their lives. Any so-called “Catholic” who follows along with this bullshit should be put in the same cell as the criminals in robes and kept there just as long.
Fuck all of them.
gaz
@Nathaniel: I’m pretty sure we’ve worn down the usual rape apologist here at BJ.
If I’m wrong, we’ll get the usual laundry list later, about halfway down the thread.
ETA: Apparently, he’s also pro-murdering brown people. Apparently he really likes Sabritas
Such a strong moral fiber in that one. Such character. Very christian.
redshirt
What would a gathering of bishops be called? A rape of bishops? A molestation of priests?
Roger Moore
@gbear:
I don’t know. I think you could probably attract a lot of people with the fortnight of fornication. It sounds a hell of a lot more fun that catechesis.
Bago
@The Thin Black Duke: If you want to go truly biblical about it, you gotta go with bears. Elijah is the reason Colbert consider bears to be the number one threat to America.
gbear
@redshirt: A blowhard of Bishops?
Ash Can
From the link:
Well, let’s see. Word’s going to be going out via a church bulletin insert, which the priest may or may not draw attention to when he reads the parish announcements just before the end of the mass. So that means the parishioners who hear about this massive civil disobedience project will have to 1) actually show up at mass (during a time of year when attendance is light due to vacation travel, hot weather, golf, etc.), and 2) actually read the bulletin once they get it home. Then, they will need to be among the small percentage of parishioners who agree with the bishops on this and will have both the time and inclination to do something, whatever it is.
Therefore, my estimation is that parishes generally should be able to mobilize a few retirees to show up at a rally, hold signs outside of City Hall, or write letters to the editor. Conservative suburban/rural parishes might get a few families to join in the festivities as well. If that counts as “massive,” then remedial trips to the dictionary are in order.
Above all, this is just another example of USCCB overreach. At this rate, they’ll keep hammering until even the blue-hairs stop listening to them.
ETA: And just to clarify, I’m not directing my snark to the writer of the excerpt that I quote; I can tell from the wording that this writer is every bit as skeptical as I am.
Ripley
Here in the heart of Lutheran county, Catholic Law’s as good as Sharia Law.
eemom
This opener is totally wasted on a CC thread.
As y’all sports folks say, do-over.
aimai
@Gin & Tonic:
Yay for a new slogan we can all get behind!
aimai
Rey
The Bishops also have tied Fortnight of Freedom to Saint Sir Thomas More (his feast day is June 22) because nothing says “religious freedom” like celebrating the man who burned William Tyndale (and several others) at the stake for heresy, one of them being the grave heresy of translating the Bible into English.
Actually, that pretty well illustrates the Bishop’s “for me, but not for thee” take on religious “freedom.”
Kent
Just a reminder about what they are really talking about.
My wife is a lapsed/former Catholic. She is also in the healthcare profession and works for a clinic that was recently acquired by Ascension Health, the largest “Catholic” health care corporation in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_Health
In our city Ascension which owns one of the two local hospitals has been buying up all the local independent clinics in an attempt to form a vertically-integrated local structure to compete with the big local HMO that is in partnership with the other local hospital. What were previous a bunch of independently-owned medical practices around the city are now all becoming part of Ascension. Basically they go to the doctors who own the practices and make them offers that they can’t refuse. All the staff, many of whom hired on years or decades ago now suddenly find that through no choice of their own they suddenly have a “Catholic” employer.
What these bishops are saying is that the corporate entity that aggressively acquired my wife’s employer will have its religious liberty violated if she as a non-Catholic WHO DID NOT EVEN CHOSE TO WORK FOR A CATHOLIC CORPORATION wishes to have her health insurance pay for birth control.
What we really need is for someone like Marine Dowd to explore Catholic doctrine regarding corporations. What kind of souls and consciences do these corporations have? Do corporations go through purgatory? Are dead corporations resurrected on judgment day? What does Thomas Aquinas say about it? Because if Ascension Health’s soul is in mortal danger from my wife’s personal medical choices I would like to know exactly how that process works.
scav
Earworm city. Vatican Rag was first, then I hit the concept of a Catchy Catechesis and I’m trapped between Kajagoogoo and Karma Chameleon. At least it’s a change from the “It’s a Mitt-stake” I picked up after the Mitt-spelling.
gelfling545
@Keith: Well, it’s bound to work pretty well as it’s basically predicated on not having sex very often, “safe” times being few and far between. Honestly, though even back in the late 60s one of the good sisters closed the door, pulled the shades and told us girls all about condoms. This is one of many reasons why in bishops v. nuns the smart money is on the nuns.
piratedan
well damn, there goes any hope of me launching that “Condoms for Communion” campaign I was planning
Suffern ACE
The massive disobedience will be led by Polish Catholics, driven mad by the insult (and true agenda) revealed in Obama’s gaffe.
Petorado
Only the US Bishops would use a rallying cry like “Fortnight of Freedom” to describe a period of time where they want their followers to sit down, shut up, and do exactly as they’re told.
They should rename their institution the International House of Irony.
SatanicPanic
Tut tut more anti-Catholic bigotry from BJ front pagers. For shame.
John M. Burt
There isn’t an icre* of sensible people in any position of authority in that church.
*Not a typo. Google it.
Jay C
@flukebucket:
Yes: especially when jumping the shark….
@Rey:
ISTM that very much like today’s right-wing politicos (whom the Bishops seem to have taken as role-models of late), the actual historical facts of Thomas More’s actions are going to be of vastly less importance than the popular (i.e. simpleminded caricature) perception of them: the Brave Catholic Martyr Dying For His Conscience. Which of course, may work on a non-trivial number of Catholics, since they probably have no idea of who St. Thomas More was, outside of the movie version.
Kind of like how Republicans love to gush on and on about Ronald Reagan’s (their own secular Saint) “bold” tax cut programs, and ignore the “ooops, that didn’t work!” walkbacks for the rest of his terms….
scav
@John M. Burt: I am. It’s baffling google who keeps giving me acre.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
Birth Control, again? Meh, a Sideshow.
What I really want to know: How do the Bishops feel about being forced to subsidize free access to curbside trash collection?
mainmati
@paradox: Catechesis is study of the Catechism, a book of standard Catholic doctrines specifically for the laity (sort of like Sunday School). A furlong is 220 yds. It’s pretty much obsolete except in horse racing.
redshirt
I’m gonna wait till reply number 100 and then define “Fortnight” again.
Egg Berry
Funny that the definition of Freedom the bishops require is that the entire country’s government submit its laws to the whims of an unelected foreign head of state who wears a funny hat and slippers.
Egg Berry
Sorry for the duplicate.
WereBear
By the power of Grayskull, that’s messed up.
mainmati
@The Red Pen: What he said and a fortnight is two weeks. It’s mainly British and they still use the word.
mainmati
I’ve seen this acronym being used lately on BJ but the ever useful and snarky BJ lexicon doesn’t include it. Can you elucidate?
lacp
I had a catechesis removed from my butt once.
kindness
I used to read Digby every day. Now…not so much. In a way she has become a bit shrill for me and that’s surprising as I agree with much of what she says. I guess it’s more to do with her tone & stance.
Brachiator
@R-Jud:
Or where ever a priest can corner a choir boy.
@gelfling545:
This is also why the Church is hell bent on getting the nums to subit to Church authority on the new hard line against contraception.
AA+ Bonds
There’s always a few fucksticks in every parish
Watch for the people stealing bread from others during the KOC dinner
Hell, look for the fattest, loudest Knights, that’s a good bet too
Comrade Mary
If you’re going to go on and on about gills and flagons, I have no choice but to link this.
(Short version for my fellow ADD-ers.)
AA+ Bonds
@jeer9:
Funny story, EWTN is now a laypersons’ trust because the Church began investigating it for its hard right political slant and the people who ran it wanted to prevent it from coming under the control of the Church
Hasn’t improved anything with the content but it is always entertaining to see the Church finally come down on fascists within the orders
Roger Moore
@Ash Can:
It will by definition be massive, because anything public protest done by Conservatives is massive. It doesn’t matter how few people are there, it’s still a massive protest, just as by definition any protest done by liberals is either beneath mention of just a bunch of DFHs, even if it involves millions of people. Your SCLM at work.
redshirt
Mead should only be served in tankards, by the by.
Roger Moore
@John M. Burt:
Hmm, I still can’t tell whether you mean “International Credit Reserve Exchange”, “Institute for Clinical Research Education”, “Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education”, “improved Cre recombinase”, “Investors Choice Real Estate”, or “International Conference on Residency Education”. Those were the top matches when I googled ‘icre’.
AA+ Bonds
I would encourage anyone with academic/other access to read some choice articles from America, such as this Valerie Schultz piece pointing out that kids are leaving the Church because they were brought up with values of social justice in their households and see Church leaders instead trying to ban birth control
This piece has been a favorite of my family and their friends and has gotten forwarded around a lot
If you’re looking for an article that can be accessed without any sort of subscription, liberals will appreciate this anti-austerity piece, although I can’t really endorse it myself since it is based on the idea that concessions should be made to allow pro-austerity people to save face
Folks should understand that liberal Catholics believe in a New Testament message of gentle correction that allows people who are/were wrong to save face, to encourage them to return to the right path and to dissuade the faithful from pursuing Crusades, Inquisitions, etc.
Naturally I do not agree with that message entirely, but I also realize it places me in the same place as conservative Catholics in that I believe shame is a powerful tool for good
The liberal Catholic philosophy itself is designed to counter the right-wing fire-and-brimstone message of James Joyce’s neurotic nuns, Bill Donohue, etc. and in that sense it is probably good for the Church in America
AA+ Bonds
@Ash Can:
My mom just transferred to a not-so-surrepititiously-LGBT-supporting-parish after walking out of Mass at the church in which I grew up because of a visiting pastor’s sermon about politics
One of my favorite parts of her new parish is that they print all these bulletin inserts as required, but in protest, they are printed in their own teeny tiny unspaced font jammed down at the bottom of the page, making them, for all intents and purposes, unreadable
It’s as if WordPress forced Cole to run Sullivan if he wanted to stay on this site, and he did so in grey-colored 5 pt subscript in a sidebar
quannlace
Guess the Bishops have decided to keep throwing things at the wall and maybe something will finally stick.
AA+ Bonds
@quannlace:
Human brains, in the case of the rest of the Americas
FlipYrWhig
@quannlace: It’s hard to make things stick to the walls of a Catholic church, what with all the greases and balms they’re constantly smearing everywhere.
PurpleGirl
@mainmati: Or for use in funny terms and their definitions, i.e, the speed of light given in furlongs per fortnight.
(Yes, I’m something of geek/nerd/sf fan. How could you tell?)
ornery_curmudgeon
It is illegal for tax-exempt Churches to engage in American politics.
Seems a conversation could happen around this point.
PWL
I think it’s interesting the that Catholic idea of “religious liberty” means the right to impose their beliefs on those not of their faith. They really need George Orwell to do the writing for them.
shortstop
@slag: Nice!
ericblair
@Roger Moore:
My teabagging cousin was quite worried about me being able to get out of the DC area because of some Glenn Beck protest. Um, no, it’s not those ones you worry about: it’s the immigration and antiwar protests you’ll never hear of in the WashPost, nevermind Fox News, that seriously make downtown impassible.
You know the TERMS & CONDITIONS sections on loan documents? Make them like that; that’ll do.
AA+ Bonds
@ornery_curmudgeon:
One would motherfucking think so, wouldn’t one
I’d say at least 50% of Catholics in America are eager to side against the Church on this one so they can go to Mass every week and not have to hear a bunch of clearly illegal temporal powers and principalities bullshit during the sermon
Roger Moore
@ornery_curmudgeon:
Not quite correct. Churches can lose their tax exempt status if they campaign for specific candidates. They are allowed to advocate for positions that they thing are theologically significant, e.g. against marriage equality.
AA+ Bonds
@Roger Moore:
It’s not as clear-cut as that either – political advocacy in violation of tax law does not necessarily have to involve naming a candidate
In this case I think thorough investigation would probably reveal naked collusion to influence a specific election or elections in favor of a candidate
I think it helps to apply a little CLS here, as well as a little optimism, and see the de facto bounds that exist as eminently alterable given the proper approach to reform
IMO the Catholic Church and a number of other orgs such as the LDS church long ago overstepped their boundaries but the courts treat them like baseball: a special exception, because what would America be without a bunch of ancient white crooks breaking the law with impunity
bemused
Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood was on Morning Joe. Joe and Dan Senor were making me clench my teeth. I do enough of that while sleeping.
Downpuppy
@Joey Maloney: You missed “Quire”, which seems to be a small measure of paper,but a bit of a mystery what. 1/20 of a ream? 4 folded sheets? A folded unit in oldfashioned binding?
Enquiring minds say “Who Cares?”.
Yutsano
@AA+ Bonds: The division of the IRS that watches over entities like this is very small and like everywhere else in the IRS right now (damn hiring freeze) massively understaffed. Plus a complaint has to be made before an investigation can be started. The LDS church should have lost theirs ages ago from their direct investment in private corporations, but again someone has to be there to look into it. We just don’t have the bodies.
mouse tolliver
After the red flowers bloom, it’s time to pluck. (h/t Cersei Lannister)
Forum Transmitted Disease
@ornery_curmudgeon: Been happening in this country since at least 1976. Seems like the conversation’s been had, and the gist of it was “meh”.
AA+ Bonds
National Catholic Reporter publishes a piece by a Presbyterian elder explaining how bad this anti-nun business looks from outside the Church
AA+ Bonds
@Yutsano:
Excellent food for thought and I thank you for the informed opinion – I’d hoped you’d stop by the thread to offer it
Bubblegum Tate
@Kent:
The Catholic Church must expand its power and reach, either by hook or by crook.
scav
If only there was a large multinational Islamic company that would, in the name of religious freedom! of course, stand by the Catholic Multinationals and stand up to the tyrannical imposition of compassion and Obamacare, while simultaneously asserting its right to impose Sharia law on all its employees. I’d love to see the Kansas gov (among others) handle disentangling that situation.
Yutsano
@scav: Red Crescent we hardly knew ye.
(I know they’re a charity, but that was the best example that came to my head.)
redshirt
A fortnight is two weeks, FYI!
flukebucket
A Friedmannight is 6 weeks?
scav
@Yutsano: Ahhhhhhh. Must admit I was hoping for an Oil company for added tasty freude. I think I’ll rather save my Red Crescent move for they’re swooping into a disaster-wrecked part of Red-Blooded (and Bleeding) Heartland ‘Merca when the local govt won’t let FEMA in.
redshirt
@flukebucket: Twill be a Friedman before Santa comes round ere again, methinks.
catclub
@R-Jud: Guy Fawkes was catholic, right?
Villago Delenda Est
@catclub:
He was indeed.
shortstop
@Yutsano: I am sympathetic to your understaffing, but after all this is a division whose work, carefully done, could reap large-ass revenues. Priorities!
Yutsano
@shortstop: It’s not my division unfortunately, and I confess I don’t know much about what they do. There could indeed be a case building as we type there. Plus given the country’s propensity to freak out when any religious organization is investigated, I can see why they’re not touching it. But there seems to be something rather rotten in Denmark here.
Roger Moore
@shortstop:
Why do you think it’s been gutted? Remember, Congress voted to cut back on tax enforcement even though the funds spent there paid for themselves many times over. One of our political parties sees protecting (rich) tax cheats as a major policy goal, so it should come as no surprise that parts of the IRS dedicated to catching them have been cut.
Cliff in NH
apparently this video is going aroud the emails and facebooks:
Will you vote the values that will stand the test of fire? Some things are more important than high gas prices or a faltering economy. They are life, marriage and freedom. This November, Catholics must stand up and protect their sacred rights and duties.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D9vQt6IXXaM
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Sometimes I think there is an even crazier, more basic thing going on. The Republicans officially hate the government (except the military), and are doing everything they can to make it “smaller” by reducing its revenues. And then they turn around and call for more and bigger spending cuts because of deficits which they have accelerated.
shortstop
@Roger Moore: Yes, I understand that. Just pointing out that not all IRS understaffing is necessarily created equal — for just the reasons you cited. Of course, I also understand that this isn’t Yutsano’s shop or lookout.
Yutsano
@shortstop: The IRS recently offered buyouts to those near retirement. They will also be closing 46 local offices (if that hasn’t happened already). People are subject to holds of over an hour just to get through to someone here. The IRS is tapped out, and something is gonna have to give here soon. Congress keeps cutting our budget further and further even though we pull in 8 dollars for every one spent on us. And we keep doing it with fewer and fewer bodies.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
There’s nothing covert about it; that’s the basic Grover Norquist line. He wants to shrink the government until it’s “small enough to drown in a bathtub”, and sees tax cuts forcing a bigger deficit as the lever with which to do it. Of course, I’m personally suspicious that he is mostly interested in the tax cuts for rich people aspect and the other stuff is mostly a way of selling it to the rubes who think government is all about giveaways to blah people.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
@Villago Delenda Est:
A fortnight is two weeks. Brit usage, long since forgotten on this side of the pond.
Which is really friggin’ weird, as it’s well used here in the Commonwealth – a fortnight is a common pay cycle for salary earners, and a natural unit for people who work weekend on/weekend off shifts.
Kathy in St. Louis
@AA+ Bonds:It is really awful from inside the Church, too. I was inside until less than a year ago when I finally decided that I needed to quit calling myself a Catholic since I agree with the Church on practically nothing anymore. This business with the birth control mandate and the horrible treatment of the sisters were the final final straw. The pedophilia scandal and the Church’s unwillingness to acknowledge the seriousness or it, nor deal with it properly were the first final straws.
The bishops gave up any moral authority they still possessed with the mishandling of that scandal. When they decided to sacrifice the safety of children for the sake of protecting “the reputation” of the Church…they should have all resigned. That they are now up to their ears in politics and supporting their GOP masters.
This entire 2 week protest they are planning is really designed to influence the election. They are paying back a big IOU to the GOP throughout the country for all the abortion laws that have been repealed, all the contraception crap that has been mandated by state legislatures. They are behind most of it and their playmates have called in their markeers just in time for the fall election. But doing it too close to the fall election is too obvious, so they are doing it now. They are especially pissed that the crazy scandal about the pope’s personal papers is upstaging their attempt to throow the election. That this scandal took their big story out of the public eye almost makes you believe that there is a good God, and that he is more than a trifle annoyed with these creeps.
John M. Burt
@Roger Moore: Geez, sorry, not trying to be coy, I really did expect it to come up:
http://john_m_burt.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html
RalfW
@jeer9:
Wait, so if a wife takes the pill, her husband stops whacking off? That’s some side-effect.
Jay in Oregon
@RalfW:
Yeah. Apparently the only acceptable purposes for fucking are:
1) To have lots of little Catholic babies
2) To use your body to keep your husband from straying.
3) To use your body to keep your husband from taking care of his own business.
I assume 2 and 3 are based on the notion that the wife should be ready to take care of her husband’s “needs” at his slightest whim, lest he stick his dick someplace else.