Good Grief!

Pope Francis Has Not 'Abolished Sin,' Says Vatican, Despite Eugenio Scalfari's Claim

Some people will go to such extremes to promote their own positions.

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Tom Tomorrow (quoted and added to by Mark Shea) has this right!

Capitalism is Not Sacred Tradition

"…and original sin affects all the works of man, including his invention, the giant corporation:"

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Being a Franciscan

I'm attracted to the prayer at the heart of this blog post.

My Shield Against Cruelty and Sin

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A good post

Gimme that Ole Time Religion

In which Fr. Dwight makes the point that nothing about the Gospel has changed and that the Gospel still needs to be preached.

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It's not new, alas...

Commodification of human beings

Human beings have always been commodities in some cultures, and perhaps at various times in all cultures. We used to call them slaves, serfs, or many other euphemisms that really mean 'someone's property'. The human race, as a group, has never advanced past that. It always seems that the 'moneyed', the 'propertyed', the 'haves', have always felt that they can buy whatever they want, and have done so successfully through the ages. The only good thing we can say now is that we're aware of the mistreatment of people in this way to a greater extent than we have been. We recognize the issue and some people even try to deal with it.

The commodification of human beings exists for the same reason there will never be world peace, world justice, or anything like that - human greed. As long as humans are involved those with less personal greed can only work in the small area surrounding them and be effectual. My $.02...

(I sound a bit negative for a Franciscan, don't I? I have no answer to that.)

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'There's plenty of good ways...

...for a man to be wicked!' - from Hezekiah by Perth County Conspiracy (Does Not Exist).

A Hell of an Argument

Here's a brilliant quote from one of the commenters, a person with the nym of Gomer:

"And remember what ol' Scott Hahn used to say: The moment someone else's sins bother me more than my own, is the time I need a reality check. After all, someone else's sins don't send me to Hell. Only mine do."

'Nuff said.

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The heresy of consequentialism...

What a good article!

Means and Ends

The need to leave the piggy bank alone...

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The season begins

Lent: Season of Our Hypocrisy

"From to-do lists to angels in the wilderness."

I can certainly relate to this. I started my season of hypocrisy by missing Mass on Ash Wednesday because I was just so tired and burned out that I had to sleep when I got home. There's nothing like sticking one's head in the sand about one's own condition. A very good way to start the Lenten season...

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There's a website for everything

Cheating, Incorporated

"At Ashley Madison's website for "dating," the infidelity economy is alive, well, and profitable"

Adultery as big business...

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And how many angels

can dance on the head of a pin?

It is a sin to lie, even to Planned Parenthood

'The New Theological Movement' is really the Old Theological Movement. Is that a lie I see there?

At any rate, again, it's the comments that are the most interesting. Watching the back and forth of the conservative Traditionalists (the law is supreme!) vs. the liberals (can't we insert some love in here somewhere?) is quite engaging. And the Traditionalists are bringing back all the usual arguments of 'mental reservation', etc. (For certain, Thomism is not dead, that I know!) in defence of what they couldn't honestly defend, I think, given their position.

So. Undercover police work is sinful, as is acting. I'm glad that's cleared up. You've been told.

(Perhaps I'll start posting some excerpts from the 'Summa' on Sundays, just for fun...)

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An interesting article

that doesn't dwell much on specifics, and looks more at the Rapture and the Tiger in equal measure.

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright: The end of the world and Tiger Woods.

Interesting...

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Our culture

leans very hard toward the 'commit a wrong and you're never forgiven' school of thought.

Bishop approves return of investigated priest

I think a large percentage of the population would consider a 'Botany Bay' sort of exile as a mild punishment for people who have committed some sort of offence, whether they've gone to court or not...

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Sin has always been the problem

"Sin within the Church" threat to Catholicism: Pope Benedict

It does threaten the Church corporately, though.

Sin has always been the problem, but today, holding only a moral sway over the people, if the church isn't behaving in a moral way, why should people pay attention to it? That's the issue. 'Do what I say, not what I do' doesn't work in our modern world. However, having said that, the Church recognizes that sin exists within it, but I think there really is an attempt by some people to smear the Catholic Church in any way they can to make whatever point they're bent on making...

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*Sigh* Catholics can be taken in

just as anyone else can.

Money paved way for Maciel's influence in the Vatican

I am astounded that he could keep all this quiet as long as he did, and that his followers could be so taken in by him...

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The one thing

that gets Catholics labelled non-Christian or worse...

Pray for Us Sinners

SWMBO (God bless her) went out onto the step the other day to talk to a Baptist woman and her daughter who were coming around with literature to drop off. When she came in she commented on how surprised she was that they didn't have any idea of the concept of Lent. It's something I haven't really thought about before, but it makes sense.

Why would they have a sense of the period leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus as that doesn't matter at all in their general theological world-view. When Jesus' salvific act 'pays the price' for your salvation, that's all that's necessary for most people. The idea of penitence being more than a one-time thing is very mainstream and falls more to the Roman Catholic and Reformation Churches and leaves most of the 'new-world' Churches out, I think.

Sorry for the ramble. Mea culpa.

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A really good article

despite the author's need to drag it into partisan Church politics by the simple mention of the Novus Ordo Missae...

Sloth in Drag

I'd write more, but I've got too many things to do. (I think I might see if I can find the old rubrics for the Dominican 'Hamburger Mass'...)

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I believe


that he's right on this...

Insensitivity, smugness, pretension keep people from God, says pope

We think we're strong, and powerful, and self-reliant. We can't possibly entertain the idea that anyone could be greater than us, or more powerful than us, or that we might need someone else. No, not us!

Human folly...

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Heh.



Sin in America: Researchers attempt to find who's good and who's not

It can't be 'too serious a study'. Who set the arbitrary standards for each sin?

Heh. Not too serious at all...

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Moo

Charlotte Megachurch Goes 'Cow Tipping'

"We must pass judgment on sin but we need to start with ourselves ... not with groups of people and marginalizing them so that they don't even want to hear the message of Christ that we have to offer"

I'm generally not a big fan of mega-churches, mostly because they seem to be most about keeping themselves a mega-church by keeping their followers happy. That doesn't always include tackling the hard things. Tackling the hard things is good on them in this case...

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Sadness and mourning

How to mourn a sinner?

This website isn't a news website as such, but one that discusses how news about religion and news containing religious elements are reported. The author believes, and I think rightly, that the press "just doesn't get religion."

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