Catholic Leadership

[randallscott35]

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has said he understands the attraction of arguments for the use of contraception in the developing world, in an apparent softening of the Church's line.

But Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols went on to say it was not the Church's role to support such a short-term fix, adding it would continue to fight poverty, which often contributed to high birth rates.

"I think when it comes to Third World poverty, and the great pressure into which many women are put by men, I can see the arguments why, in the short-term, means that give women protection are attractive," Nichols said in extracts of an interview released by BBC Radio WM before broadcast on Friday.

"The use of condoms doesn't lack for champions; there are plenty of champions around giving and distributing condoms. I don't think it's the Church's role simply to add its voice to that but rather, in contrast, to keep saying, "If we solve the poverty then consistently we know the birth rate comes down'."

The Catholic Church opposes contraception saying it denies the divine gift of life.

Aid agencies and some within the Church have called for a change of policy, saying it endangers women's lives and contributes to the spread of HIV. But the Vatican has rejected such a move, supporting only "natural" birth control.

Last year, during his first trip to Africa, Pope Benedict said condoms were not the answer to fighting HIV and AIDS, and that they could make the situation worse.

Nichols recently issued a document directed at the British electorate and political parties before a parliamentary election expected on May 6 in which he opposed abortion and stressed the importance of marriage and the family.

"Choosing the Common Good" was seen by some newspapers as veiled support for the main opposition Conservatives who have put marriage at the centre of their tax policy.
The Conservatives are narrowly ahead in opinion polls, hoping to end 13 years of Labour rule.

The Pope, who has been critical of Labour's equality legislation, is due to visit Britain in September.

[Danzig]

how (supposed) celibate men can make any comments and concrete statements regarding sex lives, i don't know. that would be akin to me telling a boy how to become a man. how the hell would i know?

[brianwspencer]

It's very long, but a blogger I like wrote quite extensively on this -- the entire post is worth a read, but I've knocked out my favorite part below that really speaks to what pisses me off so much.

I love how Giuseppe dalla Torre, head of the Vatican's tribunal...took a moment to note that the Catholic Church "is not a multi-national corporation." In case no one had noticed.

Q: Besides NOT PAYING TAXES, how can you tell the Church isn't a multi-national corporation?

A: If Microsoft, say, were discovered to have been covering up an international child rape ring among its ranks for (at least) decades, and Bill Gates were discovered to have authored a letter ordering members of his organization to keep it secret, and the Dublin office had been discovered to be conspiring with police to hide evidence and silence survivors, and employees who had been identified as child rapists were just moved to other offices, like pedophilia is all about location location location! and because the organization's reputation is more important than protecting children from known rapists, and Microsoft spent more time deflecting responsibility and blaming its gay employees (FOR ****'S SAKE) for the crimes committed by the sexual predators the organization had abetted and protected...Microsoft would be OUT OF ****ING BUSINESS.

Because no one would be making any goddamn excuses for any multi-national corporation, no matter how much other "good stuff" they'd allegedly done, if that organization had been found to be disproportionately staffed with men eminently capable of committing or concealing child rape, corruptible from guy in the local franchise straight to the CEO at the top.

That corporation would be DONE.

But claim to have a direct line to God, and suddenly everything's different.

That is Christian privilege of almost inconceivable proportions, right there: As long as you assert a belief in divine justice, you're more likely to escape human justice.

It's a particularly cruel irony that those who assert moral authority are given the most latitude to behave in immoral ways without the inconvenient bother of being held accountable for their crimes.

And when people who are decidedly unthrilled about the privilege conferred upon religious institutions, particularly in the midst of a worldwide crisis of sexual assault in which countless children have been victimized, challenge this privilege, they are dismissed as bigots, as wanton haters of the Church, or its adherents, or its doctrine—as if there is not a preponderance of evidence to warrant legitimate criticism, as if they are being unfair, as if standing up for children, vociferously and unyieldingly and despite knowing the shitstorm of accusations of bigotry to come, is somehow evidence of a "real" moral failing.

As if compassion for countless children being sexually assaulted is just a convenient excuse to criticize the Church used by atheists and secularists and feminists and other nefarious types.

[hi_im_god]

if you liked that, you'll love this utterly tone deaf vatican response:


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...3A4PAD9ER3GTO0

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher on Friday likened accusations against the pope and the Catholic church in the sex abuse scandal to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

if you liked that, you'll love this utterly tone deaf vatican response:


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...3A4PAD9ER3GTO0

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher on Friday likened accusations against the pope and the Catholic church in the sex abuse scandal to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.

i just finished reading about that on msnbc. outrageous and completely out of touch with what the real issue is here.



'While Cantalamessa delivered his ringing defense of the pontiff, the church in Benedict's native Germany made the unusually frank admission that it failed to help victims of clerical abuse because it wanted to protect its reputation.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the German bishops' conference, said clerics neglected helping victims because of a "wrongly intended desire to protect the church's reputation." '

the church sticks its head in the sand, pretends everything is hunky dory, and hopes it'll all just go away. well, everything but the money.

i think the desire to protect the church's image is what contributed, and continues to contribute to how these abuse cases are handled-which is very, very poorly.


but for that guy to compare this to the holocaust-gimme a break.

[Danzig]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36166058...d_news-europe/


apparently it's the church's position that this is all 'petty gossip'. have they no concept of reality? how much credibility will the church have when this is all said and done?

Muslims > Catholics

[brianwspencer]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

if you liked that, you'll love this utterly tone deaf vatican response:


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...3A4PAD9ER3GTO0

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher on Friday likened accusations against the pope and the Catholic church in the sex abuse scandal to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.

Oh wow. That's unbelievable.