Showing posts with label A Little of This A Little of That. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Little of This A Little of That. Show all posts
Upsetting the Cardinal
In a welcome move the Dail has passed the first stage of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill by 138 votes to 24. The Catholic right despite blustering pronouncements failed to mobilise significant opposition, finding real succour only in the ranks of Fianna Fail, the bulk of whose TDs voted contrary to party leader Micheal Martin.
Ministerial Hurrah for the Overlord
In a gushing example of what TD Clare Daly described as sycophantic behaviour ... subservient tugging of the forelock as your feudal overlord pays you a visit', the Minister for Finance and the Minister for the Disappeared show unbridled enthusiasm for the leader of world capitalism, President Barack Obama, during his recent visit to Belfast.
In a gushing example of what TD Clare Daly described as sycophantic behaviour ... subservient tugging of the forelock as your feudal overlord pays you a visit', the Minister for Finance and the Minister for the Disappeared show unbridled enthusiasm for the leader of world capitalism, President Barack Obama, during his recent visit to Belfast.
Shame and Hope
Perhaps there are signs of moving with the times. Prior to Pope Benedict bowing out there was a report that some German Catholic hospitals might be permitted to issue certain types of morning-after pills for women who have been raped.
Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne suggested changing the policy after two Catholic hospitals refused to assist a rape victim due to prohibitions on issuing the pill. He reasons some pills rather than induce abortion actually prevent fertilisation.
Might all sound like angels dancing on the head of a pin type reasoning to those of us not the slightest interested in theological jabberwocky but at least the clerics are bowing to the pressure of a public opinion concerned that the de facto rights of the rapist to force his victim to bear him a child are considered greater by the Catholic Church than the rights of the rape victim to terminate. The refusal by the Catholic hospital in Cologne caused a public outcry in Germany leading to an apology from the Cardinal who said the refusal to help rape victims "shames us deeply because it contradicts our Christian mission and our purpose".
Inappropriate
Shame is not something Cardinal Keith O’Brien was much given to prior to his outing as someone who liked to try it on with fellow priests once he had downed a few drinks. Priests banging priests is okay by me if it is consensual and they don’t pester those not inclined towards sex with the sexton.
For long enough O’Brien attacked the gay community for promoting and practicing same sex relationships. It earned him a bigot of the year award from the Charity, Stonewall.
Since then four men, three of them priests and one a former priest, have made complaints to the Vatican about o'Brien behaving 'inappropriately' towards them while they were young ckerics. O’Brien was the spiritual director of one of the men when an inappropriate relationships developed. Seems spiritual erection concerned him more. The men made their complaints just prior to the resignation of Pope Benedict.
They later expressed fears that feared that ‘if O'Brien travels to the forthcoming papal conclave to elect a new pope, the church will not fully address their complaints.’ One of the men making the allegations stated.
O’Brien consequently was not permitted to travel.
But Cardinal Sean Brady was allowed to travel. Whatever O’Brien’s transgression it did not involve the failure to protect children. How he was considered an inappropriate delegate and Brady appropriate.
Little Red Biting Hood
Luiz what big teeth you have got!
All the better to eat you up with.
Luiz Suarez is protesting that press criticism might drive him away from Liverpool FC.
It is regrettable .... that it takes the media to do the job that the fans should be doing. Suarez should not be allowed to feature in a Liverpool shirt ever again. A talented player but a thug who thinks nothing of sinking his teeth into the arms of an opponent. Perhaps he has been watching too much of The Walking Dead.
My seven year old son says of himself that he is ‘zombie mad and soccer mad’. But at least he knows what his teeth are for. He watches soccer avidly and there is no way that he should see a role model savaging an opponent. Even Norman ‘bites yer legs’ Hunter of the famous but physical Leeds United side never took the description literally.
If Lupine Luiz wants a taste of Spanish soccer opposition let him have it. It might take the bite out of the English game. Hardly a bad thing.
Perhaps there are signs of moving with the times. Prior to Pope Benedict bowing out there was a report that some German Catholic hospitals might be permitted to issue certain types of morning-after pills for women who have been raped.
Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne suggested changing the policy after two Catholic hospitals refused to assist a rape victim due to prohibitions on issuing the pill. He reasons some pills rather than induce abortion actually prevent fertilisation.
Might all sound like angels dancing on the head of a pin type reasoning to those of us not the slightest interested in theological jabberwocky but at least the clerics are bowing to the pressure of a public opinion concerned that the de facto rights of the rapist to force his victim to bear him a child are considered greater by the Catholic Church than the rights of the rape victim to terminate. The refusal by the Catholic hospital in Cologne caused a public outcry in Germany leading to an apology from the Cardinal who said the refusal to help rape victims "shames us deeply because it contradicts our Christian mission and our purpose".
Inappropriate
Shame is not something Cardinal Keith O’Brien was much given to prior to his outing as someone who liked to try it on with fellow priests once he had downed a few drinks. Priests banging priests is okay by me if it is consensual and they don’t pester those not inclined towards sex with the sexton.
For long enough O’Brien attacked the gay community for promoting and practicing same sex relationships. It earned him a bigot of the year award from the Charity, Stonewall.
Since then four men, three of them priests and one a former priest, have made complaints to the Vatican about o'Brien behaving 'inappropriately' towards them while they were young ckerics. O’Brien was the spiritual director of one of the men when an inappropriate relationships developed. Seems spiritual erection concerned him more. The men made their complaints just prior to the resignation of Pope Benedict.
They later expressed fears that feared that ‘if O'Brien travels to the forthcoming papal conclave to elect a new pope, the church will not fully address their complaints.’ One of the men making the allegations stated.
It tends to cover up and protect the system at all costs The church is beautiful, but it has a dark side and that has to do with accountability. If the system is to be improved, maybe it needs to be dismantled a bit.
O’Brien consequently was not permitted to travel.
But Cardinal Sean Brady was allowed to travel. Whatever O’Brien’s transgression it did not involve the failure to protect children. How he was considered an inappropriate delegate and Brady appropriate.
Little Red Biting Hood
Luiz what big teeth you have got!
All the better to eat you up with.
Luiz Suarez is protesting that press criticism might drive him away from Liverpool FC.
It is regrettable .... that it takes the media to do the job that the fans should be doing. Suarez should not be allowed to feature in a Liverpool shirt ever again. A talented player but a thug who thinks nothing of sinking his teeth into the arms of an opponent. Perhaps he has been watching too much of The Walking Dead.
My seven year old son says of himself that he is ‘zombie mad and soccer mad’. But at least he knows what his teeth are for. He watches soccer avidly and there is no way that he should see a role model savaging an opponent. Even Norman ‘bites yer legs’ Hunter of the famous but physical Leeds United side never took the description literally.
If Lupine Luiz wants a taste of Spanish soccer opposition let him have it. It might take the bite out of the English game. Hardly a bad thing.
Taoiseach in Grave Dispute with the Minister for the Disappeared.
Yesterday in the Dail there was a lot of accusations, heated exchanges, angry finger wagging and gesticulating as the Minister for the Disappeared continues to insist on leading with his chin.
Yesterday in the Dail there was a lot of accusations, heated exchanges, angry finger wagging and gesticulating as the Minister for the Disappeared continues to insist on leading with his chin.
LITTLE STANDING
The Irish Labour Party is certainly holding the line for secularism. Whether it is Eamonn Gilmore telling the Vatican to get lost or Pat Rabbitte blowing off Cardinal Sean Brady’s proposal that the Church would lobby the government on the abortion issue, the lines have certainly been drawn. Priestcraft has little purchase with the Labour Party and society is all the better for that, even if there are grounds to suspect that because it has failed miserably to hold the line for socialism its push against Church encroachment is solely down to the secular providing the one space where the party can wax radical.
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