There are days when I truly wonder why anyone remains a Roman Catholic. After all, if one is not self-hating and fails to view themselves as less than a pile of dung, then they're not a good Catholic. Likewise, anything enjoyable that removes one from constant misery and self-deprecation is bad. Indeed, the insanity and bizarre behavior of top Church clerics seems to know few limits - and that's even if one ignores the world wide sexual abuse scandal haunting the Church and its hierarchy which care more for protecting the Church from scandal rather than the lives and well being of molested minors. Talk about screwed up priorities. WWJD? First, we have the new Archbishop of of Belgium equating homosexuality with anorexia. Here are highlights from Radio Netherlands:*
"Homosexuality is not the same as normal sex in the same way that anorexia is not a normal appetite," says the new Archbishop of Belgium. Archbishop Léonard's comments were made in an interview with a Belgian television station. He added that he would " never call anorexia patients abnormal."
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A few years ago, when he was serving as Bishop of Namen, he caused a storm of controversy when he said that homosexuality was abnormal. Last week Pope Benedict XVI named him as the successor to Archbishop Daniels. Archbishop Léonard is also a well-known critic of abortion and stem cell research.
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As if this bigotry and refusal to accept modern mental health knowledge was not bad enough, now a new book on the anything but saintly Pope John "let's protect sexual predators" Paul II discloses some of the late Pontiff's bizarre behavior in respect to self-flagellation. MSNBC has the details. Here are some highlights:
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At a news conference Tuesday, Oder defended John Paul's practice of self-mortification, which some faithful use to remind them of the suffering of Jesus on the cross.
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In the book, Oder wrote that John Paul frequently denied himself food — especially during the holy season of Lent — and "frequently spent the night on the bare floor," messing up his bed in the morning so he wouldn't draw attention to his act of penitence.
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"But it wasn't limited to this. As some members of his close entourage in Poland and in the Vatican were able to hear with their own ears, John Paul flagellated himself. In his armoire, amid all the vestments and hanging on a hanger, was a belt which he used as a whip and which he always brought to Castel Gandolfo," the papal retreat where John Paul vacationed each summer.
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While there had long been rumors that John Paul practiced self-mortification, the book provides the first confirmation and concludes John Paul did so as an example of his faith.
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I have a counter analysis of John Paul II's self-mortification: perhaps it was done in penance for all of the thousands of children and youth he failed as he continued to protect predator priests and their enablers within the Church hierarchy. How anyone who allowed many thousands to be sexually abused worldwide can be considered for sainthood is mind boggling.
At a news conference Tuesday, Oder defended John Paul's practice of self-mortification, which some faithful use to remind them of the suffering of Jesus on the cross.
*
In the book, Oder wrote that John Paul frequently denied himself food — especially during the holy season of Lent — and "frequently spent the night on the bare floor," messing up his bed in the morning so he wouldn't draw attention to his act of penitence.
*
"But it wasn't limited to this. As some members of his close entourage in Poland and in the Vatican were able to hear with their own ears, John Paul flagellated himself. In his armoire, amid all the vestments and hanging on a hanger, was a belt which he used as a whip and which he always brought to Castel Gandolfo," the papal retreat where John Paul vacationed each summer.
*
While there had long been rumors that John Paul practiced self-mortification, the book provides the first confirmation and concludes John Paul did so as an example of his faith.
*
I have a counter analysis of John Paul II's self-mortification: perhaps it was done in penance for all of the thousands of children and youth he failed as he continued to protect predator priests and their enablers within the Church hierarchy. How anyone who allowed many thousands to be sexually abused worldwide can be considered for sainthood is mind boggling.
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