Newwark Archbishop Compares Gay Marriage to Incest and Attacks Pro-Gay Catholics

I've asked this question many times before: why does anyone who has not had a lobotomy or who has an IQ over a trainable retarded individual listen to anything the members of the child rapist protecting Catholic Church hierarchy?  The sex abuse scandal continues to flame around the globe and literally EVERY DAY new stories of molestations by Catholic clergy emerge and the Church continues to fight tooth and claw to deprive victims of meaningful compensation for the trauma and emotional damage they suffered.  So what do the foul princes of the Church do?  Unleash renewed and vile attacks on LGBT individuals and, now, pro-gay Catholics as well.  The latest nasty attack comes from John Myers, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey (who like his buddy Timothy Dolan in New York looks like he's never missed a meal and is living high on the hog).  Myers issued a 16 page tirade against gays and their allies within the Catholic Church and in the process cited discredited anti-gay "research."  Myers' full letter can be found here.  As I've said before, it is far past time that the IRS revoke the tax-exempt status of every Catholic diocese that has involved itself in influencing anti-gay legislation and/or supporting anti-gay political candidates. Here's an overview and a sampling from Meyers' diatribe via The New Civil Rights Movement:  

John Myers, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, has written a 16-page fear-mongering letter, called a “pastoral statement,” that compares gay marriage to incest, and suggests to his one million followers that marriage equality could lead to laws outlawing religious free speech or even imprisoning priests for preaching “God’s natural laws.” Myers also quotes the discredited anti-gay parenting “study” by Mark Regnerus as so-called proof “that the best possible environment for the healthy development of children is the presence and participation of the two biological parents in an intact family.”

“Newark Archbishop John J. Myers said the statement on gay marriage was not timed to coincide with the November election, now little more than a month away, and that he was not calling on Catholics to vote for a particular candidate,” The Record/North Jersey.com reports. “But he said they should examine the ‘full spectrum’ of each candidate, including how they stand on abortion and ‘a proper backing of marriage’.”

Most Churches are subject to IRS regulations prohibiting them from endorsing or otherwise supporting — or opposing any political candidate, or risk their tax-exempt status, a benefit that costs the American taxpayers $71 billion annually.

Parishioners in churches across the archdiocese, which covers Bergen, Hudson, Essex and Union counties, will be handed letters at church this weekend telling them about the statement and directing them to where it can be read.”    Coincidentially, one week from this Sunday, on October 7, is the Alliance Defense Fund’s annual “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” which radical right wing “pro-family” and religious groups flout the regulations by endorsing or opposing political candidates from the pulpit, and dare the IRS to investigate them or try to revoke their tax-eempt status.

“Myers acknowledged that a large number of Catholics seem to be at odds with church teaching, and that he wanted to reach out to them with his statement . . . .

The statement appeared to compare gay marriage to incest. “Even those who propose radically altering the definition of marriage would not advocate allowing two brothers or sisters or an uncle and his nephew to marry (say, for the tax benefits, or for hospital visiting privileges),” he wrote.

Myers also claims gay marriage will lead to the imprisonment of priests for anti-gay “religious” speech:  If our society enshrines in law a “civil” right to “marry” someone of one’s own sex, then any persons or groups that believe otherwise will be seriously disadvantaged in law and in fact..  .  .  .  How long would the state permit churches, schools or parents to teach their children that homosexual activity is contrary to the natural law if homosexual marriage were a civil right? Already in Canada and other democratic nations “hate speech” laws have been used to harass or even arrest clerics who preach the Biblical message about marriage.

As for pro-gay allies, Myers had this to say: It is my duty as your Archbishop to remind you that Catholics who do not accept the teaching of the Church on marriage and family (especially those who teach or act in private or public life contrary to the Church’s received tradition on marriage and family) by their own choice seriously harm their communion with Christ and His Church. I urge those not in communion with the Church regarding her teaching on marriage and family (or any other grave matter of faith) sincerely to re-examine their consciences, asking God for the grace of the Holy Spirit which “guide [us] to all truth” (John 16:13). If they continue to be unable to assent to or live the Church’s teaching in these matters, they must in all honesty and humility refrain from receiving Holy Communion until they can do so with integrity; to continue to receive Holy Communion while so dissenting would be objectively dishonest. 

I guess excommunication will be the next step in the Church's attacks on Catholics who support gay equality under the civil laws.  With those under 30 already leaving the Church in droves one can only hope that Myers' foul message will accelerate the exodus.

Catholic Church Equates Priestly Sexual Abuse of Children With Female Ordination

OMG! Sometimes I have to wonder what alternate universe the bitter old queens in Roman Catholic Church hierarchy dwell in. In its latest WTF move, the Vatican has formulated new rules that state that priests who rape little boys and ruin their lives are in the same criminal category (under church law) as are Catholic bishops who ordain women as priests and are the women who participate in ordination ceremonies. Yep, that's right: ordaining women is as bad as raping children. I always knew that the Church was seriously f*cked up when it came to all matters sexual and the hierarchy's abiding hatred of women (for a phenomenal analysis of this check out Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven: Women, Sexuality and the Catholic Church, which I read some years back), but this takes the insanity up a notch even for these folks. The old good news is that this insane move will likely undermine what little moral authority the Church retains and we will see more and more countries like Portugal and Argentina that utterly ignored the Church's protestations and demagoguery on the issue of gay rights and gay marriage. U.S. News & Report has a column that looks at this latest mind numbing insanity. Here are some highlights:
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I had to reread the first paragraph of the following story three times until I was sure I’d read it correctly. The Vatican believes that priests who rape little boys and ruin their lives are in the same criminal category (under church law) as are Catholic bishops who ordain women as priests and are the women who participate in ordination ceremonies. According to the Guardian:

The Vatican today made the "attempted ordination" of women one of the gravest crimes under church law, putting it in the same category as clerical sex abuse of minors, heresy and schism. The new rules, which have been sent to bishops around the world, apply equally to Catholic women who agree to a ceremony of ordination and to the bishop who conducts it. Both would be excommunicated. Since the Vatican does not accept that women can become priests, it does not recognize the outcome of any such ceremony.
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The penalty is the ultimate one issued by the church: excommunication. Of course excommunication can be appealed but it is rarely so. It comes at a time when the Anglican Church is moving closer to the ordination of female bishops.
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Oddly enough the revision which brought about an equalization of the penalties for female ordination and pederasty came while the Vatican was trying to toughen penalties for priests accused of sexually abusing young Catholics.
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Bob Felton tries to make some sense out of this lunacy over at Civil Commotion, but I'm sorry it is just plain f*cked up:
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Ordaining a woman to serve as a priest, like supporting gay marriage, arises, on the church’s terms, from something in the neighborhood of heresy. It is an error of belief, on a matter that the church considers settled. But child sexual abuse — again, on their terms — is an instance of human weakness.

This is a vital distinction. On the Vatican’s terms, making child sexual abuse akin to ordaining a woman priest elevates the gravity of the offense, raises it from the terrain of understandable human weakness to something near to heresy.

However clumsily and stupidly they’ve handled it, however repellent the misogyny, it is a step — again, from the Vatican’s perspective — in the right direction.
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Once again, why does anyone listen to these hateful nut cases? They are in need of serious mental health care intervention if they equate the ordination with raping children and youths.

High-Ranking Catholic Priest Faces Sexual-Misconduct Charges

In what seems to be nearly a weekly occurrence, yet another Roman Catholic priest is facing sexual misconduct charges. This time, however - unlike so many others - the priest is being excommunicated (something that should have happened to many bishops and cardinals who covered up or enable the sexual abuse of minors). Unfortunately, he was ex-communicated not because of the sexual misconduct charges, but because he held non-denominational services. It certainly is telling in terms of where the priorities are within the Catholic Church - or at least in the Phoenix Diocese. Here are some highlights from The Arizona Republic:

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Dale Fushek, who was one of the highest-ranking Catholic priests in the Phoenix Diocese and later faced legal charges over sexual-misconduct allegations, has been excommunicated from the church. Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted excommunicated Fushek last week but announced his ruling Monday, saying that it was needed because Fushek now holds non-denominational religious services.

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[I]n 2004, Fushek was accused of watching while another priest abused a boy. The case was settled out of court. Fushek was suspended, and a year later, he was arrested and accused of 10 misdemeanor accounts of sexual misconduct. The number was reduced to seven when one of the victims died. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge is considering whether the trials in those cases should be heard together or separately.

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Public excommunications are rare. During the priest sex-abuse cases of recent years, no convicted pedophiles among the clergy have been publicly excommunicated. Nationally, several people, including a priest, recently were excommunicated for their roles in an organization promoting priesthood for women.

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Olmsted, in his statement, said he is concerned that Catholics "may be misled or confused" by the men's actions. "We encourage Catholics to refrain from supporting the Praise and Worship Center," Olmsted said. "We remind Catholics that the ultimate form of praise and worship is and always will be the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and we urge them to keep the Mass as the center of their lives."

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The Church's message: screw kids literally, and you remain a member of the Church. Conduct alternate services and you're out the door. WWJD?

Vatican Will Excommunicate Female Priests

The Nazi Pope and the geriatric geezers at the Vatican not only hate gays, but women too as evidenced by the new decree released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a/k/a in times past as The Inquisition. Interestingly, the decree came little more than a month after Benedict XVI's visit to the USA where many Catholics support female priests - particularly in the ever increasing number of parishes where there is no full time priest. I guess it matters little to this old fossils that Mary Magdalen, Martha and her sister Mary were deemed worthy by Jesus. I am truly thankful at times that I have escaped the non-stop bigotry and intolerance (not to mention hypocrisy) that are the hallmarks of the Catholic hierarchy from the Nazi Pope on down. They sure make the ELCA look good - same service and beliefs for the most part and pastors who generally are much more in touch with the real world. What a concept!! Here are some highlights from MSNBC:

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VATICAN CITY - The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of female priests on Thursday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication. The decree was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, giving it immediate effect.

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Rev. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said he thought the decree was meant to send a warning to the growing number of Catholics who favor admitting women to the priesthood. "I think the reason they're doing this is that they've realized there is more and more support among Catholics for ordaining women, and they want to make clear that this is a no-no," Reese said.

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Proponents of women's ordination said Christ was only acting according to the social norms of his time. They cite the letters of Saint Paul, some of the earliest texts of Christianity, to show that women played important roles in the early church.