The May 2010 Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Newsletter can now be found at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/Newsletters/Newsletter108(May2010)(RGB).pdf Bill C-384 was soundly defeated by a vote of 228 to 59. Check how the Members of Parliament voted at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/HowTheyVoted.pdf On June 5, 2010, we are co-hosting the US/Canda Push-Back Seminar at the Radisson Gateway Hotel at the Seattle/Tacoma Airport. The overwhelming defeat of Bill C-384 proved that we can Push-Back the euthanasia lobby in the US and Canada and convince people that euthanasia and assisted suicide are a dangerous public policy. Register for the Seminar at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/2010SeminarFlyer(RGB)(LetterFormat).pdf The Schindler family are being attacked by a Florida television station and Michael Schiavo. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is standing in solidarity with the Schindler family. My blog comments: http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2010/05/att...
A couple of observations from my perspective as a priest for the past 27 years:
ReplyDelete-There is anti-Catholicism in our culture, but it is a subset of anti-religious prejudice in general. There is, nowadays, very little anti-Catholicism to be found among practicing members of other churches and other religions.
-Those who are prey to anti-Catholic prejudice are a tiny minority of the population. In my experience, the younger the person, the less prejudice there is. For sixteen years, I taught university students of every background imaginable. The experience was very positive. Those whom I would describe as prejudiced (fewer than ten percent of the students) tended to be biased against all religions. By “biased against”, I mean not simply that they were atheists or agnostics, but that they turned a deaf ear to arguments coming from a perspective other than their own. That trait, and not atheism or agnosticism, constitutes prejudice. And yes, the trait is to be found also among religious people, including Catholics.
People aren't prejudiced against Catholics much, less I believe than in times past.
ReplyDeleteThere is however very little respect for priests and a lot of out and out hatred. Those who haven't had a personal very damaging experience with a Catholic priest often have a friend, family member or loved one who has.
I don't think there's much that can be done about it. There are some very good men who are priests but they are statistically few and must overcome extremely poor hierarchical leadership, starting with the pope and in the end it must be admitted that most priests are human scum. Absolutely irredeemable.
Father Tom, that runs this bog is.