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...
Reflections from the pastoral ministry of an Evangelical Catholic Priest.
It used to be, in a time not so long ago that I can remember that the Church doctrine was a source of cohesion and the church itself was the center of cultural and social life for it's members. People were born, raised, married and buried in the church. It was a source of comfort, imparted a sense of belonging, acceptance and status to all it's members. Like family, it was a place that they never turned you away from.
ReplyDeleteThe church has now become a force of extreme polarizing forces. There are divisive, politics, social issues that most have trouble rationalizing. The priests are no longer neighborhood boys and also no longer figures of trust but rather fear, loathing and suspicion.
Most church life used to be about simple fellowship. People were not ever expected to live perfect lives. Indeed many were deeply troubled in their domestic existence. That really didn't matter somehow.
There were no litmus tests. Nobody got told that they should go be a protestant if their religious life didn't meet the test or even become an athiest. The idea that anybody would ever be ostracized from the church would have been unthinkable. It wasn't all one way though. The people gave generously to the church. To build, to educate the young. To take care of those physically afflicted, to feed and shelter the poor.
That's all gone. the churches are empty and in need of repair. The schools are closing. The hospitals are run by guys with business degrees for profit, at least a profit for them. The nuns, what few old souls are left are told that they are no longer Catholic not because of what they did or said but what they didn't. Not shrill and strident enough about reproductive issues and not keeping their place of subservience to the priests.
The Churchmen keep saying that the real problem is that the people haven't been taught well enough, don't know and respect church teaching. That's not the trouble. They know the teachings, they don't believe them and they don't respect the men charged with teaching them. The church and it's people are no longer one entity, in many cases they are competitors, antagonists, predator and prey. If the church is going to survive, this must stop. Churchmen keep thinking that it is the laity that is at fault. How could the church be at fault, it is unchanging and eternal, right? Think about that. Just because you claim apostolic succession doesn't mean you guys are anything like the Apostles. The very idea of that nauseates me. How are you like the Apostles? In what single way?
I was taught that to attend a protestant church service was a mortal sin.
ReplyDeleteIn the eastern provinces, catholics were warned that to attend protestant funerals of friends was against church teachings.
I was told to confess serious sins of impure thoughts at seven years old.
I was taught that to doubt my faith was a mortal sin.
I was taught that to be killed before having my confession heard after having committed a mortal sin was a direct ticket to hell.
I was taught that to eat a piece of meat on friday was a mortal sin.(what about Jesus's statement that it is not what a man puts into his body .....
I was not pure enough to receive first communion without the sacrament of Penance . I was age seven and in grade one for my first communion (what about Jesus's wanting the little children to come to him)
We prayed the rosary on our knees for lent but never had one open conversation about our faith - good Irish parents didn't discuss their faith beliefs.
The nuns told us all about the church's rules, doctrine, consequences.....
dear God, it was all crazy
Especially all the stories of miracles and sacred bones, holy water, and the sanctity of a priest as the representative of Christ with annointed fingers - which could only make the real prescence of Jesus in the tabernacle.
Sorry, but when I hold my infant grandchild, i feel more gratitude and sacredness towards God than all that Catholic supernatural belief - even considering the 'original sin' inside that infant.
I also know that if that infant were to die tomorrow - the gracious, good Creator of all I hear, see, feel, touch, taste and smell, will receive that infant and continue the mystery as He/She may see fit.
The concept of LIMBO is an outrage against God, the creator
I find comfort in the gracious writings of people who view conciousness as the pathway to the almighty
How could grown people believe the curch's controlling agenda
Look at the results we read about every month in the news concerning betrayal and abuse
God surely must weap