tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post8929305127936159452..comments2024-02-09T06:24:16.626+00:00Comments on upside down in cloud: dunghillDru Marlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-27753152870197162402010-03-31T08:16:34.616+01:002010-03-31T08:16:34.616+01:00He puts it so well, doesn't he? Thanks for the...He puts it so well, doesn't he? Thanks for the link!Dru Marlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-25546959374560005672010-03-29T16:47:00.585+01:002010-03-29T16:47:00.585+01:00Yes, because homosexuality obviously and absolutel...Yes, because homosexuality obviously and absolutely = "buggery" = unnatural (because I say it is) = objective truth (because I say it is).<br /><br />The food analogy reminds me of the final part of Stephen Fry's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEhtOhwL8xk" rel="nofollow">impassioned contribution</a> to the recent Intelligence² debate on Catholicism:<br /><br /><i>It’s the strange thing about this church, it is obsessed with sex, absolutely obsessed. Now, they will say we with our permissive society and our rude jokes, we are obsessed. No, we have a healthy attitude, we like it, it’s fun, it’s jolly, because it’s a primary impulse it can be dangerous and dark and difficult, it’s a bit like food in that respect only even more exciting. The only people who are obsessed with food are anorexics and the morbidly obese, and that in erotic terms is the Catholic Church in a nutshell.</i>SLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14706779827109819513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-50494566071813687052010-03-23T10:22:42.548+00:002010-03-23T10:22:42.548+00:00I very much doubt that a gay couple would walk int...I very much doubt that a gay couple would walk into a Catholic adoption agency, Anji, but it would be nice to think that conditions could change enough for it to be possible eventually... I look at the various domestic arrangements of K's contemporaries, and sometimes am a bit surprised at how well the children are managing in what looks to me, as an outsider, to be a bit of a mess. At least it's not an abusive mess; I remember the daughters of a neighbour in Portsmouth who were very fearful of grown-ups and flinched if you made a sudden movement. Fortunately, the father in that case absented himself and then wiped himself out in a motoring accident...<br /><br />He didn't cite anything to justify his claim, Charlie; he just radiated the idea that he was right, and viewed the Church's examination by outside bodies as a generous concession. He came across as either out of touch, or cynically confident that the Church's power was inviolable.<br /><br />Thanks for the link; most apposite :-)<br /><br />Quite so, Suzzy.Dru Marlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-30689736340636211412010-03-22T08:51:35.209+00:002010-03-22T08:51:35.209+00:00The preoccupation with penetrative sex seems to in...The preoccupation with penetrative sex seems to infect the entire Church, not just guilt-ridden cstholics. Auntie Joanna refers in her blog to that truly weird idea of Christ as groom and Church as bride, explained (not!) in http://www.gotquestions.org/bride-of-Christ.html ... There are surely better ways of rendering in metaphor notions such as fidelity and commitment. Even a 'husband/wife' metaphor could avoid the bizarre idea of physical consummation between newlyweds coupling for (according to protocol) the begetting of children. I wonder how churchgoers actually visualise their Lord wedding His own church, taking it to bed, etc. Nightmare.<br /><br />It is desperately sad for the human race that shame and guilt can provide the foundations for a widespread belief system; sadder still when the shame and guilt is projected by messed-up individuals onto others. <br /><br />That [unfounded] defence about the prevalence of abuse among priests being no different from the avarage misses the important point that if you set yourself up as a moral and spiritual leader, such as a priest, with the most private and intimate access to people, you had damn well better be morally beyond reproach, and held to far higher standards than the rest of us poor sinners.suzzymackenziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14334149681897991297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-84359437036347941532010-03-21T23:04:21.635+00:002010-03-21T23:04:21.635+00:00I'd like to know his evidence for saying it...I'd like to know his evidence for saying it's not more prevalent amongst clergy - did he cite any?<br /><br />What is certainly different is that no other set of abusers was systematically protected by its employers and put in positions where they could continue abuse with fresh victims. There aren't many other cases either where victims were pressured into signing vows of silence, or where the revelation that this happened is not considered a resigning matter by one of the priests involved (who now happens to be head of the church in Ireland). Add to this the fact that the same shower still feels justified in lecturing other people about sexual morality, and you have a particularly concentrated hypocrisy pate. The Onion put it well years ago, but it's as true today...<br /><br />http://www.theonion.com/articles/pope-forgives-molested-children,101/Cathy Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03838615971611193743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-80155967686785365612010-03-21T10:29:45.118+00:002010-03-21T10:29:45.118+00:00Do you think that a gay couple would wonder into a...Do you think that a gay couple would wonder into a catholic adoption agency?<br /><br />"The nature of a family"... I can think of a few "proper" families that hide behind that. I've taught a few children from traditional families that had been screwed up by their parents (literally too). You don't have to be homosexual or trans or orange with blue spots to manage that.<br /><br />One of my colleagues spent her weekends with her partner trying to give a severely handicapped boy a proper life outside the institutions where he was placed. There was no way the authorities would let them adopt or foster him.<br /><br />I did have a blogging friend who was an ex-priest. From a Roman Catholic family he mixed up his disinterest in women with ‘the calling’. He left when he sorted himself out, but it does make you wonder how many others choose that way for the wrong reasons. Of course homosexuality does not make anyone a paedophile.<br /><br />In France they did an experiment with classes of children who were under five. The children were given a sex education film to watch (suitable for their age). While they were watching a group of observers could quickly see the children who knew more than they needed to at that age. We saw the results; amongst them one little boy was gagging at the sight of an adult penis (I think that they only saw drawings). The families where then interviewed.<br /><br /><br />Last thought from me and I know that others have had similar experiences. When we were in our early teens my sister and I were given a lift home from Sunday School from quite an important man locally. My sister who looked at lot older that she was and he knew how old she was, sat in the front seat of the car and he put his hand on her thigh. She moved it away and when we got home we told my father who just said; ‘You don’t need to take any notice of him’. I don’t think that there is more abuse nowadays, it’s just taken more seriously. So it should be.<br /><br />I do feel very strongly about this, One of my pupils was raped by her father and I can still see her afterwards, she was destroyed.Anjihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02562210585479814093noreply@blogger.com