When producer Paul Vassalo from the BBC's World Have Your Say programme asked me to join in the debate about Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral letter to the Irish, I immediately recalled the document and I commented that I was aware of the BBC's own articles on the subject. It was my impression that most people who commented on the Pope's ground-breaking document had not read it, but simply formatted an opinion based on the media's own comments of it.
I knew the above was true because chiefly among the persistent grievances of the public commenting on the letter were terms like “lack of accountability” and “lack of practical action”. They regarded the letter as a mere apology, which is of course an incomplete assessment.
I did read the Pope’s heartfelt manifest and I see in his letter the words of a man committed to resolving a problem. He courageously admitted to the problem and publically pledged himself, personally and as Pontiff, to correcting these wrongs not only for the present generation and not just for Ireland, but for the future and for all nations where the Catholic Church is inserted. This is so because the Catholic Church is a Universal Church. Canon Law and Doctrine are to be applied equally everywhere that the Church is present; hence, whatever is decided in Ireland will guide the decisions made elsewhere that similar problems arise.
The letter did have an apology. However, there was much more than solidarity in it, there was a commitment to implementing practical action. Here are the points I learned from the Pope’s message:
1. The Pontiff has officially and unequivocally expressed regret and shame about the fact itself and the about the mishandling of it.
2. He reaffirmed that both the crimes and the way they were handled were not coherent with the precepts of the Church (both in Canon Law and Doctrine). He called the attention of the perpetrators of this erroneous policy and the abusers to the fact that they compromised the Church's moral credibility; calling them traitors to the Faith.
3. He has urged the abusers to repent and submit to divine and secular authority, and he has made recommendations that any such offence be treated lawfully per the laws of the Church and of the respective sovereign nation.
4. He has admonished the bishops who have mishandled the matter and has set teams to scrutinise their actions and to look over their shoulders on this and in other matters.
5. He has initiated a revision of seminaries and the processes of indoctrination of priests to prevent reoccurrence. This is all very practical and very affirmative action.
6. He announced that these actions would continue to be updated in an ongoing process.
Therefore we can conclude that all this was just the beginning, for the Pope has not limited his actions to what’s in the letter, but reaffirmed that he is engaged in the continuity of investigations and in studying means of correcting the wrongs of the past to promote a better future for Catholic institutions; a future more consistent with the precepts of our Faith. There's no mistake: This is all very practical and very assertive action.
Whereas there were many commentators wishing to capitalise on the moment to pursue changes to the precepts of celibacy and ordination of women, threatening defection from the Church and other such silly approaches, I still think that the present problem is but two-fold:
1. Paedophilic individuals are deranged and they’ll go to great lengths to perpetrate their abominations. They are not inherent of the Catholic Church and are present everywhere in our Western Society. The root of paedophilic behaviour is not celibacy nor is it religion, as proven by statistics on child abuse. We need to find out what the root is, so that we may better screen these predators from our institutions. For the Catholic Church the Pope has already manifested his will that this is done by ordering the revision of screening processes, seminaries and moral formation policy. The Church is also promoting training for parents that they may be better prepared to detect problems.
2. An erroneous policy of cover-ups was implemented that was not coherent with Canon Law nor with the Catholic Doctrine. This is being addressed as well and the Pope has commanded the villains to repent and to submit to the civil authorities. He has also commanded that full cooperation is extended to the authorities of each sovereign nation, according to the law of the land.
As I see it, the abuse of minors is indeed a great injustice and it needs to and shall be addressed. However, we cannot correct this injustice by perpetrating another one: The injustice of calling the whole of the Catholic Church a disappointment.
I grew up going to Catholic institutions; having studied many, many years in Catholic schools. I’ve also partaken in activities and visits to Catholic Healthcare, Homing, Charity and Humanitarian efforts and institutions. I can tell you this from personal experience: There are always rotten apples – as this is part of the human experience and we are all imperfect – but for every one rotten apple I have encountered, there were basketfuls of good priests, nuns and volunteers.
So, if you haven't read the letter for yourself, I reccommend that you do: http://www.vatican.va/resources/index_en.htm
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Is Modern Democracy Really Democratic?
This is a question that often vexes me. The very concept of modern democracy as a “rule of the people” would require that “the people” be well educated and well informed about what goes on in the world and what goes on about their elected leaders. Yet, this is not so.
Here’s the point that compromises most modern democracies: DISINFORMATION. There are so many lies and half-truths going around about situations and about world leaders that it is utterly confusing to “the people”. We “the people” are baffled by an inexorable daily flow of conflicting news and contradictory public affirmations. We are bombarded by lies and half-truths mingled cunningly with what’s real and proven fact.
When it is not about the lies that are publicized all around us by a media that displays little concern for the veracity of the bombastic material they bring to the public, it is about the secrecy that is kept on certain public circles. National security and the safeguarding of individual politician’s rights have more often than not signified that “the people” must be kept ignorant of important facts.
How can we call ourselves democratic when the ability of “the people” to make an educated choice is so compromised by disinformation and secrecy that we are faced with nothing but lies and half-truths upon which to base our decisions?
We will only have TRUE DEMOCRACY on the day that “the people” are given all the facts by transparent public institutions and the REAL power to format and convey an opinion.
Here’s the point that compromises most modern democracies: DISINFORMATION. There are so many lies and half-truths going around about situations and about world leaders that it is utterly confusing to “the people”. We “the people” are baffled by an inexorable daily flow of conflicting news and contradictory public affirmations. We are bombarded by lies and half-truths mingled cunningly with what’s real and proven fact.
When it is not about the lies that are publicized all around us by a media that displays little concern for the veracity of the bombastic material they bring to the public, it is about the secrecy that is kept on certain public circles. National security and the safeguarding of individual politician’s rights have more often than not signified that “the people” must be kept ignorant of important facts.
How can we call ourselves democratic when the ability of “the people” to make an educated choice is so compromised by disinformation and secrecy that we are faced with nothing but lies and half-truths upon which to base our decisions?
We will only have TRUE DEMOCRACY on the day that “the people” are given all the facts by transparent public institutions and the REAL power to format and convey an opinion.
Adendum on the BBC's "Should the Pope Resign"
The very question is ignorant, but let's indulge in it for a moment longer. Shakespeare wrote, quite correctly, in his Henry V - Act4 Scene1:
“If a son that is by his father sent about merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the imputation of his wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon his father that sent him. Or if a servant, under his master's command transporting a sum of money, be assailed by robbers and die in many irreconciled iniquities, you may call the business of the master the author of the servant’s damnation: but this is not so. The king is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers, the father of his son, nor the master of his servant; for they purpose not their death, when they purpose their services. (…) Every subject’s duty is the king’s; but every subject’s soul is his own.”
This has not changed and it holds to the particular situation of Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope and his Church do not purpose the ills of children when they purpose the good service of priests, and so he is not bound to answer for the particular sins of deranged men hidden amongst his tens of thousands of good priests.
If you say the Catholic Church needs to be purged of whatever evils still lurking in the shadows of churches, hospitals and schools, you'll get no argument from me. I agree with you and with Pope Benedict XVI, who declared he would rather have a smaller but truer flock of the faithful.
I see in him a man willing to go the lengths to clean-up the Catholic Church and reestablish its values wherever they have been compromised. He has shown himself more than willing to do it. What he needs is support, not a bashing.
“If a son that is by his father sent about merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the imputation of his wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon his father that sent him. Or if a servant, under his master's command transporting a sum of money, be assailed by robbers and die in many irreconciled iniquities, you may call the business of the master the author of the servant’s damnation: but this is not so. The king is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers, the father of his son, nor the master of his servant; for they purpose not their death, when they purpose their services. (…) Every subject’s duty is the king’s; but every subject’s soul is his own.”
This has not changed and it holds to the particular situation of Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope and his Church do not purpose the ills of children when they purpose the good service of priests, and so he is not bound to answer for the particular sins of deranged men hidden amongst his tens of thousands of good priests.
If you say the Catholic Church needs to be purged of whatever evils still lurking in the shadows of churches, hospitals and schools, you'll get no argument from me. I agree with you and with Pope Benedict XVI, who declared he would rather have a smaller but truer flock of the faithful.
I see in him a man willing to go the lengths to clean-up the Catholic Church and reestablish its values wherever they have been compromised. He has shown himself more than willing to do it. What he needs is support, not a bashing.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Should the Pope be Removed?
Yesterday, I was asked by the BBC World Service whether I thought that Pope Benedict XVI should resign over the scandals involving pedophiles within the body of the Church.
My first reaction was to denounce the fact that our Society as a whole is currently afflicted by a great many abominations and perversions such as hedonism and pedophilia. This is not a monopoly of the Catholic Church as much as it is a sign that our Society is so afflicted by such atrocities that even in the Church we find them. We should be looking at this as a much wider problem than just deranged members of the clergy.
I'm sorry to say I do have enough contact with social workers and civil servants to know that this particular problem of child abuse is more frequent than we care to admit and that it happens even in the sanctity of home and family with harrowing assiduity. If we ask ourselves why this problem has become so frequent, we need only look around us to find how widespread pornography and eroticism are in Western Society.
Even so, there’s no excuse for child abuse and no admonishment harsh enough, so I won’t try to understand a pedophile’s mind. I’ll simply accept they exist and that they need to be restrained. Furthermore, it appears to me that the trust put in a priest is no greater or smaller than that placed in step fathers, uncles, cousins etc. Pedophiles are deranged; period. Whether they are priests or not is less relevant. That they are already NOT celibate is painfully clear. Marrying them won’t make them forgo their disturbed desires.
That having been said, the Church did fail to deal with the matter. The clergy should have been more objective and more assertive in removing these offenders and locking them up where they could be monitored, controlled and even lawfully punished.
Nevertheless, the Church and its Pope are not evil and calling for the removal of the very Pope who is actually striving to make things right and who is working towards purifying the Catholic Church is counterproductive. We should instead support Pope Benedict XVI in his endeavours to clean up the Church.
Do I trust him and my Church? Do I still have faith in them? Yes! Why? Because I grew up going to mass and studying in Catholic schools and I know first hand that for every rotten apple in the Catholic Church there are basketfuls of good apples.
My first reaction was to denounce the fact that our Society as a whole is currently afflicted by a great many abominations and perversions such as hedonism and pedophilia. This is not a monopoly of the Catholic Church as much as it is a sign that our Society is so afflicted by such atrocities that even in the Church we find them. We should be looking at this as a much wider problem than just deranged members of the clergy.
I'm sorry to say I do have enough contact with social workers and civil servants to know that this particular problem of child abuse is more frequent than we care to admit and that it happens even in the sanctity of home and family with harrowing assiduity. If we ask ourselves why this problem has become so frequent, we need only look around us to find how widespread pornography and eroticism are in Western Society.
Even so, there’s no excuse for child abuse and no admonishment harsh enough, so I won’t try to understand a pedophile’s mind. I’ll simply accept they exist and that they need to be restrained. Furthermore, it appears to me that the trust put in a priest is no greater or smaller than that placed in step fathers, uncles, cousins etc. Pedophiles are deranged; period. Whether they are priests or not is less relevant. That they are already NOT celibate is painfully clear. Marrying them won’t make them forgo their disturbed desires.
That having been said, the Church did fail to deal with the matter. The clergy should have been more objective and more assertive in removing these offenders and locking them up where they could be monitored, controlled and even lawfully punished.
Nevertheless, the Church and its Pope are not evil and calling for the removal of the very Pope who is actually striving to make things right and who is working towards purifying the Catholic Church is counterproductive. We should instead support Pope Benedict XVI in his endeavours to clean up the Church.
Do I trust him and my Church? Do I still have faith in them? Yes! Why? Because I grew up going to mass and studying in Catholic schools and I know first hand that for every rotten apple in the Catholic Church there are basketfuls of good apples.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Climate Change is Real
I have to say it is rather tiring to continue to argue the broad strokes of the global warming phenomenon and Mankind’s part in it. It is quite evident that the phenomenon exists and any serious environmentalist, meteorologist and scientist will concede to that, at least.
Most reputable scientists will also agree that, albeit the phenomenon is rooted in a natural and cyclic event, it is also VERY likely that Man’s activities since the Industrial Revolution have contributed to exacerbate the natural phenomenon. What remains somewhat in discussion is the extent to which Man’s activities have aggravated the natural phenomenon.
There is no conspiracy behind global warming. If you stop to think about it, changing the energy matrix is actually an opportunity. Creating new ways to supply the world with energy will generate jobs in research & development, in industrial production of the new technologies, in civil engineering to implement them and change the infrastructure in your country and in running the new system. This is a GOOD thing. More so even in the face of a global economic crisis that DID NOT go away yet.
If you insist in thinking there is a conspiracy behind global warming, then try to think that it is far likelier and more logical to assume that the conspiracy is in denying Man’s part in the phenomenon. Why? Greed. Coal, Petrochemical, Plastics and Automotive industries stand to loose a lot of money (and a lot of power) with a change of technology. Loosing trillions in influence and power can be frightening indeed. Frightening enough for you to finance a campaign of disinformation and fallacy.
Now, to those of you who still pretend that we can all go on living with increasing levels of dependency on dwindling supplies of fossil fuels, as we have for the past 300 years, it is well past the time to wake up to the realities of the situation. We are witnessing changes to the environment far and wide in the globe. It will get worst. We must take charge of our destiny and momentarily forgo the luxuries to which we are accustomed. Let go of your car. Change.
If you do, Humanity will survive and we will find a way to re-establish all this comfort to which you’re accustomed. If you don’t, you’ll very likely live to the end of your days driving your V8 car around, in an ever changing climate. You may even be happy, but your kids may not. Think on it. Make the right choice.
Most reputable scientists will also agree that, albeit the phenomenon is rooted in a natural and cyclic event, it is also VERY likely that Man’s activities since the Industrial Revolution have contributed to exacerbate the natural phenomenon. What remains somewhat in discussion is the extent to which Man’s activities have aggravated the natural phenomenon.
There is no conspiracy behind global warming. If you stop to think about it, changing the energy matrix is actually an opportunity. Creating new ways to supply the world with energy will generate jobs in research & development, in industrial production of the new technologies, in civil engineering to implement them and change the infrastructure in your country and in running the new system. This is a GOOD thing. More so even in the face of a global economic crisis that DID NOT go away yet.
If you insist in thinking there is a conspiracy behind global warming, then try to think that it is far likelier and more logical to assume that the conspiracy is in denying Man’s part in the phenomenon. Why? Greed. Coal, Petrochemical, Plastics and Automotive industries stand to loose a lot of money (and a lot of power) with a change of technology. Loosing trillions in influence and power can be frightening indeed. Frightening enough for you to finance a campaign of disinformation and fallacy.
Now, to those of you who still pretend that we can all go on living with increasing levels of dependency on dwindling supplies of fossil fuels, as we have for the past 300 years, it is well past the time to wake up to the realities of the situation. We are witnessing changes to the environment far and wide in the globe. It will get worst. We must take charge of our destiny and momentarily forgo the luxuries to which we are accustomed. Let go of your car. Change.
If you do, Humanity will survive and we will find a way to re-establish all this comfort to which you’re accustomed. If you don’t, you’ll very likely live to the end of your days driving your V8 car around, in an ever changing climate. You may even be happy, but your kids may not. Think on it. Make the right choice.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Freedom of Choice Incurs Responsibility
The State must construe according to the laws of Man, to its convenience and to public opinion, the Church must construe according to the Truth of Devine Revelation, and the individual – that is you and me – may construe according to his or her conscience.
This is not a very difficult concept to understand, but people’s vanity makes it so. We – that is you and me – tend to take credit for all the things that go right in our lives and, by the same token, we tend to shun responsibility for what goes ill. When things go wrong, we want someone else to blame and we forget that the choice that originated the misfortune is our very own; even if we delegate that choice to a third party. By extension, the State does the same. Each administration will take credit for whatever goes well, and then they'll blame the previous administration - or some global/social/economics phenomenon - for what went wrong. Natural as it may be, this attitude is entirely unfair and incorrect.
Whether our conscience is ruled by conviction or by convenience it’s our very own God-given right to free will that shall decide. Yet this necessarily implies that, when things go sour, we must take responsibility for our conduct. It is funny to me that most people in our society won’t do that. They will ardently pursue their own doom by behaving in certain unbecoming and/or irresponsible ways, and then they’ll blame fate - or some other party - for their destiny.
Take for instance the concept of “overpopulation” that is so diffused nowadays, and the proliferation of “Aids”, which are both somewhat connected. A lot of pseudo-thinkers overtly blame the Catholic Church for these social phenomena because we won’t brook our values to be corrupted by an ill guided popular belief that the use of condoms will solve everything. Let’s stop a while and think: Where is the problem originated? Is it originated in the midst of celibate priests who do not even contribute to populational increase and who frown upon the concept of “free sex”? Is it originated in monogamous couples and their families of between one and four children on average? Or is it originated in a population who has bought the idea sold to them by Hollywood and by secular society that the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake is what will make them happy? I don’t know about you, but the latter seems more conducive to irresponsible lasciviousness to me.
The point of the matter is: If you choose hedonism as a way of life, you are already behaving outside the indication of the Catholic Church, and therefore you have taken responsibility for your choice outside the prescription of the Church. Why then do you feel compelled to blame the Church you already disobeyed for not agreeing that you should disobey it again? Why blame the Church that said "don't do it" for any disgrace that befalls you when you do do it? It is not at all coherent. By extension, when society in general decides to behave outside the prescription of the Church, it cannot in fair mind blame the Church for the consequences.
If you are not yet convinced, take a simple fact into consideration: Asia harbours over 60% of the world’s population. It’s a simple fact. Easy to remember, but it is one not often discussed in the media. Now, couple this simple fact with another: Asian countries are not predominantly Roman Catholic. It’s another very obvious and very simple fact, but it is again omitted in the media whenever the subject of “overpopulation” is discussed. Now, with both facts in mind, you will soon arrive at the conclusion that the Catholic Church is not at all responsible for the size of the population of the Earth.
Then, why do we blame the Church for the ills that happen out of “free sex” even if the Church is not a supporter of "free sex"? There’s a good question! To find the answer, it is logical to think on whose best interest is the blaming of the Church. Who benefits from eroding belief in the Church? Funnily enough, it is the same people that sold you the idea that “free sex” is happiness. Coincidence? Again, this isn’t hard to understand: If your profit lies in a behaviour that contradicts the prescriptions of the Church – e.g. Selling condoms, renting motel rooms, selling x-rated movies, birth control pills etc. – wouldn’t it make sense for you to have people distance themselves from the Church? If people buy your idea, they’ll be buying your products as well over and over again. If they buy your products, and you advertise to sell more, then the media stands to gain as well; hence media support for your "theories". Does the Catholic Church advertise on TV? No. They don't make for very good advertising accounts. They don't contribute to the richness of media magnats and money makers, so they don't have a very strong say in the media.
Why do you let yourself be convinced? Simple: Because it is convenient for you to think that what you want – in this example: pleasure and free sex – is what’s good for you. It is convenient because you get what you want, and you feel good about it; at least until the bad of it hits you. Yes. You’ve read right. You’ll feel good until that dire moment when you discover you were lied to, and while someone made loads of money on your “free pleasure” you are left with sadness and defeat. You’ll be in hedonistic bliss until you unravel your destiny with a nasty surprise of some sort that would not have happened if you abided by a wisdom meant to help you live a good and fulfilling life. If you think I'm being dramatic, it's because your choices haven't led you to their ultimate consequence yet, or maybe you just don't care. This leads me to another funny thing:
It strikes me that people say “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” but they conveniently let themselves believe that there is such a thing as “free sex”. Is not sex more valuable on the market than lunch? Well, maybe not to some… Even so, the thing is: There’s no such thing as free sex. Free sex is a myth. Why? Because there are ALWAYS consequences; whether they are good or bad. If you are not acquainted with the principle of Causality, here's a brief explanation based on our example: If you pursue "free sex", then there is always someone getting a lot of pleasure, or someone getting romantically involved, or someone getting pregnant, or someone getting hurt in their feelings, or someone contracting a venereal disease, or a child being corrupted, or a family being destroyed; the list goes on. The point is "something" always happens as a result of "free sex". Nothing is absolutely free and there’s always a price attached. If you pick well, the price may be easy to bear. On the other hand, if you pick ill, that price my be steep.
So, next time you make up your mind about something, consider that you may have to remember that the onus of your decisions is your own. Consider that you will have no one to blame but yourself because ultimately, we each choose our own destiny.
This is not a very difficult concept to understand, but people’s vanity makes it so. We – that is you and me – tend to take credit for all the things that go right in our lives and, by the same token, we tend to shun responsibility for what goes ill. When things go wrong, we want someone else to blame and we forget that the choice that originated the misfortune is our very own; even if we delegate that choice to a third party. By extension, the State does the same. Each administration will take credit for whatever goes well, and then they'll blame the previous administration - or some global/social/economics phenomenon - for what went wrong. Natural as it may be, this attitude is entirely unfair and incorrect.
Whether our conscience is ruled by conviction or by convenience it’s our very own God-given right to free will that shall decide. Yet this necessarily implies that, when things go sour, we must take responsibility for our conduct. It is funny to me that most people in our society won’t do that. They will ardently pursue their own doom by behaving in certain unbecoming and/or irresponsible ways, and then they’ll blame fate - or some other party - for their destiny.
Take for instance the concept of “overpopulation” that is so diffused nowadays, and the proliferation of “Aids”, which are both somewhat connected. A lot of pseudo-thinkers overtly blame the Catholic Church for these social phenomena because we won’t brook our values to be corrupted by an ill guided popular belief that the use of condoms will solve everything. Let’s stop a while and think: Where is the problem originated? Is it originated in the midst of celibate priests who do not even contribute to populational increase and who frown upon the concept of “free sex”? Is it originated in monogamous couples and their families of between one and four children on average? Or is it originated in a population who has bought the idea sold to them by Hollywood and by secular society that the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake is what will make them happy? I don’t know about you, but the latter seems more conducive to irresponsible lasciviousness to me.
The point of the matter is: If you choose hedonism as a way of life, you are already behaving outside the indication of the Catholic Church, and therefore you have taken responsibility for your choice outside the prescription of the Church. Why then do you feel compelled to blame the Church you already disobeyed for not agreeing that you should disobey it again? Why blame the Church that said "don't do it" for any disgrace that befalls you when you do do it? It is not at all coherent. By extension, when society in general decides to behave outside the prescription of the Church, it cannot in fair mind blame the Church for the consequences.
If you are not yet convinced, take a simple fact into consideration: Asia harbours over 60% of the world’s population. It’s a simple fact. Easy to remember, but it is one not often discussed in the media. Now, couple this simple fact with another: Asian countries are not predominantly Roman Catholic. It’s another very obvious and very simple fact, but it is again omitted in the media whenever the subject of “overpopulation” is discussed. Now, with both facts in mind, you will soon arrive at the conclusion that the Catholic Church is not at all responsible for the size of the population of the Earth.
Then, why do we blame the Church for the ills that happen out of “free sex” even if the Church is not a supporter of "free sex"? There’s a good question! To find the answer, it is logical to think on whose best interest is the blaming of the Church. Who benefits from eroding belief in the Church? Funnily enough, it is the same people that sold you the idea that “free sex” is happiness. Coincidence? Again, this isn’t hard to understand: If your profit lies in a behaviour that contradicts the prescriptions of the Church – e.g. Selling condoms, renting motel rooms, selling x-rated movies, birth control pills etc. – wouldn’t it make sense for you to have people distance themselves from the Church? If people buy your idea, they’ll be buying your products as well over and over again. If they buy your products, and you advertise to sell more, then the media stands to gain as well; hence media support for your "theories". Does the Catholic Church advertise on TV? No. They don't make for very good advertising accounts. They don't contribute to the richness of media magnats and money makers, so they don't have a very strong say in the media.
Why do you let yourself be convinced? Simple: Because it is convenient for you to think that what you want – in this example: pleasure and free sex – is what’s good for you. It is convenient because you get what you want, and you feel good about it; at least until the bad of it hits you. Yes. You’ve read right. You’ll feel good until that dire moment when you discover you were lied to, and while someone made loads of money on your “free pleasure” you are left with sadness and defeat. You’ll be in hedonistic bliss until you unravel your destiny with a nasty surprise of some sort that would not have happened if you abided by a wisdom meant to help you live a good and fulfilling life. If you think I'm being dramatic, it's because your choices haven't led you to their ultimate consequence yet, or maybe you just don't care. This leads me to another funny thing:
It strikes me that people say “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” but they conveniently let themselves believe that there is such a thing as “free sex”. Is not sex more valuable on the market than lunch? Well, maybe not to some… Even so, the thing is: There’s no such thing as free sex. Free sex is a myth. Why? Because there are ALWAYS consequences; whether they are good or bad. If you are not acquainted with the principle of Causality, here's a brief explanation based on our example: If you pursue "free sex", then there is always someone getting a lot of pleasure, or someone getting romantically involved, or someone getting pregnant, or someone getting hurt in their feelings, or someone contracting a venereal disease, or a child being corrupted, or a family being destroyed; the list goes on. The point is "something" always happens as a result of "free sex". Nothing is absolutely free and there’s always a price attached. If you pick well, the price may be easy to bear. On the other hand, if you pick ill, that price my be steep.
So, next time you make up your mind about something, consider that you may have to remember that the onus of your decisions is your own. Consider that you will have no one to blame but yourself because ultimately, we each choose our own destiny.
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Is the Catholic Church a Force for Good In the World?
I am a religious man, and I believe firmly in my Faith. In our western culture, this is becoming rarer by the year. I was asked today by the producer Krupa Thkrar of the BBC whether I think that the Catholic Church is a good thing for the world we live in. Yes, I think my Church, with all of its very human shortcomings, is a very good influence on our raggedy world of the present.
Arguments against my belief are constantly presented to me by friends who take pity on my “ignorance” and seek to save me from the “dark ages” and from my beliefs. The classical ones seem never to get old in the minds of my interlocutors. The Inquisition, the Church’s irreducible stands on Abortion, pre-marital/free sex and the incidents involving paedophiles are certainly the all time favourites of my agnostic and atheist “rescuers”. I am no cynic nor am I blind to the fact that the Catholic Church, as a secular institution, did have and does have its poor moments throughout History. I’ve even been known to hold an argument with intransigent clergymen or to complain to the local bishop about some priest here or there.
To all of my usual and occasional interlocutors, I have only this to say: The Church, as holy as it truly is in its mission to safeguard, defend and uphold the Repository of Faith in all of its Truth, is also a secular institution composed of fallible men and women. These men and women are as susceptible to the corruptions of our world as any of us, and from time to time they step away from their true mission and allow themselves to be corrupted by the world. However, there are none who can claim that the Church is the exclusive source of the evils it is accused of. More to the point, the Church’s shortcomings cannot possibly be more important to the History of Mankind than the Church’s defence of a Faith that preaches values and love that are as crucial to our Global Human Society of today as they were at the dawn of Classical History.
1. Was the Inquisition a horrible event? Yes. Was it more horrible than contemporary events perpetrated by secular institutions? By no means, and all one needs to do to be reminded of it is to review all the beheadings and rapes and torture perpetrated by heads of state not loyal to the Church (and to my English interlocutors: England too had its good share of royal tyrants).
2. Were a handful of Catholic priests found guilty of child abuse? Yes. Do the majority of paedophiles come from the Church? Not by a vast margin. Neither does the Church build porn websites on the Internet with “lolitas” on them, do they? To correct the problem, we should look first at the parties making money out of this, and the Church is certainly not among them. To our collective shame, there are today more cases of child abuse within the sanctity of home & family than there ever were in the Church. This is a sign of a diseased society, yet we see the Church, not Society in general, in the spotlight. Why?
The complete truth of the matter is that our world is infected by many social diseases like greed, hedonism and a variety of perversions and abominations. What transpires in the Church is but a reflection of a wider problem that infects all levels of society and all of our institutions. Like you and me, the people working for the Church are vulnerable to the temptations of the times. Some give in to temptation and step away from God’s teachings when they do. Does that mean that the Church, and all the good that comes from it in charity, ethics and Transcendental Devine Truth is nullified? Of course not!
The good that is done by the Catholic Church is multileveled and multifaceted. There is practical good done in CHARITABLE PROGRAMMES, in EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES, and in the PROMOTION OF PEACE. There is social good obtained from the Church’s stands on the ETHICS in human relations and on painfully controversial but very necessary DEFENCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS and the DEFENCE OF ALL LIFE. There is a wealth of spiritual good obtained from the Catholic Church’s KEEPING OF GOD’S TRUTH and the Church’s availability to provide the peoples of the world with access to SPIRITUAL FULFILMENT.
Some of my interlocutors don’t realise that most of us, poor ignorant folk of the world, thirst and hunger for more than what the world can offer. We want JUSTICE and we want CONSOLATION and UNCONDITIONAL LOVE and UNDERSTANDING and so many other things that the world and all of its governments, its trinkets and its pleasures cannot provide. This is, in my humblest and most ignorant of opinions, the single-most and greatest benefit that the Catholic Church endeavours to deliver to the world. The Church is first and foremost the keeper of the Good News, and it is the Church’s holy mission to announce It and be available to those who seek It.
To those among you who say the Church needs to be modernised to serve the whims of the people and the interests of the wealthy, I have this to say: The above is EXACTLY why the Church cannot be a democratic institution malleable to the urges of societies around the globe. This is EXACTLY why the Church cannot be “modernised” to answer to the voracity of appetite of a consumer society that wishes to replace time-honoured moral values that exist to help us live well with one another with the egotistic ephemeral fix of “the next sexual partner” or “the next off-the-shelf pleasure”. Mind you, people still do it anyway, but let them do it outside the bosom of the Church and without consent from it.
Every time the Church has consented to the “urge for modernisation” and to the “sanction to adaptation” it became vulnerable to the very accusations that are still made against it to this very day. The Church’s calling is NOT the pleasing of personal interests and political agendas. What was the Inquisition if not a consequence of the Church’s involvement with the politics & economics of temporal power? NO! The Church is first and foremost the keeper of the Catholic Faith in God and in Jesus Christ, and the Church cannot budge from its obligation to the Truth of this Faith. The Catholic Faith is not the Church’s or the Pope’s Object to be changed by either of them. It is God’s alone and only He may change it. To the Church lies only the solemn duty of preserving and offering the Truth it safeguards to those who would willingly seek It.
To me, this makes the Catholic Church A VERY GOOD THING in our world of today.
Arguments against my belief are constantly presented to me by friends who take pity on my “ignorance” and seek to save me from the “dark ages” and from my beliefs. The classical ones seem never to get old in the minds of my interlocutors. The Inquisition, the Church’s irreducible stands on Abortion, pre-marital/free sex and the incidents involving paedophiles are certainly the all time favourites of my agnostic and atheist “rescuers”. I am no cynic nor am I blind to the fact that the Catholic Church, as a secular institution, did have and does have its poor moments throughout History. I’ve even been known to hold an argument with intransigent clergymen or to complain to the local bishop about some priest here or there.
To all of my usual and occasional interlocutors, I have only this to say: The Church, as holy as it truly is in its mission to safeguard, defend and uphold the Repository of Faith in all of its Truth, is also a secular institution composed of fallible men and women. These men and women are as susceptible to the corruptions of our world as any of us, and from time to time they step away from their true mission and allow themselves to be corrupted by the world. However, there are none who can claim that the Church is the exclusive source of the evils it is accused of. More to the point, the Church’s shortcomings cannot possibly be more important to the History of Mankind than the Church’s defence of a Faith that preaches values and love that are as crucial to our Global Human Society of today as they were at the dawn of Classical History.
1. Was the Inquisition a horrible event? Yes. Was it more horrible than contemporary events perpetrated by secular institutions? By no means, and all one needs to do to be reminded of it is to review all the beheadings and rapes and torture perpetrated by heads of state not loyal to the Church (and to my English interlocutors: England too had its good share of royal tyrants).
2. Were a handful of Catholic priests found guilty of child abuse? Yes. Do the majority of paedophiles come from the Church? Not by a vast margin. Neither does the Church build porn websites on the Internet with “lolitas” on them, do they? To correct the problem, we should look first at the parties making money out of this, and the Church is certainly not among them. To our collective shame, there are today more cases of child abuse within the sanctity of home & family than there ever were in the Church. This is a sign of a diseased society, yet we see the Church, not Society in general, in the spotlight. Why?
The complete truth of the matter is that our world is infected by many social diseases like greed, hedonism and a variety of perversions and abominations. What transpires in the Church is but a reflection of a wider problem that infects all levels of society and all of our institutions. Like you and me, the people working for the Church are vulnerable to the temptations of the times. Some give in to temptation and step away from God’s teachings when they do. Does that mean that the Church, and all the good that comes from it in charity, ethics and Transcendental Devine Truth is nullified? Of course not!
The good that is done by the Catholic Church is multileveled and multifaceted. There is practical good done in CHARITABLE PROGRAMMES, in EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES, and in the PROMOTION OF PEACE. There is social good obtained from the Church’s stands on the ETHICS in human relations and on painfully controversial but very necessary DEFENCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS and the DEFENCE OF ALL LIFE. There is a wealth of spiritual good obtained from the Catholic Church’s KEEPING OF GOD’S TRUTH and the Church’s availability to provide the peoples of the world with access to SPIRITUAL FULFILMENT.
Some of my interlocutors don’t realise that most of us, poor ignorant folk of the world, thirst and hunger for more than what the world can offer. We want JUSTICE and we want CONSOLATION and UNCONDITIONAL LOVE and UNDERSTANDING and so many other things that the world and all of its governments, its trinkets and its pleasures cannot provide. This is, in my humblest and most ignorant of opinions, the single-most and greatest benefit that the Catholic Church endeavours to deliver to the world. The Church is first and foremost the keeper of the Good News, and it is the Church’s holy mission to announce It and be available to those who seek It.
To those among you who say the Church needs to be modernised to serve the whims of the people and the interests of the wealthy, I have this to say: The above is EXACTLY why the Church cannot be a democratic institution malleable to the urges of societies around the globe. This is EXACTLY why the Church cannot be “modernised” to answer to the voracity of appetite of a consumer society that wishes to replace time-honoured moral values that exist to help us live well with one another with the egotistic ephemeral fix of “the next sexual partner” or “the next off-the-shelf pleasure”. Mind you, people still do it anyway, but let them do it outside the bosom of the Church and without consent from it.
Every time the Church has consented to the “urge for modernisation” and to the “sanction to adaptation” it became vulnerable to the very accusations that are still made against it to this very day. The Church’s calling is NOT the pleasing of personal interests and political agendas. What was the Inquisition if not a consequence of the Church’s involvement with the politics & economics of temporal power? NO! The Church is first and foremost the keeper of the Catholic Faith in God and in Jesus Christ, and the Church cannot budge from its obligation to the Truth of this Faith. The Catholic Faith is not the Church’s or the Pope’s Object to be changed by either of them. It is God’s alone and only He may change it. To the Church lies only the solemn duty of preserving and offering the Truth it safeguards to those who would willingly seek It.
To me, this makes the Catholic Church A VERY GOOD THING in our world of today.
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