His name is Father Jay Flaherty. You may have heard about the ruckus in Pigeon Forge, where a local Baptist Church minister was distributing Chick Comics to his youth, to distribute in their school. One of the Catholic youth brought one to her pastor, entitled The Death Cookie. It attacked the doctrine of Transubstantiation and the Real Presence with great vitriol. (I used to collect Chick Comics, and that one was os virtiolic and written from such a standpoint of ignorance that it was, unintentionally, hilarious in a dark sort of way.)
Well, thanks to Vir Spelunculus Catholicae, I have learned a bit more about this priest:
H read the riot act to his congregation. He restated with fidelity the disciplines and teachings about the Holy Mass. He pointed out that they were being disrespectful to the Blessed Sacrament. He told them to quit coming to church dressed like slobs, sluts and idiots. He told them that if they are late to Mass, to wait until after the homily, then come in for the Creed. To stop being distracting and disruptive. And then he told them if they didn't like these things, to worship somewhere else. And if they didn't like that, they could complain to the Bishop, or the Pope, but he had canon law and Church teaching on his side.
He got applause at the end of the Homily.
Too bad that if he's ever nominated as Bishop, the letters from the weak and fearful contingent of the Clergy will sink his chances. He's looking at a persecuting society (Baptists often hate Catholics!) and a wayward flock (there was actually a host on the floor with chewing gum stuck to it.
Moral Courage--the first prerequisite for successful ministry as a priest.
TRIUMPHALIST--YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Sometimes I hate being Catholic--it's embarrassing!
Really. I mean, I don't find not being able to enjoy steak on Fridays during lent embarrassing, or making the Sign of the Cross when an emergency vehicle goes by. Or even some of the truly tacky "art" that shows up.
But I am embarrassed by other things. Usually done by progressives. Like the "music minister" in Ashville NC who was arrested making child porn with a 13 year old girl from the parish. Or the fact that his pastor is charged with obstruction of justice for simply deleting the images from the "music minister"s computer, without calling the cops. (It's a good thing that this parish is in the Diocese of Charlotte, NC--the bishop there is tired of this sort of crap and will hang them both out to dry. Too bad it's too late.)
Or New Ways Ministry. It has had it's two founders, a priest and a religious sister, told by the Vatican to suspend their ministry. And the USCCB--in a rare display of episcopal spine--last month denounced the Ministry as at variance with Catholic teaching. Of course, right after that the group issued a list of "gay friendly" (meaning "we love sodomites and sodomy") parishes in the US. For the State of Kentucky, two were listed, one of them the Cathedral Parish of the Assumption. It's interesting that when our Archbishop, Abp. Kurtz, publicly and in writting expressed his and the Church's opposition to gay marriage, within 24 hours the man running the gay ministry at the cathedral flatly stated that the Abp. was wrong. Embarrassing.
But I am embarrassed by other things. Usually done by progressives. Like the "music minister" in Ashville NC who was arrested making child porn with a 13 year old girl from the parish. Or the fact that his pastor is charged with obstruction of justice for simply deleting the images from the "music minister"s computer, without calling the cops. (It's a good thing that this parish is in the Diocese of Charlotte, NC--the bishop there is tired of this sort of crap and will hang them both out to dry. Too bad it's too late.)
Or New Ways Ministry. It has had it's two founders, a priest and a religious sister, told by the Vatican to suspend their ministry. And the USCCB--in a rare display of episcopal spine--last month denounced the Ministry as at variance with Catholic teaching. Of course, right after that the group issued a list of "gay friendly" (meaning "we love sodomites and sodomy") parishes in the US. For the State of Kentucky, two were listed, one of them the Cathedral Parish of the Assumption. It's interesting that when our Archbishop, Abp. Kurtz, publicly and in writting expressed his and the Church's opposition to gay marriage, within 24 hours the man running the gay ministry at the cathedral flatly stated that the Abp. was wrong. Embarrassing.
Local Politics, and My Abandonment of Both Progressivism and the Democratic Party.
People who knew me "when" are sometimes troubled by my repudiation of progressive politics. Still others are upset by my abandoning of the Democratic party.
So local politics now has presented me with a very good "microcosmic" example of why. Kentucky has a poor school system, and is "working" to improve it. And right now, KY has a Democratic controlled assembly. So, what's the example?
Several schools in the state are dilapidated to the point of being a danger to their students. The State has voted funds to repair/replace about half of them. However, every school receiving the money is in a Democratic district! Not a single school in a GOP district has received funds. The message is clear--the politicians of the "Democratic" party are simply telling people that if they value their children, they will vote for the Dems. Not because the Dems have better ideas, but because they will block state funds to districts with Republican representatives.
Even the stalwartly Democratic Courier-Journal, Louisville's only daily paper, is crying foul.
Couple this with how often I heard calls to silence opposing speech, Richard Cohen asserting that there is too much Democratic process and public input and comment, which tends to block or water down progressive legislation, Thomas Friedman running around about how great China's "enlightened" governments restrictions on liberty are good for people and politics, one gets the idea that Democrats are about as democratic as Franco's Spain.
So local politics now has presented me with a very good "microcosmic" example of why. Kentucky has a poor school system, and is "working" to improve it. And right now, KY has a Democratic controlled assembly. So, what's the example?
Several schools in the state are dilapidated to the point of being a danger to their students. The State has voted funds to repair/replace about half of them. However, every school receiving the money is in a Democratic district! Not a single school in a GOP district has received funds. The message is clear--the politicians of the "Democratic" party are simply telling people that if they value their children, they will vote for the Dems. Not because the Dems have better ideas, but because they will block state funds to districts with Republican representatives.
Even the stalwartly Democratic Courier-Journal, Louisville's only daily paper, is crying foul.
Couple this with how often I heard calls to silence opposing speech, Richard Cohen asserting that there is too much Democratic process and public input and comment, which tends to block or water down progressive legislation, Thomas Friedman running around about how great China's "enlightened" governments restrictions on liberty are good for people and politics, one gets the idea that Democrats are about as democratic as Franco's Spain.
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