Posted on 10/24/2004 12:11:59 PM PDT by missyme
(Lynchburg, VA) -- In response to continued attacks against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) individuals and couples, Soulforce is implementing a two prong campaign this year to try to change the hearts and minds of Catholic Bishops, and beseech them to stop the spiritual violence perpetuated by Roman Catholic religious policies, teachings and anti-gay rhetoric.
Local Soulforce groups and other supportive groups in a dozen different cities are trying to dialogue with their local bishops through letters and other correspondence. Soulforce's commitment to the non-violent principles as taught by Gandhi and King dictates that each group first try to dialogue with their local Bishop first. If these attempts fail and Bishops refuse to dialogue, vigils are being planned in front of local chanceries. Local Soulforce groups planning vigils on November 9 include, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York City, Albuquerque, Washington, DC/Arlington, Orange County (Los Angeles), Atlanta, Detroit, and San Francisco. Additionally, supportive groups in Denver and St. Louis are also planning vigils outside their local chanceries on November 9th. (Call media contact above for specific details on each location)
Soulforce Twin Cities will attend Mass at St. Paul's Cathedral on Sunday, November 7 wearing rainbow sashes. The bishop in Oklahoma has agreed to dialogue, so no vigils will be taking place.
"We are praying for these bishops to follow in the footsteps of Oscar Romero, who gave his life to stop the violence against the Salvadoran people. Most of these bishops, know the truth of our lives, but they are fearful to speak out," said Kara Speltz, Chair of the Soulforce Catholic Denominational Team. "They know the gifts we have brought to our church, because they've seen them first hand, in their families, parishes and chanceries. On this day we call down the power of the Holy Spirit to transform their fear and temerity into courage and prophecy. As M.L. King, jr. said in his letter from a Birmingham Jail, 'We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.'"
On November 14, 2004, Soulforce volunteers will gather in Washington, D.C. to try to continue to speak to the bishops, and vigil outside of the USCCB meetings. If the USCCB persists in ignoring Soulforce's requests for dialogue, a civil disobedience will be considered.
This will mark the fifth year in a row that Soulforce has had a presence outside of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) annual meeting. This is the first time Soulforce and Soulforce local groups have done vigils at their local Chanceries prior to the USCCB's annual meeting.
Additionally, Soulforce is encouraging supportive people to individually communicate with their local bishops concerning the devastating effects of their anti-gay rhetoric, their outspoken support of the now-defeated Federal Marriage Amendment, and their involvement in electoral politics. For more information, see www.soulforce.org/denomination/rc/usccb2004/.
Soulforce, Inc. is a national interfaith movement committed to ending spiritual violence perpetuated by religious policies and teachings against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Soulforce teaches and employs the non-violent principles of Gandhi and King to the liberation of sexual and gender minorities. www.soulforce.org
Homosexual Agenda Ping - Barf alert for sure. Triple bagger.
It would be much better for these miserable dysfunctional people to be honest atheists than false Catholics. They are taking real words and truths and torturing them into perversion.
The word (and concept) SIN ought to make a comeback. It fell into disfavor some years ago, it's almost as bad as "mother" in Brave New World. Currently, nothing is a sin except not embracing sexual perversion.
I am truly offended and nauseated.
Let SCRIPTER and me know if you want on or off this pinglist becuase:
NOTE - I will be gone from FR (sniff) for around 2 weeks while my computer gets reincarnated. I may be able to check in now and again but nothing regular. Starting in a couple of days.
The problem is not the Catholic teachings or the sincere honest Catholics, either lay or religious. The problem is the homosexual infiltration of the Church.
Have you read "Goodbye Good Men", can't remember the author? I haven't yet - but have read about it, describes the whole takeover by the Lavender Mafia of many seminaries.
Get rid of the homosexuals, and voila! No more problem.
Excellent comments. Example - does a loving parent punish or chastise the child who does wrong, for the child's own good? Or does the loving parent never discipline the child, no matter how serious or dangerous the misbehavior?
Of course, God is the Parent, but if we want to be His servants, we should follow His example and instruction. Love doesn't always mean sweet words and hugs. Love means telling the truth, even if unpopular. And it usually is.
To really simplify the post-modern homosexual stance, wherein moral law has been turned on its head, view it thusly: "Thou shall not HURT my feelings" has become the redefined version of the First Commandment and the battle cry of the neo-morality crowd. For to "hurt their feelings" is the sin of being "not loving", and if you don't 'love' then you are guilty of being 'hateful.'
I read Brave New world as well. It as interesting that in such a controlled world the one thing that was completely liberalized was sex.
You said it. Funny, its been awhile since I've heard the term post-modern. I don't know if you have read any of CS Lewis's works. But he warns about post-modernism. I don't think that's the name he gives to it, but he saw its birth in his day. Perhaps it was starting out in England (and Europe) before it reached America.
Excellent kittymyrib and well worth repeating!
Excellent example! We are supposed to show our love by instructing and rebuking, if they choose to remain obstinate, we are to have nothing to do with them, not simply forget the whole thing and accept them for the sake of fellowship.
When homosexuals choose to remain publicly obstinate, they openly reject God Our Father. Regardless of their perverse efforts to be accepted, it is they who decide not to have God for their father, as such, they are no brother of mine!
CS Lewis? Oh yessss! I'm a big fan of his. Have you read J. Budziszewski's "What We Can't Not Know"? In Budziszewski's words, it's a "book about the lost world of the common truths........what we all really know about right and wrong." In a way, it's Budziszewski's version of CS Lewis's "Mere Christianity."
I'm in complete agreement with what you've both said. However, the worldview doctrine of post-moderns views your stance as "oppressive, repressive,intolerant, and superstitious" because their worldview beliefs are antithetical to our traditional Christian worldview. Wherein we believe all mankind are born predisposed to sin due to their fallen state, post-moderns {secular humanists, progressive atheists, naturalists, etc} view mankind as being born completely good and then going bad only because of outside societal influences. Whereas we see evil as existing here in this world and being the Tempter of man, they mainly see God of the Bible and His teachings as being the source of evil.
Once it becomes clear that what they believe {their worldview} is antithetical {or a distorted, warped mirror image of Biblical teachings}, it will make sense to you why they support total sexual liberation; abortion, euthanasia, and the deconstruction of God's created order......male/female gender, the family, language {the corruption of it}, etc.
In simple terms......they are in complete rebellion against every law, teachng, and institution created by God.
Here's my understanding - any parent who has had a child "go bad" - reject the family, choose an evil path, commit grievous sin, and not be sorry about it- will know what I mean.
In the father's or mother's heart, deep down, there is love for the rebellious child, but maybe no contact for years. The parent will experience horror or disgust or anger at the child's wrong acts, may even turn the son or daughter in to the police. But IF and WHEN the child is sorry, there is forgiveness, and when amends are made, redemption, and acceptance into the family.
I consider the story of the Prodigal Son one of the most beautiful and noteworthy in the Bible.
The father did not go running after the son, tell him he was loved, that his waywardness was fine and equal to the other son's obedience. He let the bad son alone, to experience the wrong of his ways. But when the son realized his sin and wrong, and came back to the father - with repentence and humility in his heart - his father greeted him with tears of love and joy.
I couldn't agree with you more. I came to the conclusion some time ago that the root reason liberals/leftists/secularists/atheists/hedonists/homosexualists etcetc all have abortion and sodomy as their revered holy of holies, worship the creation and reject the Creator (while often mouthing religious platitudes) is because of their rebellion against God. To express their envious rebellion, they systematically are breaking every single law, commandment, and guideline given by the Supreme God - and they don't just hate Christianity, they hate every monotheist religion which shares moral absolutes.* I had relatives (I come from an ultraleftist family) who criticized with equal fervor the Pope and religious Catholics, kosher Jews, anyone who didn't accept abortion as virtue, Hindus, et al. All sincere religious believers were condemned.
It is God they hate, where ever He is found. They hate the natural order He has created, and want to destroy it.
*Note that I am leaving out Islam. Although the Koran contains the same basic prohibitions and mandatory piety (such as mercy to the poor, widows, orphans, the giving of charity, and so on) as the Bible and other religious texts (I've plowed through some of the Koran), for a mysterious reason leftists love Islam. That is a whole 'nother topic... the evidence points to this: that Jihadis are insane and hate America and hate freedom, so I guess there's the common ground. Of course, if Jihadis conquered, the leftist Wiccans, homosexuals, and assorteds would also be forced to convert to Islam or get the scimitar, just as everyone else would.
I also agree with your position that love for others is the overflow from love for God. We actually cannot in truth love anyone until our hearts are filled with love for God, since that love is actually His love coming through us. The more actual love for God someone has, the more compassion and mercy they have for others, even if the "others" aren't perfect. That love is in connection with God the Father. And, of course, there is Tough Love as well.
People who think there can be real love for the creatures while ignoring or dissing God is experiencing sentiment only, not love based on wisdom. Such sentiment is often very misleading and can take a person very far away from God, since it is exclusive. For instance, a person may "love" their pet cat, and hate their own family. Or the misguided parents who "love" their homosexual children so much that they applaud their sick behavior and participate in "Gay" Pride parades. And such people of course villify those who would actually help their deviant sons and daughters become healed.
What kind of love is that?
I need to re-read Brave New World, 1984, and C.S.Lewis' trilogy again. Since my computer is being sent back to be fixed, I'm going to be suffering FR withdrawal for two weeks (aaarrghh...) so it would be a good time to go to the library and get some books.
We are all prodigal sons.
Also taught in the Orthodox church.
You and I will find much to share - return soon and let me know you are back!
Yup, we are the prodigal sons. And I am mighty tired of pigswill.
I still have a few days left with my computer - I don't know how I will handle the elections without FR... I'll just have to go mad.
I will let you know when I'm back - I help run the Homosexual Agenda Pinglist, so I'm pretty busy. Unfortunately.
I gotta tell ya'll that, for a change, its a great pleasure to have an agreeable discourse on this subject. I get so tired of having that slogan mis-quoted that I sure am happy when others who know what the truth is speak it! Thanks!
Hear, hear! For those who believe in God and want to follow His laws, there's really more to agree with than disagree. And for my part, it's time to put aside theological differences and team up to fight the actual enemies. Then, when the atheists/secularists/homoesxualists/hedonists/liberalleftist/socialists/euthanasia&abortion lovers are defeated and back in the closet, we can peacefully sit down and discuss theology.
Because if they win, we'll find ourselves silenced together or even incarcerated together.
That's my take.
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