An evil site and occasion of sin - Wherein Fr. Z rants [ 6:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1114)Posted on 11/10/2014 1:31:46 PM PST by NYer
UPDATE BELOW (Fishwrap closed it’s comments.)
___ Original Published on: Nov 9, 2014 ___
An evil site and occasion of sin - Wherein Fr. Z rants [ 6:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1114)
If ever you needed proof of what an evil site and occasion of sin the National Schismatic Reporter (aka Fishwrap) has become, just have a look at the combox under the shameful post by Michael Sean Winters about the reassignment of Card. Burke. HERE
I undershot when I used the image of a “Lord of the Flies Dance” to describe what was about to happen once Card. Burke was demoted from his position as Prefect of the Signatura.
Like and admire Card. Burke or dislike and scorn Card. Burke… no one should ever treat another person in public the way they are treating Card. Burke – and each other – over there.
I blame the editors of the Fishwrap, in general, for their hypocritical policies concerning their combox, and Michael Sean Winters, in particular, for fostering such hostility and lack of charity.
I am forced to conclude that that is what they want.
Bishops who read this blog: I implore you to consider looking in on the combox over there under that entry before your meeting later this week. You cannot stop what is going on over there, I’m afraid. But there is something you can do. The display of sheer viciousness in their combox should demonstrate why there should be a formal demand from bishops far and wide that they remove the word “Catholic” from their title.
And if you ever wondered why I don’t allow an open combox here – once upon a time I did – both the combox at the National Schismatic Reporter regarding Card. Burke and that of Crux on the same matter should convince you that my policy is correct.
BTW… what I saw at Crux isn’t, in the main, as barbaric and twisted as what I saw at Fishwrap.
More and more I am using the moderation queue function here.
I want to provide a space for open discussion, I really do. But I cannot allow the sort of savagery that anonymity and a lack of consequences seems to bring out from people. I am sure that were I to have an open combox again, as other sites do, my traffic here would skyrocket far beyond what it already is, which is pretty darn high.
The spiritual cost would be too great. I would be cooperating in evil.
That’s what Fishwrap is doing. And they invite it and provide occasions for it.
We see horrific violations of charity and reason all over the internet in comboxes of blogs and on media websites. I try to tamp that down here, though some of it filters through. Far far less than what you see at Fishwrap, however, and for that I am grateful.
Conservatives and traditionalists certainly have their wickedly vicious commentators, who, emboldened by anonymity and a lack of immediate consequences, puke their bilious dreck into public view. It is one of the greater concerns I have in my life and work here.
But I have to say that what you see from liberals outstrips the bile of conservatives by orders of magnitude.
Let me remind you of something. When you post something on the internet, there are consequences, both for you and for others.
You may be a matter of scandal to others, weakening their faith. Direct ad hominem attacks are horrid and unfair, especially when lobbed into the arena with cowardly anonymity. You endanger your immortal soul when you do these things. I sincerely fear that many of the commentators in the combox at the Fishwrap are in danger of going to Hell. Anyone who can write some of the things you see over there has to be spiritually sick in dangers ways.
But that may be expected from a site that actively and openly promotes dissent from the Church’s teachings.
There is plenty of room and even a great need today for sharp rhetoric and blunt responses. But we must stick to issues and not make direct personal attacks. I am not saying that we should never have fights. We must have fights, as a matter of fact, when the stakes are high. In fighting, however, we mustn’t become subhuman, agents of the Devil.
We have to be ready in our participation in the comboxes of the internet, to take some hard knocks. If we choose to descend onto the digital sand of the arena, we are going to take some hits. That’s okay. But do so after having put on the armor of God and after having recalled the Apostle’s urgent admonition in 1 Peter 3. When he tells people to be prepared to give answers, he says, first, they should sanctify Christ in their hearts and then, after, to do so with “with modesty and fear, having a good conscience”. Why?
That whereas they speak evil of you, they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation (anastrophe – manner of life, not just how we talk) in Christ.
For it is better doing well (if such be the will of God) to suffer, than doing ill.
Let the activity in the comboxes of those sites – if you dare to look into them – be a stimulus for some of you to examine your consciences and consider well your own participation in online comboxes…. at least my combox.
Let’s all be better.
I can’t catch everything here that violates decorum. I have no staff. So I ask you to participate, even vigorously, but to police yourself. Think about what you are about the post. Think before posting.
We can all fail in charity, but let’s not make that our default position.
The combox, for this entry, is closed.
UPDATE 10 Nov 1544 GMT:
I received an email from a reader:
Father,
When I went to the site just now (granted, here on PST), there was a sign that says “Comments are now closed.” And some of the comments had already been deleted.
Remaining comments are still of bottomfeeding variety, though.
There’s no proof like a few time-stamped screenshots, though.
This is at Fishwrap under that horrid post:
Editor’s note: Because the comments on this blog post have become unacceptable, NCR editors have decided to remove the Disqus thread for this post.
Meanwhile, Fishwrap is at it again with a new post on Card. Burke from CNS. HERE Never mind that it isn’t from a Fishwrap writer, they picked the worst possible photo of the Cardinal and they opened the combox. Their usual viciousness has started up again, just as they intended.
Again, as the bishops meet, they should watch what Fishwrap is doing.
UPDATE 1757 GMT:
One of the prime movers of the nastiness about Card. Burke in the combox of the Fishwrap is one “Bill Freeman”:
This seems to be, as one of you readers pointed out to me in an email, the same fellow about whom Deacon Kandra wrote a blog post. HERE
Here is his bio at the site “Progressive Catholics” HERE
What’s your background?
Unlike many ceremony officiants, I didn’t just go online and get ordained. After 35 years as a Roman Catholic deacon, I was ordained a priest in the independent Catholic movement on November 19, 2011.
I am a priest with the United American Catholic Church. My ministry is centered at the Friar Mychal Judge Pastoral Center in Northern Virginia where I am a chaplain working with the sick and those at the end of life, their families and caregivers. As part of that ministry, I oversee a worldwide Prayer Request Wall. I have an active wedding ministry with Progressive Catholic & Interfaith Weddings.
Enough said. This is the sort of influence that drives the combox at Fishwrap.
At least Freeman uses his real name. I have to give him that. That’s a notch above the cowards over there.
I know of another "RC deacon" who performs a similar service at a local funeral home. "As an interfaith spiritual care provider, this individual is familiar with all major faith and spiritual traditions including Roman Catholic, Orthodox Catholic, Protestant, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Humanism and other traditions." Similar to Freeman in Fr. Z's post, this individual does not serve in any RC parish. He is an active homosexual with a miserable temper and very short fuse. He should NEVER have been ordained!
Ping!
Sounds like the pastor at a parish I once belonged to.
He's since been excommunicated.
“He is an active homosexual with a miserable temper and very short fuse.”
That is rather shocking. I’ve learned from television that homosexuals tend to be very mild and kind.
Whenever I see the name of John Allen, I go the other way
Accusation of The Genetic Fallacy?
Guilty as charged.
**United American Catholic Church**
Not a Catholic Church, that’s for sure.
|
A schismatic group, "The United American Catholic Church is a federation of interdependent Catholic Churches, offering a progressive alternative to Roman and Anglican Catholicism." "United American Catholic Church is one of many Catholic jurisdictions that have emerged from Roman Catholicism in 1870 ... Rejecting the 'new' Catholicism of Pope Pius IX, the European Catholics established their own churches as 'Autocephalous Catholics' or 'Old Catholics.'" This group dissents against Catholic teaching on a wide basis, including divorce / re-marriage, homosexuality, women / married priests, "Mother God" and the primacy of the Pope, but claim that they are not heretical. Also supportive of Call to Action. |
He must have been the one-in-a-million that’s not.
There's a lot of that going around and not just from the Fishwrap end of the spectrum.
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