Posted on 04/28/2002 11:03:43 AM PDT by dubyaweluvya
Pravda.RU 14:48 2002-04-24 ICEBERGS AND THE TITANIC AND IMMORALITY AND AMERICA
Speed and icebergs had nothing to do with the sinking of the Titanic. German u-boats had nothing to do with the downing of the Lusitania. We all know those statements to be without merit. History is brutally accurate in describing what was actually the problem and what the consequences were.
It is a sad day in history when the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church mutes one of its own for speaking frankly about the problems plaguing the church. In a sermon from the pulpit of St. Patrick? Cathedral on swanky Fifth Avenue, Catholic Priest and Monsignor, Eugene Clark, was censured by the Catholic Church for speaking bad words from the pulpit.
What were those words? Perhaps the swear words that are so pervasive in American society?no. Monsignor Clark stated that the Catholic Church?s sexual abuse problem (that?s putting it politely) was created by ?homosexual priest? and ?American immorality?. Sound pretty accurate to us. In a society that now has seen numerous serious nationally televised debates about the benefits of sexual relations with children, a priest gets booted from the pulpit for saying that American immorality has helped caused the problem in the church. That?s no different than saying that Nero didn?t have a hand in burning Rome.
The Catholic Church is treading on dangerous water when they forgo scriptural truth for the darker, yet more popular, forces of tolerance. The collective homosexual voice is now so strong that it has invaded the pulpit and silenced the (once?) great and mighty Roman Catholic Church.
With the actions of some entrenched establishment liberals in New York City and their actions towards a popular and no doubt correct priest, the church has chosen to take a path from which return is difficult. The Holy Scriptures provide an excellent plumb line for daily life. The beauty of God?s word is that it is all in black and white, it leaves little to interpretation. By allowing homosexual activists to dictate what flows from the pulpit, the church has stated that, in essence, it will bow to most pressure. In a time when the church needs to be reaffirming the core principles on which it was founded, it defaults to the popular agenda of common immorality.
It is no coincidence that we liken the Catholic Church to the great ships of the past, built by hands of man, tempting fate with their greatness. It is the dangerous seas of submissiveness and conformity to the popular cultural climate from which the church needs to extract itself. History again, will be brutally accurate as the church and its leadership sail the church into stormy water. Anchorage in the lukewarm harbors of tolerance and political correctness is a specious haven to which the church need not sail.
Stephen A. McDonald Bigtreenews.com
Australian Broadcasting Corporation : The Roman Catholic Church has put employment firmly on the political agenda in the lead up to the federal election The Economist : The Roman Catholic church waits for change Yahoo/AP Roman Catholic priests wary of outcome of Vatican summit on sexual abuse Yahoo/WLWT ChannelCincinnati.com Local Catholics Watching Rome Closely ABC Pope Calls Sex Scandal a Crime
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