Posted on 11/20/2004 6:46:39 PM PST by BenLurkin
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II warned against attempts to tamper with what he called "the irreplaceable" institution of marriage-based family, saying Saturday that such efforts would deeply wound society. John Paul has been an outspoken opponent of gay marriage.
His speech to participants in a meeting of the Vatican's council on family matters did not mention any specific issues. But it appeared to refer to moves by some countries and cities to recognize marriage between homosexuals and to grant social benefits deriving from marriage - such as inheritance or pensions - to cohabiting couples who are not married.
"Family, based on marriage, is a natural, irreplaceable institution and fundamental element of the common good of every society," the pope said. "Whoever destroys this fundamental fabric of human coexistence, by not respecting its identity and by distorting its tasks, delivers a deep wound to society and often provokes irreparable damage."
His remarks echoed declarations in the Vatican's recently issued compendium of church teaching on social issues. That document stated that "no power can abolish the natural right to marriage or modify its traits and purpose."
AP-ES-11-20-04 2118EST
Ditto to your post #12, trek. Infiltrating the churches has been a plan set out long ago by the communists.
Moral Absolutes Ping. Yup, Pope gets it.
You'd think that most people would get it. Hmmm, mother + father + children = family. Stable families = children raised properly, which mean they in turn will grow up to be responsible adults and become similarly responsible mothers and fathers, which means a stable society.
Destroy families, destroy civilization. It's that simple.
This may be a re-post since my first one doesn't show up.
Ditto to your post #12, trek. Infiltrating the churches has long been part of the communist plan to take over this country.
Problems in *both* area ought to concern the public, but why stop there? Name any "trusted" organization where you find children, you will find infiltration by predators.
The Vatican has been condemning homosexual "marriage" for a long time. What makes you think that this is the pope's first statement on the subject? It isn't; and the news story does not say that it is. By the way, speaking of people who are slow on the uptake: the Southern Baptist Convention actually praised Roe v. Wade when it was handed down! It took a long time before evangelicals joined the Catholic Church in being against abortion.
Why does this bring to mind mice on the floor of the elephant cage?
Get out of your denominational rut...it ain't about you...it ain't about your denomination...
it's about Jesus.
You are correct. The Church did not act fast enough when it came to priests who molested children and that upsets me. But the MSM attempts to show that ALL priests are molesters when there are other groups, professions where the problem is worse. When a minister of another denomination molests a child that is not news, but when a priest is accused it is on the front page.
Not all seminaries are tolerant of homosexuality nor do they preach or promote socialism. Do seminaries teach social justice, yes, taking care of the poor, the orphan and widowed, as the OT says. (No I am not a democrat)
Bump
Excellent point!
Helloooooo?
The choice has never been between Christ and the Church. The Church is the bride of Christ. As St. Cyprian, a great martyr and bishop of the 3rd century wrote, "no one can have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his mother." Fidelity to Christ involves fidelity to the Church, which St. Paul called "the pillar and foundation of the truth."
Move past all this and realize that Jesus Christ is the key, not being Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, Episcopal ect.
Cretins like you were always sleeping during history class.
Then why hasn`t the pope formally renounced liberalism? Why are so many priests allowed to preach it? Why does the Church tolerate homo-priests, or child molesters? The list goes on, but as long as the church, or ANY CHURCH for that matter, continues to support OR flip-flop on liberal ideology, they are not much better then the Rats. ANYONE who is complacent about liberalism essentially condones it and is as much the problem as the leftist enemies of freedom, to quote the liberals themselves, "you are either part of the problem or part of the solution", or to paraphrase G.W., "you are either with us or you are with the enemy".
The Church is not a political organization, and will not argue its case in that context. It opposes what the liberals stand for issue by issue, but it is not appropriate for the Church to appear political. It opposed Fascism and Marxism because they were oppressive totalitarian systems. Liberalism at this point in history is simply a political philosophy that is at odds with the Church on the issues and can be rejected by the will of the people in our democratic government.
No jackass, I used to BE A CATHOLIC till I got sick of the priests, at least those in my parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe in East Chicago Indiana, preaching BLATANT liberalism from the pulpit! To listen to those jerks you would think all capitalists just live to starve women and children and all conservatives are racists bigots. Maybe they taught differently where you go but the nun who taught us for our confirmation came right out and said that only those who confessed their sins and became good Catholics would go to heaven.
Look, the first person that needs to be listening is the pope himself. Physician heal thyself. How can he dare to say:
"Whoever destroys this fundamental fabric of human coexistence, by not respecting its identity and by distorting its tasks, delivers a deep wound to society and often provokes irreparable damage."when the reality is that he personally has done more than anyone else to "destroy the fundamental fabric" of the family through his misbegotten "personalism" and "theology of the body." JPII is the foremost leader of the wrecking ball crew when it comes to marriage, then he has the chutzpah to point the fingers at others.
When Europe has already reached such a state of advanced decadence, corruption, perversion and apostasy, it's a little bit late to start sounding the warning bell. He's not just closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. The horse has already lapped the pasture several times, jumped the fence and taken off for parts unknown. And all this happened in the space of time since JPII published "Love and Responsibility," since he participated in writing Gaudium et Spes, and since he publicly praised the "undoubtedly personalist" nature of Humanae Vitae. More than anyone else, JPII has "failed to respect the identity of marriage and distorted its tasks" by his promotion of a new version of Catholic marriage that is utterly incompatible with traditional Catholic marriage as it has been understood and practiced for thousands of years.
The church may not be a political organization but MANY of it`s priests and nuns have, to my experiences, VERY strong opinions that they are NOT afraid to voice in their OFFICIAL capacities AS priests and nuns.
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