Posted on 04/14/2002 4:40:17 PM PDT by Notwithstanding
NewsMax.com
Sunday April 14, 2002; 4:15 p.m. EDT
Hidden Agenda Driving Media Frenzy Over Catholic Scandal?
NewsMax.com contributor Fr. Mike Reilly suggests the media's feeding frenzy over the Catholic Church sex scandal may be tied to the church's stance on contraception.
The vicious assault of the media on the Catholic Church and the priesthood speaks volumes: It means we must be striking a nerve.
Please do not misunderstand me: I am not brushing off legitimate problems as media hype. But the reaction of the media is more than a bit disingenuous, especially if we compare their treatment of the Church to their treatment of the Boy Scouts.
The continuous teaching of the Church on certain moral principles frustrates the media. And for this reason, they are making a frontal assault against the Catholic Church.
The Church is a target because the Church is a threat to everything that they hope to accomplish in this culture war.
The Church cannot be silent in the face of this vicious assault. Now more than ever, the Church must continue to be the voice of Jesus Christ to a world and a society which has become depraved.
For this reason, I would like to address several of the most pivotal and controversial teachings of the Catholic Church, beginning with Artificial Birth Control.
For 1,900 years all Christendom was united in its condemnation of this practice. St. Paul even spoke against it.
In 1930 at the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Church opened the door to artificial birth control and other Protestant groups followed. Pope Pius XI immediately reiterated traditional Catholic teaching on this matter in his encyclical Casti Connubi.
By the time of the Second Vatican Council, there was mounting pressure for the Catholic Church to join the other denominations in sanctioning artificial birth control. Pope Paul VI reserved the decision to himself and appointed a special papal commission to study the matter, focusing on two questions: Can the Church change this teaching on artificial birth control, and if so, should the Church change the teaching.
The commission was sharply divided and a small majority actually favored changing the position. Media pressure was intense, but Pope Paul VI still courageously issued Humanae Vitae in 1968, boldly defending the Church's traditional teaching on artificial birth control.
The encyclical is actually a marvelous instruction on marriage and would greatly benefit all married couples. The pope explains that the marriage act serves two interconnected purposes: the transmission of human life and the expression of married love.
Any attempt to suppress either of these aspects is an attempt to change the very nature of the marriage act itself, a grievous offense to the Creator.
Couple who have serious reason to space the births may have relations during the infecund periods and abstain from relations when conception is a possibility.
The pope called on Catholic scientists to educate couples in this practice and the result was Natural Family Planning. Catholic hospitals around the world offer instruction in NFP and the results are magnificent. When used correctly, it is better than 99% effective.
The Pope also warned the world of the damage that widespread use of artificial birth control would inflict on society. He explained how it would contribute to an increase in marital infidelity, an increase in the divorce rate, and an increase in abortion.
Many advocates of birth control had argued it would prevent unwanted pregnancies, thus decreasing the incidence of abortion.
Pope Paul VI, however, was able to see the bigger picture. Once man arrogated to himself dominion over human life, there would be no limit to his transgressions. If man can decide whether life should begin (contraception) he could also decide whether it should continue (abortion).
As Congress debates creating embryos to harvest stem cells, can we really doubt the Pope's vision?
Learn the shocking truth behind the Catholic Church scandal in Goodbye! Good Men, now available at NewsMax.com's bookstore.
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Whatever... 450 children coming forward saying they've been sexually molested over a 30 year period qualifies as news to me...
Yes.
"Calls for Law's resignation mounted after church personnel records released by MacLeish at a news conference last week showed Law and other archdiocese officials knew the Rev. Paul Shanley had been accused of abuse over three decades."
Don't know what school you attended but over three decades equals 30 years where I went.
No doubt that, prior to 1965, a solid majority of American Catholics (religious and laity) had apostasized from the consistent teaching of the Church on contraception. Vatican II told them (or so they thought) that they were following "the signs of the times", or being responsive to the "inner forum".
We live in a democracy, and dwell in a democratic age. It seems backward and hopeless both for the Church to "resist" what the people of God, and their clergy (at least the honest ones) have discerned as the truth.
Unless they are wrong.
The Church thinks the people have fallen to worshipping a golden calf. In the long view, the Church probably thinks this is a temporary aberration.
What if the Church is right, and the Peopple of God are wrong?
Your defense for the Catholic Church is astounding...
Perhaps you should read the article for this thread and not make false claims that the author thinks there is no scandal here. This author is merely pointing out the EXTREME agenda of the pro-gay anti-chastity media.
If you are on the side of the media, then of course you are pleased with their agendized reporting of this scandal.
I stated nothing of the sort...
No. Corrupt individuals within the church have a morally bankrupt agenda, and that is what led to them covering up the gay priests.
Thus, it is time for the most massive set of excommunications in history.
Yet, there are other members of the church who knew nothing of this garbage, and their existence should be noted.
It isn't every Catholic.
Pope Paul VI convened a commission to "study" artificial birth control. If there was no doubt as to the authenticity of the teaching, why convene a commission? I remember reading what one cardinal said when asked what it meant if the Church did change the teaching. Wouldn't that mean that the original teaching had been wrong?
"No. It would mean that the Church moved from one certainty to another certainty."
The commission was made up of priests and lay people, and many of the priests sided with the majority of the lay people in recommending a change.
When word of the majority vote hit the press, it was easy to predict what the reaction would be.
The Pope rushed out HUMANAE VITAE, but many bishops, theologians, and priests didn't buy it, and the genie has been out of the bottle ever since.
Nevertheless, you choose to ignore the extreme agenda of the media to sock it to the Catholic Church - which is whatthis thread's article is about. No one has claimed there is no scandal worth reporting. It is the way it is reported.
While I apologize for my error, the entire theme of your posting in this thread fails to address the points the author has made.
In the short term, folks will cease to view their church as worthy of obedience on sexual topics, and maybe topics in general. They will cease to pay much attention. Perhaps it was inevitable. Educated middle class folks simply prefer to make their own moral judgments when push comes to shove, and cease in general to revert to a third party for guidance. That is just the way it is.
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