Would They Vote for Barabbas Again? [VOTF]

http://www.catholicity.com/ ^ | August 19, 2002 | Dan Coyne

[Akron Al]

Would They Vote for Barabbas Again?

by Dan Coyne

"Give us Barabbas," the crowd roared. And with that, the majority had spoken and our Savior was handily defeated in a democratically conducted election.

Christ's lopsided electoral loss ought to have been enough to convince anyone that eternal truths cannot be determined simply by a majority vote. As St. Augustine once noted, "Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it; right is right even if no one is doing it. But bad ideas never seem to go out of style, which is why organizations like Voice of the Faithful will always be appearing and sooner or later disappearing.

The Orwellian-named Voice of the Faithful comes to us from, of all places, Massachusetts -- a place where every six years the majority of Catholic voters turn their backs on the unborn and roar "Give us Teddy Kennedy." Egged on by the anti-Catholic media, Voice of the Faithful wants to help bring about a more "democratic" Catholic Church. The same voters who gave us Teddy Kennedy and Bill Clinton should now, presumably, be determining who the next bishop or cardinal will be in their diocese. Once this voting thing catches on, who knows what will be next. Perhaps the undemocratic and harsh Ten Commandments could be put to a popular vote and retooled into a more user friendly Seven Suggestions. These new democratically elected saviors are going to have their work cut out for them.

As detailed by Crisis Magazine Editor Deal Hudson in a special report, the first major Voice of the Faithful conference recently took place and the featured speakers included a wide range of Catholic dissenters. These folks included, but were not limited to, abortion supporters, women priestess advocates and many other well known critics of traditional Catholic beliefs. Indeed, there appears to have been so many dissidents and radicals speaking at the Voice of the Faithful conference that it would have been virtually impossible to hold a simultaneous Voice of the Unfaithful conference at another location.

Catholics, faithful and otherwise, are justifiably angry with the current Catholic leadership here in America. Many of us are also confused and even despondent. Into this crisis stepped Voice of the Faithful. It initially presented itself as an inkblot in a Rorschach Test, allowing each anguished Catholic to see in it whatever he wished. And so, Catholics of all types turned to this organization searching for some vehicle, any vehicle, to make their anguished voices heard by our bishops. "Do something. Anything!"

By associating with so many who openly question the Magisterium, Voice of the Faithful has now clearly forfeited any claim to be an actual voice of the faithful. Those looking for a Catholic vehicle by which to make their voices heard now need to start looking elsewhere. It was, after all, dissent and dissent alone that got us into this mess, and more dissent is not going to get us out of it. As Father Richard John Neuhaus has pointed out, there are three causes of the current crisis -- "infidelity, infidelity, and infidelity." The cure therefore is clear -- fidelity, fidelity and fidelity.

If nothing else, Voice of the Faithful should serve as a wake up call to the American bishops. The flock is restless and in desperate need of a few courageous shepherds willing to lead. In Dallas, the bishops sought only to appease its critics in the media. As a result, the root causes of the current crisis were completely ignored and the flawed document drafted by the bishops will soon be rejected by the Vatican. Scribbled on the rejection form sent back to the bishops from Rome should be a personal note from Pope John Paul II. "Try Catholicism -- it works!"

[Akron Al]

"The Orwellian-named Voice of the Faithful comes to us from, of all places, Massachusetts -- a place where every six years the majority of Catholic voters turn their backs on the unborn and roar 'Give us Teddy Kennedy.'"

***

"Indeed, there appears to have been so many dissidents and radicals speaking at the Voice of the Faithful conference that it would have been virtually impossible to hold a simultaneous Voice of the Unfaithful conference at another location. "

***

Very entertaining stuff!

[OPS4]

The Lord Jesus Christ hears the prayers of all who ask him into their hearts and souls. The rest of the ramblings are the nashing of teeth as foretold in the revelation of St. John.

Just keep praying from your hearts and the Lord will deliver you.
Amen. Ops4 God Bless America!

[GingisK]

Would They Vote for Barabbas Again?

Nah, Barabbas is the one in charge these days.

[Desdemona]

"As a result, the root causes of the current crisis were completely ignored and the flawed document drafted by the bishops will soon be rejected by the Vatican."

The document was rejected last week, as expected.

[DainBramage]

turn their backs on the unborn and roar 'Give us Humongus" .

[ex-snook]

""Give us Barabbas," "

Today, Jesus is still the loser. Now it's called separation of Church and State but the intent is still to wipe out Jesus. He really sticks in their craw.

[Akron Al]

Are you sure the Dallas policy has been formally rejected. I understood Deal Hudson to be saying that the Vatican was preparing to reject it:


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/733854/posts

First of all, if you haven't heard already, Catholic World News just announced that the Vatican will NOT accept the bishops' "zero-tolerance" policy that it adopted at their June meeting in Dallas. Some people won't be too surprised by this decision, as many have been saying that the current policy disregards canon law and is too broad in its approach, but no one was sure how the Vatican was going to handle it.

[Russell Scott]

I say to Catholics "come out of her my people". That church is so corrupt, I am surprised Bill Clinton hasn't joined it. Reminds of something Jesus once said:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

[ELS]

Scribbled on the rejection form sent back to the bishops from Rome should be a personal note from Pope John Paul II. "Try Catholicism -- it works!"

LOL!

[Polycarp]

I say to Catholics "come out of her my people".

Yeah, lots of fools have been saying that these last 500 years...

[Polycarp]

"Try Catholicism -- it works!"

That would make a great bumper sticker...

Corollary (to paraphrase Chesterton):

"The [Catholic] ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried."

[Campion]

That church is so corrupt, I am surprised Bill Clinton hasn't joined it.

No, Bill Clinton still claims to be a Baptist. Why aren't you telling the Baptists to "come out of her my people"?

Jesus founded one Church, which he promised to preserve, not 27,000 man-made denominations. Jesus didn't lie.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Sin has always done much better at the polls than righteousness. In today's America, we don't want to stop sinning, we just want to feel less guilty about it.

[DallasMike]

No, Bill Clinton still claims to be a Baptist. Why aren't you telling the Baptists to "come out of her my people"?

Bill Clinton can claim to be a fine, upstanding wombat, but that doesn't make him one. My general experience is that while Clinton may claim to be a Baptist, not too many Baptists claim Bill Clinton. Thankfully a lot of good Christian leaders in many denominations -- from Pope John Paul II to Mother Theresa to James Dobson to Chuck Colson -- spoke out against Clinton and his policies, particularly abortion.

Jesus founded one Church, which he promised to preserve, not 27,000 man-made denominations. Jesus didn't lie.

In Matthew 3:9 Jesus said "Don't just say, `We're safe--we're the descendants of Abraham.' That proves nothing. God can change these stones here into children of Abraham."

If Jesus wasn't impressed by the Pharisees' historical links to Moses, why would you think that He now all of a sudden cares about some supposed (and highly strained) historical links to Peter? God can make all the Baptists and Catholics and Pentecostals He wants to out of rocks!

[mlocher]

Now it's called separation of Church and State but the intent is still to wipe out Jesus.

you are correct, but for 'them' it is still a losing battle.

[mlocher]

Jesus founded one Church, which he promised to preserve, not 27,000 man-made denominations.

you are correct -- there is but one true church. and it is the church of believer, the church where every member has jesus in his heart.

the new testament also says there could be many differing denominations. st. paul tells us that some will treat all days equal, while others will find special days to celebrate. so long as the choice is done out of faith, it does not matter. timothy (i think!?) talks about diversity in shepherds who will oversee differing flocks. god set up a system of many differing denominations so that we as unique individuals can find the one that is right for us. and that is ok, provided they are based on the orthodox word of god (bible).

but this is just the temporal set of churches; we already defined the one true church.

[Akron Al]

Some interesting insights from a priest blogger:

http://www.thrownback.blogspot.com/

I Predict...

Well, two days have come and gone since Catholic World News broke the story that the Vatican will almost certainly send the Bishops' Dallas Zero Tolerance norms back with the charge: "do it again, and please get it right this time." In particular, Vatican sources told CW News that the policy would be rejected because of deficiencies such as:


-The absence of safeguards to protect the reputation of priests who might be unjustly
accused;
-The failure to guarantee that bishops would apply the norms fairly, or that bishops
themselves would be subject to the proposed discipline.


These are issues which I and others have blogged before.


Most interesting is the Vatican's concern with the Dallas policy's "failure to address root causes of sexual abuse." Does anyone else read that as a veiled reference to the problem of homosexuals in the priesthood? It sure seems that way to me. What other "root cause" is there for pederasty? Could it be that the largely inarticulate recent rumblings of Rome on this subject will be followed up by a demand that our bishops get their house in order and act with regard to disobedient homosexual priests like the St. Sebatian's Angels? Dare I hope for so much?


Now, aside from a story in today's Boston Herald and a couple of blurbs about this by Rod Dreher at The Corner, no one in the secular media has picked up on this. I know, because I've been watching, expecting at any moment an eruption of indignation at the Bad Old Vatican from the media establishment. But in the New York Times, nothing. The Chicago Tribune, nothing. From the TV networks, nothing. From "designated catholics" in the media such as Sean Hannity, nothing.


I confess to being puzzled at this. You'd think they'd be all over the story, if for no other reason than to re-open the wound of The Situation and pour a little salt in it. So what is the reason for the media's silence?


I can think of one explanation: A confluence of the slothfulness and bias of most of the people in the "mainstream" media. Bias, because the source of the story is Catholic World News, a "conservative" Catholic publication known for loyalty to the Magisterium. For this reason it is beneath the notice of most of the media. Slothfulness, because, for all the splash that media outlets make about "investigative" journalism, there's actually precious little of that being done. Most reporters rely on being spoon-fed information from their sources, who, for the most part, share their outlook and prejudices.


So, my prediction: When the official Vatican announcement is made that the Dallas policy is fatally flawed and needs to be redone, the media outlets will trumpet the story as shocking, surprising news that no-one (meaning none of their coterie) anticipated. That informed Catholics have suspected this outcome and predicted it all along will go unreported. Also largely unreported will be the substance of the Vatican's concerns. It will be played as another "power struggle" between Rome and the US bishops, who tried so hard, after all, to do the right thing with those nasty pedophiles in Dallas.



Fr. Robert Johansen 2:48 PM xxx 6 Comments

[victim soul]

Please remember it is individuals who can be corrupt. The Office of the Presidency and the Roman Catholic Church remain.

Those individuals who are responsible for corruption of either institution will be held accountable if not now ... then later.

[The Southern Right Winger]

I would love to see where that passage from I Timothy is. So far I have missed it in my studies. The first passage you allude to is clear that there are matters of indifference and we can all differ over them while being faithful to the Lord. But there are also some non-negotiables. For a beginning list of these read Eph. 4:4-7.

[Tourist Guy]

I understand that your current Pope is very anti-capitalist. For what it's worth.