Pope Francis attributes two miracles to John Paul 11, clears the path to sainthood

John Paul 11. Soon to be saint

by Richard Mellor

Pope Francis has gone ahead and authorized the Vatican to make former pope, John Paul 11 a saint the BBC reported today.  The move is due to Francis attributing a second miracle to John Paul, a bit like a second degree black belt in Karate. This means John Paul can move up to the Canonization procedure which is the final step in this process.

With two miracles, John Paul goes one up on pope John the XX111, but Francis decided to authorize sainthood for John as well.  John Paul has been on the “fast track” to sainthood the BBC reports and a lot of that has to do with him helping bring down communism.

All major news outlets from Reuters to CNN have announced the news, “An "inexplicable recovery" on the very day of John Paul II's beatification has been assessed as a miracle by the Vatican's saint-making department…”  the BBC states on its website.

These are supposedly serious news outlets.  A story like this might be OK in the Onion but to actually report this and give it credibility is something else.  One has to laugh at this, but it is an example of the important role that the media and religious superstition plays in society. The Vatican City news agency doesn’t say what these miracles are but in John Paul’s case, an “inexplicable recovery” occurred as the process to sainting him was moving along.

What gets me is how come only Catholics get to be saints.  How come Einstein couldn’t be a saint or Malcolm X? What about Albert Schweitzer?  He cured a lot of people, sure with scientific methods but can't that count?  Why does god only allow Catholics to perform miracles like waking dead people or curing bone marrow cancer just by thinking about it? And James Connolly?  He was a Catholic? What about Edward Snowden, or Bradley Manning, they deserve to be a saints for the good they've done.

And another thing I’m a bit peeved about is favoritism. I went to a school named after a guy named George Napier. I don’t know who he was but he is a blessed, the name of the school was Blessed George. You see, before you become a saint you are a “blessed.” until they can find one of the miracles you might have performed.  I haven’t been to that school in over 50 years and Napier is still a blessed as far as I know; there’s some shenanigans going on here.  It’s just not fair. I hate to say it but it seems a bit like nepotism too, I make the last guy in my job a saint when he dies and it increases my chances when I'm dead.

The Vatican is an institution of capitalism, perhaps one of the most powerful and influential of them.  Like all religious institutions it defends the free market and capitalism vehemently as it assigns greed and selfishness to us all, billionaires and starving peasants alike.  “We’re all god’s children” you see.  The other “official” reason for global poverty, starvation and war is that we are all sinners.  This is due to the fact (yes a fact) that all humans are born with this sin that I recall being called “original sin”. Original sin is the first sin and that according to the Vatican: 

“originated from Adam and Eve disobeying God's commandment, choosing to follow their own will and introducing sin into the world. Original sin describes the subsequent fallen state of human nature.”
Yes, we’re living in the 21^st century and one of the powerful and richest institutions of the ruling class perpetuates this stuff; it’s very useful keeping people in the dark. It does explain though why there are no women allowed to make saints or hang out at the Vatican let alone become pope who is actually gods representative on earth.  It was Eve who tricked, cajoled and seduced poor old Adam in to thinking for himself. 

That's it then, women are the problem. Except for my mum.

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A visit to a Baptist Church

Just getting started

by Richard Mellor

I just returned from a funeral service.  The father of one of my long time and closest friends passed away at the age of 95.  His son and I were part of the leadership of our Union at various times and he was the President of it at one point.  The Church, the Bible Faith Baptist Church in East Oakland was his father's church, Moses Cain 2nd.  Not in the sense that he attended it, but he built it and was the pastor.

Anyone that's been to these churches is aware of the atmosphere, the music, singing, the praising the lord, the preacher working the congregation telling them this is a time to be happy not sad. "The Holy Ghost is trying to get in," the preacher said when he thought the congregation was not significantly involved, "I'm fittin' to change the atmosphere in here."  My days in the English Catholic Church were not like this.

There was time allotted for people to speak of Pastor Cain and what he and his family meant to them in their lives, after all, this was a family church really.  It was very moving to hear these folks talk about what a good man he was and his family.  The family lived in a part of Oakland that is within what is referred to as the "Killing Zone" due to the internecine gang wars and murders of young black men by the police that take place in the area. But Pastor Cain was the father to everyone in the neighborhood people said.   He gave advice to all the young people or anyone else who needed help.

One woman in her seventies spoke of how he had advised her after she got married years ago.  The preacher reminded her of what the Bible says about the need to honor and obey your husband. She described having a difficult time with that one; was hesitant.  She got a lot of laughs as she was quite a character, a powerful working  class woman.  She questioned him about that as her husband was staying out late, going to bars, clubs and the like. Pastor Cain basically told her that if her husband wasn't leading a righteous life then she was not obligated to obey him.  She described it as her husband not following the Lord of course, after all, it was a church. But she said it was the right advice given that she disagreed with what her husband was doing. It is hard to captivate such a mood in writing but she was wonderful and I could see the women present liked it. The gist of it was that she was right and her husband was wrong; the "Obey" law is null and void.

Others talked further about what the pastor and his family had meant to their community as children, neighbors and friends.  He was born in 1917.

I had no intention of speaking partially because I felt it not right as I'm not a Christian, I don't go to church or even believe in god; this isn't a political meeting after all.  But as I am so fond of telling others who have tried to tell me when and when not it is appropriate to raise politics: "Everything in life is political."  Hearing all the others describe the role he played in their lives and the community in general and then reading the description in the program,  I too felt a need to express why I was there as a means of paying respect to him and his family. I have always felt comfortable in that church.

Though not a churchgoer I have visited that building for more than 25 years; we met there during the strike of 1985 sometimes.  I also met Pastor Cain and his wife briefly after being introduced to the family through my friend and union fighter Marvin.  When I visited their home I felt welcome there too.  I got to know his daughters, Marvin's wife Rebecca, and his brother Moses, as we worked at the same place. 

But Marvin and I became friends though the struggle against the boss. At work, he was a fighter for all people.  When we first met we were sitting in a dump truck and I was espousing the merits of socialism.  He listened attentively and when I'd finished talking, eagerly awaiting his thoughts about what I'd said, he pointed to the watch on his left hand,

"What is socialism going to do about this," he said.

Strange question I thought to myself thinking he was concerned about the watch. After a confused "Huh?" from me, he repeated it and it became clear he was talking about being black in America. So we had a long, further more detailed discussion about that and the rest is our history.

So that little church and the family that created it has a place in my life too.

When I spoke I said that and how I was political and was grateful to have known this family, especially my friend.  But I read that paragraph about his father in the program.  I said that he was a leader, a worker's and community leader. He was a teacher to the young people in the community.  More than one man spoke about the skills he'd taught them.  One laughed about churning ice cream in the back yard and using a sickle, or he might have meant a scythe which is a tool I was very familiar with. I also pointed out that his being the first Black American to get a job at a local manufacturing plant was a historic event and should not be forgotten that it took place when it did in so-called democratic America.

I found the words I wanted to share when I said that those who are held up as successful and leaders in our society, those our children are supposed to emulate are what I call "coupon clippers."  They do no productive Labor unlike Pastor Cain had done all his life and they suck the life blood out of our communities unlike Pastor Cain who gave to the community, served it and was a leader in it to the extent that he could be.  That he found strength to do this through his faith is not a bad thing.  I sort of liken these churches, so many of them small congregations, to the liberation theologists in the Catholic Church that the popes of  Rome helped smash.  They serve the working class and the poor and within any institution its class content matters.

As the congregation responded to the pastor's calls for celebration and praising I wanted to video it and was given permission but somehow I felt I shouldn't but did take one picture you see above. 

The program had a short piece on him:

"Moses was a cook at the Oakland Army Base. He was the first African-American employee hired by the Gerber Baby Food Plant in East Oakland.  He retired from there as a machinist.  He taught the children in the neighborhood gardening, landscaping, painting, roofing, general construction and other skills that he used around the community.  Many of the young men in the area regarded him as the neighborhood dad."

Working class history is fortunately full of such leaders, they are often the glue that holds the fabric together and at work, when they become involved in workers organizations as so many of them do, they strengthen our class in the struggle against the bosses. "Our" leaders don't make the history channel and if they do, they don't do it right.

If I wondered where my friend got his fighting spirit I can see that his father instilled it in him.

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Crisis in the Vatican: Is Pope Benedict gay?

Pope Benedict: no more red shoes.

We reprint this piece below by Andrew Sullivan referred to in the media as the leading Catholic Blogger in the US.  Sullivan's Blog is "The Dish"  One can only imagine the conflict that must occur in the mind of a holy many, any holy man, whose job it is to demonize gays and lesbians and argue to the world that they are a threat to world peace if he or she has inner feelings towards people of the same sex that are for them the natural order of things.

This blog is not affiliated with The Dish, we share this for our readers' interest. 

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Two Popes, One Secretary

by Andrew Sullivan 

Feb 27 2013

The damage Benedict XVI has done to the Catholic church and the papacy may be far from over. All I can say about yesterday’s developments is that they seem potentially disastrous and also indicative to me of something truly weird going on underneath all of this.

Benedict XVI has claimed that his almost unprecedented resignation came about simply because of his physical infirmity in the face of what appears to be a growing vortex of sexual and financial scandal inside the Vatican. He said he would quietly disappear to serve the church through prayer and meditation. But we now realize he’s going nowhere. He’s staying in the Vatican’s walls, and retaining the honorific “His Holiness.” He will keep white robes. His full title will be Pope Emeritus. Far from wearing clerical black, returning to the title of Bishop of Rome, and disappearing into a monastery in Bavaria, he’s going to be a shadow Pope in the Vatican. And this, we are told, was his decision:

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Benedict himself had made the decision in consultation with others, settling on “Your Holiness Benedict XVI” and either emeritus pope or emeritus Roman pontiff. Lombardi said he didn’t know why Benedict had decided to drop his other main title: bishop of Rome.

If you were trying to avoid any hint of meddling, of a Deng Xiao Peng-type figure pulling strings behind the scenes, you would not be doing this. The only thing the Pope will give up, apparently, are his red Prada shoes. He has some fabulous brown leather artisanal ones to replace them. But this is what really made me sit up straight, so to speak:

Benedict’s trusted secretary, Monsignor Georg Gänswein, will be serving both pontiffs — living with Benedict at the monastery inside the Vatican and keeping his day job as prefect of the new pope’s household. Asked about the potential conflicts, Lombardi was defensive, saying the decisions had been clearly reasoned and were likely chosen for the sake of simplicity. “I believe it was well thought out,” he said.

So Benedict’s handsome male companion will continue to live with him, while working for the other Pope during the day. Are we supposed to think that’s, well, a normal arrangement? I wrote a while back about Gänswein’s intense relationship with Ratzinger, while noting Colm Toibin’s review of Angelo Quattrochi’s exploration of Benedict, “Is The Pope Gay?”. Here’s Toibin getting to some interesting stuff:

Gänswein is remarkably handsome, a cross between George Clooney and Hugh Grant, but, in a way, more beautiful than either. In a radio interview Gänswein described a day in his life and the life of Ratzinger, now that he is pope:

The pope’s day begins with the seven o’clock Mass, then he says prayers with his breviary, followed by a period of silent contemplation before our Lord. Then we have breakfast together, and so I begin the day’s work by going through the correspondence. Then I exchange ideas with the Holy Father, then I accompany him to the ‘Second Loggia’ for the private midday audiences. Then we have lunch together; after the meal we go for a little walk before taking a nap. In the afternoon I again take care of the correspondence. I take the most important stuff which needs his signature to the Holy Father.

When asked if he felt nervous in the presence of the Holy Father, Gänswein replied that he sometimes did and added: ‘But it is also true that the fact of meeting each other and being together on a daily basis creates a sense of “familiarity”, which makes you feel less nervous. But obviously I know who the Holy Father is and so I know how to behave appropriately. There are always some situations, however, when the heart beats a little stronger than usual.’

This man – clearly in some kind of love with Ratzinger (and vice-versa) will now be working for the new Pope as secretary in the day and spending the nights with the Pope Emeritus. This is not the Vatican. It’s Melrose Place.

(Photo: the Pope’s personal secretary Georg Ganswein adjusts Pope Benedict XVI’s cloak during the weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square on September 26, 2012 in Vatican City, Vatican. By Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

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Ireland: Magdalene Laundries, rape and forced labor

We reprint the piece below from the Irish Journal as a compliment to the video above documenting the Magdalen laundries where young Irish girls and women were imprisoned and forced to do slave labor.  The tragic story of the woman in the piece who died there at the age of 49 and was raped while a prisoner there is not an isolated incident. The story is told by her child.  The Irish state and the Catholic Church are responsible for this atrocity and the crimes committed under their care.  Compensation is also due all the women whose unpaid labor brought considerable income to the Church coffers. The Irish government has still not apologized for its collusion with the Catholic Church in these slave labor schemes. If you haven't seen the Magdalen Sisters, it's a movie worth seeing.  

A Magdalene daughter shares her story
   
‘Margaret died of her slave-related injuries’:

“Margaret was committed to industrial school in 1954. She was 2 yrs 4 mths old. She left 49 years later in a coffin.” HER FIRST TWEET simply said: “My mother was Magdalene No. 322. Real name Margaret.” It was met by a number of reactions, including disbelief that Magdalenes were given numbers. “Yes,” replied Samantha Long. “I was looking over her records today and thought I’d share that. Awful.” The Twitter user was talking about her late mother, Margaret Bullen, a woman taken into the Magdalene Laundries system when she was just two years old. Just days ahead of the publication of a report into the level of State involvement at the now-infamous institutions, Long decided to share her family’s story.

There had been a campaign to get the hashtag #justiceformagdalenesNOW trending on Twitter to raise awareness last night and the Dublin woman’s provocative, powerful and heartbreaking tweets achieved that aim. READ: ‘A life unlived’: Margaret Bullen’s story With her kind permission, we have reproduced her timeline here: My mother was Magdalene No. 322. Real name Margaret Margaret was committed to industrial school in 1954. She was 2 yrs 4 mths old. She left 49 years later in a coffin. By the age of 5, Margaret was preparing breakfast for 70 children including herself from 4am. Child labour Margaret was noted in her records as “nervous, timid, fretful, a bed-wetter”. No wonder, she was never toilet trained Margaret didn’t know where she was from or when her birthday was. We told her when she was 42 At age 13, Margaret had her IQ measured. She was “certified” as fit for work, unfit for education. Labour camps.

Margaret never lived in the outside world, although she lived just off O’Connell Street in our capital city Margaret didn’t know how to handle money. She had none, and no posessions Margaret never went on a date, Never had a boyfriend. Never fell in love. But she was impregnated in care Margaret’s twin daughters were taken from her 7 weeks after she gave birth.When she saw us again we were 23 When we reunited at the Gresham, Margaret was 42. Not that you’d think it At The Gresham in 1995, Margaret was excited. Not just to meet us,but it was the first time she ever tasted coffee When I became a mother in 2004, it was the first time I allowed myself to grieve for Margaret’s life unlived, denials Margaret and my family enjoyed each other for a few years, hard to recreate deep love after so long Margaret died in July 2003, one day before her 51st birthday.

She died of her slave related injuries Six months after her death, her first grandchild was born. She would have loved her four grandchildren I hope for justice for Margaret and her friends on Tuesday. Thank you all so much for the support. I think she knows I am astounded at the reaction to my tweets about Margaret.Impossible to reply to all.Thank you,I am humbled Goodnight all,finally. Míle buíochas #justiceformagdalenesNOW Senator Martin McAleese’s report has been sent to Justice Minister Alan Shatter, who will publish it in full on Tuesday afternoon, following a Cabinet meeting. The long-awaited report has been delayed multiple times since the inter-departmental committee was established in response to a recommendation from the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT). That body said it was “gravely concerned” at the failure of the State to protect girls and women who were involuntarily confined between 1922 and 1996. Advocacy groups have called for a full State apology, as well as a proper, transparent compensation scheme for survivors. About 30,000 women were incarcerated in Magdalene Laundries between 1922 and 1996. TheJournal.ie has previously told Margaret’s story and that piece can be found here. Samantha Long has also written about both her mothers in this touching blog post.

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Pope, Catholic Church and Capitalism

This blog has always argued as Richard did yesterday that organized religion is political. The Catholic Church was originally the church of feudalism. Then as capitalism overthrew feudalism and became dominant this church adapted and became the church of capitalism. It uses it huge apparatus of full time organizers (priests, bishops, nuns, cardinals, popes, and its property and wealth) to support and make propaganda for capitalism. In the 1970's it helped capitalism prop up the murderous dictatorships in Latin America which slaughtered the people who were struggling for a better life. Tens of thousands were murdered, thrown out of helicopters into the ocean while still alive, tortured and their children taken from them, all with the blessing of the Catholic church.

At this time there developed in the church the liberation theology group. This was a group of organizers which tried to push the church to helping the masses and siding with the poor against the rich. This wing was crushed by the previous pope with the support of the pope who has just resigned. By the way this pope who has a just resigned was a member of the Hitler youth. His supporters try to justify this by saying he had no choice. This is a lie. Hundreds of thousands of Germans fought the Nazis but he put his own career and his own organization first and made a deal. Anyway about the Catholic church and fascism the Vatican state only exists because the Catholic church made a deal with the fascist Mussolini and in return got its own state. By your friends you shall know them.

As the 1980's unfolded Stalinism was beginning to collapse and the Catholic church, now rid of its liberation theology wing, moved to help capitalism make sure that Stalinism was not replaced by democratic socialism but by capitalism. Thus we have the gangster capitalism in Russia and the former Soviet Union countries. The gangster capitalism and the collapse of living standards in these countries is the responsibility of capitalism and its ally the Catholic church.

If there is any doubt on this let us look at what the US ambassador to Rome said after the second world war.  He said: "There are only two forces that can stop and beat Bolshevism, (he was talking about Stalinism) the economic power of the US and the spiritual and moral strength of the Catholic church." This statement and the fact that the resignation of this pope was on the front pages of all the most important papers of capitalism shows how important this organization is to capitalism.

Anybody who is opposed to capitalism should not be in this organization. If they do not have the moral  strength to leave it they should fight within it to change its policies and internal undemocratic structure and its anti women stance. But they should be warned this is a murderous regime which has proven that it will kill its opponents and cooperate with others who will kill anti capitalism movements and people.

Sean.

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Ireland: a la carte Catholicism and the secular agenda

We are reprinting this commentary on the changing nature of religion in Ireland with our readers in the light of the huge crisis that is engulfing one of the world's major religions.

Flirting with the light of reason: how a la carte Catholicism contributes to the secular agenda
by Andrew D Rattigan

By Atheist Ireland | Published: February 10, 2013

In the first of a series of articles for Atheist Ireland, Andrew Devine-Rattigan remembers the set-menu Irish Catholics of recent decades, argues that they are being replaced by a new generation of a la carte Irish Catholics, and says that atheists and secularists should welcome this rejection of religious authority.

The current rumblings within the Catholic Church with regards the censure and attempted silencing of priests such as Fr. Tony Flannery is indicative of a coming schism within the organisation. In fact, it is well under way, it is just being confined within the church and has not yet led to a split.

The Association of Catholic Priests is an organisation of Catholic priests who believe the Catholic Church should be accountable to its members and open to change. Members of the ACP, such as Tony Flannery, question the hierarchy’s position on many social issues and take a liberal view on areas such as sexuality and human relationships that run at odds with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

This questioning and challenging of the dogma and doctrines of the catholic faith within the clergy is merely indicative of the changes in wider Irish society and in particular the ongoing transformation of Irish people who call themselves Catholics but who are at odds with the official teachings and stance of the Catholic hierarchy on many social and doctrinal issues.

The old set-menu Irish Catholics
I remember a time only a few decades ago when elderly relatives of mine, now deceased, said the Angelus every day and talked of Protestants, even the ones they liked, as being damned to hell for not belonging to the ‘one true faith.’ There was nothing a la carte about their Catholicism. It was a set menu and there was no deviation from it. All courses were compulsory with no meat on Fridays.
Catholics of this generation reveled in the idea that they were no good sinners. They made grovelling supplications for mercy to their ostensibly loving god to spare them from the torments of hell, despite the fact that many of them were already living in one.

In between being consumed by guilt and shame simply for existing, these set menu Catholics of only a few decades ago, spent the rest of their time trying to placate  their all seeing, ever watching god by actually going to mass and fasting. They went to Lough Derg to walk around barefoot in the rain whilst sleeping on a bed of nails to curry favour with a compassionate god, who paradoxically had a penchant for the suffering of others.

In between work and religious observances they found time to conceive multiples of children through joyless shame filled sex whilst being watched over by large statues of a putative virgin and of her son and his glowing heart. This kind of iconography came at you around every corner and hung from the walls of most homes in an Ireland of only two decades ago.

Violent misogyny and submission
Whereas modern a la carte Irish Catholic women titillate themselves with the violent, sado-masochistic, submissive, misogynistic, socially accepted pornography of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, their mothers and grandmothers actually had to live in a society where violent misogyny and submission to powerful men was a reality as opposed to a trashy novel.

This aggressive patriarchal dominance expressed itself in the form of the Magdalene Laundries, as well as in surgical procedures such as symphisiotomies, where women were butchered unknowingly so they could continue to conceive multitudes of children.

Catholic women in Ireland until the early sixties also had to endure the humiliating and servile ritual of being ‘churched.’ This was a blessing they received from a priest to purify them and that allowed them back in to the church after being tainted from both the sexual act and its consequences in the form of a conception.  I wish that more Irish women would reflect on the social history of this country before they applaud the abusive, patriarchal misogyny in the pages of the aforementioned novel.

Confessing to hypocritical priests
For some variety in their religious adherence every few months they would sit in a darkened wooden box in the corner of a church and talk through a hatch to a variety of ostensibly celibate men. Some of these men actually kept by their vows,  many others succumbed to understandably human desires and emotions with women they were friends with, or who came to them for support.

As well as being a shoulder to cry on to, they offered arms to run in to, and sheets to get under, whilst they hypocritically preached from the pulpit about the evils of sex outside of wedlock. Yes, I am referring to you Father Michael Cleary, Bishop Eamon Casey and Bishop Len Brennan. Let us not forget of course the many others that should have been making their own confessions in police stations for the most heinous of crimes against the most innocent.

Blind faith at Lourdes and Knock
Instead of cheap weekends away to Barcelona with Ryanair, middle class set menu Catholics of a few decades ago, spent a small fortune heading to Lourdes to watch legions of people in wheelchairs being dipped in freezing cold water in the hope of a cure. The next day they returned to watch the same unfortunate wretches being dipped again, only this time they also needed to be cured of the pneumonia they caught the day before.

Poorer Catholics of a few decades ago who couldn’t afford the trip to Lourdes had to make do with Knock in County Mayo where they would queue to kiss what must be the most contagious wall in Ireland. It has been accepted by many Catholics that the Virgin Mary did a one night guest appearance here in the 1800s. It must have been an unappreciative audience as she hasn’t been back since.

Although a few hardcore orthodox Catholics did turn up in Knock only a few years ago, to stare in to the sun alongside a Dublin man who said the Virgin Mary had told him that it would be a good idea to do that kind of thing. Not surprisingly several of the faithful went blind, giving a whole new meaning to the term ‘blind faith’. Rumour has it they are organising a trip to Lourdes to be dipped head first in the grotto with the hope of restoring their sight. A restoration to sanity would seem to me to be more pressing.

Offering up suffering for salvation
Now and again the set menu Catholics became aware of the intensely unbearable burden living according to the Catholic faith was, but instead of ever questioning the religious indoctrination they received as children they instead just ‘offered it up’. This ‘offering up’ of their suffering in this life would shave a few years off their sentence in purgatory.

When is the last time you have heard anyone that you know who calls themselves Catholic use such an expression? Or tell you that they were waiting for the hairshirt they ordered on amazon to arrive as they were eager to get started on some penance over the weekend to make up for the lustful thoughts they indulged in the weekend before?

The modern a la carte menu of beliefs
In fact, in light of a recent Irish Times survey (30/11/12) that reads like a missing script from an episode of Father Ted, many Irish people who call themselves Catholics today would have been burned at the stakes a few hundred years ago for heresy. Only a few decades ago they would have been shunned by their families and communities for expressing such opinions.  The poll found that seven percent of people who called themselves Catholics don’t even believe in God, which is a bit like saying you are a cyclist despite the fact you cant cycle and don’t even own a bike. Another twenty percent of Catholics polled don’t even believe in the resurrection of Christ or that god created the Universe.

This kind of doublethink, that is the Orwellian concept that it is possible to hold two contradictory views and believe in them both fervently is a defining characteristic of the modern Irish a la carte Catholic. They want to be Catholics without the Catholicism, like being a Jew with an intact foreskin who enjoys a bacon sandwich.

Conscience versus Catechism
An overwhelming seventy eight percent of Catholics, according to the poll, follow their own conscience on moral issues as opposed to the diktats from the Vatican. However, using one’s personal conscience on moral matters or doctrinal matters is considered heresy according to the Vatican and the official teachings of the faith.

On the Vatican’s website you can read the Catechism of the Catholic church, which is basically a rule book for Catholics. According to the catechism, “heresy is the obstinate denial of some truth which must be believed, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt….schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff.” Based on this passage alone one can conclude that many Catholics in Ireland would be considered heretics by the Vatican.

What are these truths that must be believed and who decides what the truth is? These truths are decided by the popes and the bishops that are consulted with before the pope issues an edict of faith. The pope acts on the authority of Christ, apparently, according to the catechism, but Jesus can’t be contacted to corroborate this claim. Whatever the pope decides is truth is the truth and an infallible one at that. According to the Catechism, “this infallibility extends to all those elements of doctrine including morals.”

A reading of the constitution of the Association of Catholic Priests reveals how so many clergy do not accept the Vatican and the Pope as an infallible source of moral guidance; in fact it is quite the opposite. Several polls in Ireland over the past few years reveal that although people call themselves Catholics, that in areas of morality and even doctrine, they are a very different kind of Catholic compared to only two generations ago.

Rejecting religious authority
What has any of this got to do with Atheism, Agnosticism or Secularism you might ask? Well, it is my contention that the exponential rise in the number of people who identify themselves as non-religious in the latest census is down to the fact that more and more Irish people are embracing thinking for themselves and have come to reject religious authority.

This trend has now become evident within the Catholic Church itself, as both the existence of the ACP and poll after poll of people who identify themselves as Catholic recite views complete at odds with the Vatican and Irish church hierarchy. Atheists and Agnostics should welcome this trend within the ranks of lay Catholics as once people start to shine the light of reason on to religious faith it can and has, in some cases, led to an embrace of at the very least agnosticism, if not outright atheism.
Perhaps, this is why the Catechism proclaims it a sin to even entertain doubts. They know it could logically lead to a complete rejection of faith or at the very least an embrace of secularism. This a process that to a large extent a la carte Catholics have already done by placing personal conscience as their moral guide as opposed to the diktats of the Vatican.

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Catholic Church: Pope Benedict's resignation is an historic shock to a major capitalist institution

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Bye Bye!

by Richard Mellor

In a previous blog,  I wrote that it seems likely that at some point there would be some sort of split or schism within the Catholic Church as this organization continues to defend itself against revelations of mass serial rapists within its ranks. This is compounded by the church’s male hierarchy covering it up and actually sending pedophiles out of harms way to fresh hunting grounds.

The first major rupture in the aftermath of recent revelations about the conduct of the church in Los Angeles has been the astonishing news today that Pope Benedict, the former Nazi youth member who has himself been involved in the cover up has resigned.  This is the first time a sitting pope has resigned in 700 years. 

It is not only child abuse and serial rapists that have caused this Pope problems. The church teachings in general are not followed by millions of people who claim to be Catholics. The hatred toward gays claiming they are a threat to world peace. The stance on abortion, the rehabilitation of a former denier that the murder of million of Jews and others in the camps occurred at all and the equating of Islam with violence which doesn’t have any credibility coming from the leader of one of the most violent institutions in human history, have all taken their toll.  Then there was the whistle blowing butler who released Benedict’s private papers to the world, the Bradley Manning of the Vatican and Benedict's strong opposition to women priests.

"As from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours (2 p.m. ET) the See of Rome, the See of St. Peter will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.” Benedict announced. So once again, 100 or so unelected old misogynists will determine who gets to head the state of Vatican and command influence throughout the world in the churches and the legislative bodies where this city state has representatives.

The institution is putting on a brave face telling the world that Benedict was not afraid of a possible “schism” but I would not be so sure.  The Catholic Church since the dominance of its conservative and right wing elements after the purging through intimidation and assassination of the Latin American Liberation Theologist movement has gone from crisis to crisis.  This is a shock of historical proportions from which this powerful institution of capitalism may not recover; it dwarfs Lehman Brothers for sure.

Growing up as a Catholic I was taught that the Pope of Rome was “infallible” which was described to me as being incapable of sin.  The Pope was god’s man on earth and he could not commit sins; he could not make an error in judgment or any such human failings.  But they taught me that a Jewish woman had a baby with a supernatural being and gave birth to its son as well.  This is child abuse I now believe.

The capitalist class will be extremely concerned about this development as the Catholic Church is one of their most trusted and reliable institutions, “This is a huge sign of world destabilization that will weaken the Church.” said Alessandra Mussolini, the daughter of Benito Mussolini, the Italian Fascist. This developing crisis is a reflection of the crisis of capitalism on a global scale much like Protestantism, the religion of the rising capitalist class, was to the feudal aristocracy and their decaying system.  The last time a Pope resigned was in 1294.

Capitalism fears instability and this is a great shock.  The heads of states will be rallying round the flag to defend the Pope’s decision and no doubt ensure that it was made for reasons other than the crisis within the organization itself and the fact that the Church’s teaching is at odds with millions who claim its mantle especially women. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the pope's decision must be respected if he feels he is “Too weak to carry out his duties.”  British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "He will be missed as a spiritual leader to millions."

A former catholic schoolteacher told me recently that the vast majority of people that attend the church in this area these days are Phillipino’s and Latino’s.  The Church is even under threat in Latin America where poverty is rife and the Church hierarchy has supported right wing causes and resisted any serious changes to the dominance of US imperialism.  The Liberation Theologists were ruthlessly persecuted culminating in the assassination of El Salvador’s Archbishop Romero.  The Church is also seen as a conduit through which the imperialist countries and the CIA influence policy and government. 

Benedict visited the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz and referred to himself as a  "a son of Germany".  Press reports indicated he “Prayed and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, most of them Jews, died there during World War Two.”  Why is god silent when millions of children die of starvation amid plenty and brutal murderers like Stalin, Rumsfeld. Cheney and Kissinger are allowed to live and on and on and on? I would suggest god is silent because god is not there.  So Benedict blames god for the reason he found himself in the Nazi Youth?  Well, that’s a handy way out.

As Merkel and other patrons of the Pope rally round the flag to protect one of the capitalist class' most vital organs, we must not allow ourselves to be fooled by the smoke screen, that they have taken this step, despite the shockwaves it has caused throughout the world, of removing “God’s Vicar” as they call him.  We cannot underestimate the importance of this move and what it means but we must also not buy in to the “official”line. The institution's hierarchy is rotten, not just him.  The idea that there are saints, that there is such a thing as sin, that a woman can have a baby through intercourse with a supernatural being, this is all nonsense in a modern world where science has shown its superiority over superstition.

This crisis in the world’s foremost capitalist religious institution is a sign of capitalism’s weakness, of capitalist decay and rot, just like the “War on Terror” is. We should welcome it as a huge step forward for humankind.

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Catholic Church in LA riddled with serial rapists and cover ups

What difference these guys and Iran's Mullahs?

by Richard Mellor

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles released 12,000 pages of personnel files last Thursday that shed light on this institution’s response to charges of child sexual abuse and what amounts to serial rape.  The documents have been released only after years of what the media refers to as “legal wrangling” as lawyers for the Catholic Church tried to prevent their release or have the names of senior church officials removed before the public, or lawyers for rape victims have a chance to view them.

After a week during which lawyers for the victims have had a chance to view the documents, the findings are staggering.  The documents reveal how the now retired Cardinal Roger Mahoney who was in charge of the diocese from 1985 to 2011 used his office to cover up the sexual abuse and actually protect the perpetrators from prosecution.

The Archbishop who has replaced Mahoney, Jose Gomez,  claims that, “Nothing in my own background or education equipped me to deal with this grave problem”.  I would have to ask where he was all these years as the problem is widespread. The esteemed Cardinal Mahoney has been removed from administrative duties but still gets to practice mass and remains a “priest in good standing”.  And they discredit Unions.  If you fail to pay your membership dues for a period you can lose “member in good standing” status but cover up serial rapists in the Catholic Church and keep it.  KQED news tonight reveals that there has been a response to Archbishop Gomez’ claims by Mahoney on his blog.  He reminds Gomez that he never complained about practices in the diocese during this entire period.

In one case, that of a priest named Wempe, the victims that they know of were 13 young boys.  Fortunately for Wempe, the statute of limitations ran out by the time they found out about his rapes and charges were dismissed.  Once the church found out about him they sent him to some retreat to get cured.  When his stay there ended, the director wrote that Wempe needed “to be in a situation which will allow him to avoid all contact with minors.”. So much for that, he was sent to work as a chaplain in the Cedars Sinai Medical Center where he would have access to both adults and the little ones. Mahoney was warned about this guy going over the top and “getting in trouble again” and did nothing about it according to the Wall StreetJournal. Wempe was found guilty in 2006 of raping a boy again while working at the hospital.

The rottenness and corruption in this institution has become common knowledge but it still surprises one when it is actually brought to light. These documents reveal that even high ranking church officials who were in charge of investigating the abuses were also accused of molesting or raping children.  It’s almost like concentration camp material this.  Monsignor Richard Loomis who oversaw the investigations, presumably on behalf of children, young Catholics, was accused of fondling a boy and of encouraging children to drink alcohol.  He was put on a leave of absence by no other than Cardinal Mahoney.

Loomis wants to get back in to the business and was not available for comment to the media but apparently through an internal process called a “canonical trial” he was found to be suspect. Internal trials, the only religion with its own state, immunity from the law, diplomatic representatives in national legislatures; this organization has its fingers in many pies.  Confronted with this activity the Vatican is washing its hands of the matter making it clear that the LA archbishop whomever it is “has jurisdiction over the public duties of clerics who serve in the area” according to the Wall Street Journal. The handling of former Archbishop Mahoney is “a matter that regards the archdiocese”, says a Vatican spokesperson.

On KQED Newshour tonight, Ray Boucher, a lawyer for the victims and their families admitted that the documents show that the abuse or cover up is linked to the highest levels of the Catholic Church. The documents go back 50 years and all levels are involved in the abuse or the covering up of abuse. Boucher said that the documents show that the Catholic hierarchy moved the rapists to different states and sometimes different countries to protect them from prosecution and that in his mind he has no doubt that there are still priests serving who are abusers and that one serial rapist abused a “whole family of young men” and this was, “Done with the knowledge of the cardinal himself.”

“There are other priests out there,” said Boucher, adding that there's “No question that there are thousands that have suffered in silence.”.

This institution is rotten to the core.  It is hard to imagine another group of people being treated with such kid gloves.  They betrayed the trust of people who believed they were the representatives of god on earth.  I cannot see the Catholic Church not going through some sort of major split at some point in the not so distant future.  Yet its representatives still get up and preach about morality and the sanctity of the little ones as the Bishop of Dublin did while I was there recently. Some neck on these characters. This organization whose highest officials have participated in or covered up crimes of rape and molestation of young children never ceases to amaze.  The Vatican claimed recently that abortion and gay marriage was threatening world peace, some nerve.

This is not an attack on all Catholics although I cannot understand why anyone would remain in such an organization.  A friend once told me that her church was progressive and that it allowed gays and lesbians and such.  She didn’t agree with a lot of the teachings she told me.  Then why be in it? If you are going to remain surely you have to be actively and openly campaigning to change it.  Finding a comfortable little niche in ones own church while remaining silent on the larger goings on is like being in the KKK and saying “My local branch is OK, lets blacks and Jews in.  It’s the head office”.

 It’s avoiding responsibility.

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Pope: abortion and gay marriage "threat to world peace".

 Pope Benedict: “In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children,”

by Frankie Durr

The head of the Vatican state has been praying for hours for peace and other such things as popes have done for centuries when they haven’t been warring and colonizing, spreading Jesus’ word, or their version of it. The Vatican’s public relations managers tell him that the average person would love to have peace and more leisure time to go along with it.   The pope took note of this and in his Christmas message he definitely appears to be moving to the left, even calling for a shorter workweek telling the crowd, "The faster we can move, the more efficient our timesaving appliances become, the less time we have.

This subtle call for more leisure time is not all; “And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full,", the pope added.  Well, more leisure time would give people more time to go to one of his churches which would increase revenue, but we have to understand that the pope has to be careful how he phrases things otherwise he might lose the support of the hedge fund managers. 

But don’t cut him short.  When he says, that “…the more efficient appliances become the less time we have.” he is telling us that technology and labor saving devices because they are owned by the capitalist class are used to exploit us further, extract more surplus value from fewer workers while they throw those they don’t need on the dole.

The pope spoke eloquently from beneath his ermine fringed robe. I do not recall Jesus Christ being fond of ermine when I was involved in god worship as a kid but no matter, the pope seems to be moving to the left.  Let’s hope he supports this shorter workweek with no loss in pay.

I do have a few questions about Benedict’s approach though as I read more of his message.  When he said, "The great moral question of our attitude towards the homeless, towards refugees and migrants, takes on a deeper dimension: do we really have room for God when he seeks to enter under our roof?" I’m not sure who he is talking to.  The reason I say this is that most people in the world are homeless or near homeless, millions of us are refuges and millions more migrants due to being refugees or homeless. I mean, he appears to be talking to the homeless refugees and migrants and their attitude to themselves.  It’s a bit confusing.

Pope Benedict also called for societies to be built on justice and an end to the conflict in Syria.  I don’t know if he said anything about Afghanistan and Obama’s drone wars in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia and other parts of the world.  He called on Israeli’s and Palestinians to have the, "courage to end long years of conflict and division".   Hmm! I have a bit of a problem with this you see because I’m not sure it’s just an issue of courage.  And it would be helpful if the pope had mentioned that Israel’s approval of 5500 new illegal settlements on Palestinian land just in the last week might hurt the chances for any settlement at all.  I know throwing stones at Israeli tanks and bulldozers can dent the paintwork of these machines but he could recognize that there is a bit of a difference between the roles of the two sides here. 

And look, the pope did manage to have a go at the gays saying that gay marriage destroys the “essence of the human creature.” and that gay marriage, like abortion and euthanasia, is a “threat to world peace.”.  Oh dear, I’m not sure I agree with these remarks.  I think capitalism, Wall Street crooks and the thugs in the Pentagon are a greater threat to world peace than gay marriage.  As I read on I am not liking what I read; apparently the pope thinks paedophilia wasn't considered an “absolute evil” as recently as the 1970s.  Whaaat! When I was young I was taught that the pope was “infallible”that means he could not sin.  There’s no such thing as sin but I didn’t know that then. Could it be that the pope is saying this to cover up the horrific level of child sexual abuse in his organization?  I think this may be the case; in fact it gets worse as the pope claims that child pornography has been considered  “normal” in our society.  A Catholic victim of sexual abuse by one of the pope’s employees responded differently, “That is not normal. I don't know what company the Pope has been keeping for the past 50 years.” He says.

Perhaps, Der Spiegel, the German Magazine’s ongoing investigation in to the Pope's role in covering up sexual abuse by priests and allowing perpetrators to continue to work with children in the church has some merit.

I think I have to re-think my support for the pope’s call for a shorter workweek. And if you are still a member of the Catholic church and can’t bring yourself to leave it, please don’t ignore the cancer and consider trying in some small way to fight openly to change it like the Nuns on the Bus are doing.

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Shared sacrifice? Tax the churches and all religious organisations

I do not believe in gods which makes me an atheist I suppose.  I can't accept that some supernatural being made the earth or impregnated a human woman with its offspring or ordered humans to mutilate their male children in return for its undying and eternal favor.

If people want to believe in such myths though, I believe they should be able to do so freely and without discrimination or persecution. But I  do not believe that Christian mythology should be given any more credibility in such maters as the origins of the material world or us as occupants of it, than Greek or Roman mythology.  The idea that there are colleges of divinity or doctors of divinity that are given serious credibility in the world of science or education is ridiculous.

These organizations though carry a lot of weight and influence thinking and politics. The Catholic church for instance has its own state and representatives in the governments of nations where it has a presence. It has been complicit in the deaths and assassinations of Liberation Theologists that were outspoken critics of the US support for fascists and right wing death squads in the Americas.  Once the religion of the feudal aristocracy owning vast quantities of land it is now one of the most powerful institutions of capitalism and the free market.  We spend billions of dollars and much wasted time in the US fending off the influence of these organizations in the education of our children substituting myth and fairy tales for reason and scientific truth.

An article in my local paper today talks about the increasing boldness of these institutions involving themselves more openly in the political process telling their flock who to vote for and preaching openly political sermons.  The Pulpit Freedom Sunday movement, the arm of a Christian legal group called Alliance Defending Freedom based in Arizona, is aiming to take the US Internal Revenue Service on head on as it challenges the 1954 law banning churches from supporting political causes or candidates during services.  The deal is that they get tax exempt status for this small detail. It's an interesting type of Christianity that resides in Arizona, throws around the "freedom" label and says nothing and actually supports the harassment, killing and persecution of immigrants, desperate to feed their children.

The religious organizations go on about the discrimination and oppression they face in society yet they wield incredible influence considering they are institutions that peddle myth.  You can pretty much commit any sort of malfeasance and run for office in this country (in fact it is a plus), anything except admit to being an atheist.  It is not them that are discriminated against but those of us that do not accept their mythology as truth.

The intention of the separation of church and state wasn't the church's encroachment on government but government's encroachment into the church" says one preacher adding that, "If I talk about an issue of the violation of biblical truth, then it ceases to be a political issue. It's a spiritual issue."

The Arizona based Alliance Defending Freedom (except for  undocumented Latino immigrants driven by poverty to seek work elsewhere) wants to transform the legal system and "reclaim America" from "Radical anti-Christian groups" and "debunk" "..the myth of the so-called separation of church and state."  Many of these institutions are the right wing Christian Evangelicals that hate gays, blacks, Jews (except Zionists) and any others that don't believe their stuff.   But the more mainstream institutions like the Catholic and Mormon Churches are very prosperous businesses that get huge tax breaks and tax exempt status on property and land, possible income as well.

So these institutions rake in billions, trillions over the years through tax exemption.  We should allow them to preach any politics they want and repeal the tax exempt status, religious institutions should be taxed like any other business. 

I would urge those political activists that get these initiatives on the ballot to change legislation, to get together and introduce legislation to eliminate this perk; make an issue of it, go an the offensive and place it on the public agenda.  The IRS allows these institutions to violate this law with impunity, we need to make an issue of it and make a real effort to repeal the tax law.  We can use that money in a more productive way, build some schools, hire some teachers.

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