OK, on the Reformation Day post I was mocking the lesbian, Lutheran Swedish bishop who looks like a sofa out of Star Trek.
I try to keep the tone of the blog light--poking fun at those with whom I disagree, and not minding if they poke back. Nevertheless a regular (and awfully sober) reader was offended that I had mocked the lesbian Lutheran Swedish Star Trek sofa person.
I'm still not clear what he was offended by. Was it that I made fun of her dress sense, her sexual preference, her Protestantism or that she looked so, umm-- Swedish lesbian?
I'm not sure, but I wonder if any other readers get tired of the self righteous, playing the victim, "Ooooh. I'm sooo offended" stuff. After all, who really ought to be offended in this whole thing? Is it the Anglican and Lutheran feminist and homosexualists or the far greater number of ordinary, faithful Anglicans and Lutherans who have had their beautiful, ancient religion ripped from them by a minority of howling, passive aggressive activists?
Maybe some other people are allowed to be offended--like the millions of traditional, faithful Anglicans in the developing world who are shocked and disgusted by homosexualism and feminism and are amazed and dismayed by the infiltration of their church hierarchy by these smirking bullies in miters. There are others who might just be offended--those good, conservative, demure and modest Christians who would actually turn a blind eye to what they regard as sexual abominations as long as they kept their behaviors to themselves, but resent having it thrown in their face and their churches turned into parade grounds for flaming activism.
Who should be offended here? What about the ordinary Moms and Dads who have to explain why "Uncle Vickie wants to marry Aunty Fred"? What about the ordinary families who discover that their children are being subjected to mandatory 'sexual education' that tells ten year olds how to put on a condom to protect themselves during anal sex?
I could go on, but maybe once in a while the rest of us might be allowed the luxury of 'being offended.'
"but I wonder if any other readers get tired of the self righteous, playing the victim"
ReplyDeleteyes yes and yes!!!! Did I mention I agree!
Father, I'm the overly sober reader who took offense at your playing with the "Eva Braun" idea. I guess we liberals (progressives, whatever) should just shut up and go away. And then you can preach to the choir, and pretend that the mean-spirited jabs you frequently make on your blog are all just in good clean fun.
ReplyDeleteThat's what Bill Maher does when he ridicules religious folks of all persuasions -- it's all just fun, he says; go get yourself a sense of humor. I'm not convinced that making snide remarks about other people's religious practices is what grown-ups do, even though I've mocked a few white-gloves-and-lace members of the RC hierarchy myself. (Yes, that makes me a hypocrite. Mea cupla, mea culpa. I'm a sinner just like you.)
But why exactly do you feel the need to blame everything you don't like in life (on this "light-hearted" blog, as you've described it) on people who belong to a different denomination than you? I don't see cradle Catholics mocking your married sex life even though you are a priest -- a state of life that many people will regard as...welll...unusual. (Truth is, though, I'm cool with it. I only wish the married priesthood was not reserved for converts alone.) As far as I know, the Swedish bishop who happens to have been born gay (and who may, for all you know, be among the world's best moms) does not have much to do with the new sex ed curriculum in NYC you've referenced in this post. But whatever. It's your blog, and you are certainly entitled to conflate issues and cast people who are different from you as dangerous folks who are out to Eradicate Family Life and Make Your Job as a Dad Just Plain Impossible. Yep, you're right -- people whose rights to marry those whom they wish and not apologize for the sexual orientation they were born with are just plain crazy and irresponsible and part of a big conspiracy to victimize normal folks such as yourself. That's essentially the argument you've made here. You're the victim.
And I'm the one who takes myself too seriously, huh? Fine. I guess I'm just hoping that not everyone who comes across this blog leaves here thinking that the small-minded view you frequently offer is synonymous with the Catholic faith in particular or Christianity in general. Forgive me if I occasionally leave a bread crumb to show that Christianity is not chiefly about fear and mockery; it's not about making oneself bigger in God's eyes by cutting down others. This blog isn't the place to leave such a bread crumb. You win. It's your space. Mock away every day if you wish, and be sure to remind your congregation that you're there to share God's love with them every weekend.
"the sexual orientation they were born with"
ReplyDeleteIsn't the jury still out on that one?
Great post Father...I'm so tired of the 'tolerance' thing...this is refreshing..
ReplyDeletehere we go again w/the 'born that way' reasoning. what i'm sick of hearing is persons with homosexuality vehemently demanding everyone else recognize they are 'born that way' and therefore have no choice but to pursue what their feelings / emotions dictate. and before anyone starts with the 'you don't understand' mantra, let it be known i am same-sex attracted & used to believe i was born that way. i get it. but what i'm so very thankful for is the gift of understanding from the Holy Spirit that has opened my eyes and enabled (enables) me to see that not everyone is entitled to have sex, not everyone should be married, and that sex is definitely created for a purpose; something that i cannot abuse recreationally. the best gift given to me from the catholic church is the Truth, no matter how hard that has been to listen to. once confronted and convicted, you are change and live in peace and grow or keep stomping your feet like a petulant child demanding your way and live in constant frustration and fear and anger. and that's what you see a lot of in the gay world: petulance dressed as activisim. and if it's in a christian sect, it gets even dressier & all holier-than-thou while saying "God don't make no junk." true, He does not. we are made in His image and likeness and praise God once again for the Truth of the Catholic church which helped me to hear that and believe it. all i got from the gay world was "you're ok, you don't have to change, believe in yourself." but something was always fundamentally off. and i don't care what any gay activist says: they sense it, too. they can't accept it. the Truth hurts too much, and so they rail against it. sorry to hijack this i'll stop now. i'm sick of it too, father. good post.
ReplyDeletedoughboy,
ReplyDeleteThat was a wonderful post. Thank you.
Steve, your point that "Christianity is not chiefly about fear and mockery" is so important. But I'm not optimistic it'll be heard here, simply because it's tied to a separate (and from a Catholic perspective, specious) claim about the intrinsic okayness of acting on our concupiscence.
ReplyDeleteThat's what Bill Maher does when he ridicules religious folks of all persuasions -- it's all just fun, he says; go get yourself a sense of humor
ReplyDeleteMaher is an unrepentant atheist who views religion in general with contempt.
I believe Fr. D was just having some fun at the expense of a particular spinster who probably worships the ground that Gloria Steinem walks on and wouldn't know who Philip Melanchthon was if he kissed her on the mouth.
wow. did anyone pray before they posted. Alot of anger today. This kind of venting began to affect me and my spirit--so I had to stop doing the facebook thing. We do get tired of having to fight for normalcy and decency and it seems we are being railroaded into tolerating everything without receiving any ourselves. Yet we are still called to let our Light shine in this dark world...and it is getting darker everyday...and its getting tougher folks.
ReplyDeleteI've just gone through both posts and comments. Can someone tell me where the offensive part is? Or has it been edited out?
ReplyDeleteThe post that followed the picture appears to me to be an assertion of publicly known facts or was there some sort of diocesan secret service that Fr Longenecker used to dig up this picture and information?
Unless the woman on the left in the picture is not the Lutheran bishop of Stockholm Eva Brunne; or she is not in a 'registered and blessed' homosexual partnership; or she and her partner have not just conceived a child via AI; I fail to see the mockery or offence.
I thought we were all entitled to make statements as to facts.
I was offended only by the claim that these were heirs of Luther. By that same logic we could say that Hans Kung was an heir of St. Thomas Aquinas. I will grant you that they are called Lutherans and they call themselves Lutheran, but that does not make them heirs of Luther. The real heirs of Luther confess a catholic and evangelical faith for which these women, their ordination and their lifestyle, represents a disconnect with that practice and a breech of the very faith they think, on some level, they represent. My offense was not at the photo or the fact that you brought attention to them. It was that you called them "heirs of Luther" -- which, decidedly, they are not. Something I think the current Pope might well agree with!
ReplyDeleteHello Pastor Peters,
ReplyDeleteFrom what I gathered in the original post (and I may be wrong), the 'heirs of Luther' remark was regarding more the idea that they (like Luther) think they know the truth of things better than the Church, not that they specifically followed Luther's teachings. Perhaps a better way to say it is they are the fruit of Luther's actions, which was the denial of the authority of the Catholic Church.
Steve, you weren't the only one who got aggravated with Father. So too did I, for his Godwinism. Rhetorical cheap shots like that set my teeth on edge. They're in bad taste, they scandalize the separated, and given the tremendous wealth of Catholic intellectual heritage, they are unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteAnd he can't blame it on any sort of doctrinal disagreement in my case. I agree with and assent to everything the Magisterium of the Church infallibly teaches.
I too am very tired of the excuses people are making for justifying sin and truly immoral conduct. I don't believe that Father was wrong in calling a spade a spade. It is the sinful, lost ones that are hijacking every part of society. Yes, it is becoming almost impossible for a normal, ie: one mother one male father raising a family, to do so in this rabid, fanatical anything goes but Truth and Real Love society. I can see in the very near future that full-scale persecution will be done as a "favor to eradicate hate and injustice". Most people do not remember the verse in the Bible when Jesus says, Go and sin no more. Sometimes, we are called to stand up and say that this is wrong. But, now to do so is a hate crime. Homosexuality is a perversion and a sin. Period. If God forbid, any of my children ever tell me that the are "gay" I will tell them that I am sorry, I love them, and I will pray for their eyes to be open. I will never give approval for a sinful decision.
ReplyDeleteIf not the 'heirs of Luther' then they are the logical conclusion to his work and that of the other 'reformers' and a salutary lesson to progressive, liberals and modernists of what the Church would eventually look like if they had their way - which is not going to happen because of Christ's promise to His own Church.
ReplyDeleteHi Father-
ReplyDeleteIt was good post and funny too.
My wife and I are "incremental Catholics" who spent their first 27years as Lutherans, the next 20 as (conservative) Episcopalians and the last 9 years finally at home in the Catholic Church. We've seen it all from these reformation churches and laughed at a good deal of it, just as I can laugh at myself today. I will say that the more orthodox/conservative strains of Lutheranism have (to my mind) now become the next best thing to the Catholic Church, though sadly short on some key sacraments. The more "progressive" Lutheran synods however have gone over the edge with the wacked-out Anglicans. I pray these people give up trying to fix their fragmented churches and come join us. Despite the problems the Catholic Church has, I've never been happier in my faith.
Angela, you are quite wrong when you say Homosexuality is a sin. The sin is in immoral behaviour, the same as in heterosexuality. I unfortunately carry the cross of SSA, same sex attraction and I agree with Doughboy and his post. If we beleive in Jesus and the Church He founded, we have no choice but to follow what the Church teaches if we want to be saved.
ReplyDeleteyou are quite wrong when you say Homosexuality is a sin. The sin is in immoral behaviour, the same as in heterosexuality
ReplyDelete"We also know that lawa is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me." 1st Timothy 9-11
Yes, adultery, sex outside of marriage and homosexuality are sins.
That being said, I do not believe that a hierarchy of sins exists and I think that God destests sin in all it's forms with equal conviction.
I will say a prayer for you re: your SSA my friend.
To have SSA is not a sin, as it is not something I chose. The Church states this in it's catechism. To lead an actively Gay lifestile is a sin. The Church states that SSA is a disorder and I agree. It is something I have to live with, my cross to bear. Within the Catholic Church there is an Apostolate called Courage. This Apostolate was started by Cardinal Cooke to help and encourage those with SSA.
ReplyDelete