Three items -- all rightwing religious crap -- liars and bearers of false witness against us plus item number four: John Kerry
1)Thursday, May 5th, on the National Day of Prayer, we learned that the East Waynesville Baptist Church in North Carolina essentially kicked out its Democratic members. Nine members were "excommunicated" and 40 other members of the 405 member church resigned in protest.The pastor, Chan Chandler, is around 31 years old. Apparently, he told the members of the church that if they voted for John Kerry or were Democrats, they were against the church. They had a choice to "repent" their sin or leave. www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/6/84353/67437----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2)Gay Catholics To Be Denied Communionby The Associated Presshttp://www.365Gay.comPosted: May 6, 2005 7:30 pm ET http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/05/050605catholics.htm(St. Paul, Minnesota) Archbishop Harry Flynn has told gay-rightssupporters they can't receive Holy Communion while wearingrainbow-colored sashes because it is seen as a protest againstCatholic teaching and unacceptable to the Vatican.Flynn's decision, conveyed in a letter this week to the Rainbow SashAlliance USA, reverses his four-year policy of not interfering withsash-wearers receiving Communion at the Cathedral of St. Paul.A gay-rights leader said sash-wearers would continue to attempt toreceive communion at the cathedral.The Rainbow Sash movement is an organization of lesbian, gay,bisexual, and transgender Catholics and their families and friends.Rainbow-sash supporters in St. Paul and a handful of other dioceseshave organized their presence around the Christian celebration ofPentecost, which this year is May 15.Brian McNeill, Minneapolis organizer of the Rainbow Sash Alliance,made the letter public Thursday and said it would not prevent peoplefrom wearing the sash a week from Sunday at the Cathedral."I am asking you to remove your sashes before you receive HolyCommunion," Flynn wrote to McNeill. "I ask you to observe this sign ofrespect for the Eucharist not only in the Cathedral but in all ourparishes. No one wearing the sash will be permitted to receive theBlessed Sacrament."Flynn is head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.McNeill said he was "genuinely disappointed" and unsure how supporterswould respond. "But there will be people wearing the rainbow sash atthe Cathedral on the 15th," he said. "And we will go up for Communion.I'm sure that's going to happen."Last year, a group of Catholic men stationed themselves in the aislesat the Cathedral to disrupt the procession of sash-wearers to receiveCommunion. The organizer, David Pence, said his group wasn't planningto be involved this year."We thought it was an extraordinary event to do what we did, but wehave no desire to have a yearly 'We'll bring more people to theEucharist than they do,'" Pence said.The Catholic Church teaches that same-gender orientation is not initself sinful, but that sexual relations should occur only between menand women in marriage. It also holds that Communion is reserved forthose who are in a state of grace with God.Flynn said previously that readiness for Communion is a matter ofindividual conscience, but that he would not allow the Mass to become"a battleground" for demonstrations about church doctrine.Although rainbow-sash wearers have been denied Communion in Melbourne,Australia, and some dioceses in the United States, they had not beenbarred at the Cathedral of St. Paul.Flynn said previously that members of the local group "assured us, inwriting, that their attendance at the annual Pentecost Mass ... is notin protest of the Church's teachings."But at a December meeting in Rome between Flynn and the top Vaticanofficial for worship and sacraments, the "difficult pastoral situationof the rainbow sash movement" was discussed, Flynn told the CatholicNews Service.CNS initially reported that Cardinal Francis Arinze did not ask Flynnto change his policy, but it later wrote a story clarifying thatArinze wanted U.S. bishops to adopt a uniform approach to the rainbowsash supporters.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------more catholic crap ---benny at workThe New York TimesBy LAURIE GOODSTEINPublished: May 7, 2005http://www.NYTimes.comhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/07/national/07catholic.html?ei=5094&en=35c3389ccd827f3e&hp=&ex=1115524800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1115471130-WEtw9nvbddcKzA+JOVOg1AAn American Jesuit who is a frequent television commentator on RomanCatholic issues resigned yesterday under orders from the Vatican aseditor of the Catholic magazine America because he had publishedarticles critical of church positions, several Catholic officials inthe United States said.The order to dismiss the editor, the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, was issuedby the Vatican's office of doctrinal enforcement - the Congregationfor the Doctrine of the Faith - in mid-March when that office wasstill headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the officials, who spoke oncondition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak onthe matter, said. Soon after, Pope John Paul II died and CardinalRatzinger was elected pope, taking the name Benedict XVI.America magazine, a weekly based in New York City, is amoderate-to-liberal journal published by the Jesuits, a religiousorder known for producing the scholars who run many of the church'suniversities and schools. The Jesuits prize their independence, butlike everyone in the church, even their top official, the Jesuitsuperior general in Rome, ultimately answers to the pope.In recent years America has featured articles representing more thanone side on sensitive issues like same-sex marriage, relations withIslam and whether Catholic politicians who support abortion rightsshould be given communion. Church officials said it was thepublication of some of these articles that prompted Vatican scrutiny.Father Reese, in a statement yesterday, confirmed his departure butgave no indication that he was resigning under duress: "I am proud ofwhat my colleagues and I did with the magazine, and I am grateful tothem, our readers and our benefactors for the support they gave me. Ilook forward to taking a sabbatical while my provincial and Idetermine the next phase of my Jesuit ministry."Catholic scholars and writers said in interviews yesterday that theyfeared that the dismissal of such a highly visible Catholiccommentator was intended by the Vatican as a signal that debatingchurch teaching is outside the bounds.Some Jesuits said that within the last two years they had receivedspoken or written warnings from then-Cardinal Ratzinger's office aboutarticles or books they had published.Stephen Pope, a moral theologian at Boston College who wrote thearticle critical of the church's position on same-sex marriage, saidof the dismissal: "If this is true, it's going to make Catholictheologians who want to ask critical questions not want to publish inCatholic journals. It can have a chilling effect."Father Reese, who is 60 and has been editor of America for sevenyears, is a widely regarded political scientist. He has writtenseveral books that examine the Roman Catholic Church as a politicalinstitution as well as a religious one, a rather secular approach thatwas not appreciated in Cardinal Ratzinger's office, an official theresaid in an interview last month.Jesuit officials said Father Reese was informed of his ouster justafter he had returned from Rome, where he had been interviewed bynearly every major American news outlet covering the pope's funeraland the elevation of Cardinal Ratzinger to pope.He is being replaced by his deputy, the Rev. Drew Christiansen, aJesuit who writes often on social ethics and international issues, andwhom Father Reese recruited to the magazine in 2002.Catholic experts said yesterday that they were stunned to learn ofFather Reese's dismissal. "I'd think of him as sort of a mainstreamliberal," said Philip F. Lawler, the editor of Catholic World News, anews outlet on the more conservative end of the spectrum. "I thinkhe's been reasonably politic. I watched him during the transition, andI cannot think of a single thing I heard that would have put him injeopardy."The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith first complained toJesuit officials about the magazine four years ago, the churchofficials said, after America published a special issue with articlescriticizing "Dominus Jesus," a document on interfaith relations andthe supremacy of Catholicism that had been issued by the Congregation.Dominus Jesus was broadly denounced by many Catholic and non-Catholictheologians who said it would undermine decades of bridge-buildingwith other faiths, and even with other Christian denominations."They were just reporting what a lot of people were saying, theyweren't stirring up trouble," said the Rev. Mark Massa, a Jesuit wholeads the Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University."I can't think of anything they've reported that was scandalous."Cardinal Ratzinger's office also complained to the Jesuits aboutarticles America had published on gay priests and on the work of theCongregation itself. The Congregation threatened either to order thedismissal of Father Reese or to impose a committee of censors toreview the magazine's content, but backed down after discussions withthe Jesuits, church officials said in interviews yesterday.The magazine then began to more regularly solicit articles examining asingle issue from a variety of viewpoints. In 2001, it published apiece Father Reese had solicited from then-Cardinal Ratzinger as aresponse to an article by Cardinal Walter Kasper, a German who worksin the Vatican, that had criticized the Vatican and in particular theCongregation as failing to give local churches and bishops sufficientautonomy."For a long while," Cardinal Ratzinger wrote, "I hesitated to acceptthis invitation because I do not want to foster the impression thatthere is a longstanding theological dispute between Cardinal Kasperand myself, when in fact none exists."Then in 2004, the Congregation took issue with two more articles: oneby Professor Pope of Boston College on same-sex marriage, whichcriticized the Congregation for issuing a document that he argueddehumanized gay men and lesbians; and one by Representative David R.Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, who bristled at bishops who would denycommunion to Catholic politicians like himself who support abortionrights.In both of these cases, Father Reese published opposing viewpoints.Mr. Obey's piece was actually a response to an earlier article inAmerica by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, now of St. Louis, who hadcalled for Catholic politicians who support abortion rights to changetheir positions or be denied communion.The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of another Catholic journalbased in New York, First Things, which is more conservative thanAmerica, said yesterday, "It would be fair to say that during thepontificate of John Paul II that America apparently saw itself or atleast certainly read as a magazine of what some would describe as theloyal opposition. And, needless to say, there's dispute over thedefinition of 'loyal' and the definition of 'opposition.' "But Father Neuhaus added that he considered Father Reese a friend whowas always "fair-minded" even when they disagreed.At the Jesuits' American headquarters in Washington, a spokesman, theRev. Albert Diulio, said Father Reese and his provincial had jointlyagreed on the job change. But he said he did not know if Father Reesehad resigned under duress.The Rev. Thomas Smolich, who as the Jesuit provincial of California isFather Reese's supervisor, said he was discussing with Father Reeseabout what he would do next. "Tom is a very talented guy," he said."There are many things he could do in Jesuit and Catholic ministries,in a university, in journalism of some kind."After the election of Pope Benedict XVI, America ran an editorial thatsaid: "A church that cannot openly discuss issues is a churchretreating into an intellectual ghetto."---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4)Kerry To Dems: 'Don't Support Gay Marriage'by 365Gay.com Newscenter StaffPosted: May 6, 2005 11:00 am ET http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/05/050605kerry.htmBoston, Massachusetts) Sen. John Kerry has angered LGBT civil rights groups after telling a Boston newspaper that the Massachusetts Democratic Party will be making a mistake if it puts an endorsement of same-sex marriage in the party platform next week."I think it's a mistake," Kerry told the Boston Globe. "I think it's the wrong thing, and I'm not sure it reflects the broad view of the Democratic Party in our state." He made the comments following an event he hosted in Louisiana to promote his proposed KidsFirst Act, which would bring health care to uninsured children.Although he supported civil unions and opposed same-sex marriage in last November's presidential election this is the strongest statement Kerry has made on gay marriage."John Kerry is out of touch with Massachusetts voters and Democrats in the state," Josh Friedes, the advocacy director of the Freedom to Marry Coalition told 365Gay.com. Friedes points to a study released this week that shows that 80 percent of voters who typically vote Democratic support marriage equality.The poll, taken by Decision Research for the Mass. Equality Education Fund, also shows that 62 percent of all voters support same-sex marriage. "John Kerry needs to learn that on basic issues of civil rights the electorate respects elected officials who take principled stands," Friedes said.Kerry's position also puts him at odds with the chairman of the Massachusetts Democrats, Philip W. Johnston.Johnston says that Kerry's remarks will have little effect on delegates to the party's meeting in Lowell."I have great affection and respect for John, but I disagree o this issue," Johnston told the Globe. "It is important that the state Democratic Party support civil rights. We need to take a stand." Kerry's remarks also are opposed by Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Kennedy said he supports the inclusion of the same-sex marriage language in the party platform. National Stonewall Democrats are also distancing themselves from Kerry's position."We respectfully and strongly disagree with Senator Kerry and urge him to follow the example of the state's senior Senator by supporting the enforcement of state law," said Eric Stern, NSD Executive Director. "Senator Kerry has been a champion for gay and lesbian families in the United States Senate for decades. That is why we are so deeply disappointed by his remarks."On May 17 thousands of same-sex couples in Massachusetts will celebrate the first anniversary of gay marriage. Same-sex marriage became legal on that date following a ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court making Massachusetts the first state in the nation to legalize gay weddings.

posted by Joshua P. Angell  @ 8.5.05

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