2009 March archive at Being Frank

Archive for March, 2009

Mar

Tora, tora, tora!!!

By The Dumb Ox 182 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Wow, has anyone else been astounded by the absolute vitriolic hatred that has been directed at Pope Benedict, merely because he dared to suggest that there are far better alternatives to combating HIV than ineffective condom strategies?!

Based on some of the reactions in the mainstream media, you would have thought that the Pope had told reporters that sacrificing and eating African babies was the cure for HIV.

And it’s not just the secular media whose eyes have glazed over, and started chanting “we hate the pope” as they vengefully pound out their every keystroke – some so-called Catholic writers have also turned on Pope Benedict, with such ludicrous and childish statements as “Impeach the Pope!” (The Washington Post), and one Vatican official was quoted in the London Telegraph as saying: This Pope is “a disaster”.

Then something really interesting happened on the weekend – one of the world’s leading experts in HIV prevention, who also happens to be a self-professed agnostic, came out publically in support of the Pope’s comments.

This man, Dr. Edward Green, who is a senior researcher for the Harvard the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, is no chump – he has over 25 years experience in this field, and he has authored five books and more than 250 peer-reviewed studies on HIV.

Here’s what he had to say…

“The Pope is actually correct”.

He has previously stated that condom promoters are motivated “not by evidence, but by ideology, stereotypes, and false assumptions”, and that this results “in efforts that are at best ineffective and at worst harmful, while the AIDS epidemic continues to spread and exact a devastating toll in human lives”.

Needles to say, Dr. Green used to promote condoms as the answer to the HIV crisis, but after studying the issue and seeing the evidence for himself he now promotes behavior change as the most effective way to combat HIV population wide epedemics of HIV.

The three important points made by Dr. Edward Green are…

1. Condoms have NEVER reversed or halted a population wide epidemic of HIV (which is what African countries are afflicted with)
2. Programs promoting behavior change (abstaining and be faithful) have been proven to work
3. Condoms have been proven to make the HIV problem worse

But it isn’t just Edward Green saying these things – here is a quote from a recent article that was linked to on the Semper Vita blog…

“Dr Green is not a maverick voice. Similar views are being expressed in the world’s leading scientific journals. In an article in The Lancet, for instance, James Shelton, of the US Agency for International Development, stated flatly that one of the ten damaging myths about the fight against AIDS is that condoms are the answer. “Condoms alone have limited impact in generalised epidemics [as in Africa],” Shelton wrote.

As long ago as 2004, an article in the journal Studies in Family Planning conceded that “no clear examples have emerged yet of a country that has turned back a generalized epidemic primarily by means of condom promotion”. In fact, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS can actually rise with increased distribution of condoms. Take Cameroon, for instance, the country to which the Pope was flying when he made his notorious remarks. Between 1992 and 2001 condom sales there increased from 6 million to 15 million — while HIV prevalence tripled, from 3 percent to 9 per cent.”

So to all the unscientific media hacks and so-called experts who have spent the last four or five days waving their fists at Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church – WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!

The comments the Pope made are supported by this little thing we in the Catholic Church like to call “science”, and call us old fashioned lunatics if you like, but we here at the Catholic Church consider scientific evidence to be more reliable than the ideological beliefs of the people who make lots of money promoting condoms in Africa and other parts of the world.

Oh, and to all those journalist haters out there who have been claiming that the Pope’s comments are going to lead to more AIDS – just stop and think about this situation for just a second – because if you do you’ll realize that such claims are ludicrous.

Let me explain this real simple like (reasoning for dummies): a person who listens to the Pope, and agrees with him when he says that condoms are not the answer to HIV, is also 99.999% certain to follow the Catholic Church when it says: don’t have sex with anyone before you are married, and then remain 100% faithful to your spouse for life after you are married.

And such a person has practically no chance of contracting HIV, unlike a person who has sex with more than one person during their lifetime and uses condoms every time they do so.

Make no mistake about it; these attacks on Pope Benedict are some of the worst that any Pope has ever had to endure (some of them are as violent as you can get without actually laying a hand on your victim), and they show us that something very important is happening in the history of the Church and the world.

But be very aware that these outright attacks are not the Devil’s favorite modus operandi – instead he prefers to use the cunning of the serpent, and he will even use Catholics to try and convince other fellow Catholics that the Pope is out of step with Catholic teaching or the compassion of Christ by not advocating condoms.

Don’t be fooled by such claims – they are simply a more insidious form of attack that he uses to try and lead people away from Christ, and from Peter.

The good news is that the Devil only mounts such serious and intense attacks when he knows that God’s grace is at work in a very special and important way, through someone devoted to Christ in total obedience and holiness.

So, like I said: something very important is happening in the history of the Church and world right now – why else would Satan be so intensely focused in his attacks on the Bride of Christ and her shepherd?

Mar

Q&A from South Brisbane

By James the Least 19 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

And now it’s time for an update on everyone’s favourite priest-in-denial, Fr Peter Kennedy from St.Mary’s South Brisbane. For background on this saga, check out St.Mary’s, South Brisbane website. But prepare yourself if you’re not ready for “paradigm shifts“, you crazy right-wing, conservative, ruled-by-a-foreign-power (the Vatican), judgemental Roman Catholic you! :)

Fr Kennedy appeared on the ABC Australia programme “Q&A” with a panel that included Tony Abbott (who is Catholic), shadow minister for families and community services; Kate Ellis, Minister for Youth and Sport; and Bettina Arndt, social commentator and author of The Sex Diaries. I bet you can see where some of this is going.

Fr Kennedy was invited to appear on the show after the situation in South Brisbane between him and the man he took an oath of obedience to – Archbishop Bathersby – continues to worsen. Fr Kennedy has apparently refused to take part in independent mediation, so the Church in Brisbane will be off to court to get him removed from a place that isn’t his. On a side note, in speaking with a priest friend of mine this week, apparently there is one process for removing priest administrators from parishes (i.e. overnight, basically), and a more protracted one when they are the parish priest. Fr Kennedy, as best I can tell, is the former, so really doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Not that that’s stopping him!

You really should watch the episode of Q&A to get the full context. It’s quite long, so here are some of the choicer bits:

At about 21:00, in response to a question from the audience, Fr Kennedy points out that Christ never said he was the Son of God, not-so-deftly avoiding actually answering the question about whether or not he thinks Christ was divine.
At 26:30, one of my personal favourites is where Fr Kennedy says that the Church needs to become a democracy. Apparently, we’re under a monarchy where women don’t have any say in the Church whatsoever. Point of order: aren’t women frequently consulted (as at the lead-up to the publishing of Humae Vitae?) Also, you’ve got to love the line that “contraception is a female issue”. :)
The others chime in at around 32:00 on some of these issues and the one about the poor raped girl in Brazil. When Tony Abbott responds that abortion in Australia is basically legal, Ms Arndt eloquently comments “thank God”. Nice. Then, to follow, Ms Ellis responds to a great question from the audience (about why Aussie tax dollars are now going to fund abortions overseas) by saying that abortion actually saves lives?!?
Fr Kennedy’s take on all this Brazil and excommunication fuss? At 35:30, because of the pesky Catholic Church and bishops that are too powerful, there are no abortion clinics in the Phillippines. So, when a woman has had 9-10 kids and can’t face another one, she has an abortion in a “backyard clinic”. He then rails against the hypocrisy of the Church in not allowing the “freedom” of abortion to women! What a shepherd!
I like how everyone laughs at around 38:00 at the idea of abstinence not being viable. Ha. Ha. Condoms for all!
Fr Kennedy does note, at about 42:00, that “you don’t hear confessions much any more, Tony” when questioned on the Church’s teaching on morality and sexuality. Apparently, Fr Kennedy thinks the Church needs to move out of the bedroom and comments that the Church is too “hung up on sex”.
In between talks about “sex research”, when Mr Abbott remarks at about 43:30 that surely Fr Kennedy would agree that the ideal the Church puts forward with regards to sexual morality is something worth living up to? Fr Kennedy’s view? No, because it’s something that is pushed on people under penalty of sin. Abbott’s response is that in his experience, “from Cardinal Pell down”, he’s seen nothing but priests taking a “pastoral approach” to such matters.

I have two points on all of this. Firstly, Fr Kennedy, by your own words you aren’t in communion with the Church because every position you seem to hold is directly opposed to the Church. Surely you’re not so blind and arrogant as to be unable to see this?

And, secondly, if one more politician or “sex therapist” tells me that abstinence is impossible, unviable, or unrealistic, I think I will lose it!!!!!! Maybe what we need is a new spin on it? Climbing Mt Everest was seen as impossible, curing smallpox is just not viable, and and walking on the moon is far too unrealistic. Yet we’ve done all those things. So be careful when you say saving yourself for marriage and making love only to your spouse is impossible.

You might end up looking like someone who doesn’t like facts, discipline, humility or prayerful obedience, or someone who likes to rebel for the sake of rebelling.

Sound like anyone else we know? ;)

Mar

What difference does a piece of paper make?

By eyeWitness Closed

Categories: Being Frank...

(Miss Manners) also asks that you not bore her with explaining the comparative quality of marital and nonmarital relationships, especially when using the term “honesty” or asking the nonsensical question of what difference a piece of paper makes. Miss Manners has a safe-deposit box full of papers that make a difference. – Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior by Judith Martin

My flat-mate came home the other day and said she had asked her friend at work that day who just got married if it was exciting. Apparently she looked away for a moment, lost in reflection as if it was something she hadn’t contemplated before, then said “it doesn’t really feel like anything has changed’. And had it?

Just what is the secular meaning of marriage?

With an increasing proportion of New Zealand men and women remaining unmarried through their thirties, it appears likely that fewer will ultimately marry. In fact, a growing proportion of New Zealanders, as in Australia, North America and Europe, live together without legalising or formalising their union. In 1996, about one in four men and women aged 15 to 44 years who were in partnerships, were not legally married.

The current annual number of marriages is marriages is 22 percent lower than the post-war peak of 27,199 in 1971, and it is lower than the number of marriages recorded in any year between 1965 and 1991. It has been steadily declining since 1971.

There is also a trend towards later marriage – First time grooms and brides in 1971 were, on average, about six years younger than their present day counterparts, with median ages of 23.0 and 20.8 years, respectively.

A couple of weeks ago I talked about whether or not there are traps people, especially guys, can fall into when intending only to sleep casually with woman until they have a committed and loving marriage at usually the convenient age of 30. Does it work?

This week I wonder why much of society still thinks the institution of marriage is so important – despite the fact that society generally is of the opinion that having children and living together without getting married is at least nominally acceptable – or do we?

If you have looked in to the meaning behind Christian marriage and you’re Christian you probably have reason for thinking marriage is important to you – but many people aren’t and they still get married.

About.com shared a wonderfully romantic vision:
“Most ancient societies needed a secure environment for the perpetuation of the species, a system of rules to handle the granting of property rights, and the protection of bloodlines. The institution of marriage handled these needs.” Just beautiful

And here’s another:

“One way of looking at marriage is as a rather odd sort of package deal, an exchange in which the two parties agree to share income, housing, sexual favors, and a collection of productive activities such as cooking meals, cleaning house, washing dishes, and rearing children. Seen from this standpoint, the motivation for marriage is, in part, the existence of economies of scale in production–it is easier to cook one meal for two people than two meals each for one person–and, in part, the advantage of division of labor. A marriage is simply a particular kind of two-person firm.”(David Friedman, economist, on love and marriage) How sweet?

The notion of marriage as a sacrament and not just a contract can be traced to St. Paul who compared the relationship of a husband and wife to that of Christ and his church (Eph. v, 23-32). Yay the Church for making marriage a little more loving…

The Church must have influenced society because most people have moved on from thinking of marriage as just a contract. In New Zealand you don’t really need marriage to have rights in the eyes of the law, and you could have children out of marriage. Is it motivated by the dress, ring and party? The security? Or do we still, as a secular society, think the family unit is important to bring up children? Labour did harp on about “Working for Families” and even had a ‘year of the family’ despite much of their policy being very anti-family. For one reason or another obviously people still think it important to declare usually before God (whatever they believe Him to be), the law and society that they will stay with one person forever and love them. Despite the divorce rate which begs the question as to whether they really mean that forever…

In fact we really must think it’s important because it’s even a human right – Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.”

Yet a deep understanding of Christian marriage is still soooo much more.

Christian couples I know are generally excited about moving in together and setting up house. In most cases they haven’t slept together before, so they had a whole new intimacy to look forward to too. A lot of practical everyday things really do change and remind you that you’ve now made a commitment to each other. And marriage ensures a stable home for children with hopefully two committed loving parents.

Liturgical Christian communions – being Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy – consider marriage to be an expression of divine grace, and a sacrament or mystery. Marriage is recognized as a vocation and calling. In fact marriage is so mysterious and has so much depth that the sacrament of marriage is indicative of the relationship between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:29-32).

Beautiful, romantic, mysterious and deep. I’m sure Elizabeth Bennett would have approved… while I wonder if Friedman would see the economics in that?

Mar

New and Improved

By On the Road 5 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Technology, while serving to improve our lives in so many ways, including inconceivable medical advances and the ability to send and receive information at an unthinkable rate, is a blessing to us all. The Being Frank community exists because of technology. Yet, when does technology cross the line? What is its role in our spiritual life?

I would like to introduce to you www.informationageprayer.com , a website dedicated to saying your prayers for you, no matter your faith. From Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Unaffiliated, and ‘Other Religions’ this website covers them all! They even ‘use state of the art text to speech synthesizers to voice each prayer at a volume and speed equivalent to typical person praying. Each prayer is voiced individually, with the name of the subscriber displayed on screen.’ You can ‘show God you are serious’ and get the ‘complete Rosary package’ for only $49.95/month! (that is USD by the way). Incredible.

As St. Francis de Sales put it, “If you don’t have time for prayer, you don’t have time for anything.”

Next up is absolution online!, your one stop source for quick online confession. Why take the time to venture to the church? Don’t suffer the embarrassment of confession to a real person when it can be done anonymously online! While if you read the disclaimer, saying that it is not endorsed by the Church, they take all the steps they can to convince you otherwise. For being a serious excessive consumer, I was told to recite 56 Hail Marys and 4 Our Fathers. Man, I’m glad I do not use these guys for my confession!

By the way, online confession has been condemned by the Church, in case anyone was wondering. It is not a valid sacrament, but none the less is popular amongst the online community.

These are just two examples of technology perverting faith. In the end, God knows our hearts, and whether or not we have a computer pray the rosary for us or hear our confession, He knows where our heart really rests. It is a shame that technology is used to attempt to circumvent such holy and necessary things in the lives of the faithful.

On another technology related note – I used to think that old converted warehouses with the latest technology and giant video screens were the way to go for the ‘ultimate’ church service. But, this is another area where we need to throw out the new and bring in the old! I don’t know about you, but I have come to realise that we should take all appropriate steps to distance our places of worship with the everyday technology we see in outside world. It is a wonderful experience to walk into a church not to see an old converted warehouse with giant video screens, but rows of hymn books, a giant cross up front with the tabernacle prominently displayed, statues and relics of the saints and our spiritual mother, Mary. To set apart our places of worship, not only in form, but experience (without the latest technology) reminds us of where we are and who is present. It is a place set apart, where from the moment we step in to the moment we leave there is no technological distraction, but quiet contemplation of the holy ground we are standing on, the one that Christ established 2000 years ago, the one he is present in today.

Mar

“Wait, I’m no missionary! I don’t even believe in Jebus!”

By Methuselah's Beard 13 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Well another Friday and another day closer to Easter. I trust everyone is having a decent Lent full of denial.

It’s my 3^rd week (out of 6 months) here in Napier… it’s not as far as where Tuppence is but it’s still not home. With that said though, I have become quickly accustomed to the lifestyle here. Up at 8am, at work by 9am, work until 9.30am, morning tea until lunch, siesta until afternoon tea, and then knock off for the day. Just kidding, people do work hard down here.

Anyway, while browsing through The Dominion Post (we don’t get the Herald delivered…) I noticed the headline ‘Pope’s condom remarks dismay’. Basically for all those who missed it, PBXI has stirred up a storm on his way to Cameroon by saying Aids “cannot be overcome by distributing condoms it only increases the problem.”

Human rights groups have been quick to condemn the statements. Oh and some Catholic groups have been too. I’m sure this topic has been done to the death on the blog but we haven’t heard it in awhile.

On the one hand, you can see where these human rights groups are coming from. People have Aids, they’re going to sleep around anyway, what better way to protect people from infection by using condoms, and really how many Catholics are there in Africa? On the other hand, the Pope is sticking to the Catholic line on the use of contraceptives, and by preaching fidelity and chastity it will stem the spread of the infection.

Apparently a senior lay Catholic said “It is hard to be a Catholic nowadays. We are meant to be following the Lord.” And that’s probably the hardest thing to reconcile for some Catholics. How do they stick to Church teachings, and still be seen to practice the mercy that Christ preached? But how is providing condoms merciful? Can you contravene the Church’s teachings and be a good Catholic? I don’t think anything the Pope does is going to garner any good press from the secular media anyway.

Mar

What a Man!

By Filia Day 23 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Well, today is the Feast of St Joseph, patron of the universal church. Today, in a special way, we should pray for our Holy Father especially with all the misunderstandings and contradictions at the moment, particularly with the SSPX situation. I don’t think this has been mentioned on the blog as yet but the Holy Father wrote a very moving letter to his brother Bishops explaining his intentions and the situation more fully. You can read this here if you like. He relies on our prayers in a special way and how wonderful it is that New Zealand can back the Holy Father up with prayer before his day has started…being one of the first countries to wake up we can be the first to start praying for him.

I went to a talk yesterday evening and very holy woman I know had a lovely analogy. She was lucky enough to be looking after the Holy Father when he stayed at Kenthurst conference centre while at WYD. She said those who were in Kenthurst, in a special way, wanted to spoil the pope while he was with them. She made the point that we should spoil our Holy Father with prayers, expiation and filial love everyday despite the fact that he is not physically close to us at this moment.

Mar

Apostolicam Actuositem, I mean Actuositatem…

By Tuppence 1 Comment

Categories: Being Frank...

Continuing on the theme of Lucienne Sallé and her work in the Roman Curia for many years, as one of very few lay women in those offices, I checked out today the papal document ‘ Apostolicam Actuositatem‘…the decree on the apostolate of the laity and solemly promulgated by Pope Paul VI on Nov 18, 1965. Sallé discusses the document in her book as one of the key moments in her path on the road to the Roman Curia.

And I’d encourage everyone to have a read of it…it’s just beautiful.

Once again, here’s a bunch of my favourite quotes thus far…but I’d far recommend that you actually read it yourself…beautiful…

Following Jesus in His poverty, they (the laity) are neither depressed by the lack of temporal goods nor inflated by their abundance; imitating Christ in His humility, they have no obsession for empty honors (cf. Gal. 5:26) but seek to please God rather than men, ever ready to leave all things for Christ’s sake (cf. Luke 14:26) and to suffer persecution for justice sake (cf. Matt. 5:10), as they remember the words of the Lord, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24) .

This plan for the spiritual life of the laity should take its particular character from their married or family state or their single or widowed state, from their state of health, and from their professional and social activity. They should not cease to develop earnestly the qualities and talents bestowed on them in accord with these conditions of life, and they should make use of the gifts which they have received from the Holy Spirit.

The perfect example of this type of spiritual and apostolic life is the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Apostles, who while leading the life common to all here on earth, one filled with family concerns and labors, was always intimately united with her Son and in an entirely unique way cooperated in the work of the Savior.

Christ’s redemptive work, while essentially concerned with the salvation of men, includes also the renewal of the whole temporal order. Hence the mission of the Church is not only to bring the message and grace of Christ to men but also to penetrate and perfect the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel. In fulfilling this mission of the Church, the Christian laity exercise their apostolate both in the Church and in the world, in both the spiritual and the temporal orders. These orders, although distinct, are so connected in the singular plan of God that He Himself intends to raise up the whole world again in Christ and to make it a new creation, initially on earth and completely on the last day. In both orders the layman, being simultaneously a believer and a citizen, should be continuously led by the same Christian conscience.

There are innumerable opportunities open to the laity for the exercise of their apostolate of evangelization and sanctification. The very testimony of their Christian life and good works done in a supernatural spirit have the power to draw men to belief and to God; for the Lord says, “Even so let your light shine before men in order that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

However, an apostolate of this kind does not consist only in the witness of one’s way of life; a true apostle looks for opportunities to announce Christ by words addressed either to non-believers with a view to leading them to faith, or to the faithful with a view to instructing, strengthening, and encouraging them to a more fervent life. “For the charity of Christ impels us” (2 Cor. 5:14). The words of the Apostle should echo in all hearts, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16).(1)

The laity must take up the renewal of the temporal order as their own special obligation. Led by the light of the Gospel and the mind of the Church and motivated by Christian charity, they must act directly and in a definite way in the temporal sphere. As citizens they must cooperate with other citizens with their own particular skill and on their own responsibility. Everywhere and in all things they must seek the justice of God’s kingdom. The temporal order must be renewed in such a way that, without detriment to its own proper laws, it may be brought into conformity with the higher principles of the Christian life and adapted to the shifting circumstances of time, place, and peoples. Preeminent among the works of this type of apostolate is that of Christian social action which the sacred synod desires to see extended to the whole temporal sphere, including culture.

Ok, that’s enough, go read it yourself!!