sepharad, no I haven’t seen that movie. I will see if the video store has it, I don’t watch much on the TV but I listen to it while I do other things. I do realize there are good and bad in everything and yes some people involved with the clergy actually do good works, it is to bad that those who corrupt get the recognition and taint anything good that others are doing. But this happens in everything that humans involve themselves with.

purplewolf, there are plenty of fat clergy in all religions, and the sleek cardinals and society bishops etc. are disgusting. But there are exceptions, priests working with people in poor countries and poor areas in this country, and they generally live about as well as their parishioners. Sometimes they take life-threatening risks for their flock. Jesus was a smart guy; he’d be able to distinguish the greedy self-serving pigs from those who do their best to help the social victims—as well, in some cases, working to change society. himself. I don’t know what he would say about non-pacifist liberation theology—considering his “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” remark—but I think he would understand it. Did you ever see the film “The Mission” (Robert deNiro and Jeremy Irons)? Not a bad description of the dilemma.

Inherit—Nothing wrong with it at all; the idea of a man getting all the snakes out of his country has great appeal—I wish we could manage that—and I still wear green on St. Pats. But the upset in NYC isn’t surprising, as the very act of marching is something many Irishers take seriously. Hanging out with one of my cousins, who’d recently abandoned NYC to raise cattle in Minneola, Texas, we were all lollygagging around watching the evening news when the images of Orangemen marching somewhere they shouldn’t have been came on, and my rational cousin leaped to his feet shouting “Damned bigots!” He also doesn’t particularly care for the Brits. Irish beer, their wakes, Irish theatre and dance—wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t one of the lost tribes, popping up here, there, the Ukraine ... why not? Oh—the Irish in my life also tend to break into dancing when feeling festive, not unlike the hora (except for the traditional jigs).

Inherit the wind: Celibacy is simply a state of being unmarried. It has nothing to do with not having sex as many a playboy are celibate but very sexually active.

Chastity is a state of no sexual activity. There are married people out there who never have sex and fall into this category.

Why do people always think that celibacy means not married?

Sheparad: Perhaps the vow of poverty that the pope and other priests take is not a vow of poverty for themselves-this is obvious, but rather it is a vow of poverty for the sheeple and to see to it that it continues forever. After all the Catholic church forbids birth control, basically orders people to produce numerous offspring-too numerous in many cases, give 10% of their income to the church, even when these same people cannot afford to feed the children they have made because the pope and the bible tell them to. That seems to be how it is now, poverty spreading among the masses, while these holymen live in luxury and eat off of real gold silverware on real gold plates. What would Jesus think?

Sepharad, May 6 at 11:45 pm #

(To their credit, they never tried to convert me to anything but taking St. Pat’s Day seriously.)
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And there’s nothing wrong with that! Some Irishman must have made his way to the Ukraine and converted to Judaism because I have this irresistible urge for Beamish, Murphy’s and Guinness Stout.

(of course, in NYC, they f***ed it up by getting all bent out of shape by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance wanting to march in the parade. So they march! So what?)

KDelphi, Amen. I mean, you’re right~

We need to take over all religious institutions and feed the poor. They have no place in modern society.

Well, I’m not that impressed by this Pope but what a hideous job! The Vatican treasurers and the Pieta in St. Peter’s (sheathed in unbreakable glass after some attempted vandalism) could feed a lot of hungry people. Obviously the vow of poverty doesn’t extend that far up. But I have nothing to add to Inherit’s usual concise, readable, accurate yet wierdly humorous (in a good way) take on Catholicism in general. Despite my own secular orientation, and my extreme dislike of the church’s social history from Inquisition to the Crusades and vis a vis the Nazis, I’ve gotta speak up at least for the Catholics I’ve known, from Jesuits who were more into social justice than advancement in the church, to my Dad’s Irish Catholic cousins by marriage who, some years ago, announced to me they were so delighted that Pope John Paul had recognized that Jews had their own covenant with God and were not going to hell. “Now, we can finally stop praying for your soul.” (To their credit, they never tried to convert me to anything but taking St. Pat’s Day seriously.)

Nostradamus was not a magical Seer, He was a Logical pragmatist. he realized at some point in the future the power and oppressive nature of the Vatican would be defeated and people would finally be free to speak their minds and worship anyway they chose. He may though have been the first to recognize the propagnada of misogeny- so the fact woman would be the first to ‘Turn away’ was likely to be a foregone conclusion.
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Nostradamus was a poet given far more power and influence than he deserves.  People have always found what they wanted to.  Goebbels’ wife found “Hister” and assumed it was “Hitler” not the river “Ister”.

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The Vatican (much like the Neo Cons) had better step into the light of the 21st century, otherwise they will be as much a Relic as the Temples of Zeus.Practice what you Preach Pontiff open your vaults of gold & treasures (fish) and help share your wealth with the Poor of the world.Show as much compassion and love to Aids patients as Jesus had to the Lepers, instead of exiling them from communion.Take action against those who merely worship & serve the almighty profit. Try righting old wrongs and injustices and work to avoid future transgressions.
Otherwise you ‘house’ rest on the same toxic,delusional foundation as Delphi
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They’ve survived 2000 years—don’t write them off yet.  I see Benedict as a bumpkin who is going to have a very short reign.  He’s old, he’s not too healthy, and he doesn’t have the moral authority of a John XXIII of J-P II.

BTW, it’s really creepy to go into St. Peter’s and see John XXIII preserved in a glass box and that’s considered “buried”.  Sorry—it doesn’t look “buried” to me…..

“Good thing we’re not grave-robbers!”—Indiana Jones.

(sorry, just seemed appropriate to quote it again!)

Purple Girl, May 6 at 11:04 am #

The Unholiest of UnHolies.
Ratz should be run out of the Vatican on a damn rail.
He ranks up there with the most vile Popes in history. Former Nazi Youth, enabler of Holocaust deniers, AIDS proliferator…As a Long recovered Catholic it would take me several minutes to explain my defection- now it can be easily summed up in one Word “Ratz”.
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Don’t hold back, now!

I have not seen any sign that Benedict is anti-Semitic.  Hell, Robert Byrd was a Klansman, and at a later stage in his life than the Pope.  Nor do I believe JPII would have raised him up if he still was so.  I think his views on AIDs are stupid, and his actions on the deniers were signs he’s a lousy administrator.  He WANTED them back, but NOT as deniers—he just flat out screwed up!

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Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing personally against the Catholic Fatihfuls, But I have a serious problem with the Reign of Terror their institutional hierarchy has committed against humanity for millenia.
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Hey, I grew up with Catholics, roomed with them, were friends with some, beaten up for being a Jew by others.  And I argue they were a blight from Nicea to, well, the 18th Century, maybe the end of the 19th.  But all those Catholics are long dead now.

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Funny they retained the title ‘Roman’ when that is exactly who cruxified their purported Messiah. Funny they were the first to don the Romans Beloved form of Torture and murder as their symbol, along with kissing it and wearing it around their necks.
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Um…Are you really going to attack them on these grounds, when Constantine, the Roman Emperor gave Catholicism its BIG push, and the SUFFERING of Christ is key to their dogma?

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Why not the Fish?
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Oh….I just can’t help myself….because they are celibate??? (You can castigate me for a sexist joke later)

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Was that far too symbolic of sharing the wealth- something the Gold plated Vatican has never done?
Oh Course the Evangelical movement considers the Catholic Church the ‘Great whore’- envy often defames the very object of their aspirations and jealousy. No doubt the Vatican has gained it’s power & wealth by aligning it self with military and political poowers throughout it’s history- but it’s that exactly what the evangelicals (and islamic extremeists) are trying to do now? “America is a Christian nations”??? Says Who? certainly not proclaimed in any Founding Document, and our currency on refers to ‘God’, Not Jesus. In fact the Pledge of alliegences only states ‘God’- and God is not the Sole property of any Religion.
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No real argument with this but aren’t you blaming TODAY’s Catholics for the sins of TODAY’s evangelicals, who base their strategy on older Catholic practices of politics?

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The Unholiest of UnHolies.
Ratz should be run out of the Vatican on a damn rail.
He ranks up there with the most vile Popes in history. Former Nazi Youth, enabler of Holocaust deniers, AIDS proliferator…As a Long recovered Catholic it would take me several minutes to explain my defection- now it can be easily summed up in one Word “Ratz”.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing personally against the Catholic Fatihfuls, But I have a serious problem with the Reign of Terror their institutional hierarchy has committed against humanity for millenia. Funny they retained the title ‘Roman’ when that is exactly who cruxified their purported Messiah. Funny they were the first to don the Romans Beloved form of Torture and murder as their symbol, along with kissing it and wearing it around their necks. Why not the Fish? Was that far too symbolic of sharing the wealth- something the Gold plated Vatican has never done?
Oh Course the Evangelical movement considers the Catholic Church the ‘Great whore’- envy often defames the very object of their aspirations and jealousy. No doubt the Vatican has gained it’s power & wealth by aligning it self with military and political poowers throughout it’s history- but it’s that exactly what the evangelicals (and islamic extremeists) are trying to do now? “America is a Christian nations”??? Says Who? certainly not proclaimed in any Founding Document, and our currency on refers to ‘God’, Not Jesus. In fact the Pledge of alliegences only states ‘God’- and God is not the Sole property of any Religion.
Nostradamus was not a magical Seer, He was a Logical pragmatist. he realized at some point in the future the power and oppressive nature of the Vatican would be defeated and people would finally be free to speak their minds and worship anyway they chose. He may though have been the first to recognize the propagnada of misogeny- so the fact woman would be the first to ‘Turn away’ was likely to be a foregone conclusion.
The Vatican (much like the Neo Cons) had better step into the light of the 21st century, otherwise they will be as much a Relic as the Temples of Zeus.Practice what you Preach Pontiff open your vaults of gold & treasures (fish) and help share your wealth with the Poor of the world.Show as much compassion and love to Aids patients as Jesus had to the Lepers, instead of exiling them from communion.Take action against those who merely worship & serve the almighty profit. Try righting old wrongs and injustices and work to avoid future transgressions.
Otherwise you ‘house’ rest on the same toxic,delusional foundation as Delphi

Well, Inherit, that’s the REALLY long view.  And do they take no executions as seriously as they take no birth control.  Persosnally I don’t have a warm fuzzy feeling for athoritarian ex-Nazies.  Who help strengthen a cultural war of Christians and Jews against Muslims.

History has enormously accelearted in the past few decades, and Pope Ratso is trying to maintain Vatican power in the gales of history by clinging to the power delusions of the past.  When I become Caliph I intend to do much better.

Inherit’s commnent that the Church is nothing if not realistic and flexable certainly deserves his award as the standup comic of the year.  The Church’s view of birth control, women, power and delusion is something one can count on down the ages.  Evil draws the Vatican like honey draws bees, as Catholic writers have emphasized.  Oppressive spiritual power at its very worse.
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That’s why you’ll always be an idiot, FT. You simply do NOT understand evolution.  And you ignore gradualism.

How can the Catholic Church change its views on these things when they are only NOW seriously taking on the issue of married priests?  Yet in so many ways the Church HAS changed. Think about it: The OFFICIAL doctrine and dogma of the Catholic Church is that ALL capital punishment is evil, wrong and should be banned.  How is THAT for a change?

At the Second Vatican Counsel, the Church announced that Jews were not responsible for Christ’s death and therefore anti-semitism was unacceptable.  Only took them from the Council of Nicea to 1960 something to get there.

The Church IS like China…a very, VERY long point of view and things change but usually very slowly, yet they change.

‘Course, I never expect a dummy like FT to understand these multiple threads of influence, power, persuasion and opinion all pulling against each other.  If it ain’t “Socialist Revolution” he’s stuck sputtering for a label to stick on it….
“Facist..no…neo-con…no…Zionist…no…Obamaite…no…fascist-zionist…” ad nauseum…

How can anyone take the crap written here seriously?  At least a third of it is anti-Zionist propaganda.  The RCC is no friend to the Jews or the Zionists.

tomack,
Yes the colour of the robe is soooooooooooooooo him.  it really brings out his skin tone.  I wonder what the summer wardrobe will look like? Think he’ll look good in a strapless schmatta?

I don’t give a damn about what Benny is doing with his hands. However, this supposed holy man and the other supposed holy man, The Dali Lama, followed by millions of morons, waltz around the world throwing marshmallows at Zionism and Bush the butcher.
Honestly, these two charlatans don’t deserve a comment. Both, in all of their grandeur and adulation are about as useful as a tit on a bull. That these two are held in high esteem by millions is a glimpse into the human condition. It seems that the Lama thought that Bush was a decent man, I guess his holiness didn’t consider the decency of the thousands of Iraqi men, women and children who were slaughtered during his reign. Hey, neither did Benny! enough said

ITW—Good one!! LOL! One thing that has certainly not changed is the defamation of alter boys…

More Holy Land news! Us troops pass out Holy Bible in Arabic!! Good idea!

http://www.youtube.com/user/AlJazeeraEnglish

Its Unconstitutional, but, whats new. Lets just prosecute the grunts again. Theyre JUST “giving gifts”!!

Further, Michael Weinstein, (who actually worked for Reagan). “With God on Our Side: One Man’s War Against an Evangelical Coup in the uS Military”

militaryreligiousfreedom.org

Officers Christian Taliban…that is what they actually call it…they “push it on subordinates” and want the military “empowered by the holy spirit”. I coudlnt make this stuff up ...“The Passion of the Christ” or “The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre”—-good one..the poverty draft—you have to see this video , if you care about the reputation of our military. He is a registered Republican, btw. “spiritual rape victims”—90% who complain are christians..
focus on the fascist vs focus on the family

I guess we’re the Ann Coulter Plan now—“kill all of their leaders and convert the people to christianity”

He says that the wall of separation in the military, has completely broken down. He is certainly not the only one to complain.

I probably cant post this link…its at “weed salad”—with little yellow flowers..

Love the robe…

Pope Ratso is trying to cement relations between the Vatican and Zionism.  The Vatican, after supporting fascism and the slaughter of WW2, is now fostering the War on Terrorism and the Cathlic-Jewish alliance against Islam. He is visiting and creating legitimacy on an Israeli regime that is stepping up murder and ethnic cleansing. The pope’s first ssupport the Nazi’s, now the Zionists. whereever oppressive is, there they will be.

Inherit’s commnent that the Church is nothing if not realistic and flexable certainly deserves his award as the standup comic of the year.  The Church’s view of birth control, women, power and delusion is something one can count on down the ages.  Evil draws the Vatican like honey draws bees, as Catholic writers have emphasized.  Oppressive spiritual power at its very worse.

Correction!

The word “beyond” in the second paragraph of my previous post should read “below.”

By mech’elsamberg, May 5 at 12:45 am #

Fadel Abdallah, Oh Lord.  Is this gonna be another blame the Zionists, blame the Jews, blame the Christians, blame anyone for the problems in the Middle East except the Moslems and the Arabs kind of post?
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If one doesn’t have a sense of shame, remorse, or common sense he / she will continue to rant as long as ranting is free and as long as one can hide cowardly and unanimously behind a fake name like “mech’elsamberg.”

As the latest cowardly incoherent Zionist troll on these threads, I just wanted to tell you, for the first and last time, that you’re not worthy of my time and attention. You’re far beyond my intellectual level and I will not lower myself to yours. I am shocked and surprised how you managed to spread your venom so quickly on these threads and to find takers and interlocutors who take you seriously and bother to response to your hit and run rants!

The Catholic Church is nothing if not pragmatic and flexible.  It invented the corporate boardroom and maintains it to this day.  The College of Cardinals has been jockeying and maneuvering the deal-making for millennia.  Witness the fact that from the mid 1400’s until 1978 EVERY Pope was Italian—500 YEARS the Italian contingent was able to maintain its control over the Papacy—even Chinese dynasties didn’t last that long. The Italian cardinals finally failed in 1978 and Karol Wojtila was elected John Paul II, followed by Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict XVI. 

JPII set that up, creating NON-Italian Cardinal Sees all over to break Italian dominance forever.  When JPII was elected, Poland had 2 cardinals and Italy had 25+—for equivalent-sized Catholic populations.

But these moronic remarks don’t address the issues of Benedict and his most obvious trait—foot in mouth disease—versus where he REALLY stands, and where the Church stands.  Benedict reminds me a little of George HW Bush following Reagan. Reagan was described as a Teflon President with Bush following him as the Velcro President.  A man without any charisma following a highly charismatic man.

The Church, being a 2000 year old chameleon has changed drastically in the last 50 years due to the nexus of John XXIII.  He moved the Church to a new vector.  Paul VI followed that somewhat, adding (as his only REAL contribution) the idea that the Pope needs to travel as part of the job.  John Paul I in 30 days made a bigger change than Paul VI because he, in that short time wrenched the Church to a far more pastoral path than it had been but had been pointed that way by John XXIII.  JPII continued that path and NOBODY rose in HIS regime who didn’t believe that whole-heartedly.  And I think Benedict does—he’s just an inept “Nutty Professor”.

I’m not Catholic, nor a lover of Catholicism.  I am simply an observer of how much in 50 years the Church has changed since the evil days of Crusades, heretic-burning, and empire building. 

It’s sad to see how Islam is dominated today by those who are where Catholics were 600 years ago—rooting out heretics and slaughtering them. Condemning anyone who converts AWAY from Islam to death. Creating societies where ANY deviation is met by torture and execution.  Demanding mindless obedience and reducing schooling to scripture study. Turning women into silent servants and sex slaves.

And, as it was in Christianity, it’s clear the people doing this in Islam are NOT following their own scriptures but are mangling them for their own power and ends.

History is repeating itself. The Catholic Church is 600 years older than Islam, and now, 1400 years after its founding, Islam is going through what Catholicism went through after 1400 years.  Will there be a “Martin Luther” and a “Henry VIII” to challenge it?  I don’t know.

Fadel Abdallah, Oh Lord.  Is this gonna be another blame the Zionists, blame the Jews, blame the Christians, blame anyone for the problems in the Middle East except the Moslems and the Arabs kind of post?

purplewolf, the red is neither rash nor burn.  Its that red tone that all boozers get.  He must drink a lot of Jesus juice. Wink, wink.

The so-called Holy Land has been the symbol of unholiness for so many years. As an ex-Nazi Pope and a recent anti-Muslim bigot this dummy will further make that area more unholy by his presence. I don’t know what good will come out of this visit!

Isn’t this man the successor to the Papacy Office which was the perpetrator of the bloody Crusades and later the Inquisition against both Muslims and Jews in Spain?! It’s the office he represents and the nationality he comes from that’s partly and directly responsible for the sixty-year old suffering of the natives of this so-called Holy Land, made unholy by people like him and other mentally disturbed people who came from the same European neighborhood where he is coming from.

mech’elsamberg: you’re right, the photo didn’t print all the way on my screen the 1st time. Looks more like he’s trying to relieve the discomfort from crotch crickets he got from his latest altar boy encounter. That could account for that unsavory leer, and is he blushing or does he have a rash on his face? Or is that rub-burn?

LMAO.  Notice where his hands are?  Is he copping a feel or hiding a woodie?  In either case, EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you ever seen a more unholy, sinister looking Nazis in your life?

There’s nothing good nor holy about that man…who’s last job was Grand Inquisitor.

...this should go well…