The usual Open Thread rules are in effect: be concise, be charitable and, above all, be amusing!
Open Thread
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Cute cats:
https://x.com/depressionlesss/status/1839183123487265267?t=be5bbp25viMRLTfltgJucQ&s=19
Those cats are running to Cleveland. Asylum Seekers.🙀
“Rocky, you’re not getting any more hugs until you take a shower!” – Adrianna Pennino-Balboa
Shouldn’t there be like… five of them?
Oh wait, just like the films, they’d be hard to see all at once 🤣
Since this is an open thread, I am going to post about the latest scandal to hit Protestant Reformed clergy. We all like to bash Catholic clergy for sex abuse, but here we have a 73 year old Protestant man with a doctorate and a teaching fellowship at several religious institutions, renown for preaching on sexual purity, 40 years married with grandchildren, who has had a 5 year “inappropriate relationship” with a woman in her 20s. The man confessed only after the girl’s father found out and threatened to out him. And there’s more. One of the articles linked below has a list of other Protestant clergy in the same boat.
https://baptistnews.com/article/steve-lawson-preached-fire-and-brimstone-except-for-himself/
https://julieroys.com/steve-lawson-had-5-year-relationship-with-woman-in-her-20s-gcc-pastor-says/
I am just as much a sex pervert as the next red blood American man, and I darn sure have feet of clay, but thankfully I have a Filipina wife who keeps me in check. And at 66 years of age, thank God those days of having an uncontrollable libido have passed. So I just don’t get it. A Protestant preacher man starts a 5 year fling with a girl less than half his age, throwing away his reputation, his marriage of 40 years, his teaching fellowship, his preaching position at his church, and any income that he once had. But for the grace of God there go I or any of us. Indeed, sexual deviancy isn’t just a Catholic priest thing. 😞
Many have correctly drawn parallels between Pope Francis and Donald Trump in the past. One parallel that doesn’t get much attention is they are beneficiaries of idiocy within the ranks of their opposition. I say this as one who agrees, in substance, with much of what they are saying, at least it pertains to the pope. But the way they go about it is so counterproductive that to call it that would be so much of an understatement that it would be almost insulting.
A few examples, one, that statement several years back accusing Pope Francis of the canonical delect of heresy. I found that shockingly stupid, particularly given that at least one of the signatories, Fr. Aidan Nichols O.P. is a first rate scholar. The examples they cited clearly demonstrate the pope is acting in a gravely scandalous manner, but that doesn’t rise to the level of canonical heresy. In fact, I think what is doing is more dangerous than if he came out as an out and out heretic.
Then of course, there’s Vigano. What a tragedy and disgrace!
And yes, there’s Bishop Strickland. Okay, I’ve never been a fan of Strickland. Once I saw him supporting Bp. Seitz’s using children as props in support of the criminal enterprise of illegal immigration, that showed his true colors in my view. Then, of course, there’s his support of Abp. Cordileone’s ignorance-laden anti-death penalty screed in America Magazine. What did Strickland get for his carrying the water for Bishops like Chaput and Cordileone when Pope Francis kicked his ass to the curb and stomped his brains in? They didn’t lift a finger to support him, especially with Chaput being retired and having nothing to lose.
While I agreed with what Strickland said about the pope and wish more bishops would speak out, anyone with an IQ of at least an ice cube would have enough sense to know Twitter or any other social media outlet was not the place for a bishop to air those concerns.
Pope Francis knows this and uses it to further enable and advance his agenda. In fact, I would say his detractors do the lion’s share of the heavy lifting for him. Francis may be corrupt, but he’s not stupid. As Henry Sire, who, in my mind, is the only prominent critic who really understands the pope, says, Francis knows exactly what he’s doing.
I mean look at Vigano now. Strickland as well. Strickland has become irrelevant. He’s the darling of grifter class and getting intoxicated on the adulation he’s getting.
I believe Pope Francis is probably the most corrupt pope since the Borgias. And what he’s doing must be opposed. But his critics only compound the problem and unwittingly aid and abet his treachery by our own stupidity.