JUDGE NOT LEST YE BE JUDGED:
Those guys that are super-concerned about gays ruining the institution of marriage have been very busy abusing children and protecting abusers from prosecution! Some are asking if the Pope ought to resign in light of a recent scandal showing that while Archbishop of a German Diocese, the current Pope presided over and therefore enabled a known child sex abuser known as “Father H.” Pope Benedict is supposed to deliver a pastoral letter on the sex abuse scandals either tomorrow or Saturday.
Furthermore, reports The Daily Beast, “in the last several weeks, parishioners from the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and the pope’s home country of Germany have come forward by the hundreds to report alleged abuse.” Over $1 billion has been paid to victims of abuse in the U.S., and Dioceses in Ireland have already earmarked over $1 billion for the victims of its clergy. Velvetpark has a look at recent church abuse scandals, also citing the study which determined that between 1950 and 2002, 10,667 people made allegations of child sexual abuse within the church.
from orangejuiceblog.com
In Ireland, the people have asked Cardinal Sean Brady to resign in light of new evidence that Brady participated in a massive cover-up for child sex abusers, including presiding over an oath of silence signed by two victims of Father Brendan Smyth, ages 10 and 14, in 1975. Brady then enabled Smyth to move around to other dioceses and counties for the next 20 years where he continued to abuse children before he was eventually incarcerated in 1994. He died in prison in ’98. Brady says he won’t resign unless the pope asks him to.
Isn’t that so weird? Because just this week, the church not only has prevented a child of a lesbian couple from attending pre-school but they’ve also enabled a Catholic adoption agency to prohibit adoption of kids by gay parents. UK Gay News reports: “The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement has condemned today’s decision in the High Court to allow Catholic Care’s appeal for an exemption from the sexual orientation regulations.”
THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING FOREVER. You should all see Deliver Us From Evil, where a man who literally raped BABIES was protected by church leadership and we believe is still roaming free, talking to cameras in public parks about being attracted to children:
Here, Jon Stewart takes on the hypocrisy of a church that can’t handle children of lesbian parents in pre-school, but sure does protect its sexually abusive clergy.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Why does this matter to us? Because all this cover-up and sexual abuse is so ridiculously hypocritical, you can almost hear your future grandchild’s jaw drop to the floor in disbelief when you tell them of a time when this shit was just allowed to go on, and no one said anything loud enough to change it.
Check out Bishop Accountability dot org for more info.
Also, GOOD Magazine has an awesome map of where different kinds of Christianity dominate within the United States.
RACE:
“It seems that it sucks to be a black woman these days. Or at least that is what the media wants us to believe.” In It Must Suck to be a Black Woman, Clarissa H. Matthews takes on Precious/Good Hair and the pity party she feels is being thrown by the media for black women. She points out contradictory research and questions who is being polled for many recent news stories about black women, anyhow.
[Mainstream America] care[s] so much [about the welfare of black women] that they are peeking into our bedrooms with pity. Black women have been complaining about a lack of mates since we first saw this continent, but now that producers of nightly news shows have discovered our suffering they need to help. On one show, producers scoured the nation to find a location with the most attractive black women they could find with the sorriest love stories they could tell — Atlanta. Then to help them out, they put them in a room and asked Steve Harvey to give them advice.
That’s thoughtful, but who puts a bunch of desperate women who want a hot man in a room with Steve Harvey?
Only someone who wants to see a black woman suffer.
Her conclusion, about the strength and success of black women that is being ignored in favor of frightening, pessimistic stories (‘news creators… just do not want to see First Lady Michelle Obama, at almost six feet tall, married, educated, rich and I assume STD-free.’) and the nuance behind the headlines, is fantastic. Read it. (@clutch magazine)
TWITTER:
Jezebel examines an article that postulates that Twitter is inherently feminine due to the “dear diary” nature of the medium. (@jezebel)
LGBT CENTER IN LONG BEACH, NEW YORK:
A new LGBT Center in Long Beach, New York is getting off the ground and looking to spread the word. The first meeting will take place next Wednesday, March 24. Visit the Facebook event page for details.
DINAH SHORE:
With two major events gearing up for their biggest year ever at Dinah Shore, it can get a little confusing! (That’s why Alex made us this handy Guide to Dinah Shore!) Heather Cassell has the scoop on Girlbar and Club Skirts Palm Spring plans and history in Women Gear Up for Dinah. (@bay area reporter)
CLINICAL TRIALS:
Some clinical trials explicitly exclude gay & lesbian patients, particularly studies about sex & sexual dysfunction. So that’s why they never found a cure for lesbian bed death? HAHAHAHAHAH JKJK, this is very serious business. (@physorg)
STUDENTS ARE WISE:
Students are very bright because they all know that gay marriage is coming, it’s just a matter of when. (@chronicle of higher ed)
TUMBLR:
“As in the zine world, activists and weirdos alike thrive in their Tumblr microcommunities, posting photos of signs that read “Feminism Is for Lovers” or collages of child stars.” (@thinkprogress)
GAY GIRLFRIENDS:
A man has written into Nerve’s Miss Information advice column suspecting that his girlfriend is gay . (@nerve)
LESBIAN PROM PHOTO GALLERY:
Did you take your girlfriend to prom? Help us reach our goal of 100 queer prom/dance photos and send us pics!
There was also this gem a few days ago: Mexican Singer: I’d Rather See My Kid Die Than Be Adopted By Gays… seriously? People’s priorities are so fucked, I swear.
wow. just… wow.
I agree. That whole John Stewart segment was just outrageous. People’s priorities are pretty fucked up.
Wow, so many countries are reporting abuse but Italy. The Vatican’s second home, the land that allows the Vatican tax exemptions and other privileges. That must be because Catholic priests abuse children everywhere but in Italy. Yeah, sure.
This is unreal. It’s unreal. The Catholic church is so arbitrary.
I understand the power of religion, I do. What I don’t understand is how this particular institution still has so much power. I’m not saying all priests are pedophiles but COME ON. Have they even changed their structure in order to prevent things like this from happening again? No! WHAT THE HELL?! Any other organization or institution that behaved like this would be under serious scrutiny. Why aren’t these people in jail?
I would find it easier to trust this church if I saw an organized effort to improve the world. But apart from those individual efforts by good priests who actually help others, the WHOLE CATHOLIC CHURCH INSTITUTION is just there. Spreading hate and shit. That’s a lot of manpower; that’s a lot of “loving”, “caring”, “servile” and “humble” people, just talking. They should have engineers building homes in poor places for free, doctors diagnosing for free, free universities, etc. Like whole missions with thousands and thousands of priests moving from place to place, helping. Then I’d believe that they’re preaching love. Or selflessness. Or sainthood (zomg t&s).
Sorry for the rant. It’s just that… ugh.
Oh, by the way, I know that they give to charities and stuff. I just want all those priests, and there should be a lot of em, concentrated in one place, actually making efficient changes… like an army of love.
“but they’ve also enabled a Catholic adoption agency to prohibit adoption of gay kids.”
I’m confused by this statement… the link following it is about prohibiting gay adults to adopt children. Is there a source to go with that sentence? (God I hope not.)
that would be an error.
Gay marriage is a sin but child abuse is not!
SUCCESSFUL TROLL IS NOT VERY SUCCESSFUL
I also know for a fact that evil incarnate, Cardinal Sean Brady aka sneaky fucker and has actually hired someone to work in the justice department here (Ireland) on a permanent basis just to lobby politicians against gay equality.
Sorry, I digress, about the child abuse what I find hard to understand (aside from the obvious) is that when it was happening here EVERYBODY knew, it was common knowledge which priests were the abusers but the Catholic church was so powerful no one ever spoke up, they were afraid to. And now they’re asking the parishioners to donate money every Sunday to cover the cost of being sued. AND they recently brought in an anti-blasphemy law which made it completely illegal to say anything bad against god or jebus or the church so they still have the Government under their thumb. Im so glad ive legally left the Catholic church, they disgust me, fuck the church!
Deliver Us From Evil = creepiest movie ever. Made my skin crawl. And so sad! Sooo sad. The poor victims and their parents. I feel really angry about what the pope and his bishops, cardinals and priests have done and what they’re covering up. (‘..many bishops were more concerned with preserving the reputation of the church rather than protecting children.” from a bbc article :( )
I was going to say something along the lines of what Lou said but no point repeating it. In Limerick the bishop resigned over cover ups. I feel the church in Ireland still has the warped hold over a lot of people, as Lou said there was/is? a fear.
It’s mega fucked up.
i’m honestly not sure if I would want to see Deliver Us From Evil if I could go back in time. The part where they talk about how the youngest person he had sex with was literally a baby… maybe I knew shit like that happened in the world, vaguely, but not until that moment did I hear someone talk who had done such a thing. It’s probably the most uncomfortable thought in the world, it haunts me. I can’t believe that human beings who knew about this let it happen… so maybe I am glad I saw it. ‘Cause I needed to know that’s how bad the people are who are protected by the institutions who hate us.
no, really, i wish i hadn’t seen it.
mega mega fucked up
This is currently how I feel about it. I haven’t seen it yet because I’m sort of afraid of regretting it, but at the same time I want to. Ah!
Neither. You hear about it but he spoke so matter of factly about it I wanted to punch him in the face. You can’t unhear what he said eh..a fricking BABY.
WTF doesn’t even cover it.
Another thing they did that I find really upsetting is the Magdalen launderies they ran, where they sent women who had babies out of marriage, or people percieved to be “different.” (ie: lesbians) They were basically locked up indefinitely and when their babies were born they were forcibly taken from them. And this was in our lifetime, the one in my town only closed in 1993!
I think they ruined an entire generation in this country, I mean they damaged hundreds of thousands of childrens lives and they have to be dragged kicking and screaming over a 15 year period to even admit they were wrong/covered it up while still emotionally abusing their victims. Then they fought tooth and nail to lay the cost on the taxpayers and STILL want their paedophiles and their enablers to escape justice.
I know people were afraid, they still are actually. They still manage to convince people here that giving us our equality will ruin traditional marriage and hence we are completely without rights. People were scared to stand up to them then and they still are now, it’s very disheartening. Anyway, rant over, my apologies, the church gves me high blood pressure!
I’m straddling the fence on this Ms. Matthews.
lol Lesbian bed death! I still think someone secretly made that up to describe how I can wreck a mattress in one session. Mmhm.
If you go to the Vatican website you will see the great solutions the Pope has come up with to solve the recurring abuse problems:
“Finally, the Pope proposes some specific steps to foster the renewal of the Church in Ireland”.
1) He asks all to offer up their Friday penances, for a period of one year, in reparation for the sins of abuse that have occurred.
2) He recommends frequent recourse to the sacrament of reconciliation and the practice of Eucharistic adoration.
3) He announces his intention to hold an Apostolic Visitation of certain dioceses, religious congregations and seminaries, with the involvement of the Roman Curia, and he proposes a nationwide Mission for bishops, priests and religious in Ireland.
4) This being the international Year for Priests, he holds up the figure of Saint John Vianney as a model and intercessor for a revitalized priestly ministry in Ireland.
“After thanking all who have worked so hard to deal decisively with the problem” (just the way he is doing! Yeah!), “he concludes by proposing”:
– a Prayer for the Church in Ireland, to be used by all the faithful to invoke the grace of healing and renewal at this difficult time.
So basically, to sum it up, more confessions, more communions, a specific saint to be inspired by, and a brand new prayer. That’s what I call being a great CEO who uses the resources of its enterprise to full potential!
http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_sintesi-lettera-irlanda-2010_en.html
Can you fault the cover up of the sex orgy ordeal? I mean, the guy was just following the tradition of the pope’s of yesteryear…
I’m so glad these fine, upstanding humans are the ones that are holding back people that just want equal rights, like sending their kids to school for example.
If anyone’s interested, there’s a pdf in this article here of the Benedict’s pastoral letter http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0320/abuse.html .
Yeah, sure it’s okay to rape and molest babies but GOD forbid two people of the same sex become a couple and express their love… Are they serious? Pedophiles and rapists are lower than the lowest forms of life and yet are protected within organized religion whom are so powerful they control government. Of course, you know things like this happen but this article just shed a little more light on how fucked up the world really is and it put a lot of things in perspective, at least for me.
People who love each other and want to be together have happier children. I don’t think it matters what sexuality the parents are. I am sure an arranged lesbian marriage could turn out lorn and loveless, just like many chosen straight marriages end after a few years.
I apologize on behalf of the Italian nation.
Most Italians completely disagree with the behavior of the Church, and many people here would welcome the idea of same-sex marriage and adoption.
I don’t want the Pope’s bullshit to represent us.