Pope Bluntly Faults Church's Focus on Gays and Abortion

[Sailor_Kenshin]

As for pedophelia, that’s another complex human situation. You have decent people with strong sexual desires for children, who don’t feel called to normality. Who here doesn’t know an utterly loving and lovable pedophile? Many people have cherished relatives who are so inclined…

Country Girl, I believe the simple edit above illustrates the utter stupidity upon which your opinion is formed. Sorry to be so blunt but when someone quotes fictional sitcom characters they most likely would be unable to detect subtlety in an argument.

This is a joke, right?

‘Loving and lovable pedophile?’

 

[Gricken]

I flatly deny this as true.

If that’s how you feel, fine.

 

[livingwordunity]

It appears America Magazine’s website is down, probably over the surge in traffic after the NYT article. While yes, I do believe you are correct about complacency and smugness, I do think it is a problem when statements by the Pope will give every pro-abort Catholic the license they need to say “look, the Pope says I’m still Catholic!”

If people would actually read what Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical and the transcripts of what he actually said there wouldn’t be a problem. The problem isn’t with the Pope’s words. The problem is the many who blindly trust the secular media’s headlines despite that over and over again the headlines are dead wrong. There is a laziness in American pop culture where people automatically believe everything the media tells them. And that makes it easy for the media to feed the public lies and to play the average American like a fiddle. Anyone who checks facts on their own knows that 50% or more of what is reported in the media is either inaccurate or straight up lies, especially when the media is reporting on something the Pope has supposedly said. But, because there is a little bit of truth mixed in with the overall lie, many are easily fooled.

 

[Country_Gal]

Don’t sweat hon…I for one agree with you. I believe the hardliners are a bit surprised that we have a Pope who is well…human.

thanks. I agree. I’ve very encouraged by this new Pope! I think he has a heart of gold.

 

[anglicanusepapa]

As for pedophelia, that’s another complex human situation. You have decent people with strong sexual desires for children, who don’t feel called to normality. Who here doesn’t know an utterly loving and lovable pedophile? Many people have cherished relatives who are so inclined…

Country Girl, I believe the simple edit above illustrates the utter stupidity upon which your opinion is formed. Sorry to be so blunt but when someone quotes fictional sitcom characters they most likely would be unable to detect subtlety in an argument.

You used perfect logic and carried the argument out to its logical and inevitable conclusion and were still villified for stating the truth.

Amazing how obtuse and nasty some people can be.

KNK

 

[newsmike]

This is a joke, right?

‘Loving and lovable pedophile?’

I was illustrating that the “my cousin is gay” so therefore there is nothing wrong with it argument is intellectually lazy. Unfortunately some can’t express an idea that isn’t already a bumper sticker. Notice she attacked me rather than defend her original “point”

 

[catholicguy25]

I was illustrating that the “my cousin is gay” so therefore there is nothing wrong with it argument is intellectually lazy. Unfortunately some can’t express an idea that isn’t already a bumper sticker. Notice she attacked me rather than defend her original “point”

Newsmike… I think your question to countrygal was excellent… it’s disappointing that she chose to not answer to your question… I also asked her a question but i think she ignored the question… my question was… “is it all right for a woman to cheat on her husband if he turns into a jerk?”

 

[Julianna]

I’d appreciate you not calling me stupid. I actually have an IQ of 146 if you want to know, probably higher than most.

I’m not going to argue with someone hurling insults like that. I’m sure you can exhibit Christian charity and be a light on the hill better than that, and I encourage you to do so.

Don’t sweat hon…I for one agree with you. I believe the hardliners are a bit surprised that we have a Pope who is well…human.

 

[Carlan]

So many Catholics here not getting it . The Vicar of Christ is trying tell you that the salvation of God’s children is what comes first then all else will follow, ( which is the growth in holiness) The Father’s gift to us is free will , the choice to accept Him and his goodness or not to accept,it is up to us. He is forever convicting with his actual grace.
Peace, Carlan

 

[AdvanceAlways]

The world is not black and white.

There is some truth in the Catholic fath, and there is some garbage that needs to be cleaned out… (kinda what the pope is doing).

Your Church does not always speak for Jesus… There are many things it has done over the years that was barbaric - and you know it. I will not get into it, as its futile.

When someone is so hell bent on bring hateful… sometimes the biggest light cannot shine thoguh.

Garbage, absolute garbage. Truth is truth. It isn’t up to your relativistic whims.

 

[Gricken]

So many Catholics here not getting it . The Vicar of Christ is trying tell you that the salvation of God’s children is what comes first then all else will follow, ( which is the growth in holiness) The Father’s gift to us is free will , the choice to accept Him and his goodness or not to accept,it is up to us. He is forever convicting with his actual grace.
Peace, Carlan

:thumbsup:This so much. This is what I am trying to say.

 

[livingwordunity]

It appears America Magazine’s website is down, probably over the surge in traffic after the NYT article. While yes, I do believe you are correct about complacency and smugness, I do think it is a problem when statements by the Pope will give every pro-abort Catholic the license they need to say “look, the Pope says I’m still Catholic!”

If people would actually read what Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical and the transcripts of what he actually said there wouldn’t be a problem. The problem isn’t with the Pope’s words. The problem is the many who blindly trust the secular media’s headlines despite that over and over again the headlines are dead wrong. There is a laziness in American pop culture where people automatically believe everything the media tells them. And that makes it easy for the media to feed the public lies and to play the average American like a fiddle. Anyone who checks facts on their own knows that 50% or more of what is reported in the media is either inaccurate or straight up lies, especially when the media is reporting on something the Pope has supposedly said. But, because there is a little bit of truth mixed in with the overall lie, many are easily fooled.

 

[Do_Good_Then_Go]

In comparison to other large groups that have held a lot of power in the past. I’d argue that the number of “barbaric” things you accuse the church of doing is a lot less than most others, and certainly a lot less when you consider how spread out those instances are. Certainly they are not as bad as the atrocities of the nations of the 20th century. If you care to prove me wrong. Please give me examples of things you think are worse.

The trouble with ‘not as bad’ is that it isn’t good enough! Don’t you think we (both the Church and ourselves personally) should be better than ‘not as bad’? Saying that other things are worse doesn’t excuse our own faults and perhaps this is some of what Pope Francis is getting at.

I’m more impressed with him the more I see and read.

 

[Havard]

This is a joke, right?

‘Loving and lovable pedophile?’

I know it’s not easy, but we are called to love even the most violent criminals.

 

[Gricken]

The trouble with ‘not as bad’ is that it isn’t good enough! Don’t you think we (both the Church and ourselves personally) should be better than ‘not as bad’? Saying that other things are worse doesn’t excuse our own faults and perhaps this is some of what Pope Francis is getting at.

I’m more impressed with him the more I see and read.

Oh of course that isn’t good enough? But I’m asking what that proves. That the church is filled with fallible men who sometimes don’t have the best intentions or who, despite their intentions, do evil? By golly we’ve known that for centuries! I think the fact that you see less of that than in other organizations points that we are at least doing SOMETHING right. it does not say that we’ve done “good enough” that’s a terrible way to look at it.
I agree with you by the way, Pope Francis is amazing.

 

[lovetheworld]

Which relativistic whims are you refering too? To love everyone and not judge them?

Truth is the Truth… and the truth is there is nothing wrong with Homosexuality. There however is something wrong with Judging, condeming, and being hateful… don’t you see, in the end you are really judging God.

What have they done to you? or how have they affected your life? Now if the Pope changes the church, and gets rid of this barbaric view… are you planning on chaging religons? Perhaps look for some that hates the same people you do?

Garbage, absolute garbage. Truth is truth. It isn’t up to your relativistic whims.

 

[Carlan]

I don’t get why people are freaking out about what the Pope said. The Pope was making a point about how Catholics are living their lives. I can prove his point very quickly. How does most of the world react when they hear “Catholic”? They usually see bigots, old white men, oppressive life styles, and outdated ideologies. Do you see the problem here? None of this shows the church. People in this day and age are Ignorant of the Gospel, and the truths we as Catholics preach. And it is because of this that they have these skewed views of the church. He is not saying issues like Abortion or Same Sex “Marraige” are unimportant. He is saying that many Catholics today fight against those issues, devote all their time to them, and forget why they should be fighting. They lose track of Jesus. Pope Francis is saying that the mission of the Church is to preach the Word of God, of his love for all people, of the salvation of all who believe. Pope Francis is saying that we, as Catholics, have failed to show others the love of God.

And here’s the thing, I think Pope Francis is right. We have failed to do that, today’s culture proves we failed to do that. We got so caught up in screaming about the wrongs of the world today we forgot how to act like Christ.

The Pope is not telling us to forget about the issues in the world today. The Pope is telling us that if we want to be heard we need to show the world the love of God. Only then will we be able to right the wrongs in the world, only then will we be seen as we should, as bringers of truth and love. Unless we remember how to love, our voices will not be heard.

Before the Church came around, there were no hospitals in the Roman Empire, no charity organizations, no schools like you know about today. We Catholics changed the morality of an entire empire by following Jesus’s example. Today not enough people care.

If we want to end Abortion, if we want to make people understand why we think same sex marriage is wrong, we first need to teach the world how to love again.

Peace, Carlan

 

[Havard]

Which relativistic whims are you refering too? To love everyone and not judge them?

Truth is the Truth… and the truth is there is nothing wrong with Homosexuality. There however is something wrong with Judging, condeming, and being hateful… don’t you see, in the end you are really judging God.

What have they done to you? or how have they affected your life? Now if the Pope changes the church, and gets rid of this barbaric view… are you planning on chaging religons? Perhaps look for some that hates the same people you do?

I advise you not to refer to official Catholic teachings as ‘barbaric’ here. This is a privately-owned Catholic forum which encourages discussion with outside viewpoints so long as they remain respectful of Catholic ones.

 

[agnes_therese]

The Vicar of Christ says “preach and live the Gospel first,” and what happens? People get all tied up in knots, argue, and start attacking each other.

I think this thread has proven his point.

 

[einna]

Garbage, absolute garbage. Truth is truth. It isn’t up to your relativistic whims.

You obviously think the abortion issue should be at the top of the Church’s list of priorities to fight. Why? Why not the selling and rape of children. Why not ending the needless slaughter of innocent people all over the world. Why not focus on all those starving to death. It is your issue and thank God there are people like you fighting to end abortion, but just because others are focusing on some other evil going on in the world does not mean we are not following our faith.