Maybe you should take time to visit your Diocese, see how it runs. Meet the staff and volunteers who spend their lives assisting the Bishop in this great ministry. The hours of prayer and discernment that go into every action.Fascinating. Such power given to one man with no checks and balanced, and not even a woman’s (name removed by moderator)ut in the decision making, just an older man.
I don’t think book banning in any library is healthy, period. Its a form of censorship and considering the current political climate in Washington, with FOCA and the (un)Fairness Doctrine, I’d be leary about subjective determinations that certain fictional books are off-limits. I can see a school library banning pornography, etc. . but other books? Why not trust that we’ve set a faith foundation that allows our children to understand the premises of these books go against church teachings, but they can still enjoy the messages (Harry Potter has a lot of good vs. evil messages—and I have a very strict Catholic friend who will stand, in line, with the kids when new books come out at midnight–and she does not have kids this age at all!)
Exactly! I understand the Golden Compass but I believe he is out line anyway. The Bishop obviously has some misinformation but he has the right to do so in the school lib I guess. However that might not even be the case if the Dioceses isn’t funding the school… who knows.
Do you want to have a discussion here, or do you just have an axe to grind with the Catholic Church? If it’s the latter, why not start your own thread on how the RCC is dictatorial and misogynistic?Fascinating. Such power given to one man with no checks and balanced, and not even a woman’s (name removed by moderator)ut in the decision making, just an older man.
It seems that I’m not the only who is against one man deciding what books teenagers should read and which books he will ban and censor.Do you want to have a discussion here, or do you just have an axe to grind with the Catholic Church? If it’s the latter, why not start your own thread on how the RCC is dictatorial and misogynistic?
FWIW, I don’t believe the bishop should ban books, but it is certainly within his authority. And I can’t stand this sort of trolling in otherwise civilized threads.
Nope. That’s the way God designed things.
There are not “Catholic Bishops” denying the holocaust ever took place. Bishop Williamson is an SSPX Bishop. He is not a Bishop in the Catholic Church.
From the library of the Catholic school he oversees, certainly he has that right.
Every school library in this country uses criteria for what books it allows or doesn’t allow. In the case of public schools, the school board determines what books go in and what books may be pulled out if deemed inappropriate. In private schools it is the board or the pastor, or in the case of Catholic schools the bishop.
This is certainly the parents role and responsibility.
The school library is the primary place many children have access to a wide selection of books. I’m not saying the Bishop doesn’t have a right to allow only immorality free books. I’m just saying that it will limit the selection if he is consistent. If Twilight is going to banned it only makes sense to ban Sherlock Holmes novels.
The Bishop you speak of here who is denying the holocaust ever happened is not a Bishop over a Bishopric (Diocese), he is a member of the SSPX and as such has no jurisdiction over any one as far as I know.
I agree with what you say on the censorship. I think there’s a point for a kids’ library in which mature audience material should be not be available (i.e. does a school library have need for a Judy Collins books? I don’t think so). But if it’s age appropriate material, I think a ban is a form of censorship and that always backfires.
I was going to say the same thing. And, I hope that everyone realizes there has never been any official ‘ban’ or even statement on the HP books and the rest. One Vatican official gave his OPINION, meaning his personal opinion, on the HP books and people took it as an official statement from the Vatican which it was not. And many after him have chimed in with the exact opposite opinion. As for Twilight…there are some[ good Catholic reviews out there worth reading.:ehh:
As a Catholic school, it’s only fair to say they have that right to restrict you from reading them in the library. (Doesn’t mean you can’t read them on your own time from some other library or bookstore.) The only thing that concerns me: I really hope they know these stories are fiction.
Ironically Yours, Blade and Blood
He can only have a say what is carried in the libraries not what your kids read though, that is entirely up to you.
Twilight as I read it: Harlelquin romance, for teens. Harry Potter sigh overhyped.
If we are going to ban books based on the morals of the characters does that mean Sherlock Holmes should also not be allowed in the library?
