USCCB withdraws review of “The Golden Compass”

[cthemfly25]

The so-called review of the “Golden Compass” is a symptom of USCCB’s agenda. For you apologist of that organization, you do so because you approve of parts of that agenda. But remember politics is not pastoral. Here’s more cud to chew from the at large movie critic at USCCB to enjoy along with Brokeback and Golden Compass, and if you still believe that the USCCB is your cause celebre, then you can further defend this gem:

USCCB Reviewer Caught Okaying Another Film Celebrating Homosexual Immorality

Special to LifeSiteNews.com by Pete Vere

NEW YORK, December 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Harry Forbes, director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Office of Film and Broadcasting, has given a positive review to the homosexually-themed “Rent”.

Forbes, whose initial positive review of “Brokeback Mountain” two years’ ago was subsequently modified by the USCCB, became the center of controversy earlier this month after the USCCB withdrew his positive review of “The Golden Compass”.

The 2005 movie “Rent” is based upon a musical of the same name.

The movie’s plot follows the relationships between a group of friends who come together through New York City’s East Village fine arts community.

Three of the eight main characters are HIV-positive, while a fourth named Angel is a transvestite street musician with full-blown AIDS.

One of these HIV-positive characters is Mimi, a heroin addict who earns a living as a stripper and a prostitute. The movie portrays some scenes of her performing in the club.

A second HIV-positive character is Tom, a philosophy professor who finds himself in a homosexual relationship with Angel.

Two of the other main characters include Maureen, a bisexual performance artist, who breaks her engagement to aspiring film-maker Mark in order to enter into a sexual relationship with Joanne, a lesbian lawyer. Maureen and Joanne will hold a commitment ceremony part way through the movie.

The only one of the eight friends to settle down and marry is Benjamin, who is often portrayed as the antagonist for “selling out” the fine arts community. In fact, the name “Rent” comes from Benjamin’s attempt to fulfill his family obligations by collecting rent from the other seven characters.

Although Forbes admits in his 2005 review that the “film’s subject matter may turn off many viewers,” he nevertheless describes it as “a snapshot of a piece of cultural history – both the era depicted and the musical itself,” calling it “an impressive achievement.”

“The cast is superb,” writes Forbes. “The original cast members wear the years lightly, while newcomers Dawson and Thoms fit in beautifully with the ensemble. …] The dissolute, countercultural lifestyles of some of the characters take second place to the overriding themes of love, connection, dealing with loss and appreciation of life.”

Sample lyrics to “La Vie Boheme”, one of the musical’s main songs, include the following:

“Bisexuals, trisexuals, Homo Sapiens, Carcinogens, hallucinogens, men, Pee Wee Herman German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein”

As well as:

“To sodomy It’s between God and me To S & M”

See Forbes’ Review of Rent published by the Catholic News Service: catholicnews.com/data/movies/05mv673.htm

 

[tomarin]

The so-called review of the “Golden Compass” is a symptom of USCCB’s agenda. For you apologist of that organization, you do so because you approve of parts of that agenda. But remember politics is not pastoral.

i don’t support gay marriage, if that’s what you’re insinuating.

i only objected to these unfair and scurrilous attacks on the bishops, because they are the leaders of our church. i guess that’s enough around here to make me fair target for character assassination through innunedo.

but thank you for opening up my eyes to the amount of hatred festering here. it does make me wonder what i have in common with you and, if you are typical of most catholics, whether i have misjudged the nature of christianity and religion in general. i don’t want to belong to a faith that promotes irrationality and intolerance. that’s not what i thought christianity was about.

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

i don’t support gay marriage, if that’s what you’re insinuating.

i only objected to these unfair and scurrilous attacks on the bishops, because they are the leaders of our church. i guess that’s enough around here to make me fair target for character assassination through innunedo.

but thank you for opening up my eyes to the amount of hatred festering here. it does make me wonder what i have in common with you and, if you are typical of most catholics, whether i have misjudged the nature of christianity and religion in general. i don’t want to belong to a faith that promotes irrationality and intolerance. that’s not what i thought christianity was about.

Do you REALLY base your knowledge of and belief in your faith on the behavior of ANY human beings? Why?

Look to the Church itself, and not the people in it. You know that. I really don’t have to tell you this, do I?

To your issue: How is it irrational and intolerant to want representatives of Catholic Institutions to represent Catholic Values?

Who is being irrational by insisting that Catholics be Catholics? Who is being intolerant by insisting that Catholics tolerate the intolerable?

Give me a break Tomarin! You took objection to our attacks on the review itself and NOT just our “attacks” on the Bishops. You thought the review was just dandy. You missed the point of the Catholic objection to the review. Then you try to make US look like the “bad guys” for picking on the Bishops!

I don’t think the Bishops are overly wise in their reviewing process or results, but if we don’t tell them that we object they won’t get the message.

You claiming to be a “victim” in this, and threatening to “take your ball and go home” might not be the best thing for either you or anyone else, as I’m sure you know.

Hang in there. This is just one of those tests that we all have to do over and over and over and over again!

 

[He_Man]

i don’t support gay marriage, if that’s what you’re insinuating.

i only objected to these unfair and scurrilous attacks on the bishops, because they are the leaders of our church. i guess that’s enough around here to make me fair target for character assassination through innunedo.

but thank you for opening up my eyes to the amount of hatred festering here. it does make me wonder what i have in common with you and, if you are typical of most catholics, whether i have misjudged the nature of christianity and religion in general. i don’t want to belong to a faith that promotes irrationality and intolerance. that’s not what i thought christianity was about.

They don’t get a pass for being leaders if they stink at certain things they do. no leader every has, simply due to their status. Look at the President if you doubt this.

Stop being so dramatic about this. No one is saying they should be hanged. But they have done a number of foolish things over the past few years, and people are holding them accountable.

 

[cthemfly25]

i don’t support gay marriage, if that’s what you’re insinuating.

i only objected to these unfair and scurrilous attacks on the bishops, because they are the leaders of our church. i guess that’s enough around here to make me fair target for character assassination through innunedo.

but thank you for opening up my eyes to the amount of hatred festering here. it does make me wonder what i have in common with you and, if you are typical of most catholics, whether i have misjudged the nature of christianity and religion in general. i don’t want to belong to a faith that promotes irrationality and intolerance. that’s not what i thought christianity was about.

Tomarin—I was not insinuating any such thing about you or your personal beliefs. But your expression of anger gives me hope, for it should not be directed at me but at the source of your discontent. My point, which you again ignore, is that you must understand what the USCCB is about at its bureaucratic and policy level. It is agenda driven and that agenda is not always pastoral. I can only invite you to look into the matter on your own given that you believe I am attacking you personally. I apologize for that misperception and will try to be more careful. Please don’t mistake my criticism and my complaints about the USCCB as hatred of bishops or of you or of those who have different viewpoints. I assure you, despite how email may come across, that i am not motivated by hate (though on the other hand i do enjoy a good contentious debate over a variety of issues ). Again, please accept my apologies.

I was and will continue to be contentious about the agenda of many at the USCCB. It is either not serving Catholicism and the Bishops well on many issues, or some bishops employ it for a non-doctrinal conduit for their own ideology. If the USCCB wishes to malign culture or take a political position or promote an atheistic view of the world or the gay culture, then it has entered the arena of what should allow for vigorous and contentious debate and protest and criticism—there is nothing wrong with that.

But if it is your position that i am less a catholic than you for writing the USCCB and expressing my concerns, my outrage over the nonsense that chronically goes on over there, then so be it–by your standards i do not deserve to be Catholic. I do not say the same of you btw. Your loyalty, though misplaced, to the USCCB (as opposed to its agenda) is admirable even though i do not share it. These outrageous movie reviews being only part of what goes on there, are not pastoral but political and cultural—there is simply no other explanation for this. Thus, I will, to use your choice of words, “attack” such nonsense. Again, my point is simply this—what is your threshhold of toleration for the USCCB’s disregard of the bishops’ pastoral mission, let alone of its affirmative cultural malaise.