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I’ll Have What He’s Having
Remember the last time you looked forward to a cocktail party? Neither do I. But, if you were a seminarian in Newark, NJ under Theodore “Uncle Teddy” McCarrick you certainly didn’t go back for seconds unless you like drinking drinks with an umbrella in them. New allegations today at Catholic World Report:
Published in Religion & PhilosophyThree Newark priests independently gave CNA nearly identical accounts of being invited to these parties when they were newly ordained.
One recalled that he attended a cocktail party, thinking he had been invited to a simple priests’ dinner. “I was led into the room to a chorus of wolf-whistles,” he said. “It was clear right away I was ‘on display.’”
Another priest told CNA that he was also invited to a party hosted by the priest. “They were all carrying big mixed drinks, pink ones, it was like something out of ‘Sex in the City.’”
He recalled that after asking for a beer, he was told by his host, “you need to try something more girly tonight.”
All recounted overtly sexual conversation at the cocktail parties. “I was fresh meat and they were trying me out,” one priest said.
All three said they left quickly upon realizing what was going on. “Everyone was getting loaded and getting closer on the couches, I wanted out of there,” a priest told CNA.
“Everyone kept calling me a ‘looker’ and saying they had to ‘keep me around’ from now on,” a third Newark priest told CNA.
Apparently I’ve committed a bunch of pretty bad sins, but haven’t killed anyone.
If you’ve ever had the experience of encountering a soul from purgatory or visiting the Purgatory museum in Rome you’d change your mind.
I went to St. Mark’s in Venice once and saw a real Pope’s embalmed body in glass case!
I can’t like this. I feel so sad for your friend. This insanity makes it so hard for gays trying to live in conformity with the teachings of the Church.
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2018/08/why-men-like-me-should-not-be-priests
If he does go, do him a favor and talk through with him the realty of what he could find there. I think most seminaries in the U.S. have been somewhat cleaned up, but better he think about how to deal with an issue before it arises.
Well, we aren’t really surprised to discover heretics in the Church in Massachusetts, are we?
I’ve come to view that as amusing for a different reason as I think it’s a misreading. The Church will be unified at the end because there will be so few of us left.
They must have cut class to have a cigarette the day they taught about the sin of presumption.
Roughly 40% of people in Massachusetts vote republican, there are a lot of good people here. My Dad is WWII vet; all of my friends’ fathers fought in either Vietnam or Korea, but by all means, take swipes at Massachusetts.
You seem to know a lot about Catholicism; who goes to hell and who doesn’t, according to your understanding of Church teaching?
Sure it is, if you understand it.
That was a poignant article. And he’s so right when he says if only the church had heeded its own directives. Just like with our immigration system, which people keep saying is “broken.” No it isn’t, the laws on the books just aren’t being enforced.
And tell him to take up a martial art – boxing used to be a thing for Catholics. Some priest gets a broken nose or a black eye for taking a pass at a seminarian it might put some spine into some of the others.
P.S. One of my younger cousins did three tours in Afghanistan, another fought in Iraq, another is currently in some undisclosed location doing military things that he can’t tell anyone about; I don’t expect any of this to absolve them of the sin of living in Massachusetts. :)
Really, @johnseymour, please inform us, who goes to hell and who doesn’t? I would think you would want to clear up all heresy immediately.
Sorry, I was being cheeky. I’m sure there are even a few decent Democrats in Massachusetts. But as to your question, my thinking on it, which I think is pretty close to Church teaching, though it would take me some time to dig up the references:
I recommend a reading of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Hell is quite crowded, with a fair share of popes and bishops. Plus ça change.
In other words, you don’t know; none of us do, which is really all the nuns were trying to say-I was, obviously, I thought, exaggerating a little when I said that they told us that only Hitler would go to hell. :) They didn’t actually say that :)
I have wondered at something. The church, it seems thrives when tested or persecuted because such times force believers to action. Maintaining the faith when it’s hard, when it’s no longer due to cultural expectations, but a purposeful act, is what refines believers. I look at the Orthodox countries, for instance, ruled for decades of Communism after just a short respite from centuries of Ottoman repression, and the faith there was what held people together. Or consider the Christians in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, or Iran – over a millenium gone since they were last free, yet they cling tenaciously.
Here? As Christianity wanes as a cultural and civic necessity and pressure, people drift off. Those who remain are doing so often out of inertia. Those who persist through this mess (and the others that will doubtless come) will form a tested and strong core.
Two interesting thoughts on this from Orthodoxy:
There is an apocryphal quote, often ascribed to St. Basil but not actually found in his writings. “We can say where The Church is, we cannot say where it is not.”
There is of course a lot of speculation on Heaven and Hell, but it is all considered a Holy Mystery, and so an area where concrete statements should be few, and all should tread carefully. Purgatory is not anywhere in Orthodox dogma or doctrine, but it is neither ruled out nor confirmed (and you’ll find people on both sides). One common speculation of Heaven is that it is dwelling in the infinite light and love of God, which is eternal bliss for the faithful, but also eternal pain and fire for those who have rejected God, and thus Hell for them. But we do not know.
@judithanncampbell, obviously my attempt at humor failed and I offended you. I am sorry.
Thank you, I am sorry too.
Well. I was an altar boy toward the end of the Latin run. In retrospect, several of the priests were pretty clearly “left-handed.” None ever did or suggested to me anything remotely resembling untoward. Few years ago a mentor, a much more handsome fellow, it must be said, a few years younger, described a similar experience. But he wasn’t so lucky. And he is not and was not homosexual.
In my 20s I used to frequent a convenience store near De Paul University in Chicago. I always saw a priest in there, an older man with a gray crew cut. One day I saw a Mexican stock boy, about age 15, on a ladder stocking a shelf, and the priest walked over and cupped his butt in his hand. I nearly died.
This is the end of the Catholic Church. The corruption is so deep, and so high, that no one will want to enter the priesthood.
No, it is not. The gates of hell will not prevail. But things may get a lot worse.
I hope you are right.
You bet. That would be the Ricochet Meetup in Montana last September. Three nights of cocktail parties, and it was awesome.
It’s Newark. Get over it.
And how would one discern whether an apparition is a soul from Purgatory or demonic?
Someone who is a recovering Catholic once told me that the real reason the Holy Roman Catholic Church insisted that its clergy and nuns be celibate is that made their upkeep much less expensive. If each religious person had a family and there were upwards of five children in each household, the costs of having religious orders would have been much higher.
Of course, the Church gussied up the reason for celibacy as relating to how celibate people are so much more likely to attain holiness. For the odd individual, that might be true. (And good for them.) But for many, it seems to have made them cranky and mean, or else as we now know, pedophiles or secretly gay.
I’ve always heard that Protestant clergy are permitted to marry so the churches can get free housekeeping.
This is incredibly ignorant CarolJoy. You can hate the Church if you want, but at least have a clue what She teaches.
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/issues/august-19th-2016/the-true-history-of-celibacy/