New Translation Objections Are Becoming More Ridiculous

The introduction of the New Missal is mere weeks away – the first Sunday of Advent. I believe that the closer we come to full implementation, we’ll be seeing more and more weird articles and opinion pieces objecting to it. Kinda like a throw-everything-you-got-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach.

You see, there are quite a few who are perturbed about the translations, for various reasons. The usual wellsprings of consternation – the National Catholic Distorter and USCatholyc, for example – are still venting about it. It’s been kinda non-stop since the whole matter surfaced.

At first it was annoying – remember the “What If We Said Just Wait?” petition, started by a priest out in Seattle? I think that had more anonymous signatures than actual names. In any case, that project has lost much of its momentum.

But now it’s getting comical.

Last week, the Distorter trotted out a 16-year old Latin whiz-kid (their description, not mine) to dissect the translation.

And just the other day, Brian Cones at the USCatholyc wrote a piece which relied on his dad’s opinion. That’s one way of making this personal, I guess.

The NCD and USCatholic must be struggling in coming up with legitimate sources to present their cases if they’re now relying on teenagers and family members. They must have exhausted their rolodex of go-to folks for analysis and punditry. So who’s going to be next? The water meter reader? The girl at the Tim Horton’s drive thru?

In any case, I’m looking forward to future objections. I need the laughs.

Seven Prayers God Always Says No To

*Welcome NewAdvent readers!*

I recently heard of a book written by Anthony DeStefano called Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To. Now, I’ve never read the book, and this post isn’t a book review – the title ought to be a dead giveaway.

But it got me thinking – are there prayers God always says no to?

Well, this is AoftheA – of course there are! There are at least seven.

I’m sure there are more…

Greeting Cards For Heretics

Earlier this week, it was reported that Hallmark has started selling unemployment sympathy cards. I guess it’s a nice way to show someone who’s lost their job that you care – although I have to think that they’d rather get a new job than a card, but hey. It’s the thought that counts.

But then I realized…there are no cards for womynpreests and politicians who have ex-communicated themselves. Sure, it’s a small niche market, but it’s one that’s growing. Some folks have gotten automatic ex-communications – like the womynpreests, for example – while others have been told not to present themselves for communion – such as former rep Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. Did anyone think to send him a card? I don’t believe so.

Maybe it’s an idea whose time has come. Here are four suggestions – for the womynpreest or politician in your life – each one showing the outside of the card and its corresponding heartfelt message inside.

Jesus Had A Morphogenic Field!!

And He spread morphic resonance! No, really, it’s true! I read about it in the National Catholyc Distorter! It’s in an article written by Sharon Abercrombie -

[...] Judy Cannato’s thoughts on morphic resonance from her book The Field of Compassion came to mind.

Now, Rupert Sheldrake’s biological theory that “like attracts like,” would seem to be a Universe away from a Dr. Seuss story, but is it? According to Cannato:

“[G]enetic material alone cannot account for the development of living systems. Sheldrake proposes that systems are surrounded by non-visible fields that carry information or memory from one generation to the next, thus making a new behavior patterns easier to learn. …The human person is a field of energy and information rooted in the body but extending out from the body, interacting with the energy and information of others. None of us is a discreet, separate unit, but an integrated system of interactions and relationships connected to all.”

Cannato suggests that we can alter our energy and information fields by the choices we make…and “can become increasing aware of who we are and how we influence our environment, and that we can and must make choices that are life-giving for all.”

Using the image of the morphogenic field as a template, she says, “we can look at the mission of Jesus. Although he never could have used these words, Jesus was about creating a morphogenic field, one in which love is the standard operating procedure and genuine concern for the other is the behavioral norm.”

[...]

I never knew that about Jesus, did you? He didn’t come to die for our sins and defeat Death by rising from the grave and start a Church. Nope, He was about creating a morphogenic field…whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. Did He plow it with morphogenic oxen under a morphogenic yoke? What kind of morphogenic crops do you grow in a morphogenic field? Would you be eligible for morphogenic subsidies?

Okay, the stuff about fields and yokes and subsidies was uncalled for. This is serious business, because these fields are the key to our planet’s survival. Because the author says so.

Cannato believes that the only way to save the entire planet will come from “a groundswell of compassion that changes destructive systems into life-giving communities in which we all live life to the full.” She holds that such a groundswell would be a sign of the fulfillment of our religious tradition.

Right, because Jesus told the disciples in the Great Transmission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, transmitting your positive fields of energy and information, teaching them to save the planet with good vibrations and life-giving behavioral norms. Peace out, dudes.”

Now, Abercrombie asks: Could we be seeing morphogenic fields of action in motion right now?

Unfortunately, no. Morphogenic fields are invisible. You can’t see these energy and information fields with the naked eye. Nope – you need special eyewear to detect morphogenic fields. BUT – AoftheA SmartA** Mfg just happens to produce and distribute Morphogenic Field Detection GogglesTM – and with these beauties on, you can observe these energy fields.

So what do these fields look like?

Comparison photos describe them best. First, here’s a photo of Sharon Abercrombie, contributor to the “Eco Catholic” column at the Distorter, as seen without the Morphogenic Field Detection GogglesTM:

And here she is as viewed through the Morphogenic Field Detection GogglesTM:

Scary.

It’s inadvisable to use the Morphogenic Field Detection GogglesTM for extended periods of time. Proper use of the goggles will help you to avoid people who display such highly erratic field patterns. I can’t emphasize this enough – steer clear! Extended exposure to such fields will suck the common sense out of you, rendering you susceptible to asinine ideas about Catholic theology and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The Call-to-Action T-shirt Slogan Contest

The Call-to-Apostasy Kids – they call themselves “CTA 20/30″ – is sponsoring a Call-to-Action T-shirt slogan contest at their Facebook page.

Sad thing is…since posting this on their wall on September 2, they’ve had zero suggestions. I guess when you only have 138 likes, you’re not likely to get many suggestions.

But – AoftheA is here to help! And all you readers are encouraged to contribute. I’m sure that between myself and all of you, we can come up with a whole slew of ideas for them to choose from. And here’s the added bonus – if your idea gets picked, you get a free T-shirt! Awesome!

I’ll get it started:

Call-to-Action: Gay, Gray and Betray!

CTA: Tolerance for thee, but not for me!

Walking The Wide Road For Justice

[Front] Moses Wandered 40 Years In The Desert… [Back] …Which Means We Only Have 5 More To Go! (CTA 1976 – 2011)

CTA: Where Everyone Gets To Be Pope!

I Am The Megesterium!

Leave your suggestions in the combox. Typically, you guys come up with better material, so I’m looking forward to some good laughs (just keep it clean! That’s all I ask).

Now the question becomes – do I forward these suggestions?

ht James at Orate Fratres.

Top Ten Topics That Will Rock Your Catholic Blog

Do you run a Catholic blog, or is it more like a Catholic blahhhhg? Do you wish you had more readers? Is your Sitemeter daily count smaller than Kate Middleton’s waist size, and you wish it would expand (the daily count, not KM’s waist)? Does your combox have more robo-generated spam comments selling shoes and junk than comments left by actual people?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, then what you need are The Top Ten Topics That Will Rock Your Catholic Blog, as compiled by the AoftheA Editorial Board. The EB scoured Catholic blogs for several hours days weeks months and months to generate a list of hot-button issues that delivered consistent results across the world.

If you want to increase traffic to your blog, and you want the combox conversations spiced up a bit, touch on any of the subjects listed below. You can either be pro or con – doesn’t matter. You don’t even have to write well or display logic – just have an opinion and a thesaurus and a glib turn of phrase or two, and bang! Your daily hits will spike. Your combox will quickly resemble a back alley at midnight deep in gang-contested turf. Yeah, it will get rather testy, but that’s what commenting at Catholic blogs is all about: loving our neighbors – even the Anonymous ones – with ham-fisted charity and bare-knuckled mercy.

The topics are in no particular order, and the Editorial Board at AoftheA has provided a possible point of view or approach* you can take – guaranteed to generate multiple flash mobs dancing around the issues in the combox instantaneously! Good luck!

10. Why the Latin Mass/Novus Ordo is better than the Novus Ordo/Latin Mass.

9. Attire for Mass – shouldn’t folks just be glad no one’s showing up naked?

8. Medjugorje – Real, or is God just joshing?

7. “If I were bishop…my diocese would be whipped into shape in no time!”

6. So-called gay marriage – doesn’t it prove that gays, deep down, really want to be straight?

5. Natural family planning – contraception with a conscience, or a scientific alternative to “Not tonight dear – I’ve got a headache”?

4. The Democratic Party/Republican Party represents the full embodiment of Catholic Social Teaching.

3. If the Church had 4 or 5 more folks like Michael Voris, Satan would throw in the towel and admit defeat.

2. Communion in the hand or communion on the tongue – which way proves you’re the better person?

1. Gregorian Chant sounds stupid – give me “I Am The Bread Of Life” any day!

*DISCLAIMER: Publication of the Top Ten Topics That Will Rock Your Catholic Blog does not imply, infer, or indicate an endorsement by the AoftheA Editorial Board of any of the listed topics’ subject material, in any degree whatsoever. What, you think I want a bunch of crazy people arguing in my combox?



If you think this post is about you…then it probably is.

Dissent Is Powerless

The American Catholic Council meets this weekend in Detroit, right?

From the 6/9/11 Detroit Free Press (emphasis mine):

Calling for more democracy within the Catholic Church, liberal Catholics from around the world are coming to Detroit this weekend for a conference to help revitalize what they say is an archaic institution in need of reform.

Sponsored by the American Catholic Council, an organization of 30 Catholic reform groups across the U.S., the conference is three years in the making and comes on the 35th anniversary of a gathering in Detroit to talk about church reforms led by then-Cardinal John Dearden, the former archbishop of Detroit.

[...]

But Catholic leaders warn that the gathering at Cobo Center is not sanctioned by the church, as the 1976 event was.

The council is scheduled to open this evening at 6:00 PM. But then – from today’s Detroit Free Press (emphasis mine):

A major malfunction Thursday at the beleaguered Detroit Public Lighting Department knocked out Fire Department phones and power to traffic lights, municipal buildings, courts, schools and the People Mover, prompting fears that traffic snarls, widespread outages and disruptions likely would continue through tonight.

[...]

The outages knocked out power to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, Cobo Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts, the People Mover, 36th District Court, Wayne State University, Wayne County Community College District’s Downtown Campus and the McNamara Federal Building.

The municipal center won’t reopen until Monday, and WSU said its main campus would remain closed today, with classes canceled. Most of the other facilities are likely closed through at least tonight.

The local morning news is reporting that full power downtown may not be restored until Monday.

I know we’re not supposed to laugh at the misfortune of others, but…heh…
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heh heh heh…
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Heh heh hehahahahaahhhaAHAAHAHAHAAAHAA!!!!!…….

UPDATE: Well, it’s been reported that as of 2:40 PM EST, power was restored to the Cobo Center. Darn. How much you wanna bet the ACC will claim that this has been the result of Sophia repelling Satan’s attack…except they don’t believe in Satan.

When Do I Get My Month?

June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. It used to just be Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, initiated by former President Clinton in 2000, and then made more inclusive by President Obama in 2009. Of course, it’s not totally inclusive, because heterosexuals aren’t on the list. (So I won’t celebrate it until I’m forced to, which may happen sooner than later…)

In fact, if you read through the list of National Months, there’s no National Normal Heterosexuals Month anywhere. How come? Why the discrimination?

There’s no National Blogger Month, no Heaven-bound Catholic Pride Month, no Guys Who Love Girls and Girls Who Love Guys Month or anything like that. Where’s the justice?

There’s nothing close to a National Men’s Month, or Men’s History Month, either. I’d like to believe it’s because it’s impossible to celebrate all of the accomplishments that American men have ever made into the span of a mere thirty or thirty-one days…so I’d be cool with a Men’s History Summer, or maybe even a National Men’s Pride Year (during a leap year, of course, because we need the extra day). But I’m not naive – it’s a clear and deliberate sign that Straight Guy’s in this nation are at worst not appreciated, or at best, taken for granted.

March is Women’s History Month – as well as National Feminine Improvement Month. Two recognitions. Which seems silly to me – I mean, we’re supposed to be celebrating the History of Women, right? But then we’re also supposed to be recognizing that women need improvement? Is their history so poor that it needs to be improved, and if that’s the case, why do we celebrate something that’s kinda mediocre? On top of that, there’s Women of Achievement Month in September. Why the distinction? Are we supposed to remember the losers in March, and the successful women later in September? Maybe that’s why Feminine Improvement Month is in March – things take about six months to improve.

There are over 180 National Month celebrations – so if you don’t want to celebrate any particular one, you can choose another. Here are some options for June: National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month; Turkey Lover’s Month; National Dairy Month; National Iced Tea Month; National Papaya Month (or September); National Candy Month…gosh. All equally lame. Once the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs end, there’s nothing worth celebrating in June.

There’s a National Pizza Month and a National Pretzel Month (both in October), but no National Beer Month. That’s just wrong.

Hug A Texas Chef Month is in September – tough luck in you’re a chef in any of the other 49 states. No hugs for you. Ever.

May is National High Blood Pressure Month and National Hamburger Month – they sorta go together. Throw National Egg Month in there, too. And if they ever come up with National Arterial Sclerosis Awareness Month, it would fit right in.

January is Prune Breakfast Month – there’s a Prune lobby? I think I’ll pass on that one.

Here’s something interesting – Foot Health Month is in March and again in May. One for the right, and the other for the left, I suppose.

National AIDS Awareness Month occurs in October. I dunno – I’d move it to June, but that’s just me…………………………What?

And I bet you didn’t know October is also National Toilet-Tank Repair Month. Our nation commemorates the time-honored custom of repairing toilet tanks. Have things sunk that low? Don’t get me wrong – I think we’d all be in deep doo-doo if our toilet tanks weren’t repaired. I’m marking this on my calendar right now, and you should too.

Bottom line is this – National Months, for the most part, are inane. Some are politically motivated and others are PC-motivated. Some are the result of lobbying to one degree or another, but at the end of the day month, they don’t mean much to most Americans.

But I still want my own month. Half of the county is excluded here. Women, blacks, GLBT’s, Hispanics (Oct), Polish-Americans (Oct again), Thai Heritage (April), Latin American (Nov), Asian/Pacific Americans (May) – each with a month or two. So why not Straight Guy Drinking A Beer Pride Month? It’s time has come. Who’s with me?

Various Approaches To Theology

I learned something the other day. No, it’s true! I’m being totally serious – I actually had my eyes opened to a whole new aspect of the Catholic faith I had, until that point, never knew existed. Despite the fact that I sometimes come across as a know-it-all, the fact remains that even I am capable of learning stuff.

Here’s how it happened – I was reading Terry’s blog Abbey Roads last week, and a regular reader of his left the following comment:

Terry, this is a good exposition of what I’m sure you know is called the “classicist approach” to moral theology. It’s an approach that sees theology as static and permanent. Thus the sexual norms enunciated in the fifth or sixteenth centuries continue to apply absolutely in the twenty-first century.

Yet there’s another approach to theology that the church recognizes, that being the “historically conscious” approach. This approach sees theology as dynamic, evolving, changing and particular.

I was flabbergasted – all these years, and I had never heard of such concepts as “classicist” and “historically conscious” approaches to theology. I mean, I’ve been Catholic all my life – how come it wasn’t until now, after nearly 46 years of existence, that I finally learned of these concepts through the words of a smug, intellectualized blog reader?

I’m pretty sure I stick to the “classicist” approach, mostly because I’ve seen Catholycs rely on the “historically conscious” approach. A lot. It only makes sense that my approach has to be the opposite of theirs. When I think of “classicist”, I think of the Ten Commandments, the Catechism and stuff like sin, Hell and sacrifice. When I think of the other, I conjure images of Curran, the National Catholic Distorter, and stuff like liturgical dancing, so-called gay marriage and social justice.

The discovery spurred me into action – surely there had to be more than just these two approaches, right? Did others exist? Where could I find them? Who espoused them?

I directed the AoftheA Researching The Various Approaches To Theology Department to scour the Innerwebs, university theology departments, all 30,000 Protestant denominations and Catholyc blogs, and provide a synopsis on their findings.

In addition to the two approaches already cited, this is what they uncovered:

• Defeatist Theology – these Catholics interpret current Church actions as proof that is is heading down the path of irrelevance and imminent destruction. And they’re happy about it. They want the Church defeated. They can’t wait to see the hierarchy vanish (or get arrested, whichever works) and replaced with a lay-run model of Being Church. In fact, a lot of them are meeting in Detroit in June – the American Catholic Council.

• Personalist Theology – these Catholics base their thoughts, ideas and opinions on matters of faith and morals purely on their own feelings the moment they are occurring. Such folks tend to be highly irrational, as it’s quite possible that what they believe on a Saturday afternoon upon awaking after an all-night bender, sometimes involving “committed safe sex” with someone they just met, will be completely different than what they profess to believe the following Sunday.

• Self-oppressivism Theology – these Catholics blame the Church and the Bible and just about anyone else for their problems instead of owning up to their sins. They seek redress and compensation for their state of life, and refuse to acknowledge that their condition is due to their mistakes.

• Spirivaticanical Theology – these Catholics believe that all Church teaching was radically changed at the Second Vatican Council, and anything that was said or taught prior to that has been nullified, and no longer holds for “thinking” Catholics.

• Intermittentive Theology – these Catholics go to Mass when they get around to it – usually at Christmas and Easter – and have learned about their faith by watching the History Channel or reading the Huffington Post. They occasionally make erroneous statements about the Crusades or the Inquisition during conversations to show how much they think they know. They also try to quickly change the subject when someone who actually knows the faith starts talking.

• Vaginal Theology – these Catholics (mostly women, but not all) want to tell everyone that the Church is wrong for oppressing women and not letting them become priests, but they tell the Church it has no right telling them not to use contraception or support abortion rights. This differs from ‘feminist spirituality’ in that ‘feminist spirituality’ is completely ridiculous, while this is just merely ridiculous.

• Ecological Theology – we all know what this is.

I hope this list is helpful to you. I’m sure this is not an exhaustive list. And I suppose that many of these can be included under the “historically conscious” approach (which is just another way of saying “I wanna do what current society accepts and says is cool, and not what the Church teaches”). Perhaps you’ve run into people who demonstrate some or all of these variant approaches. You’ll know right away, because they’ll accuse you of utilizing the “classicist” approach to theology. Just smile and be glad – because you’ll be in excellent company. Y’know – like the saints, the martyrs, the Holy Father…

Rebranding The ACC

I receive the monthly e-newsletter from the folks at the American Catholic Council – strictly for research purposes – and I’ve noticed a trend the last several months.

The most recent e-newsletter, from earlier this month, announced that the deadline to register for “Early Bird” discounts on admission to their June Council is April 10th. This is the “final deadline”. Now, that’s not news in and of itself. But when you consider how many “final deadlines” they’ve had the last nine months… Since July of 2010, the deadline has been continually extended. First it was late August. Then October. It got pushed out the following month. And still again. Each newsletter had a new “Final Deadline!” date for the “Early Bird” special.

Which means only one thing…well, two things. One, if they can’t agree on and hold to a “final deadline”, how will they ever agree to and hold on to their Newest And Bestest Ideas For WeAreChurch EVAH! And two, it means they’re not getting the numbers of registrants they had been hoping for. All together now: Awwwwww!

As of early March, they’ve had over 700 early registrants. The ACC’s been pushing this council for more than two years, and they only have 700+ committed ditherers (is that an oxymoron?) ready to descend into Detroit?

Sad and pathetic. And it could have been avoided.

It’s all due to poor marketing and branding. Where’s the pizazz? The excitement? Think about it: does the following statement, taken from the ACC’s most recent e-newsletter, actually mean anything? “As we seek to reform the Church that we love, let us pray our motives be pure, our actions be loving, our spirits be free, and our voice be faithful.” I don’t know about you, but I was yawning by the word “seek”. Doesn’t light a fire in the belly, now, does it?

It might be too late now, but the ACC should have hired a PR firm, or sought the advice of someone with the slightest notion of how to sell an event. Fortunately for them, the Marketing and Sales Division of AoftheA is willing to provide their services gratis.

It’s time to think big. Be bold. Push the envelope and all that jazz.

I say – they should have named their event the same way the Pentagon names their military operations. Yeah, “Operation Odyssey Dawn” – the current whatever-it-is going on in Libya – is a dud, but most of the mission titles have been epic. Names like Operation Eagle Claw; Praying Mantis; Noble Eagle; Desert Strike (all selected from this list). They evoke action, strength and resolve. They say something about the US military and their character – and that’s what the ACC needs in order to jump-start their lackluster upcoming conference.

So here are a few suggestions, free of charge, from the Marketing and Sales Division of AoftheA:

Operation Storm Canes
Operation Clenching Dentures
Operation Frequent Wind
Operation Bitter Reflux
Operation BlueHair
Operation Anyone Bring A Spare O2 Tank
Operation Crash And Burn
Operation Broken Dream
Operation Open Schism
Operation Fading Hope
Operation Last Call
Operation Final Rupture
Operation Scheduled Naptimes
Operation Dam The Tiber
Operation Gray Fog
Operation Now That We’re Here, Does Anyone Remember What We Were Gonna Do?

See, with evocative names like those, there would be so many registrants, they’d have to double up on walker rentals and portable labyrinths.

Feel free to include your own suggestions. These folks need all the help they can get.

What Is The Obama Doctrine?

Two+ years into his presidency, and a media-type is asking the question. At least someone has figured out that “Yes We Can!” really wasn’t a policy after all.

From AolNews.com: Anybody Know What The Obama Doctrine Is? by Ken Allard

OK, it’s now one week later.

President Barack Obama dithers over Libya with the predictable result that things have become even worse. Earlier administrations might have sent cruisers, but we managed a commercial ferry to evacuate Americans in fear for their lives. The Brits, however, secretly sent in military aircraft to evacuate 150 of their nationals from harm’s way. Even the Dutch sent in three of their Marines — who were promptly taken prisoner by armed Libyan forces.

Meanwhile, the emboldened Moammar Gadhafi set about making three-hour speeches and sending his ragamuffin air force to bomb rebel strongholds — close to strategic oil terminals.

It is as if the crisis-management team from Deepwater Horizon had relocated to North Africa to be closer to the next oil disaster. [ouch! The mother of all zingers!]

But wherever is the Obama Administration getting its grand strategy for dealing with the Mediterranean? Is there any strategy at all?

Up until two years ago, we had well-armed fleets patrolling a region where Americans once fought and died — from Tripoli to the Kasserine Pass. So why are we acting as if a wacko chieftain in a clown costume is no big deal? That oil supplies and bombed-out refugees are of no possible concern? That Gadhafi’s rants are best understood as the stuff of Comedy Central — laughingly compared to those of Charlie Sheen?

The serious point — from the Gulf oil disaster to just about five minutes ago — is that we have a continuing failure of presidential leadership.

Read the rest here.

Now, I’m not privy to what transpires behind closed doors at the White House or the NSA or the Pentagon, and maybe there’s a secret Obama Doctrine. Or maybe their polling one as we speak. But based on observable evidence, it seems to me that a group of first graders pumped up with Mountain Dew and nitrous oxide, and left unattended in a Toys ‘R Us warehouse, has a more coherent strategy. We’re not witnessing “smart power” with our duly elected C-in-C, the US ambassador to the UN and State Department – it’s more like a frankensteinish amalgamation of Neville Chamberlain, Rodney King and Sally Fields. Appease, appeal and approval.

Think about it – the administration won’t even declare that the attack on US servicemen in Germany this past Wednesday, which killed two American soldiers, was an act of terrorism – even though the alleged shooter shouted “Allahu Akhbar!” when being subdued after the shooting. So it doesn’t surprise me that when it comes to greater, even more treacherous international situations, the Obama administration is less willing to act decisively in the best interests of our nation.

So let me ask you, loyal and faithful AoftheA readers. Can you come up with the Obama Doctrine? Because it certainly looks like he could use one.

There are no prizes for this contest – if you want to call it that – but snarkify it up. I could use the laughs.

A Response To The RCWP’s Renunciation Response

An alert AoftheA reader directed me to the RCWP’s response to Norma Jean Coon’s “Renunciation of Ordination to Diaconate” (reported here). The response is posted at Bishopette Bridget Mary’s blog:

“Obeying God Trumps Obeying Pope”: Response of Association of Roman Catholic Women Wanna-be Priests to Norma Jean Coon’s “Repudiation”

We understand the decision made in conscience by Norma Jean Coon, now a former RCWP deacon (California Catholic Daily, February 24, 2011). She has every right to change her mind and has an obligation to follow her conscience. We remain ordained Roman Catholic Women Priests who continue to follow our informed consciences and, simply put, obeying God trumps obeying the Pope.

It is the firm conviction of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests that women who are ordained into a renewed priestly ministry are following primacy of conscience. According to official church teaching, “the final authority in any moral decision-making must always be one’s conscience, even if said decision is contrary to church teaching. As the church teaches, “the gospel has a sacred reverence for the dignity of conscience and its freedom of choice” (GS, 41) and “in all activity [one] is bound to follow [one's] conscience faithfully.” (See: Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes (GS) 16, 41.

Roman Catholic Women Priests follow Jesus who treated women and men as equals and partners in contradiction to the religious establishment of his times. Scholars have found evidence of women deacons and priests in the early centuries of the church’s history. (See Gary Macy, The Hidden History of Women’s Ordination) We stand in the prophetic tradition of holy obedience to the Spirit’s call to a renewed priestly ministry in a community of equals. We are challenging an unjust law that discriminates against women. Roman Catholic Women Priests are leading the church into a new era of justice and equality for women.

Those have to be the three most profound paragraphs of humble pride and unpretentious conceit ever written. I am so out of my league here. I’m incapable of arguing from both sides of the same coin as adroitly as Bishopette Bridget Mary.

I’m not even going to attempt it. This requires the assistance of someone with similar levels of intelligence, wisdom and sound thinking.

Therefore, AoftheA has invited Colonel Moammar Gadhafi to help put the RCWP’s response in perspective. Colonel?

I understand the decision made in conscience by Hosni Mubarak, now a former Middle East nation dictator. He has every right to change his mind and has an obligation to follow his conscience. I, who remain in complete control of Libya, continue to follow my informed conscience and, simply put, obeying Allah trumps obeying the U.N.

It is my firm conviction that leaders who fire on their own citizens are following primacy of conscience. According to official church teaching (which I normally do not follow, but I will co-opt it nonetheless), “the final authority in any moral decision-making must always be one’s conscience, even if said decision is contrary to church teaching. As the church teaches, “the gospel has a sacred reverence for the dignity of conscience and its freedom of choice” (GS, 41) and “in all activity [one] is bound to follow [one's] conscience faithfully.” (See: Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes (GS) 16, 41.

I follow Mohammed, who taught that one’s enemies must be defeated. Scholars have found evidence of oppressive subjugation of peoples in the early centuries of Islam’s history. I stand in the prophetic tradition of holy obedience to Islam’s call to a renewed deathgrip on people’s freedoms. I am challenging an unjust law that claims all are equal and deserve freedom. I am leading Libya into a new era of justice and equality for myself.

Thanks, Colonel. Now it makes sense.