I do Love this picture!!!! I am a practicing Catholic! These miter-clad justices have aligned with the 50% of US Catholic Bishops who jumped into bed with the far right conservative and partisan political machine. I say 50% because though that number is vocal--the "excommunicators" I call them-- there are other Bishops who are staying silent for various reasons, good and bad.
Agree with Ted, there is a spectrum within Catholicism but the word " practicing" would not be the rubric I would use. It is better to look at the spectrum as one of adherence/dissent --where dissent is not a dirty word!!! It surprises people, including Catholics, to know that Catholicism has a long history of dissent and in some cases a certain amount of it is well tolerated.
Case in point: in 1968 when Pope Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae, the Encyclical Letter banning artificial birth control ( not Natural Family Planning method--NFP where the effectiveness of it is at the cost of the woman's pleasure--what else is new??), Catholic women--faithful, practicing, bone-marrow Catholics--quietly and in great numbers simply ignored the message. In theological speak, they did not "receive" the teaching-- an important part of the process.
How did they square this with Humanae Vitae?
For women, the teaching did not "resonate" ( to use a Cardinal Newman term). Their sense was that it did not make sense for their lives. Many had multiple children already ( I am oldest of 14) and wanted to feed, educate and care for the kids they already had. Others had serious health risks in becoming pregnant and NFP did not always work for women with unpredictable ovulation. Also, the new church teaching on the purpose of marriage had changed from its past focus on procreation alone to include the unitive quality of the husband/wife relationship. Birth control brought freedom from the fear of another pregnancy everytime a woman had sex with her husband!!,
So, women conferred with their husbands, their doctors, their priests....and mostly their consciences....and made their own decisions about their reproductive lives. After the initial kerfuffles, there descended a great pastoral silence on the whole issue for many years, really, until that 50% of recent Bishops started making noises again as they climbed into bed with evangelicals and the partisan politicians fueled by partisan, ultra conservative wealthy Catholics!
(Next step will be to canonize Clarence Williams who wants to go after everything on the excommunicating Bishops' bucket list!!)
These women who dissented were on solid ground, even within the theology of the church. Because -- again little known -- there is another little teaching called Primacy of Conscience..... and it trumps (sorry) almost everything else. Granted, the conscience needs to be " informed ". These were faithful women of the church. They knew that the intent of the church's teaching was to protect and nurture life. And that is exactly what they were doing .....they knew the intent, they consulted, they spiritually discerned...they were in faithful dissent.
I took some time with this simply to give some input into Catholic World, since so often it is dismissed as a monolithic, one size fits all. I am first to admit that there are very good reasons to disparage Catholicism, for past and present deeds. There are equal lists of good works by Catholic people all over the world, living out an impressive- and equally untaught-- social justice teaching based on the Gospel.
My point today is to plead the case for loyal dissent-- a reality both within my religious tradition and, as we are seeing in the Jan 6 hearings, still alive and well in the world of U.S. Democracy.
TY, TC, for letting me give my homily and rant. I appreciate your space!!! Carol
I wish I knew how to find out what percentage of women are practicing Catholics. I wish I knew how to find out how many men are NOT practicing Catholics. A little math. A lot of anger. A TON of voters. We can make this happen.
I am in unfamiliar territory here, I confess! I was trying to wrap my brain around a concept of who actually is pro-Handmaid and who is not. Perhaps that was the wrong choice of words.
Pretty much. 5 Grand Inquisitors Torquemada on a ruthless crusade to subjugate everyone to their way of thinking. Those who don't submit are criminalized and if they don't change, imprisoned. As someone else wrote, they can all f*** all the way off.
While canonization (sainthood) may be too much of a stretch as it requires two posthumous miracles, beatification (blessing) needs only one and may be within the reach of some of the worthy subjects pictured. I shall expend much positive energies in thought and dreams to gaining them such reward, the sooner the better.
I do Love this picture!!!! I am a practicing Catholic! These miter-clad justices have aligned with the 50% of US Catholic Bishops who jumped into bed with the far right conservative and partisan political machine. I say 50% because though that number is vocal--the "excommunicators" I call them-- there are other Bishops who are staying silent for various reasons, good and bad.
Agree with Ted, there is a spectrum within Catholicism but the word " practicing" would not be the rubric I would use. It is better to look at the spectrum as one of adherence/dissent --where dissent is not a dirty word!!! It surprises people, including Catholics, to know that Catholicism has a long history of dissent and in some cases a certain amount of it is well tolerated.
Case in point: in 1968 when Pope Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae, the Encyclical Letter banning artificial birth control ( not Natural Family Planning method--NFP where the effectiveness of it is at the cost of the woman's pleasure--what else is new??), Catholic women--faithful, practicing, bone-marrow Catholics--quietly and in great numbers simply ignored the message. In theological speak, they did not "receive" the teaching-- an important part of the process.
How did they square this with Humanae Vitae?
For women, the teaching did not "resonate" ( to use a Cardinal Newman term). Their sense was that it did not make sense for their lives. Many had multiple children already ( I am oldest of 14) and wanted to feed, educate and care for the kids they already had. Others had serious health risks in becoming pregnant and NFP did not always work for women with unpredictable ovulation. Also, the new church teaching on the purpose of marriage had changed from its past focus on procreation alone to include the unitive quality of the husband/wife relationship. Birth control brought freedom from the fear of another pregnancy everytime a woman had sex with her husband!!,
So, women conferred with their husbands, their doctors, their priests....and mostly their consciences....and made their own decisions about their reproductive lives. After the initial kerfuffles, there descended a great pastoral silence on the whole issue for many years, really, until that 50% of recent Bishops started making noises again as they climbed into bed with evangelicals and the partisan politicians fueled by partisan, ultra conservative wealthy Catholics!
(Next step will be to canonize Clarence Williams who wants to go after everything on the excommunicating Bishops' bucket list!!)
These women who dissented were on solid ground, even within the theology of the church. Because -- again little known -- there is another little teaching called Primacy of Conscience..... and it trumps (sorry) almost everything else. Granted, the conscience needs to be " informed ". These were faithful women of the church. They knew that the intent of the church's teaching was to protect and nurture life. And that is exactly what they were doing .....they knew the intent, they consulted, they spiritually discerned...they were in faithful dissent.
I took some time with this simply to give some input into Catholic World, since so often it is dismissed as a monolithic, one size fits all. I am first to admit that there are very good reasons to disparage Catholicism, for past and present deeds. There are equal lists of good works by Catholic people all over the world, living out an impressive- and equally untaught-- social justice teaching based on the Gospel.
My point today is to plead the case for loyal dissent-- a reality both within my religious tradition and, as we are seeing in the Jan 6 hearings, still alive and well in the world of U.S. Democracy.
TY, TC, for letting me give my homily and rant. I appreciate your space!!! Carol
Thank You, Carol, for the clear explanation and application of "loyal dissent." Now I have a better approach for discussions with my Catholic friends. Except, sadly, the "Charismatic" ones. They loyally assent.
I do Love this picture!!!! I am a practicing Catholic! These miter-clad justices have aligned with the 50% of US Catholic Bishops who jumped into bed with the far right conservative and partisan political machine. I say 50% because though that number is vocal--the "excommunicators" I call them-- there are other Bishops who are staying silent for various reasons, good and bad.
Agree with Ted, there is a spectrum within Catholicism but the word " practicing" would not be the rubric I would use. It is better to look at the spectrum as one of adherence/dissent --where dissent is not a dirty word!!! It surprises people, including Catholics, to know that Catholicism has a long history of dissent and in some cases a certain amount of it is well tolerated.
Case in point: in 1968 when Pope Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae, the Encyclical Letter banning artificial birth control ( not Natural Family Planning method--NFP where the effectiveness of it is at the cost of the woman's pleasure--what else is new??), Catholic women--faithful, practicing, bone-marrow Catholics--quietly and in great numbers simply ignored the message. In theological speak, they did not "receive" the teaching-- an important part of the process.
How did they square this with Humanae Vitae?
For women, the teaching did not "resonate" ( to use a Cardinal Newman term). Their sense was that it did not make sense for their lives. Many had multiple children already ( I am oldest of 14) and wanted to feed, educate and care for the kids they already had. Others had serious health risks in becoming pregnant and NFP did not always work for women with unpredictable ovulation. Also, the new church teaching on the purpose of marriage had changed from its past focus on procreation alone to include the unitive quality of the husband/wife relationship. Birth control brought freedom from the fear of another pregnancy everytime a woman had sex with her husband!!,
So, women conferred with their husbands, their doctors, their priests....and mostly their consciences....and made their own decisions about their reproductive lives. After the initial kerfuffles, there descended a great pastoral silence on the whole issue for many years, really, until that 50% of recent Bishops started making noises again as they climbed into bed with evangelicals and the partisan politicians fueled by partisan, ultra conservative wealthy Catholics!
(Next step will be to canonize Clarence Williams who wants to go after everything on the excommunicating Bishops' bucket list!!)
These women who dissented were on solid ground, even within the theology of the church. Because -- again little known -- there is another little teaching called Primacy of Conscience..... and it trumps (sorry) almost everything else. Granted, the conscience needs to be " informed ". These were faithful women of the church. They knew that the intent of the church's teaching was to protect and nurture life. And that is exactly what they were doing .....they knew the intent, they consulted, they spiritually discerned...they were in faithful dissent.
I took some time with this simply to give some input into Catholic World, since so often it is dismissed as a monolithic, one size fits all. I am first to admit that there are very good reasons to disparage Catholicism, for past and present deeds. There are equal lists of good works by Catholic people all over the world, living out an impressive- and equally untaught-- social justice teaching based on the Gospel.
My point today is to plead the case for loyal dissent-- a reality both within my religious tradition and, as we are seeing in the Jan 6 hearings, still alive and well in the world of U.S. Democracy.
TY, TC, for letting me give my homily and rant. I appreciate your space!!! Carol
I do Love this picture!!!! I am a practicing Catholic! These miter-clad justices have aligned with the 50% of US Catholic Bishops who jumped into bed with the far right conservative and partisan political machine. I say 50% because though that number is vocal--the "excommunicators" I call them-- there are other Bishops who are staying silent for various reasons, good and bad.
Agree with Ted, there is a spectrum within Catholicism but the word " practicing" would not be the rubric I would use. It is better to look at the spectrum as one of adherence/dissent --where dissent is not a dirty word!!! It surprises people, including Catholics, to know that Catholicism has a long history of dissent and in some cases a certain amount of it is well tolerated.
Case in point: in 1968 when Pope Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae, the Encyclical Letter banning artificial birth control ( not Natural Family Planning method--NFP where the effectiveness of it is at the cost of the woman's pleasure--what else is new??), Catholic women--faithful, practicing, bone-marrow Catholics--quietly and in great numbers simply ignored the message. In theological speak, they did not "receive" the teaching-- an important part of the process.
How did they square this with Humanae Vitae?
For women, the teaching did not "resonate" ( to use a Cardinal Newman term). Their sense was that it did not make sense for their lives. Many had multiple children already ( I am oldest of 14) and wanted to feed, educate and care for the kids they already had. Others had serious health risks in becoming pregnant and NFP did not always work for women with unpredictable ovulation. Also, the new church teaching on the purpose of marriage had changed from its past focus on procreation alone to include the unitive quality of the husband/wife relationship. Birth control brought freedom from the fear of another pregnancy everytime a woman had sex with her husband!!,
So, women conferred with their husbands, their doctors, their priests....and mostly their consciences....and made their own decisions about their reproductive lives. After the initial kerfuffles, there descended a great pastoral silence on the whole issue for many years, really, until that 50% of recent Bishops started making noises again as they climbed into bed with evangelicals and the partisan politicians fueled by partisan, ultra conservative wealthy Catholics!
(Next step will be to canonize Clarence Williams who wants to go after everything on the excommunicating Bishops' bucket list!!)
These women who dissented were on solid ground, even within the theology of the church. Because -- again little known -- there is another little teaching called Primacy of Conscience..... and it trumps (sorry) almost everything else. Granted, the conscience needs to be " informed ". These were faithful women of the church. They knew that the intent of the church's teaching was to protect and nurture life. And that is exactly what they were doing .....they knew the intent, they consulted, they spiritually discerned...they were in faithful dissent.
I took some time with this simply to give some input into Catholic World, since so often it is dismissed as a monolithic, one size fits all. I am first to admit that there are very good reasons to disparage Catholicism, for past and present deeds. There are equal lists of good works by Catholic people all over the world, living out an impressive- and equally untaught-- social justice teaching based on the Gospel.
My point today is to plead the case for loyal dissent-- a reality both within my religious tradition and, as we are seeing in the Jan 6 hearings, still alive and well in the world of U.S. Democracy.
TY, TC, for letting me give my homily and rant. I appreciate your space!!! Carol
Thank you for the education on all the things this non-Catholic didn't know.
I don't ever pretend to know it all but a few things I know pretty well and have lived through and thought about for years!!! TY
concurring....
I wish I knew how to find out what percentage of women are practicing Catholics. I wish I knew how to find out how many men are NOT practicing Catholics. A little math. A lot of anger. A TON of voters. We can make this happen.
There is a spectrum to the term ‘practicing’.
I am in unfamiliar territory here, I confess! I was trying to wrap my brain around a concept of who actually is pro-Handmaid and who is not. Perhaps that was the wrong choice of words.
👍 ur 100% though, more voters = more sanity in policy.
Pretty much. 5 Grand Inquisitors Torquemada on a ruthless crusade to subjugate everyone to their way of thinking. Those who don't submit are criminalized and if they don't change, imprisoned. As someone else wrote, they can all f*** all the way off.
Good one
While canonization (sainthood) may be too much of a stretch as it requires two posthumous miracles, beatification (blessing) needs only one and may be within the reach of some of the worthy subjects pictured. I shall expend much positive energies in thought and dreams to gaining them such reward, the sooner the better.
Ooh look, an empty seat.
Just cannot get the second half of my comment below back. Edited, then it seemed to cutcoff the rest. Help!
It's all there when anyone else reads it - you click 'read more" at the bottom and it all displays.
🙋🏽♀️
👍
Got it back!!
I do Love this picture!!!! I am a practicing Catholic! These miter-clad justices have aligned with the 50% of US Catholic Bishops who jumped into bed with the far right conservative and partisan political machine. I say 50% because though that number is vocal--the "excommunicators" I call them-- there are other Bishops who are staying silent for various reasons, good and bad.
Agree with Ted, there is a spectrum within Catholicism but the word " practicing" would not be the rubric I would use. It is better to look at the spectrum as one of adherence/dissent --where dissent is not a dirty word!!! It surprises people, including Catholics, to know that Catholicism has a long history of dissent and in some cases a certain amount of it is well tolerated.
Case in point: in 1968 when Pope Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae, the Encyclical Letter banning artificial birth control ( not Natural Family Planning method--NFP where the effectiveness of it is at the cost of the woman's pleasure--what else is new??), Catholic women--faithful, practicing, bone-marrow Catholics--quietly and in great numbers simply ignored the message. In theological speak, they did not "receive" the teaching-- an important part of the process.
How did they square this with Humanae Vitae?
For women, the teaching did not "resonate" ( to use a Cardinal Newman term). Their sense was that it did not make sense for their lives. Many had multiple children already ( I am oldest of 14) and wanted to feed, educate and care for the kids they already had. Others had serious health risks in becoming pregnant and NFP did not always work for women with unpredictable ovulation. Also, the new church teaching on the purpose of marriage had changed from its past focus on procreation alone to include the unitive quality of the husband/wife relationship. Birth control brought freedom from the fear of another pregnancy everytime a woman had sex with her husband!!,
So, women conferred with their husbands, their doctors, their priests....and mostly their consciences....and made their own decisions about their reproductive lives. After the initial kerfuffles, there descended a great pastoral silence on the whole issue for many years, really, until that 50% of recent Bishops started making noises again as they climbed into bed with evangelicals and the partisan politicians fueled by partisan, ultra conservative wealthy Catholics!
(Next step will be to canonize Clarence Williams who wants to go after everything on the excommunicating Bishops' bucket list!!)
These women who dissented were on solid ground, even within the theology of the church. Because -- again little known -- there is another little teaching called Primacy of Conscience..... and it trumps (sorry) almost everything else. Granted, the conscience needs to be " informed ". These were faithful women of the church. They knew that the intent of the church's teaching was to protect and nurture life. And that is exactly what they were doing .....they knew the intent, they consulted, they spiritually discerned...they were in faithful dissent.
I took some time with this simply to give some input into Catholic World, since so often it is dismissed as a monolithic, one size fits all. I am first to admit that there are very good reasons to disparage Catholicism, for past and present deeds. There are equal lists of good works by Catholic people all over the world, living out an impressive- and equally untaught-- social justice teaching based on the Gospel.
My point today is to plead the case for loyal dissent-- a reality both within my religious tradition and, as we are seeing in the Jan 6 hearings, still alive and well in the world of U.S. Democracy.
TY, TC, for letting me give my homily and rant. I appreciate your space!!! Carol
Thank You, Carol, for the clear explanation and application of "loyal dissent." Now I have a better approach for discussions with my Catholic friends. Except, sadly, the "Charismatic" ones. They loyally assent.
🤪🤪🤪😢
I do Love this picture!!!! I am a practicing Catholic! These miter-clad justices have aligned with the 50% of US Catholic Bishops who jumped into bed with the far right conservative and partisan political machine. I say 50% because though that number is vocal--the "excommunicators" I call them-- there are other Bishops who are staying silent for various reasons, good and bad.
Agree with Ted, there is a spectrum within Catholicism but the word " practicing" would not be the rubric I would use. It is better to look at the spectrum as one of adherence/dissent --where dissent is not a dirty word!!! It surprises people, including Catholics, to know that Catholicism has a long history of dissent and in some cases a certain amount of it is well tolerated.
Case in point: in 1968 when Pope Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae, the Encyclical Letter banning artificial birth control ( not Natural Family Planning method--NFP where the effectiveness of it is at the cost of the woman's pleasure--what else is new??), Catholic women--faithful, practicing, bone-marrow Catholics--quietly and in great numbers simply ignored the message. In theological speak, they did not "receive" the teaching-- an important part of the process.
How did they square this with Humanae Vitae?
For women, the teaching did not "resonate" ( to use a Cardinal Newman term). Their sense was that it did not make sense for their lives. Many had multiple children already ( I am oldest of 14) and wanted to feed, educate and care for the kids they already had. Others had serious health risks in becoming pregnant and NFP did not always work for women with unpredictable ovulation. Also, the new church teaching on the purpose of marriage had changed from its past focus on procreation alone to include the unitive quality of the husband/wife relationship. Birth control brought freedom from the fear of another pregnancy everytime a woman had sex with her husband!!,
So, women conferred with their husbands, their doctors, their priests....and mostly their consciences....and made their own decisions about their reproductive lives. After the initial kerfuffles, there descended a great pastoral silence on the whole issue for many years, really, until that 50% of recent Bishops started making noises again as they climbed into bed with evangelicals and the partisan politicians fueled by partisan, ultra conservative wealthy Catholics!
(Next step will be to canonize Clarence Williams who wants to go after everything on the excommunicating Bishops' bucket list!!)
These women who dissented were on solid ground, even within the theology of the church. Because -- again little known -- there is another little teaching called Primacy of Conscience..... and it trumps (sorry) almost everything else. Granted, the conscience needs to be " informed ". These were faithful women of the church. They knew that the intent of the church's teaching was to protect and nurture life. And that is exactly what they were doing .....they knew the intent, they consulted, they spiritually discerned...they were in faithful dissent.
I took some time with this simply to give some input into Catholic World, since so often it is dismissed as a monolithic, one size fits all. I am first to admit that there are very good reasons to disparage Catholicism, for past and present deeds. There are equal lists of good works by Catholic people all over the world, living out an impressive- and equally untaught-- social justice teaching based on the Gospel.
My point today is to plead the case for loyal dissent-- a reality both within my religious tradition and, as we are seeing in the Jan 6 hearings, still alive and well in the world of U.S. Democracy.
TY, TC, for letting me give my homily and rant. I appreciate your space!!! Carol