Pope Gregory VII got the whole celibacy ball rolling, I blame him!!
ON a lighter note ,
Warsaw 1944, a German soldier is about to shoot an unarmed Polish man, a voice from the heavens pleads " don't shoot, that man will be the next pope" the German soldier replies " if I don't shoot what's in it for me" the heavenly voice then announces " ok, you can be the next one"

There was an attempt at modernisation in the sixties. Second Vatican Council - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All it meant to us was that the nuns at school were allowed to wear ugly frumpy clothes instead of habits.

As a product of a Sacred Heart education I'm pretty convinced that people do not "turn into paedophiles" because they are celibate, they chose to enter a lifestyle where they will have access to children whose parents are so stuck to their catholicism that they won't believe their kids when they say they have been abused. Even if those parents had the same thing when they were at school. My old school no longer has nuns, lucky girls.

Having said that, going off to Lourdes with the Order of Malta Volunteers to work with the malades did, as I have said before, show that there is a lot of true compassion for people who are suffering terribly in this world among catholics and it is moving to be surrounded by so much faith even if you don't share it. Mother Teresa actually stayed at our house when I was very small and I remember her having a kind of aura about her. I wish I had been old enough to appreciate it.

I like Pope Francis but then St Francis was always my favourite saint.

For the bigots here who say "you don't know the meaning of."

a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance

I see Roger Rogerson got short shifted yesterday !

Maybe one too far ?

500N -
I see Roger Rogerson got short shifted yesterday !

Blue Murder was a program produced about the time of Neddy Smith's trial, I think the court suppressed it, ROgerson probably arranged the demise of Micheal Drury. He was a baddy, to borrow a term, despite recent acceptance of him.

Yes, I have heard his name many times since I came to Aus.

By "short shifted", I didn't mean he was wronged, I was more saying that
he got what was coming when he thought he could arrange to go in.

Jeps
The concept was that good catholics only have sex with one partner for procreation. This was doomed to failure in Africa due to the sexual proclivities of the population.
Although I read of some succes in one country, but that may have been interweb myth.

500N -
he got what was coming when he thought he could arrange to go in.

How ironic, as a police man he never played by the book

Clare PropFrancis of Assisi, Founder of the Order of St Clare.
Also Patron Saint Animals

I keep coming back to the Old Testament admonishments that when the Israelites turned from God, pestilence and misery ensued. Then they got straight again under a wise king and all was right with the world until they once again turned from God, repeating the cycle.

I think we're in the turning from God cycle. We think we've got it all figured out but I don't think we do. We think we can do what we want without consequence, but the consequences manifest, sometimes after a long while.

Biblical wisdom wasn't written overnight. Centuries of experience went into forming those recipes of what works. They shouldn't be taken as lightly as we do.

I'm a non-practicing Deist, a sinner who could never hope to account for my transgressions on judgment day. But as I grow older I think the wisest course would have been to live a devout life rather than the life I've lived. My only recompense is that everyone else falls short, too.

Also, as an adjunct to the above, it begs the question, 'Why would a young man approaching the zenith of his sexual prowess choose a life that would cut him off from a relationship with the opposite sex?' Bearing in mind the laws of the day, in the thirties, forties and fifties it would have been the perfect cover for someone with no interest in the opposite sex. All that said we must remember we are still only talking about a minority and the majority of the Catholic church are, I believe, genuine and devout people with only good in their heart.


Never was a truer word spoken.

Christians are wonderful people, and as a catholic school educated young man I will always keep in my memory one Brother who taught at my school who is and will always be one of the greatest people I have ever met. Granted, he didn't exactly go with the catholic flow and was very aware of the realities of the time and exactly what young guys got up to on the weekend and as a result he was loved and respected particularly by our year group.

My argument is he would be a good person whether or not he was a person of faith. Good people will do good things and bad people will do bad things, but for good people to do bad things, that takes religion.

Don't follow the logic there Jeps. For good people to do bad things simply means they are not good people, only giving that impression, nothing to do with religion at all really?

I'll give you the most extreme example. Not saying they were necessarily good people beforehand but the 9/11 hijackers I fear did what they did because they really believed what they were doing was right. To say they were hiding behind a religion to commit acts of terror is a weasel call. It's a much bigger horror than Charles Manson. He knew what he was doing was wrong.

Who the f#$k decides what a good person is?

Some of the greatest atrocities known to man where commited by atheist left leaning, communists / socialists in the twentieth century.

"Who the f#$k decides what a good person is?"


The lefties ;) :p

Yes rh200 and they were bad people. I'm neither right nor left these days but at one point I held some pretty extreme right wing views. I'll never lurch to the left because they seem to want more control with everything and I want more freedom than I need or deserve.

Indeed.

I have a few young friends who worship at the altar of Scott Ludlum. They will NOT listen to any point of view other than that of the greens and are proud to call themselves Marxists. Everyone else is a "Nazi". :ugh:

When I told one of them that it is estimated Marxism is responsible for more deaths than Hitler this was dismissed as rubbish, as apparently Marxism is all about hugging people and sharing everything and no nasty rich people. THEY are the "deniers", they deny that there estimated 95 million skeletons that would disagree with them if only they could.

Orwell was compulsory reading at my school. Now Big Brother is an inane mind numbing reality TV show. The proles are well and truly dumbed down. :sad:

"THEY are the "deniers", they deny that there estimated 95 million skeletons that would disagree with them if only they could."


I like that word, the "deniers" :ok:

Very true (and I'm not saying some righties don't suffer from it either !:O)

I thought this was pretty good.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2w511rc.jpg