Frank Weathers.
I like how this guy thinks. I think we are Catholic for the same reasons.
Weathers has an interesting post on Bill and Melinda gates and a possible inching towards Catholicism, as well as the hope for a death bed conversion of Fred Phelps. Check it out here.
Like I said, I like how this guy thinks - and lives his faith.
Let's pray for one another.
I have trouble understanding people who claim to be Catholic yet don't follow Church teaching; Bill and Melinda Gates push for birth control and abortion in third world countries. How Catholic is that? I don't know what "participate" in church means for a non-member. Does it mean he goes to Mass with his family?
ReplyDeleteMelinda Gates is Catholic. Bill Gates is not.
ReplyDeleteAs for the contraception initiative, many, if not most, priests and religious, and even some bishops do not agree with the Catholic stance on contraception. I know this was a big problem in the Archdiocese of Seattle in the past—at one point, the Archbishop was openly in dissent until Cardinal Ratzinger and JPII essentially stripped him of a lot of his power. It's probably a still contentious issue in the diocese. I also know that the Ursuline nuns who taught Melinda Gates are highly supportive of her contraception initiative.
Odds are Melinda Gates goes to church regularly and when she is there she is probably is told that she's doing the right thing and to ignore the crazy right-wingers.
Put another way, Melinda Gates acts just as you would expect from a faithful Catholic who was taught by dissident clergy.
DeleteI realize that Bill isn't Catholic, thus the question of what 'participation' means on his part. Melinda needs a copy of the Catechism; it doesn't matter what an individual priest or bishop does or thinks. If she doesn't follow Church teaching, she's not Catholic.
DeleteI highly doubt Melinda Gates is ignorant of exactly what Church teaching is on contraception is, and that she knows she is in disobedience or worse. Even with the all too common sycophancy to those with money, concept that she has not been told numerous times by those in authority that she is in error is hard to believe.
DeleteWhich, of course, makes her like most american Catholics, who likewise act like protestants picking and choosing what they think is true.
love the girls: You are an optimist.
DeleteI'm sure she has been told many times that she is in error. But I'm also willing to bet that she's been told many more times that she is not. She has specifically said that the nuns who taught her approved of her program.
Most Catholics are far more likely to ask their priests about moral issues than read a catechism. That's not unreasonable for Catholics to, you know, trust their pastors. (And heaven help you if you went to Catholic school and ever questioned a nun!) It's quite common for married persons struggling with Church teaching on family planning to be specifically told by their priest to use contraception, especially in certain dioceses. I've been told that and I live in a relatively conservative diocese.