Ruggedly handsome.
Just because a priest is fastidious in his decorum...
I think Sr. Jeannine Gramick said the same thing - although she may have put it at 80%. Voris' breaking news story here.
People say this stuff all of the time, but no one 'comes out' to prove it, or names names. Everything moves along as it has always been. It's innuendo, suspicion, conspiracy driven. I think it's an exaggeration. I think it's scapegoating. I think it's a witch hunt. I think it needlessly scandalizes ordinary Catholics to announce such things without backing them up with hard facts.
Today - what does it even mean?
Same Sex Attracted? It's an inclination, a temptation. What if a faithful priest, who loves Christ and loves chastity, simply experiences an attraction - yet is repelled by the very thought and recognizes it would be a sin? What if everyone else just thinks this or that guy is gay - but he's never even thought about it?
Gay? No one is 'gay'. Right? That's what 'they' say.
Sexually active homosexual? Not a good fit for priesthood or religious life.
So. Does Voris mean that 50% of clergy and religious are living in sin? That they are active homosexuals in relationships with other men, or that they are promiscuous? Is there some sort of registry for these men which one might consult to verify the stats? Are there massive percentages of priests dying of AIDS? Wouldn't that be front page news?
No doubt there are, and have been such men in the clergy. No doubt there are adulterers and pedophiles as well - but these types of claims go nowhere. They are meaningless - especially now days - where is the proof? These stories feed anti-Catholic-anti-clericalism. Where are the irrefutable stats and facts and confessions? What about straight priests who fool around?
If the clergy is that corrupt - we'd know. We knew about the scandals, we know priests can fall from grace - but to condemn 50% of priests and suggest they are destroying the Church is a very grave accusation and a genuine scandal.
Voris can get by on his rugged good looks for only so long.
What?
Michael Voris has launched an all out attack on the hierarchy especially Cardinal Dolan of New York. There is much to criticize. He seems to have a loyal following who are more then happy to accept his accusations without question. Along the way he is throwing mud on all priests and casting doubt and disention among the laity. His efforts will weaken an already wounded Church. I wonder what his solution is? I guess it is to throw out all the "imprure" people. Who then, I wonder will be left in the Church?
ReplyDeleteI would be the first one to be dismissed if he was able to read my soul and look into my past but alas he is not God and for that I remain grateful.
DeleteAfter reading Terry's post, sounds like Mr. Voris just has way too much time on his hands. His claims are unfounded just like the ones made that Pope Francis is damaging the Church.
I agree with Wallace, he is throwing mud and he is going to hit a lot of good priests who are out there trying to hold parishes together. Mikey wants a "Church of Pettiness and Animosity."
DeleteVoris thinks he's Don Draper but he's really more like Pete Campbell.
ReplyDeleteLOL.....
DeleteIt took Randy Engel 1,282 pages to document the problem in her book, the "Rite of Sodomy Homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church".
ReplyDeleteSexual orientation is not an arbitrary matter when accepting men into formation for the priesthood. More particularly, allowing them to live in seminaries.
ReplyDeleteTerry, thank God you are living a chaste life (I love saying that, it sounds so "Victorian Melodrama"...) as your taste in guys...well, to each their own. But I do love that it both strokes his already massive ego and also gets his uptight neurosis something to work with.
ReplyDeleteSo why does Voris think all these guys are gay...they are middle aged, single, not dating a woman in site and pledge themselves to the Blessed Mother...uh, no, most likely not because of that... Did Voris personally do research on this???
Anyway, Voris is trying to get hits on his site and subscribers and there are already so many who are convinced that the abuse scandals were all about "homosexual priests," (easy cartoon villain, and we don't have examine the icky situation closer) and he is playing to them..(I think a Far Right Wing Traddie site sent out a memo to stop calling it simply the "Abuse Scandals," and to call, "The Homosexual Priest Abuse Crisis."
BTW, love the clip of Liz, at her campy best!(Lesson learned, don't cruise on the beach or cannibals will get ya!)
Haha! I just posted the photo and the ruggedly handsome stuff to amuse you - it was deliberate - sorry. Although he does look good. I wish I had all that hair. What?
DeleteVery seriously, I think Voris is in a grudge match with Dolan - I think it looks as if he's smarting from being escorted out of the press entourage at the parade last year - or the year before? The homo priest stuff is a complicated mess that Church authorities are obviously aware of and working on. The whole admission into sems is complicated and requires discernment - which is obviously a focus now days. The homo thing is a convenient scapegoat. I'm sure these things are being addressed in NY and all around the country.
I don't want to make a big deal out of this issue any longer. Randy Engel did her book and look at the response from the hierarchy ... crickets.
Voris is going after Dolan - no doubt - the homo thing has been a tactic even before the scandals broke - and historically it is an anti-clericalist tactic used to undermine the faith. There are all sorts of priests - frail human beings - tested in and through a variety of temptations. After all of these years I hope I've gotten over this conspiracy theory. There is no secret society/network of homo priests. There maybe ssa, gay, homo, bi, men in orders - doesn't mean they act on it or are deliberately trying to destroy the Church.
When you attack the bishops and accuse them of all sorts of cover up - one can't expect to be invited in for a chat over dinner, much less to make themselves available for an interview.
Many people online seem to me to be disgruntled Catholics engaged in pay-back. The loudest mouths are those who have been in seminary/religious life and had a bad experience and have an ax to grind. You see the same attitude in priests who were badly treated in sem, bounced out and found a bishop to ordain them, or were sent into exile because they offended their 'local ordinary' in some way. Likewise, those who have been banned from chanceries and press conferences because of heckling, and or blocked from com boxes for a lack of civility - one may develop a chip on one's shoulder. Anger, envy, bitter roots embed themselves in the person... a woman scorned ... all of that.
It has a lot to do with disgruntled-ness.
Its almost a witch hunt with these people...that a lot of good priests both gay and straight who are going to be targeted with. I don't think its that easy to be a priest to begin with but then having to constantly defend yourself that you are straight, or for gay priests to say they are not pedos and/or not sexually active at all? Yes, there are a lot of gay priests and there are a lot of good priests both gay and straight who aren't have stuck to their vow of celibacy and are good men.
DeleteI would just like to look Voris in the face and tell him to shut the ef up and if he is so worried about this, why they hell didn't HE become a priest? Lead by example Mikey.
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DeleteApparently he attended two years of seminary training at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York during the 1980s. After his brother and mother died he became an "aggressive global advocate for conservative Catholics... on a burning mission to save Catholicism and America by trying to warn the public about what he sees as a decline of morality in society." Aggressive - yes. And legalistic and judgemental to boot.
Delete
DeleteWell to be "graceful," and kind like Pope Francis...(I know not easy for me to do) he had a very bad knock there and that might have made him not only angry but intransigent on his views. It may be the pain talking.
Agreed. But then he needs healing through the love and mercy of God. He's not saving anyone with his diatribes.
DeleteTrue...life can do things to you which can make you angry and "dark" for a while, but its ultimately our decision if we want to hold onto that anger or let it go and move on. The unfortunate thing with Voris is that he has perhaps unknowingly found a way to hold onto that anger and to dress it up as something else so he has an excuse to hold onto it (armchair shrink that I am its a classic case of projection) and he now has a support group so to speak of people backing him up on it.
DeleteI agree with you that he is not doing himself or anyone else any good with his diatribes air attracting anyone to the Faith. The bad thing about the Faith is that it can indeed heal you or it can make you a fanatic.
As Fr. Z once said - you can fall into the ditch from either side of the road.
DeleteI still say 'disgruntled' - combined with a presumption of authority, as in the layman's version of the Inquisition.
ReplyDeleteAggressive? Perhaps we are just unaccustomed to manly :)
ReplyDelete