In Sydney today, the LGBT movement had its Westboro Baptist Church moment. It protested at someone’s funeral. Like that cranky religious sect in the US that noisily demonstrates at the funerals of soldiers, LGBT activists waved placards calling the deceased a ‘monster’ and ‘scum’. They chanted for him to ‘go to hell’. ‘Burn in hell’, said one banner. ‘Nonce’, said another. It was a truly disturbing spectacle. A new low in identity politics.
It was Cardinal Pell’s funeral. Pell was Australia’s most important Catholic leader. He served as Archbishop of Melbourne and later as Archbishop of Sydney. He then went to Rome where he was Secretariat for the Economy in the Vatican. He was found guilty of child sexual abuse in 2018 but his conviction was later quashed by the High Court of Australia. Pell died earlier this month, at the age of 81.
I knew Pell was an unpopular figure in right-on circles, as much for his orthodox Catholic beliefs as for those quashed accusations of abuse. But even I was shocked to see LGBT agitators besiege St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney where Pell was being laid to rest. What were they thinking? You don’t protest at a funeral. Ever.
Some were there to represent victims of child sexual abuse. Others were there to slam Pell for what they described as his lifelong ‘crusade’ against gay rights and transgender rights. Their slogans were extraordinarily intemperate, even cruel. They relished in Pell’s death and hoped for his speedy descent to hell. ‘Infernal resting place’, said one banner, with an arrow shaped like a devil’s tale pointing down to the abyss.
Pell’s personal secretary, Joseph Hamilton, likened the protests to a ‘tsunami of hate’. He’s not wrong. There were flashes of violent menace too. ‘Death to all who stand in the way of freedom for queer people’, said one placard. Seriously? There’s an unhinged theocratic vibe to such foul statements. They bring to mind hotheaded Islamists in Iran who chant ‘Death to America, Death to the Great Satan!’.
It really did echo the mad protests of the Westboro Baptist Church. Only the Pell-bashers have effectively flipped that cult’s infamous slogan, so that it isn’t ‘God Hates Fags’ but ‘Fags Hate God’, or Cardinal Pell at least. The intolerance of the Westboro mob more than met its match in the zealous contempt for a cardinal on display in Sydney today. ‘Thank God for dead soldiers’, say those Westboro loons. ‘We don’t mourn a dead bigot’, said one of the organisers of the anti-Pell demo, ‘with a grin’. These are two sides of the same wickedness.
Some are saying there is old-fashioned anti-Catholic bigotry in all this dancing on Pell’s grave. I think they’re right. Catholic churches have been horribly desecrated by anti-Pell mobs. When he was acquitted of the abuse charges in 2020, the doors of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne were graffitied with the words ‘PEADO RAPIST’. A comedy troupe desecrated a plaque for Pell at St Mary’s Cathedral with the words ‘convicted paedophile’. And today protesters yelled about hell and took pleasure in an old man’s death outside a Catholic funeral service. No other religion would be expected to put up with such hateful defilements – why should Catholicism?…
Full story at the Spectator.
“Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Did Cardinal Pell make that man take his shirt off before the whole world? I think not. His proud rebellious spirit did it for him. Be careful of that which you are proud.
May Cardinal Pell, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
” a ‘tsunami of hate’…” Frequently gay activists stake their place on the higher moral ground by asserting that their way is the way of love (“love wins”) and to stifle love is wicked. So this prompts me to ask: Can those issuing such vile imprecations and vituperations, which themselves come from a darkened heart and conscience, nevertheless claim at the same time to be promoting the advance of love in the world through their own homosexual relationships? How can love and such hate dwell in the same soul?
Love demands sacrifice theLGTBTQRAS..whatever syndicate would not know sacrifice if it kicked them in the face. They are the most self absorbed people on the face of the earth, their motto “pride’ says it all. Corrupt and Vile.
The behavior of these protestors, as boorish as it is, cannot find authentic critique from a commentariat one of whom, even before Pell has been buried, has politicized his death by insinuating that “Vatican officials” may be involved. Both actions (namely by the LGBT activists in Sydney AND by the local commentariat here, at least the insinuator himself) are very low-class and distasteful.
“,,, cannot find authentic critique from a commentariat one of whom, even before Pell has been buried, has politicized his death …” Whether or not bohemond blamed the Vatican for Pell’s death is irrelevant to his claim that LGBT+ people are the most self-absorbed. Either they are or they aren’t, and bohemond’s conspiratorial view on Pell’s death may demonstrate rash judgment in this case, but does not invalidate everything his every other claim. I would agree with bohemond that self-absorption is a very real problem for many LGBT+ people, especially trans people, and even more those individuals who seek to ruin the lives of Christian business owners. These people are more than self-absorbed; they are evil, and delight in evil.
Where did I exclusively pointed out “bohemond”? But even if I didn’t, the gist of “Dan’s” point is corrected by no less than Scripture itself where Our Lord admonishes against hypocrisy. He or she who proclaimed outrage at the disrespect displayed by demonstrators during Pell’s funeral must first remember (and then be contrite) if he/she had likewise committed a disrespectful act by politicizing Pell’s death even before the event of his funeral, by insinuating that officials may be involved. What is in question is not the veracity of characterizing the other group as “self-absorbed” (notice folks how unsuccessfully Dan tried to deflect the issue I am raising). But rather what is in question is the “integrity” of the person making the critique against the protestors in Sydney: the “authenticity” of the critique against the protestors in Sydney is what is in question. “First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
“…unsuccessfully Dan tried to deflect …” Well saints be praised and let the angels rejoice! jon did not put my name in quotes!! Thank you jon, even though I haven’t the slightest idea what point of mine you were correcting, or what my supposed deflection, well, deflected. Being in my 70s, I shall count that has creeping dementia on my part. But hallelujah! I am Dan again, not “Dan” !!
Just for the record gentle readers: the issue that I was bringing up is hypocrisy, the hypocrisy of criticizing the protestors in Sydney (a low-class distasteful action) by the commentariat here, when one of their own had politicized Pell’s death by insinuating that “Vatican officials”. That post was also low-class and distasteful. The issue of hypocrisy is not negligible as Our Lord Himself had pointed it out, an issue which “Dan” here tries to deflect.
Just for the record gentle readers: the issue that I was bringing up is hypocrisy, the hypocrisy of criticizing the protestors in Sydney (a low-class distasteful action) by the commentariat here, when one of their own had politicized Pell’s death by insinuating that “Vatican officials” may have been involved. That post was also low-class and distasteful. The issue of hypocrisy is not negligible as Our Lord Himself had pointed it out, an issue which “Dan” here tries to deflect.
“No other religion would be expected to put up with such hateful defilements.”
That is what is different about Christianity. It is the only religion where God became man and put up with hateful defilements and asked his followers to do the same.
Luke 6:27-28
“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,s
28
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.t
To be clear, the protesters did not say “F*** hate God”, the author invented that.
As if we need more proof that it’s a mental disorder as well as intrinsically disordered.
I don’t know where to put this so I will put it on the last article shown.
I am sorry to all the Frank Pavone fans out there but you should read this.
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/pavone-was-accused-of-misconduct-before-laicization/
If this woman’s report is true, and I do not know if it is, Fr. Pavone’s behavior would be wrong, but she was also sending mixed messages. A lady who does not want to be involved with a man does not let him take her to a place so he can comb her hair. She should have told him flat out, “No!”
A hairdresser is a different matter, but even then, one wants witnesses to protect reputations. And please do not tell me I have not been put in such situations because I have — many a time. Most women have. Maybe not with a priest employer but with other employers or supervisors.
It is 100% the responsibility of the priest to never be sexual with anyone. Or even sensual. Or romantic.
Don’t blame the young lady. She was a 20 year old girl who had been faithful to Catholic teaching, even wanting to be a religious.
They do not know how to handle jerks. Most women don’t. When they tell, they are dismissed. They don’t have enough life experience to know who to tell and how to tell. Sometimes women don’t want to see anybody get in trouble.
It is very concerning that she has two memory blocks at very critical times.
I think every woman gets put in these situations but, praise God, younger women have decided that they will no longer tolerate it. They are better at recognizing that they should not be treated this way.
Some of us older women did not tolerate it either, we put the guy in his place or even slapped the hell out of him, and kept our jobs or got better ones. We are not perpetual victims. My oldest daughter slapped the face of a teen boy at her school who grabbed her in the chest area, then told me. He left her alone after that.
Assault is really not the proper response. Use your words.
You tell them it is not OK. If it is in the workplace they can be reported. Also, in a school. If you are wait staff or bartender, you can tell the manager.
Sexual battery is a crime but most women don’t really want to take it to the police..
Slapping someone who grabbed your body is not assault, especially if you yell and let others know it happened. The assault was on their part. Accidentally bumping into someone is one thing, but if it is deliberate, one knows it is deliberate.
Anne TE, you are correct. Good for your daughter. I have read of women saints who, when young, publicly slapped and yelled at evil young men who assaulted them rudely, and violently grabbed their body parts in public, tearing their pretty dresses, calling them filthy names. In sone tragic cases, the poor girl was murdered while fighting off the violent, filthy attacker— and became a saint.
There is a deacon at Church that hugs me.
And I don’t like it but I don’t want to make him feel bad.
I think “He is just trying to show Christ’s love to me.”
But quite frankly, it is really inappropriate.
If you are not married to somebody. keep your self off of them.
The next time he does it do something such back away and start talking to him, or extend your hand for him to shake and say, “Good morning, Deacon So and So. He should get the message. I have always preferred calling my male supervisors by their titles, and preferable their last names as one of my first employers, who insisted on my using his first name, tried to seduce me. Being fed up with his behavior, I gently put him in his place, and since I was underaged, I kept my job, and he remained very professional after that.
Inappropriate is inappropriate. Tell him no and stick to it. If he can’t handle it he shouldn’t be a deacon.
I can just imagine a woman who is very strong, responsible, truthful, and mature, like Mother Angelica– telling that Deacon the truth, expecting him to behave like an adult. A Deacon is in Holy Orders, with a specific, holy way of life he is expected to live. He is a clerical leader, in the Church. Everyone needs to grow up and accept adult behavior and discipline for their lives, and accept proper rebukes from other adults, if they misbehave. No “babying” people. There are many other cultures, in which people are not “babied” in the false name of “Christian kindness” — they call a spade a spade.
And you don’t get into these situations (being alone with him in the apartment or office); no where to sit except on the bed so I sat there (you stand or. preferably — leave the room). This went on for years… Something fishy or she wasn’t too smart. Comb her hair before she goes into the convent??
She’s the victim. Stop victim blaming.
Most women, especially young women, don’t know how to handle it.
They freeze. They are so shocked.
And when it is a person like a priest, who you expect to be holy, and a pro-life warrior (who many people idolize), you have to process it all.
He crossed lines but not the kind that are criminal and so “Is it me? Is it him? Is this what priest do to show love?”
Some people get it right away and quit.
Others don’t know what to make of it.
There were probably others who knew of it and did nothing, like that priest she told about it who said “I wish he would stop doing that.”
The cause was more important than helping and protecting a confused young lady.
So, I assume you think Terri Shiavo should have been protected, too, and not left without food or water until she was going through the actual dying process.
Of course.
She was murdered.
To murdered, my point in asking is that Fr. Frank Pavone was one of the few people who tried to get Terri her rights when many others, including some Catholic priests, did not. He made some enemies doing so. Therefore, it seems suspicious that all of a sudden, he is the bad guy. May God see that the truth comes out and justice be done whatever happened.
I understand if you are suspicious.
People are not the best thing they ever do and they are not the worst thing that they ever do.
In today’s world, there is a profound lack of understanding and acceptance of Christian Morality, Good Manners, mature, adult thinking and responsibility, and the need to lead a good and decent, responsible, mature life– and reform your life of any sins and human weaknesses. The terms “love” and “hate” are often used by ignorant, violent, manipulative activists today, to “get their way” to enable the evils of those leading extremely sinful lives. They know they are wrong, no “logic” can justify their claims to a sinful life– so they manipulate, like deviant juvenile delinquents, instead– to “get their way.” There have always been egoistic, cruel, manipulative, predator men (gay or straight), who are actually very, very weak inside– who use positions of power and prestige to impress victims, sabotage them, groom them, and lure them into sex. Many poor victims of sex predators face years of psychological terror, after they manage to escape the predator– even if they were strong enough to refuse the actual seduction– or rape. “Grooming” is an evil, psychologically-manipulative game, highly destructive to the poor victim. Sex predators in the clergy are a horror before God– especially those who seek to destroy the souls of the young, destined for the priesthood or a religious vocation. No Catholic girl in her right mind, with a great desire to enter the convent– would listen to the weak and sinful manipulations of a wicked, sinful, priest, lost to Satan– insisting on the pleasure of “combing her hair” on his bed, right before she enters the convent. The poor girl didn’t make it to her vows as a nun– he destroyed her vocation! Satanic! She can hardly stand to go to Mass! She is psychologically broken and crippled, and counseling has not helped. There are many other victims, also tragically crippled. Glad the predator got laicized! Kids need to be raised with a very clear understanding of Christian Morality, of right and wrong, a good Moral Conscience, Good Manners, clear boundaries, and obedience to God First, in all things. Never allow yourself to be manipulated into being an “enabler” for sin and human weakness. And run to get help immediately, if you are ever pursued by a sex predator.
Another dangerous sex predator, who manipulated dozens of young Catholic girls at his Catholic youth group conferences, for over 40 years was David Haas. Many Catholic Dioceses no longer allow his religious songs.Everyone knows the filthy sins of sexual assault, of gay “Uncle Ted” McCarrick.
My comment of Feb. 9 at 10:01pm was edited. Anyway, the Church has been very negligent in the past, with cases of sex abuse. And many laymen and clerics fail to understand the grave seriousness of sexual sin, and the years of extreme suffering afterwards, to poor victims. Even with counseling, most of them never fully recover.
Let’s bring the discussion closer to home. Why does anyone (straight, gay, any faith or no faith) celebrate a known child abuser by naming an airport terminal at an international airport in his (dis-)honor?
Harvey Milk admitted to serial sex with minors. Let’s not protect or celebrate or tolerate any abusers and predators, be they a McCarrick, Rupnik or Harvey Milk.
Because people love him and want to honor him.
I don’t know if anyone has protested it.
There was a situation in the Diocese of Knoxville where a building was named after a former bishop who was really loved.
Accusations of abuse came out after his transfer to another diocese.
The bishop was defended. The victim was denigrated. The abuse was minimized.
The bishops contribution to the Diocese was considered more important than decades-old abuse accusations.
Eventually, his name was removed from the building.
alright, There are people who love and want to honor Harvey Weinstein, Joseph Stalin, and Jeffrey Dahmer. That doesn’t make it allright.
Evil bishops and evil politicians should not have buildings named in their honor. No special treatment for clergy or lay persons, all should be treated similarly. And, Frank Pavone was rogue and disobedient, even apart from these latest allegations. No honors for him, Corapi, Fushek, Matthew Fox or any number of “former” priests. When people abuse their positions of influence and power, it’s unconscionable and indefensible.
That is why people are pulling down statues in the south.
pulling down, do you believe Thomas Jefferson or Robert E. Lee had sex with teen boys or covered up such?
And, statues here in California are being pulled down, including those of St. Junipero Serra.
Different issues. Are you the same as “alright?”
I was agreeing with you, not arguing.
All marks of human respect are problematic.
I answered your question, not arguing with you.
A toxic person isn’t toxic to everyone, usually.
Abusers don’t abuse the people they want to impress. Abusive people are not abusive to everyone. They are usually world class con artists.
There is a person in my life who I just put on the “maybe not” list because even though they know that this other person did bad things (not child abuse, but lies and theft), they say “I don’t have a problem with them because they have always been nice to me.”
So that is the criteria for some people. I have higher standards.
There were witnesses who said that Cardinal Pell could not have done what he was accused of, and one young man admitted to his mother before he died that he had not been sexually abused. That is why many think Pell was brought before a “Kangaroo Court” in the beginning and set up. Whatever.
The only thing as evil as molesting the underaged is to knowingly falsely accuse someone of such a thing. God will eventually render true justice.
Pope Francis the Great announced on his plane flight back to Rome that criminalizing homosexuality is a sin. The Church is going to change soon. It’s just a small step more to saying that excluding LGBTQs from the sacraments is a sin. Fr. James Martin has posted a lot about it. You should show one of his posts. A new day is dawning for LGBTQ. It’s not the sun rising… it’s a rainbow.
I saw that in secular news but the Catholic news is not reporting it the same way.
We must wait for better translation.
“Pope Francis the Great…” well that sure is a first. But yes, it does seem that the voices of James Martin, Robert McElroy and others of like mind are poised to prevail, on what seems to be the well-founded assumption that they represent the views of Pope Francis. How far they prevail is unknown at this time, so it is wise not to count the rainbows prematurely.
pulling down, do you believe Thomas Jefferson or Robert E. Lee had sex with teen boys or covered up such?
And, statues here in California are being pulled down, including those of St. Junipero Serra.
Different issues. Are you the same as “alright?”
Just wait till Jane Fondel dies. People are in line to protest her burial anywhere.
I think you mean Jane Fonda.
VietVet, she apologized.
She is one of the most respected women in the country.