6 January 2018. Today is Catholic Epiphany… Their Twelve Days of Christmas End as Ours Begin

The Adoration of the Magi

Daniel Mitsui

2000s

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Today is Catholic Epiphany. Their Twelve Days of Christmas end today. Our Twelve Days of Christmas begin tomorrow. That is, if you’re a party-animal and general rabble-rouser, celebrate with your Catholic friends until 6 January and then move on over to your Orthodox friends on 7 January. However… there’s a fly in the ointment… if you want to party with us Pravoslavny sorts, do remember that we jump in ice-holes outdoors on our Epiphany and we’ll drag you along to join in the fun.

Good wishes to all of my friends keeping the Catholic feast…

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23 April 2017. Benny Ratz Still Suckin’ Down the Sudz at Age 90

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Here’s proof that Benedict XVI Ratzinger isn’t only hale n’ hearty, he still enjoys a good litre of brewski. Here, he greets a delegation from his native Bavaria on his birthday. Ninety-years-old and still goin’ strong… will he reach 100? Will he outlive Franky Bag o’ Donuts? Who knows? Maybe, Fr Guido Sarducci has the inside intel (“Finda the Pope in the Pizza”)…

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8 December 2016. Pravoslavie FUCKS UP ROYALLY… AGAIN! Bad Translation from the Platina Nutters, Yet Again

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Shevkunov strikes again! That is, he hands over translation of material to dumbass rightwing Amerikantsy converts, with predictable results (he likes sending stuff to the Platina nutters… the Rose crowd or to rightwing bozos like Jesse Dominick). His handling of HH’s comments on same-sex marriage and homosexual orientation were interesting… in the sense that Chinese people mean when they wish you, “May you live in interesting times”. First, we have the Russian original posted on patriarchia.ru. Next, is my translation… the Pravoslavie abortion is last. Note the howler in the name of the Parisian archbishop. That’s a proof of ignorance and laziness… two things seen in abundance amongst konvertsy… read on, kids…

BMD

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Russian original

Ваше Святейшество, мы видели, насколько болезненна для многих французов тема легализации однополых браков. Были массовые протесты. Касались ли Вы этой темы в ходе своего визита?

Да, мы коснулись этой темы во время беседы с архиепископом Парижским кардиналом Андре Вен-Труа. Всем хорошо известна роль Католической Церкви, которая категорически выступала против легализации однополых браков. И миллионная демонстрация французов, в основном, католиков, была ясным свидетельством несогласия значительной части населения с тем, что произошло.

Нужно сказать, что ничего не меняется в позиции Церкви, и измениться не может, потому что это против христианской морали. Еще раз хочу сказать, что мы никого не осуждаем – ни католики, ни православные. Мы не требуем некоего ужесточения в отношении людей, у которых есть какая-то особенность в сексуальной ориентации. Но мы категорически против уравнивания этих взаимоотношений с браком, который определен Богом и в результате которого рождаются дети, продолжается жизнь человеческого рода. То, что входит в Божий замысел, не может корректироваться никакими политическими доктринами и никакой политической практикой. На этом основывается позиция Церкви.

http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4706946.html

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My translation

Your Holiness, we’ve seen how gay marriage is a painful topic for many French people. There were mass protests. Did you touch upon this subject during your visit?

Yes, we touched on the topic during a conversation with André Cardinal Vingt-Trois, the Archbishop of Paris. The role of the Catholic Church is well-known in this; it strongly opposes legalising same-sex marriage. The demonstrations involving millions of French people, mostly Catholic believers, were a clear sign of that; they showed that [Catholics] disagreed with the majority opinion [in France]. I must say that nothing has changed in the Church’s position; it can’t change, as [any change would be] against Christian morality. Once again, I want to say that we never condemn anyone… [“we” meaning] both Catholics and Orthodox. We don’t ask that there be restrictions against people of a different sexual orientation. However, we categorically oppose any changes equating such relationships with marriage, which is Divinely Ordained, within which children are born, so that the life of the human race continues. That is part of God’s plan. We can’t modify that with political measures or political ideologies. That’s the basis of the Church’s position.

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6 December 2016 Pravoslavie.ru article

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all the Russias has noted that while the Orthodox Church has strict traditional stances on marriage and family matters, it doesn’t condemn people, who are always called in love to repentance. In Paris to consecrate the new Trinity Cathedral and spiritual centre, His Holiness also met with the Catholic archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Andrew-Ben-Tura in which the theme of sexual orientation was raised. Summarising the Church’s stance, at a press conference the Patriarch stated:

I must say that nothing changes in the Church’s position, and can’t change, because it’s against Christian morality. I want to say again that we don’t judge anyone… neither Catholics nor Orthodox. We don’t require a hard line towards people of a peculiar sexual orientation. But we categorically oppose the equating of such relationships with marriage, which was defined by God and results in children being born and the continuing of the human race. What is included in God’s design can’t be corrected by any political doctrine or practise. On this is built the position of the Church.

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/99221.htm

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The rubber hits the road with какая-то особенность в сексуальной ориентации. Literally, it’d be some feature of sexual orientation. That jangles in English, doesn’t it? OK, how do we “English” this in a way both correct and pleasing (not so easy, as my experience tells me)? What’s the primary word here? I’d say that it’s особенность. It depends on the context, but it mostly gets “Englished” as feature or particularity. Other possible choices are quality, factor, or trait. It’s clear to me that some konvertsy brat chose peculiar as it fit their ignorant Yahoo rightwing opinions. HH was being very careful not to be judgemental, so it’s clear that’s not what he meant. Indeed, the choice of such an unusual idiom (usually, Russian uses non-traditional sexual orientation to indicate homosexuality) proves that he bent over backwards in his effort not to offend anyone. To carry over this into English, I chose people of a different sexual orientation. It has the same flavour of vagueness and nonspecificity found in the original. The “translation” on Pravoslavie destroyed that… peculiar turned HH’s carefulness and wish not to offend anyone into a mindless Yahoo rant. That’s unforgivable. I believe that we’ve ordained far too many ex-Evangelicals… things such as this prove that they’re not “of us”. I’d say that the bishops would do well to defrock most former-Evangelicals. They’re not of us, never can be, and they distort what the Church truly says. Shall we have the courage to do it, though?

BMD

Pope Francisco Declares Oscar Romero a “Martyr”

Monseñor Óscar Romero

Juana Alicia

1996 

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This week, Pope Francisco Bergoglio declared Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez a “martyr” for the Catholic faith, the last major step on the road to becoming a saint. Almost thirty-five years ago, on 24 March 1980, American-trained and -backed death-squader Roberto d’Aubuisson ordered Romero’s assassination. The National Catholic Reporter wrote that there was unease with Romero’s case for sainthood amongst high-ranking prelates, including Benedict XVI Ratzinger, “because of Romero’s embrace of liberation theology, a type of Christian theology that posits that Christ didn’t just seek liberation from sin, but from every type of oppression”. In fact, the Vatican had a ban on Romero’s beatification, which the pope lifted with his declaration.

Liberation theology, which originated in Latin America, was a powerful force within the Catholic Church, aligning the church with the poor and condemning American-backed militarism. In Empire’s Workshop, I made the case that liberation theology posed an existential threat for the rising New Right, both its secular and religious versions. In many ways, it was the first “political religion” that united post–Vietnam War conservatives, before they moved on to Islam. Liberation theology’s threat was primal, since it represented a reformed and progressive version of Christianity that emphasised inherent rights… only not the kind of inherent rights our libertarian Mullahs emphasize (i.e., property rights). Liberation theologians had a vision of individual dignity based on social solidarity and earthly economic justice. In the 1970s, both respected conservative theologians like Michael Novak and fringe Bible-thumpers set their sights on liberation theology as an evil that they had to be doctrinally defeat and institutionally eradicate. It’s in this context that Oscar Romero being cleared for beatification (by a pope from Latin America who has his own complicated relationship to liberation theology) is important, which progressives should see as a rearguard battle in the culture wars, which are political wars, which are economic wars, which in Central America were real life-and-death wars.

5 February 2015

Greg Gindin

The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/blog/197073/pope-francis-declares-oscar-romero-martyr-faith-whose-faith

Editor:

This points up the inherent contradiction at the heart of the so-called “Pro-Life” movement. You can see that in a website called “Consistent Life”… they try to square support for rabid rightwing neoliberalism and American exceptionalism with “Pro-Life” rhetoric. It falls entirely flat, as they’re trying to combine inherently opposite concepts. If you were Pro-Life… you’d oppose capital punishment… but the Republican Party is all for it. If you were Pro-Life, you’d be for a vigorous social safety net (as both Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francisco support)… but the Republican Party is against it in its support of unbridled greed and cupidity. If you were Pro-Life, you’d oppose American aggression in foreign parts… but the Republican Party is all for it, as it profits its big donors. In short, Consistent Life spits on Archbishop Romero’s legacy by supporting a political faction that spat (and still spits) on what he held near and dear. Consistent Life supports the godless and theomachistic Republican Party… ergo, they’re hypocrites of the most noisome sort. On the one hand, you have Archbishop Romero, who died for his beliefs… on the other, you have Consistent Life, which spits on those beliefs by supporting the Republicans who killed him (and who continue to press for a godless Crapitalist Corporate Hegemony over the world). You can honour one or the other… they’re mutually exclusive. I know where I stand. What about you?

BMD