Monday, April 25, 2005

Talk About Arrogance

We have known for years how willing the press is to assume the roll of the Almighty. They rarely miss an opportunity to do just that as this article illustrates.

The moment might have been majestic, but the process was illegitimate. Not one woman played a role in the decision. For 2,000 years, women have been excluded from the priesthood and all other major leadership positions in the church.

I am a lifelong Catholic, and for most of that life I have wondered: How can an institution that professes to be the "one true faith" and world arbiter of morality promote a wholly immoral stance that oppresses half of its membership because of their sex?

The argument is simple, but silly. Jesus Christ chose 12 male apostles to lead his church 2,000 years ago. For two millennia, church leaders have used this rationale to deny women the right to become priests, deliver the sacraments of communion and confession, or serve as deacons. For decades, church activists in the United States and Europe have demanded reforms that would end the oppression. They have been ignored.

The hubris, the insolence, the chutzpa, call it what you will, for this women to presume to dictate what 2000 year old tenants the Catholic church should retain and which it should discard is, at minimum, outrageously bold.

Ms. Washington states she is a "lifelong Catholic". Why would someone adhere to a faith for a lifetime that has a fundamental disagreement with personal beliefs. One might surmise she is a Catholic in Name Only (CINO).

A suggestion for Ms. Washington: Find yourself a relgion that matches up with your own morally relativistic belief system and allow the Catholic Church to remain true to it's doctrine. It may not get you into heaven but, at least, you might feel a bit more warm and fuzzy in this life

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