Addressing the sexual abuse crisis from the seat of the Roman Catholic Church before thousands of white-robed priests, Pope Benedict XVI on Friday begged forgiveness, saying the church would do “everything possible” to prevent priests from abusing children. …
The pope did not outline specific actions that the church would take to combat abuse, as many had hoped — and as Benedict had pledged at an audience in April. Nor did his remarks go much beyond what he had already said in a letter to Irish Catholics in March and in a private meeting with victims of sexual abuse on Malta in April.
But it was the first time that Benedict had asked forgiveness for the crisis from St. Peter’s Square, the heart of the church itself, and on an occasion focused on priests.
Even so, the Pope could not help but try to evade responsibility for everything that happened:
The pope said the Devil was behind the scandal, saying it had emerged now, in the middle of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest, because “the enemy,” or the Devil, wants to see “God driven out of the world.”
“And so it happened that in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light — particularly the abuse of the little ones,” the pope added.
So you see, once again, the Vatican’s thinking implicit behind everything that’s happened … this is not really a failing of the Church and by the Church. It is, instead, an external affliction, imposed on the Church from outside it, by the Devil; in other words, it’s part of an ongoing spiritual struggle between the godly Church and the Forces of Darkness, and it’s the clergy who are its real victims (having popped up during the Year of the Priest). The “little ones” or children who were abused, are merely incidental players in this drama, in the Vatican’s eyes.
So while I can say the Pope has become more contrite about this scandal than he has been in the past, by not accepting full responsibility for it, I cannot really say is truly 100% contrite yet.
That’s the only way I can describe this. “Shamelessness personified.” Really. There aren’t words enough in the world to relate the colossal amount of hubris and chutzpah behind what Ted Haggard — the apparently no-longer-disgraced former pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs — has done. The AP (via USA Today) tells the sorry story of an unrepentant sinner (WebCite cached article):
Former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard said Wednesday that he will launch a new church from his Colorado Springs home, 3 1/2 years after he resigned from his ministry amid an embarrassing and devastating sex scandal.
Perhaps the prize moment of this article lies in this quote from Pastor Ted, who compares himself to none other than Jesus:
“This is my resurrection day,” he declared.
Yes, that’s right folks. Pastor Ted has declared himself “raised from the dead,” just like the founder of his own religion. What a marvelous touch. (Kind of reminds me of S.C. governor Mark Sanford, who compared himself with King David as a way of justifying his extramarital affair.)
Then there’s this little gem:
Without offering any specifics on the allegations against him, Haggard said his counselors told him he is heterosexual but that his behavior was influenced by a childhood incident when he molested by an adult male.
Haggard said he takes responsibility for his actions as an adult and does not mean to use the molestation as an excuse.
Gee, Pastor Ted … if you don’t mean to use this incident as an excuse, then … why the hell are you using it as an excuse!? Huh? Did you think no one would notice you doing precisely what you said you wouldn’t do!?
And Pastor Ted proceeded to nail the coffin lid down on what little remained of his own morality:
“I’m certainly not going to say no to people (who need help) because of my personal shame.”
I’m not sure how this is possible with Pastor Ted, since — by virtue of what he’s done — it’s absolutely clear that he has no shame at all!
An open question for any and all Christians out there: Have you finally had enough, yet, with these creepy characters? When are you going to kick them out of your midst? If you don’t, and if you refuse to stop them from speaking for you, then I can only assume they all speak for you.
If you live in the Burlington [Connecticut] area, no doubt you have heard of the Green Lady of Burlington. But, her only claim to fame is she’s boring!
No tales of being scared out of your pants in the middle of the woods.
No disembodied heads popping out of teapots.
No terrifying bedroom appearances in the middle of the night.
She just slowly fades in, smiles at you like Mona Lisa and then slowly fades out in a green haze.
Wow. What cutting-edge journalism. A news story about a ghost story whose main feature is that it’s totally unremarkable! A non-newsworthy version of a non-story. What an incredible waste of time and space in a newspaper and on a Web site!
This report even includes putative “proof” the Green Lady of Burlington (CT) exists:
Below is a YouTube video of a visit to the graveyard by Barry Dillinger, with the only recorded EVP ever made at this site. She sort of moans. Turn your volume up to hear it. …
I don’t know what you heard, but I didn’t hear a damned thing. But even if I had … who’s to say that it couldn’t have been something uttered by a living (not dead) person off-camera? This video — even if it did contain any discernible “moaning” sound — does not constitute “proof” of the Green Lady of Burlington’s existence. Far from it!
It would be nice if the RC refrained from this kind of bullshit reporting. But given they have a history of offering this kind of “news,” I don’t expect they plan to stop any time soon. More’s the pity.
The insipidity and stupidity of the Religious Right is — by now — legendary. There is nothing so idiotic that a Religious Rightist will not say or do it, in the name of his hyperreligiosity. As if anyone needed yet another example of this, the Web site Christian Newswire claims that the ratings decline of American Idol is because its newest judge, Ellen DeGeneres, is gay. The UPI relates these moronic and fact-deprived comments (WebCite cached article):
Christian Newswire is causing a stir with claims that freshman “American Idol” judge Ellen DeGeneres, who is gay, is responsible for the show’s ratings slump.
“At this moment in entertainment history, network television is on a pro-homosexuality bender,” Christian Newswire Director Gary McCullough wrote on the Web site.
As the UPI notes, however, American Idol‘s ratings declines predated DeGeneres’s arrival on the show — by a few years:
In fact, ratings for “Idol” have been declining steadily with each successive season, and the 9 percent decline for Season 9 matches the decline from the previous season, The Hollywood Reporter said.
OK, so they’re getting this from the Hollywood Reporter, and I’m sure all those dutiful Religious Rightists out there will dismiss that, claiming that the H.R. is part of the evil pro-homosexual cabal that’s trashed Hollywood and is trying to destroy the country. If that’s the case, then all one needs to do is use the Internet to roll back the clock and look at previous years’ reporting on American Idol and its ratings. I was able — very easily — to find many stories to this effect; just one of them is this Reuters story from just about one year ago (cached article), pointing out Idol‘s declines in its 2009 season:
Kris Allen’s upset victory over glam rocker Adam Lambert drew the smallest “American Idol” finale audience since 2004, slowing the television ratings juggernaut and raising questions about the future of some of its key players.
It’s not hard to use the same procedure to go back to 2008, or 2007, and so on.
The truth is that the fortunes of American Idol have been falling noticeably for several years. It is literally not possible that Ellen DeGeneres’s presence on the show, beginning this year, can explain its decline. What is more likely is that, in its first few years, Idol had been such an intense television fad, that it’s natural it will have ever-fewer viewers as the years go by, and that it may never regain the viewership it had, say, 7 or 8 years ago. Ms DeGeneres has nothing to do with this trend.
I get that McCullough doesn’t like Ms Degeneres, or gays in general, but that doesn’t entitle him to say things about them which are objectively and obviously untrue.
Pope Benedict XVI has come one tiny step closer to contrition over the Catholic clerical abuse scandal, and asked for forgiveness, as the New York Times reports (WebCite cached article):
The insipidity and stupidity of the Religious Right is — by now — legendary. There is nothing so idiotic that a Religious Rightist will not say or do it, in the name of his hyperreligiosity. As if anyone needed yet another example of this, the Web site Christian Newswire claims that the ratings decline of American Idol is because its newest judge, Ellen DeGeneres, is gay. 
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