Ask A Catholic

Non-taxation of religious organizations is purely a political decision by Congress which could be reversed at any point, if Congress decided differently. Not a constitutional issue whatsoever.

It's true that tax-exempt status for religious orgs is statutory, but the laws conferring that status - and those making them audit-resistant and exempt from filing annual financial reports - are based in principles, including that of separation of church and state. Also, some case law supports the idea of tax-exemptions for churches as being in line with the establishment clause and the ideal of separation of church and state (though OTOH, some decisions have held that tax-exempt status is a means of govt. support of religious orgs).

This article has an interesting section about the history of tax-exemptions for religious orgs and charities http://lawandreligion.com/sites/lawandreligion.com/files/livingston.pdf.

late cardinal, a progressive Italian Jesuit, in last interview:

"The church is 200 years out of date. Why don't we rouse ourselves? Are we afraid?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48876172/ns/world_news-europe

No Catholic conservative would cop to being afraid of change or to being out of date, for that matter. To them, religion and morality are static reflections of an omnipotent, omniscient (and therefore unchanging) god. Consequently, change is not frightening so much as simply wrongheaded.

Once you get yourself deeply into this sort of a mental trap, you become a voluntary prisoner. Every door to change is wide open, but using one's freedom looks like a sin.

I don't know if this has been discussed anywhere else on ilx:

http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=12865&MediaType=1&Category=26

79 year old celibate monk makes profoundly ignorant pronouncement about sex. This is sad and stupid, but not terribly surprising.

i acted as godfather at my nephew's christening on saturday, was v weird being back doing the vows etc. i didn't want to repeat them but i was at the altar and conscious of my sort of religious sister thinking i wasn't taking it seriously etc.

one thing tho, in one of the vow questions, the priest said something about rejecting "THE GLAMOUR OF EVIL". this phrase has been stuck in my head sense. THE GLAMOUR OF EVIL.

that's that good good Catholic stuff right there

the priest arrived late, and he said to me, and i can quote it cos he repeated it later "sorry about my lateness, i've never done a cremation that fast, believe me!"

A friend FB-posted: "Pope Francis washed women's feet on Holy Thursday, breaking canon law. The conservatives are going crazy."

http://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/popes-like-dads-dont-have-a-choice-in-the-matter/

the pastor mentioned this -- approvingly, i should add -- during the homily at Holy Thursday Mass today.

how could the prohibition on washing women's feet possibly have a scriptural justification? unless jesus just happens never to be mentioned as washing any women's feet (and does wash e.g. disciples' feet, and have his washed?)?

i wasn't aware that there was any sort of canon-law based prohibition on this (if indeed there is), either.

tbf jesus did a lot of stuff with his disciples that he supposedly never did with women

heh heh heh

catholicism is mostly "these guys who started our church, supposedly, who knew guys who were with jesus a day or two, supposedly, are the direct voice of God via Jesus/God, exactly, so do whatever we say because even though we elect our leadership it's whoever speaking through us"

see, direct line to the word of God

Petrine Succession, boyos.

is this a big departure?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/pope-francis-good-atheists_n_3320757.html

as I understand it it's not a big departure historically but in the present age of fundamentalist revival, yes

seems pretty awesome.

Catholic guilt is tradition. It does make intuitive sense to my indwelling Catholic: the Holy Family suffered as they did for me, but how grateful am I really, in my daily life? Not very. I'm more interested in myself. That's my nature, and I don't do much to overcome it or transcend it. But the saints show me that I could, if I really cared. Hence, guilt!

I just realized that I'm a Catholic about practising music

huge props to francis for that

as I understand it it's not a big departure historically but in the present age of fundamentalist revival, yes

Oh, that's interesting. I've pretty much always understood that it was belief in Christianity, not goodness of deeds or character, that was the determinant. So this seemed pretty radical to me.

dude!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism

Ah.

you know, those ppl who think they're Christians.

Adopting for a moment the xtian worldview, it seems apparent to me from the bible that the xtian god is allowed to do whatever he wants to do, whenever he wants, and this includes redeeming whoever he wants to redeem, without having to follow the rules he has previously announced, because he makes the rules as he goes along and is not required to post prior notice before making a rule change; that would be purely optional for him, as he is bound neither by precedent, nor by any purely human standard of fairness or justice. This seems pretty self-evident to me.

In our daily lives, god usually acts through she-bears

23 Then [Elisha] went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” 24 When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number. 25 And he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

I only know that story because of Weeds.

I kinda think the Curia is getting ready to kill the pope (again).

The Vatican issued an “explanatory note on the meaning of “salvation,” on Thursday, May 23, after media reports circulated indicating that Pope Francis” promised heaven for everyone engaged in good works, including atheists.

In response to the media attention, the Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, said that people who know about the Catholic church “cannot be saved” if they “refuse to enter her or remain in her.”

(Translation: Atheists are going to Hell if they don’t accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.)

http://www.examiner.com/article/vatican-corrects-pope-atheists-are-still-going-to-hell

Does the Church still believe in the existence of Hell, or does it define Hell ambiguously, as "total separation from God." If the former that seems pretty gauche.

Sorry i see now that my question has been dealt with earlier. Anyway, i'm not a fan of this Vatican retraction.

heh heh heh enter her or remain in her heh heh etc

when to withdraw is a p big deal for us

Saints Sergius and Bacchus were Roman soldiers, Christian martyrs and gay men who loved each other. They were killed around 303 in present-day Syria. Their feast day is observed on Oct. 7. The couple was openly gay, but secretly Christian — the opposite of today’s closeted Christians.

The close bond between the two men has been emphasized since the earliest accounts, and recent scholarship has revealed their homosexuality. The oldest record of their martyrdom describes them as erastai (Greek for “lovers”). Scholars believe that they may have been united in the rite of adelphopoiesis (brother-making), a kind of early Christian same-sex marriage.

http://blog.gaycatholicpriests.org/2011/10/gay-saints-and-lovers-sergius-and-bacchus/

Still no HBO miniseries on pornocracy :(

My priest relative-by-marriage concelebrated a Vatican Mass with Francis a few weeks ago. I guess he might be a bishop someday if he wants that.

Junipero Serra as a saint, si o no?

I leave such matters to my lawyers.

it was bound to happen despite most evidence being that he's a shit. disappointed that Francis did that but if I agreed with absolutely everything Francis said and did it would be wrong.

https://twitter.com/mcmoynihan/status/646686363732066304

The Rev. John McNeill, an openly gay Roman Catholic priest who, from the 1970s onward, publicly pressed the church to welcome gay men and lesbians — and who was expelled from his order as a result — died on Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 90.

His death was announced by DignityUSA, an organization that supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics. Father McNeill had helped found its New York chapter in 1972.

A Jesuit who was ordained in 1959, Father McNeill was known in the decades that followed as an author, activist and psychotherapist specializing in the needs of gay clients. He first came to wide, explosive attention in 1976 with the publication of his book “The Church and the Homosexual.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/nyregion/john-mcneill-priest-who-pushed-catholic-church-to-welcome-gays-dies-at-90.html

RIP

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/us/pope-francis-archbishop-joseph-tobin-newark-archdiocese.html

this seems like a positive development

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd54HzNI_Rk

As always, the main cultural signifier here isn't religion so much as nationality, class and coming from a family that shoves you in front of a set that resembles a tidied up Rosemary's baby in order to answer questions about your sexual lack of history

haven't seen rosemary's baby

but yes, catholicism is definitely tied to local culture (i'm not sure i'd say nationality)

Family first, then social circle then community then school then nationality

Church can fit in p much anywhere there depending on the severity of the infectiom