American Catholic Blogosphere - a Catholic Taliban?

In the chaos of perhaps a senile out of touch CEO Benedict XVI or the collapse of the corporate structure of the church temporarily fueled with dollars from the sale of marginal churches in the United States, I see a trend emerging. With the collapse of the Journalism of old and the demise of the American Institution of a daily hardcopy newspaper, we are in danger of being deluded or even being blocked from truth.

There seems to also be a power vacuum in the church with many archbishops vying for the red hat and indirectly waging a campaign to be next pope.

Burke is the Ayatollah as Scalia of God on the Vatican Supreme Court and his remarks or is it a witch hunt or intimidation of bishops in the Washington DC area who do not preach a hardline against Catholic Politicians who are pro-choice as opposed to being anti-birth control. His remarks against his competition do not always make it to mainstream media. His words though would seem to be gold when repeated a million times by his blogging buddies.

Fisichella is perhaps a moderate after he tried to apply ointment to the rug burn of Brazilian bishops and their bizarre boiling over of passion about abortion and rape and the lack of rights of children or females and general lack of human rights in that “Catholic” country. Rino also may just be setting up a passionate conservatism placard/smoke screen to hide the ugliness of that recent obscene lack of human compassion to those involved and on the receiving end of a metaphoric burning at the stake. The Catholic blogosphere has been dealing with Rino’s comments instead of the injustice of the actual circumstances of excommunication for the last ten days or so. Can a moderate bishop become pope?

That American Catholic Blogosphere is now attacking Obama and also trying to intimidate a world class learning institution Notre Dame University for bestowing an honorary degree on the President of the United States who is scheduled to address a commencement exercise in May. The Taliban tactics of the ACB (American Catholic Blogosphere) sometimes these days seems indistinguishable from the Taliban tactics of the far right GOP.

This brings me to a feeling that I had at the beginning of the Iraq war. If I want real news I have to use the Internet to go overseas to English Speaking sites in Britain or even Kenya to get the skinny on a lot of what is really going on in the world and for Things that quickly drop off the radar of an American Journalism Tradition and Things where punditry and self delusional incantations and mantras drown out reality like in the RC church.

Below is an article from the BBC on a British Medical Journal attacking the pope on his absurd statement on condoms.

Pope 'distorting condom science'

One of the world's most prestigious medical journals, the Lancet, has accused Pope Benedict XVI of distorting science in his remarks on condom use.

It said the Pope's recent comments that condoms exacerbated the problem of HIV/Aids were wildly inaccurate and could have devastating consequences.

The Pope had said the "cruel epidemic" should be tackled through abstinence and fidelity rather than condom use.

Correspondents say the attack from the Lancet was unprecedentedly virulent.

…"When any influential person, be it a religious or political figure, makes a false scientific statement that could be devastating to the health of millions of people, they should retract or correct the public record," it said.

I have been reluctant to attack the RC church on the subject of clergy and sexual abuse. The following commentary I found rather thought provoking considering the source from an African site. It starts out with condemnation of the stupid condom remarks.

The Catholic Church should put its own house in order

Scientists have agreed that it was nothing short of irresponsible for him to claim that condom use actually increases the rate of HIV infection. It encourages promiscuity, the church believes.

This stance is immoral on two levels: first because it is plainly untrue, and goes against the advice of trained personnel. The church must recognise that it has failed in this mission.

SECONDLY, BECAUSE IT contradicts the kind of philosophy that has due regard for the health of our ailing planet. On the day the Pope arrived in Africa, the Nation featured a picture of dozens of beautiful children, all in the care of the police, their parents unwilling or unable to claim them.

The church fathers are stuck in a time warp; living in medieval times; they are totally out of touch, especially with youth.

Not only does the Vatican refuse to admit that its policies have not worked, but it will also not face the immorality which continues to fester in its own ranks.

Cases of sexual abuse of minors have been reported in countries as far apart as Australia and Mexico. The Pope himself suppressed publication of a report which revealed the extent of this exploitation.

In 2007, child sex abuse cases cost the church $615 million (Sh49 billion), an increase of 54 per cent over the previous year, most of which went towards settling in court. Therapy for the victims and the accused took care of $23 million.

New allegations of abuse in 2007 totalled 689, most of the sufferers being young males between the ages of 10 and 14 when the abuse began.

A Charter for the Protection of Children has done better at protecting clergy from exposure.

And so it goes and continues. The Force be with us all.

South Bend Bishop insults American President

I saw this storm brewing on the horizon. Notre Dame University invited the President of the United States to make a commencement address on May 17.

Like a cancer that spreads, the Catholic Bloggers are all spewing their dislike of the President exercising his conscience, recently won power, and not blindly following the anti-birth control, anti-choice religious/political propaganda agenda of Rome and the far right.

The culture war is alive and well in Indiana, a recent blue state.

Bishop to skip Notre Dame Graduation

-- The Catholic bishop (John D'Arcy) of South Bend, Indiana, will not attend graduation ceremonies at the University of Notre Dame because he disagrees with the stem-cell research and abortion views of the commencement speaker -- President Obama...

The conservative Cardinal Newman Society has launched a Web site -- notredamescandal.com -- that, according to the site, has drawn 50,000 signatures to a petition opposing Obama's appearance at the May 17 ceremony, at which Obama also is to receive an honorary degree.

If you invite the President and you don't want to show any respect, it is good for a typical RC bureaucrat like Bishop D'Arcy not to show up - probably would not understand the speech anyway. Too good to share the stage with the likes of his kind? Believes in freedom of choice and not having the pope in your bedroom? Disgraceful.

An insult to an invited guest, a VIP coming into your ballywick, is an insult whether the insult comes in person or for the sake of making space in the blogosphere.

It will be interesting to see how this bit of faschist party GOP and God fearing Catholic ignorance try to shove its anti-birth control agenda further down the throats of a growing non-believing American public by making a typical nuisance of itself at Notre Dame.

Do they teach tolerance at Notre Dame these days or will Obama have to cancel in the face of blatant rudeness to an invited guest and perhaps veiled coded racism?

Did lack of civilitiy in America begin with the Republicans or the RCs and their retreat not only from interfaith dialogue but from face to face dialogue?