Wednesday, November 24, 2010

So Auntie was on the right track...

...and the H. Father hasn't changed anything. A great pity that L'Osservatore chose to break an embargo, and effectively misquote the Pope, and cause a ghastly mess. Will the editor now be requested to retire?

The clarification given today by Fr Lombardi doesn't really add anything. To my statement on the radio programme yesterday about homosexual prostitution - ie that the Church teaches that it is sinful - we can now usefully add that the Church teaches that other forms of prostitution are sinful too. This is something already well known, and doesn't add much to the debate - but perhaps it will mean that in addition to being denounced by one set of lobbyists, I will now be denounced by the Prostitutes Collective and its allies too (has happened before).

Comments to this Blog have included the usual vicious ones - I've left out only the most vile and ugliest, as I think that it's useful for my readers to know how much some people loathe me.

5 comments:

M.Hendrickx said...

Thanks Joanna,

I didn't hear the broadcast, but I have just seen the comments to your previous post...I ask you!?

I'm a bit slow off the mark these days and only posted my tuppenceworth today on my infant blog - but it upsets me to find that lay people and Anglican clerics have done a better job of responding to this than many Catholic clergy. Your response, Fr Marcus Holden (on Facebook), the MariaStopsAbortion blog, and a link I followed to the blog of Anglican Fr Hunwicke, put things in right order I think.

I can understand the frustration when bombarded without notice by one accusation or false deduction after another - and I dare say priests have been in the firing line since the weekend.

But I can't help but feel that the speed with which some responded with reservations was unnecessary.

I have had my fair share of trouble in the past with seemingly urgent matters that needed something said right now - when of course, they didn't - and waiting might have been the better bet!

Though I didn't hear your radio broadcast, I can quite imagine that the accusations levied by commenters omit the fact that until further news appeared, the questions you were dealing with must surely have been heavily laced with the question of homosexuality. I'm well aware how secular interviewers (and even less secular ones) treat Catholics.

God bless.

robert said...

your view is still right and the Pope will know this.keep up your good work and do not worry.Robert

Anonymous said...

No, Joanna, people who write hateful comments about you do not loathe you - they loathe the Truth. Keep up the good work, Joanna! Many are greatly appreciative of your courageous voice in the moral mess of relativism.

pattif said...

Yes, this has been a mess, not helped by People Who Have Been Catholic Long Enough To Know Better trying to spin the Holy Father's comments into what they wish he had said.

It was hardly earth-shattering to learn that the Holy Father thinks that, when one is in an objectively immoral situation, any attempt to mitigate the evil that necessarily flows from it might be interpreted by a loving Saviour, and, by extension, his spouse, the Church, as the first stirrings of awareness of a need to think of others before self.

Don't take the offensive comments personally: remember that Cardinal Ratzinger used to say that, if he didn't read something pretty hateful about himself for a couple of weeks, he felt he needed to examine his conscience.

Anonymous said...

Dear Joanna

It takes a lot of courage what you do appearing on television and really standing up for the Church. I find it ironic that most of those who criticise you have not got the guts to attach their names to their comments. God bless you with all your good work. You certainly have my support.

Warm regards,
David Morton