Not all signs on churches are preachy. Well, not a direct warning, at least. I thought this one was clever, humorous, and both a modern and ancient warning.
Tag Archive for church
Sex: Not Just the Catholic Church
This is NOT a defense of the sexual abuse by Catholic priests. We’re very aware of their unconscionable crimes because priests are the ones getting most of the press. This is a warning that sexual abuse of children and adults and its cover-up is prevalent in many positions of authority. Here are only two.
Boy Scouts of America: This organization has 2.7 million kids and one million volunteers. Before 1994, they had reports of approximately 2000 cases of abuse . Between 1992 and 2012, the courts ordered the BSA to release files that they were keeping secret. Only 1000 were revealed between 1965 and 1985. The courts now have 1800 out of 6000 files, with the others being kept secret by the BSA for “confidentiality” concerns. Note that these numbers include only the boys who actually reported their abuse.
Police Officers: Here’s the list compiled by the Bowling Green State University–not including federal officers–of police officers arrested for sex crimes 2005 – 2013: 636 forcible fondling; 405 forcible rape; 219 forcible sodomy; 98 indecent exposure; 58 sexual assault with an object; 186 statutory rape. That totals 1,602 in eight years. Have these been covered up or simply dismissed within their ranks? We don’t know. All we know is that we haven’t heard of that many cases. And, again, the numbers reflects only the people who actually reported their abuse.
The point is, it’s not clergy (of any denomination) or youth leaders (BSA or any others) or police. It’s a society in which sexual crimes are far too abundant and too often covered up, leaving a trail of victims scarred for life. Plus a multitude of good people tarred with the same brush as the offenders in their job-categories.
It’s past time of blaming organizations and get down to fixing a society which is horrified by the abuse yet does little to change the attitudes and laws that keep these degrading, demeaning, life-altering, emotional scars forming.
Who Actually Needs Church?
A person may not really need to attend church, but if they attend as a family they’re giving their kids an advantage apart from religion. If not church, then family time for meditation or spent out in nature. Many studies have shown that kids who grow up in families that spent time together in quiet reflection or attended weekly church services were 18% happier in their twenties than their peers who did not have that experience. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, young and teenage children raised with spirituality or religion grow up having better mental health and are less likely to suffer depression and substance abuse. They have better life satisfaction, are more able to handle adversity, and they even have fewer sexually transmitted diseases.
I personally know what a difference a little “down time” can make in my otherwise hectic life. Starting my day with quiet reflection seems to make life’s bumps a little smoother, more tolerable. I can understand why experiencing this as a family on a regular basis can be a good start for kids.
Try it. You may very well like it. You’ll like the benefits even more when your kids grow up.
Wednesday is a Red-Letter Day
It’s been awhile since I’ve inflicted what I think is an interesting phrase-derivation on you. Today I offer “Red-letter day,” which, of course, is a day of special importance or significance.
The phrase really was begun in church, and not because some minister saw an overly packed church on a day other than Christmas or Easter. Actually, it comes from the days when dates of a church festival would be marked in red on its calendars. The first mention in America was in the early 1700s, when “red-letter day” was used in the diary of one Sarah Knight. Way before that, though, William Caxtyon used it in The boke of Eneydos (translated and printed in 1490).
In 1549 the first Book of Common Prayer had a section with a calendar of holy days. These holy days were emphasized by being printed in red ink. In other words, those were “red-letter days.”
Now you know–whether you wanted to or not….
Happy “hump day,” by the way. And keep your mind out of the gutter. Every Wednesday is a red-letter day because we’re over the “hump” of the work week.
Wedding Bells for Priests?
The Pope is reconsidering celibacy for priests? Maybe. After receiving a letter from a group of priests’ girlfriends last week, the Pope said, “The Catholic Church has married priests in the Eastern rites….Celibacy is not a dogma of faith; it is a rule of life that I appreciate a great deal, and I believe it is a gift for the Church. The door is always open, given that it is not a dogma of faith.”
For Catholics, such a papal utterance is akin to the parting of the Red Sea. Maybe this Pope, who has done so much to return the Catholic Church to the simpler, more human-family-oriented church of the Apostles and early Christians…just maybe he’ll return this “rule of life” to those same olden days. If priests could marry, the church would have more men joining up, which would help the dwindling ranks. There would likely still be orders that stick to this “rule of life”–a division in the church that Ireland had to work through in its early Christian days. A man could choose to join one of those if he felt it was the right thing to do.
Will that change come in Pope Francis’ lifetime? We’ll see, but I won’t hold my breath.
[Full disclosure: I am a practicing Catholic.]
Francis: A Misguided Pope
Look at the outrageous things Pope Francis is doing! He sent $270 (200 Euros) to a Venetian woman in her 80s who had been mugged, robbed on her way to the hospital to visit her ill husband. On World Environment day he actually linked all life together, saying that ignoring the poor and wasting food instead of sharing it with the poor is not what we should be doing. Then, two days ago, he called a German bishop to Rome to chastise him for his lavish spending habits, including the $42 million he spent on his own home. All the while, this new-Pope-on-the-block has been living simply (no lavish Papal apartment for him) and encouraging others to do so.
What’s wrong with this man? Does he somehow believe–and want us to believe—that Jesus lived a simple lifestyle, focused on the poor, taught the disciples to look after the vulnerable people they met, and shared what he had with others for the good of the whole community?
What kind of a church does Pope Francis think he’s striving for? What kind of a world does he want to see come about?
In today’s world, where we MUST look out for #1, how misguided can he be?!