Abbey-Roads2

“I am Changin’!” - Another Jennifer Holiday song.

Pictured, Sr. Mary Elizabeth, transgender nun of the Episcopal Church - someplace in the U.S.

Gerald of The Cafeteria Is Closed has a post on an Anglican priest who became a woman priest. What is so interesting in the post isn’t the novelty of the transition, but what the Catholic Church has to say about such things. In short, they do not recognize sex change.

From Closed Cafeteria:

“After years of study, the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation has sent church leaders a confidential document concluding that “sex-change” procedures do not change a person’s gender in the eyes of the church.

Pictured, the British priest who is the subject of Gerald’s post. I apologize that I think it’s funny to see a man dressed as a woman. I realize such people have serious issues and I ought to be more compassionate.

Consequently, the document instructs bishops never to alter the sex listed in parish baptismal records and says Catholics who have undergone “sex-change” procedures are not eligible to marry, be ordained to the priesthood or enter religious life, according to a source familiar with the text….

“The key point is that the (transsexual) surgical operation is so superficial and external that it does not change the personality. If the person was male, he remains male. If she was female, she remains female,” said the source.

“The altered condition of a member of the faithful under civil law does not change one’s canonical condition, which is male or female as determined at the moment of birth,” Bishop Gregory wrote.

The Vatican text defines transsexualism as a psychic disorder of those whose genetic makeup and physical characteristics are unambiguously of one sex but who feel that they belong to the opposite sex. In some cases, the urge is so strong that the person undergoes a “sex-change” operation to acquire the opposite sex’s external sexual organs. The new organs have no reproductive function.” - Closed Cafeteria - “Sex Change and Clergy“

Not at all related -Pictured, Minneapolis’ embattled lesbian Fire Chief - she’s not a sex change, believe it or not.

What is interesting to me is that there has actually been a policy in place for Bishops to deal with this sort of thing. While it is somewhat well known locally that a Bishop, now the head of a large Archdiocese in the mid-west permitted a transgender person to become a nun in Wisconsin a few years back.

When members of the faithful discovered this, they wrote to the Vatican and got the transgender nun removed. No penalties were imposed upon the Bishop however, nor was any explanation forthcoming as to why he permitted this.

I expect there is a pastoral loophole for just about everything though. Bishops can make mistakes too.

[Interesting side note, looking for transgender photos I came across a German do it yourself nip and tuck procedure - the site is called "Tucking" - view it at your own risk - contains clinical nudity, and don't go there if you have problems with chastity - I don't want mean comments. It is so not titillating however - no pun intended.]

St. Louis: Warm beer led to killing, police say.

A woman killed her husband over serving her a warm beer. Shot him in the chest several times.

I wonder if Eric Scheske at “The Daily Eudemon” knows about this? He likes his beer you know and may appreciate the woman’s rage.

I kinda like these posts - now this is where the blog got it’s start - web-logs - like a journal.

I’m off work today - you see, I always work Saturdays, and if everything is well staffed, I take a day off mid week. I also have to go back to the doctor. It’s funny how I used to go with the littlest sniffle, and now when I have serious problems I don’t want to go. It’s not denial, it’s just that I’m cheap - there is a copay for everything, and going to see him takes longer now as well. I also hate all of the tests. When I tell the Dr., “Trust me, I’m dying! It’s just taking a long time”. He wants to put me on anti-depressants or have me undergo something that will take care of this or that. I don’t like surgeries and all that stuff.

Can’t people just get old and die? I don’t understand wanting to live so long. TV is getting worse, as is music - although I do like Mary J. Blige. Some movies are still good - Christopher Guest never misses. I wonder about “Dream Girls” though - who can replace Jennifer Holiday’s “And I’m Tellin’ You, I’m not Going!” When I listen to “Say You Love Me” I keep saying, “Jesus I Love You!” and I think He says it back. I’m an old schlemiel, aren’t I?

A sort of conversation arose yesterday regarding web-logs and sins against the 8th commandment. The inquirer was asking if I run into lies and dissimulation when reading other blogs. It seemed to me he was of the mindset that bloggers either make stuff up, or spread gossip and rumors and innuendo to attack or defame someone else.

In my posts, I’m so honest that I often get people angry with me - or make a fool of myself. I have never come across a Catholic blogger who writes anything but the truth, albeit, highly editorialized with their take on any given subject.

In fact, most bloggers blog because they feel they have something to say or address regarding the issues of the day. Contrary to any dishonesty, bloggers blog to present the facts behind the propaganda and dissimulation of ordinary media. Bloggers usually cover what mainstream media ignores or distorts according to their particular agenda. Catholic bloggers in particular seem to be the most honest writers in media, as well as defenders of truth. For anyone to lie or make things up would be a ghastly betrayal of self.

To be sure, ’shoot from the hip’ types such as myself, may post something they either misunderstood or have not been well informed about. (I really have begun to check and re-check my facts, and do not post precipitously any longer, and if I do something late at night when my judgement is clouded perhaps - it’s down the next morning.) Blogging has built in censors if you will. The people who comment. If something is off in a post - someone is going to tell you. And most bloggers step right up to the plate to clarify something, or retract it if need be. I think bloggers are the most honest people one can encounter in any form of conversation.

Nevertheless, then there are the “whack jobs” bloggers way out there with questionable views - but who reads them? There are the gossip mongers as well, or those who see the enemy everywhere and are hell bent to expose him. Some sedevacantists are like that. I get a newsletter via email from one such group, decrying B16 praying in a mosque, or the ongoing sinister conspiracy to destroy the traditional Latin rite. Yet not even these people are lying. Misinformed to be sure. Paranoid maybe. But they are sincere and passionate - and not always off the mark.

I think I blog because I want to understand. I want to flesh out why things are unfolding as they are in our day and age. Like the gay thing. Why are people gay? Why have some priests been such perverts? Why are some Catholics into the new age? Why is the liturgy such a mess? Why do people think they are having visions and revelations? Why is the Church more like a mega-corporation these days? Why are parishes overstaffed with professionals getting high salaries and excellent benefits? Why are we in a war? Kind of like Marvin Gaye’s song, “What’s Goin’ On?”

So I come up with my informed analysis of things - as I understand it - because I’m not so dumb as my jokes. Blogging, at least for me, is all about truth. And sometimes I’m just way too honest. That’s because I came from parents who were deeply dishonest - so I’m always honest to a fault. Even when I employ jocose lies for humor - I’m telling a truth in a funny way - although, some people don’t get my humor.

In the end, blogs give the ordinary person a voice, and others who are listening for something authentic may hear them, and someone else will hear, and someone else. Maybe, just maybe, the principals will hear it as well, and get it together. Maybe.

(I cannot load photos again. Blogger is a free service so I cannot complain…I shouldn’t complain…I won’t complain…nope…you will not hear a complaint out of me!)

(I also added a counter today - but I don’t know if I installed it correctly - now this will be embarrassing - it will prove if anyone visits at all. I’ll have to ask Rhapsody if I did it correctly - she had this counter on her space.)