Abbey-Roads2

And dissimulation.

One of my very worst traits is that I have no patience with inconsistencies.  (Having grown up in an alcoholic-dysfunctional family can be blamed for that.)  For instance, I absolutely hate it that Church policy says that homosexuals cannot be admitted to ordination to the priesthood, and yet they are - with all sorts of excuses to support it.  (Yes, yes.  I understand if a man renounces homosexuality and agrees to live according to Church teaching, and there is no occasion for scandal, etc. - then a dispensation can be made.  I got that message.) 

That said, I can’t understand how  a homosexual man can be so easily fired from his job as a choir director for a parish  (the same job that provided health benefits, house payments, and a retirement plan), while another high profile, so-called gay-lifestyle-advocate  man can be received into a highly distinguished Order in the Roman Catholic Church.

By a Cardinal yet.

Cardinal Egan will be inducting gay-lifestyle promoter Peter Rapanaro, the director of “My Big Gay Italian Wedding” into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem this Saturday. -   Blog source  By now, a done deal.

So what is the Equestrian Order?

The announcement explained it thus:

The honor is being bestowed on Mr. Rapanaro for his ceaseless lifelong dedication of service to the Diocese in which he has performed thousands of marriages, christenings and funerals, bringing both joy and solace with his God-given voice. His televised masses, locally on Channel 55 WLNY TV and Telicare Stations Channel 10 and nationally on EWTN stations, bring his vocal gifts to an even larger audience.

“The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre” is reserved solely for those practicing the shared faith with the Sovereign Pontiff his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. The Investiture ceremony requires the pledge of Defense of the Faith with a Profession of Faith. Mr. Rapanaro will be the featured vocalist at the Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and will be honored at a black tie dinner later this day, at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel. - Source

On their high horse.

Now it should come as no surprise that the Order most likely has its share of gay people on their roster - they just may not be public about it.  I don’t know if this Rapanaro guy is gay, but as his work reveals, he certainly does seem to be something of an advocate for the gay lifestyle.  (The Equestrian Order is also very much about money and status - but of course - it would be unfair if I did not mention they do great good and provide a genuine service to the Church.  See links below.) 

Mixed messages.

The great inconsistency I see here is this:  A man who worked for years for the Church loses his job at his parish because he lives with his partner.  Fine - if it was a scandal to the faithful, then something had  to be done.  Yet to then turn around and discover that lavish honors were conferred on another man, whose work itself may be a source of scandal - albeit in a different diocese - the inconsistency and injustice is obvious.  One man’s career and reputation is destroyed, while another with a similar profile is exalted by the Church.  It is difficult to understand how Church teaching is clearly affirmed by such actions. 

Although to object is to be labeled a bigot.

Really?  Tell that to men and women who have freely renounced homosexuality, joining other chaste and celibate men and women of every state and situation in life, to follow Christ.  Those who have refused to compromise with worldly standards, and who have denied their very self as regards relationships and friendships, even jobs and positions, for the sake of the Gospel.  And although leading chaste and celibate lives in fidelity to Church teaching, they often continue to suffer discrimination just because they are suspected of being gay.

How easily the spirit of the world slinks its way into the center of Christian families, religious communities, institutions and the clergy.  That spirit of compromise, because of the love of pleasure, luxury, honor and fame.

Links:

Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

The Oath Against Modernism (The Knights and Dames take this oath.)

Secular press calls the Holy Father the biggest homophobe on the planet…

And yet uber-Catholics post photos like this inviting irreverent and sophomoric comments and captions.  How very, very sad.  Sad, sad, sad - to see unemployed people wasting their vocation and academic achievements on such nonsensical theatrics. 

Acceptance of homosexuality at a new high.

New Oxford Review has a report on a recent Gallup poll which found that mainstream America’s acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, as well as same-sex marriage is at a new high.

A Gallup Poll released on May 29 has found that tolerance of homosexuality in the U.S. has reached a record high. Gallup posed this question: “Do you think homosexuality should be considered an acceptable alternative lifestyle or not?” In 1982, 34 percent of Americans said yes. In 2007, 57 percent of Americans said yes, and only 39 percent said no. Among the 18-34 age group in 2007, 75 percent said yes, and 23 percent said no. - New Oxford

Strangely enough, the same poll found that a large percentage of Americans, both liberal and conservative, feel that U.S. morality is in the toilet. 

The Catholic Apologetics Industry

I believe the term may have been coined by The Western Confucian, a very intelligent blog covering religion, economics, politics, and a lot more.  I perked up at his label,  “apologetics industry“, simply because it identified what I was attempting to editorialize in previous posts of my own, only I referred to it as, ”the God business”. 

Interestingly enough, it appears one of the reasons this is a growing business in Catholic circles, may well be attributed to the Evangelical converts to Catholicism whose popularity has raised the level of marketing sophistication in Catholic publishing, as well as the Catholic apologetics lecture circuit.  Media has played a big role in the phenomenon as well, such as EWTN and Relevant Radio, to name just two popular outlets.

Is it all about money?

As in politics, the entertainment industry, or any other business, the potential for the abuse of power and influence, along with the cult of celebrity and temptations to greed, can be an ‘accident’ waiting to happen in the Catholic apologetics industry.  (Although a marketing strategy is no accident.)  I found this article  on Christian celebrities at Charisma, a Protestant website.  It is rather interesting.

While doing research on a well known Catholic author/blogger, I came across an interview she did on one of her more ‘in the news’ topical books, which addressed one of the latest controversies of that moment.  Here is an excerpt:

IgnatiusInsight.com: If you had five minutes with Dan Brown, what might you say or do?

The Author: Ask him for some money.

Hey, why not? Maybe not for me, but perhaps for some of the thousands of institutions around the world – orphanages, schools, hospitals, old age homes, hospices - that are filled with people who’ve given their lives to sacrificially serving others in the direst of circumstances, inspired, called and nourished by the One whom Dan Brown continues to exploit, sitting up there in New Hampshire on his wads of cash. He should be ashamed. Perhaps, one day, he will be. - Ignatius Press 

Maybe I’m jaded.

Perhaps I’m too suspicious and critical when it comes to people who turn religion into a career or business opportunity.  (I suppose they have to profit from their otherwise useless, philosophy and theology degrees somehow.)  After all, one has to earn a living.  Nevertheless, I always roll my eyes and chuckle when the same people criticize Lourdes as too commercial because of all the religious shops, or complain about the cost of religious goods for Church or home, while religion has ‘kinda, sorta’ become their new business.

It is a strange time in the Catholic Church, when some Liturgists, Music Directors, DRE’s, and other parish employees earn higher incomes than the priest.  But then again, a priest has a vocation, not a career.  Let’s hope that never changes. 

[Art: "Money Changers in the Temple" - Tate Gallery]