Muslims & Religion in Schools

4 Responses

Hector Cecil, on April 23, 2016 at 12:24 am said:

We don’t need “Father” to tell us what to do.

The Catholic bishops and overwrought clergy are pathetic and paranoid.

Your failure to post my comments is cowardly and typical of how Catholicism operates.

FATHER JOE: I told you before, you are banned from my blog because of name-calling and bad manners.
Father Joe, on April 22, 2016 at 2:11 pm said:

Did you forget that you are banned from my site?

هيكتور سيسيل,

First, your argument (as with previous bones) comes across as belligerent and it was for this reason you were banned from my site. You are certainly free to write what you like at your own blog; but this site is the expression of the views important to me as a citizen and as a Catholic priest.

Second, I did not entirely agree with the views to which I linked. I am not upset that Muslims are given facilities to pray in schools. Rather, as I said, “I am more upset that we as Christians have so easily surrendered this liberty and have allowed the component of religion to be stripped from our lived culture and from the teaching of social studies.” Religion is a component of our identity. Separation of church and state should not mean a devaluing of faith or its eradication from public expression and discourse. The encroachment against religious liberty is real and yet with the Islamic groups we see people willing to challenge secularism. Catholics should do the same, while respecting others and our differences.

Third, while your approach varies, you are always about diluting or silencing the voices of faith in Western society. Here you are essentially saying that our particular rights are insignificant and do not matter because the needs of others are more pressing. That is grievously wrong. You omit to acknowledge that the loudest voices against the atrocities of extremists like ISIS are precisely the same ones concerned about the loss of religious liberty here at home. While ISIS would supplant Christian religion with its own; Communist dictatorships and Secular humanists in the West would enforce their philosophies over all other ideologies and faiths. The current executive branch in the US has argued that the Church’s rights do not extend beyond the doors of its places of worship. Thus, they are forcing religious orders and various extensions of the Catholic Church to enable and to remain passive to abortifacients and contraceptives in their own health plans. In other words, you can believe what you want but you are going to do what we want, regardless. You, evidently, do not understand the conundrum here. While Catholics might not die for their faith here in the US (yet), they might still suffer oppression. You cannot validate moral evils (no matter if small or large) by pointing to great moral evils elsewhere.

I have parishioners who suffered in Saudi Arabia for years, unable to attend Mass and forced to say the rosary secretly on their fingers, knowing that the beads and crucifix would land them in jail. These same parishioners today are involved with the Maryland Catholic Conference and our efforts for religious liberty, particularly against the moves of the Obama Administration.

Has our tax-exempt status been revoked by the government? They have forced us to stop renting our hall to the public with precisely this threat. The House of our Ordinary has lost this status, and various dioceses have seen rectories and halls stripped of tax-exemption— everything except the physical churches.

There are efforts to force priests to perform same-sex marriages or else have their authority to officiate marriages for the state stripped. This will mandate that all Catholics would have to seek both a court marriage and a church marriage. This is already the case in many European nations. Much hinges here upon the definition given to marriage.

All-in-all, the insult is yours. Conscientious concern for our loss of rights is labeled by you as paranoia. Here you attack both me and the Church for being as we should be— imitators of Christ as signs of contradiction to our world. Yours is neither wisdom nor maturity, for you argue for passivity here at home and point out adversity elsewhere without raising a finger or saying a prayer to make a difference. I do not know what your problem might be, but I will pray that you get help.
هيكتور سيسيل, on April 21, 2016 at 12:35 pm said:

وظيفة من هذا القبيل، وتعليقات مثل تلك المذكورة أعلاه علامة كنيسة في الشيخوخة التأكيد. قل لي، ألغت هذه الحكومة الديكتاتورية القمعية التي تتكلم من مركز الإعفاء الضريبي الخاص بك؟ وقد أرسلت قوات إيقاف أوباما قداس الأحد أو إجبار رجال الدين ترؤس الزواج من نفس الجنس؟ تمساح هذا البكاء حول فقدان الحرية الدينية هو إهانة لهؤلاء الناس العالم الذين لا يملكون حق الحرية الدينية – أي سوريا والمملكة العربية السعودية، إلخ. عقلية الحصار التي عرضت هنا يوحي بجنون العظمة وعدم الحكمة والنضج.

قل لي أين هي جهود لإجبار الكهنة لرئاسة في الزواج من نفس الجنس؟ أدعو لك لإعطاء مثال ملموس. قل لي ما هي الأسباب التي قاعة الخاص فقد وضع الضرائب معفاة. ولدي أخبار لك – معظم النساء الكاثوليكية استخدام وسائل منع الحمل بضمير مرتاح. أنهم لا يجدون موثوق تدريس التسلسل الهرمي الذكور في هذا الشأن. وأنهم ليسوا أهل السوء، فهي ليست مشركين العلماني، فهي ليست أعداء الكنيسة. هم الناس الطيبين الذين نشأوا بما فيه الكفاية لاتخاذ قراراتهم بأنفسهم ولا تحتاج “الأب” لنقول لهم ما يجب القيام به. انها محرجة حقا، كل هذا الغضب من الأساقفة الكاثوليك ورجال الدين مجهد على حبوب منع الحمل. انها مثيرة للشفقة وجنون العظمة. وأطالبكم لنشر تعليقاتي بالكامل. إلى تعديل أم لا وظيفة لهم غير جبان، ولكن نموذجية من الطريقة التي تعمل الكاثوليكية المؤسسية.
Brian Torrez, on April 15, 2016 at 9:09 pm said:

It is a sad state of affairs that we have given the government so much controlling power stopping on are Constitution it sounds an looks. Like a dictatorship to me.