Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been on a good church rant, eh?

Catholic Listserv to the rescue!

In my inbox today was this story (yes, the Albany saga continues) with the subject line:

Albany-Homosexual environment noted.

Oh, boy. Here we go again.

This time, the attorney actually did mention the problem, as he sees it:

“I don’t have a problem with anyone being a homosexual, but in the diocese it’s a problem because the gay priests are afraid to tell on the pedophiles out of fear of being outed by them,” he added.

Indeed, that is a problem.

But why don’t we get down to the real problem?

The Church insists on hanging on to this archaic notion that celibacy is a good idea. It’s not. I daresay it’s unnatural.

And can we please stop pretending that has anything to do with holiness or one’s relationship to God, and admit that it’s about money and land ownership? Or at least it was…

I don’t think I need to say again that gay DOES NOT EQUAL pedophile. So many people can’t seem to grasp that concept…but that’s not the point. I do however, have this theory about people with what might be considered “unnatural” or “perverse” sexual inclinations (to the Church, homosexuality…to, well, pretty much everyone, pedophilia) being drawn to the priesthood believing that they can hide or quelch their desires.

Yeah. Like that’s going to work.

So you put together the Church’s utter inability to change or admit mistakes with a massive priest shortage, and what do you get?

Cover-ups. Scandal. Really, really bad shit.

And ever-so-timely to my latest rant is this article from the Buffalo News about celibacy and the priesthood. I haven’t given it a careful reading yet, but it talks about a number of Catholic men who were drawn to a life of service to God, but still wanted to marry and have families.

So they became Episcopalians.

I think this is a trend that is not only going to affect potential priests, but parishioners in general. The Catholic Church needs a serious wakeup call. It is no longer a world power. How many young priests do YOU see?

Ordain women. Drop the celibacy bit. Otherwise, quit the whining about the lack of vocations. And for crying out loud, get rid of the pedophiles and those who helped them get away with it. Without giving them jobs in Rome…

more fun with Catholic listservs, brought to you by erin-go-blog!

I have been to Congress for you – testifying before members of the House of Representatives. There, I saw firsthand what is happening …

THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE IS IN DANGER AS NEVER BEFORE.

So we are launching a new push to see the U.S. Constitution amended to protect marriage. And we need your immediate financial help.

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I know that many members of the ACLJ like you have already spoken out in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In fact, almost 300,000 people have already signed our Petition to Preserve Marriage.

But despite this overwhelming response, the amendment legislation is stalled in the committees and back rooms of Congress. It’s going nowhere. Without further action, this movement is doomed.

Lawyers for same-sex marriage proponents are fighting this effort at every step with incredible financial resources. And now that the Massachusetts high court ruling favoring same-sex marriages has gone into effect, they are vowing to see legal homosexual unions in every state.

The executive director of gay rights group Lambda Legal said, “We can’t and we won’t stop until we have equality in marriage nationwide.” He said courts in California, New Jersey, New York, and Washington are considering lawsuits seeking same-sex marriage rights.

We must launch a new campaign – a renewed effort – to get the Federal Marriage Amendment out of the committees and on to the floor of the House and the Senate for an immediate vote.

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To preserve the family as God designed it, we must preserve the institution of marriage. If marriage can be re-defined simply by a change of a few words, its meaning evaporates!

Enabled by you and other members of the ACLJ, through your prayerful giving, WE WILL KEEP ON BATTLING to preserve the institution of marriage in this country on every possible front – all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States.

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Your support today will help us preserve marriage and continue all our efforts to protect your freedoms.

For some intelligent reading on the subject, please see Dahlia Lithwick’s column on Slate.com.