Lovely Loretta

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Annunciation. Now check this out:

The sky will be spectacular in the west after sunset on March 25, 2012, with the waxing crescent moon and the planet Jupiter very close to each other in the evening twilight sky. Plus Venus is nearby – the sky’s brightest planet. You’ll see Jupiter and the moon below Venus in the west after sunset. The famous Pleiades star cluster is above Venus. 

And the significance:

For centuries Mary has been referred to as the “Morning Star”, the popular name of the Planet Venus. In this configuration, the Morning Star appears with the moon at her feet. The Pleiades (from “peleiades” the Greek word for doves) overshadows the Morning Star. Jupiter, the “King Planet” approaches the configuration.  The symbolism is striking. This is a interesting arrangement for the mystery of the Annunciation which heralds Christ’s coming through Mary.

And the reason it’s significant:

“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman- clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Revelation 12:1)

And for anyone having a hard time picturing what the sky will look like:

I think this all is amazingly cool. I’m glad I’ll get to experience it.

Further reading.

thatothersmaybelovedmorethani:

basically.

I’ve been watching Hulu videos all night since I’ve been too sick to sleep, and they keep showing me an ad for a discounted student rate for the New York Times.

How many times do I click “No, this ad is not relevant to me,” before they get it?

Read More →

Here’s my response to it.

It’s time to quit the Roman Catholic Church. Will it be reproductive freedom, or back to the Dark Ages? Do you choose women and their rights, or Bishops and their wrongs? Whose side are you on? In light of the u.s. Catholic Conference of Bishops’ war against women’s right to contraception… 

Why are you aiding and abetting a church that has repeatedly engaged in a crusade to ban contraception, abortion and sterilization/ to deny the right of all women everywhere, Catholic or non-Catholic, to decide whether and when to become mothers? 

Please point out to me where the Church has ever tried to ban contraception or sterilization. Abortion is not merely a Church issue. Go check out the group Pro-life Atheists. If you’re going to leave the Catholic Church for that, good luck finding a group that doesn’t have some pro-life members. If you thought there was a law that was allowing lives to be taken, I’d hope that you’d fight against it, too. 

The Catholic Church does not deny the right of women to decide when to become mothers. We have a couple of option that we promote. Check ‘em out: adoption, Natural Family Planning (which, when used properly, has a higher success rate than the condom and pill combined and doesn’t have the health risks or discomfort of any other birth control tool), and abstinence. Sorry if they’re not the options you like, but giving options doesn’t sound like we’re shoving anyone into a corner to me.

Think of the acute misery, poverty, needless suffering, unwanted pregnancies, overpopulation, social evils and deaths that can be laid directly at the door of your church’s pernicious doctrine that birth control is a sin and must be outlawed.

Uh. I’m sorry, what? Please point out the, “Acute misery”, “needless suffering”, and “social evils.”

Poverty? The Catholic Church is the world’s largest charity. Don’t believe me? Do your research.

Unwanted pregnancies? No, I’m pretty sure that sex and failed birth control causes that.

Overpopulation is a myth. I already made a post on that.

Please tell me at what point we have tried to outlaw birth control. I’d love to see that.

If you think you can change the church from within- get it to lighten up on birth control, gay rights, marriage equality, embryonic stem-cell research- you’re deluding yourself. By remaining a “good Catholic,” you are doing.”bad” to women’s rights. You are an enabler. And it’s got to stop. 

I have no desire to change the Church from within. I have no desire to change any of those stances. I’m not deluding myself, thank you. I think that the Church that has survived 2000 years and every empire (including the Romans) is a little bit wiser than I am.

It’s a disgrace that U.S. health care reform is being held hostage to your church’s irrational opposition to medically prescribed contraception. No political candidate should have to genuflect before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. President Obama has compromised, but the Church never budges. Instead it is launching a ruthless political Inquisition in your name. 

I’m sorry, I was unaware that using a middle man was a compromise. The Church should not have to genuflect before the U.S. Healthcare Reform! And we are not expecting anyone to give up this concept of birth control covered by insurance - we are simply saying you have no right to force us to provide it. Why is this so hard to grasp?

Your Church hysterically claims that secular medical policy is “an assault against religious liberty.” The louder the Church cries “offense against religious liberty” the harder it works to take away women’s liberty. Now your church has introduced into Congress a double-speak bill, the “Respect for Rights of Conscience Act,” to allow dogma to trump the civil rights and private consciences of employees. 

How does this trump the private consciences of employees? If the employee wants to use birth control, they can. Last I knew, under the current system, not all employee insurance is the same. Some people get more coverage than others based purely on the job they get. I have really good insurance because my dad is in the military. Does that mean that those who have jobs that provide insurance that doesn’t have the same benefits as my dad’s are trumping the private consciences of employees?

How is this taking away women’s liberty? Up until this mandate came out, women’s liberty was just fine. Now all of a sudden women’s liberty relies on someone else paying for their birth control? Wow. That’s a really sad definition of liberty.

The Church that hasn’t persuaded you to shun contraception now wants to use the force of secular law to deny birth control to non-Catholics. 

Hasn’t persuaded me? Oops.

Anyway, how is it denying birth control to non-Catholics? As I said before, non-Catholics that are employees of Catholic groups are free to use all the birth control they want, just like they have always been. Please tell me how they are denying birth control simply by not paying for it. If job insurance doesn’t cover dental care (which most doesn’t), does that mean it’s shunning their employees from having a cavity removed? Or getting braces? Or getting a root canal? Think before you make a claim.

You’re better than your church, so why stay? Why put up with an institution that discriminates against half of humanity? Why send your children to parochial schools to be indoctrinated into the next generation of obedient donors and voters? Can’t you see how misplaced your loyalty is after two decades of sex  scandals involving preying priests, church complicity, collusion and coverup going all the way to the top? Apparently, you’re like the battered woman who, after being beaten down every Sunday, feels she has no place else to go. 

I am not better than my Church any more than I am better than anyone else. 

The Church discriminates against women? As a woman in the Catholic Church, I find this to be incredibly offensive. I suppose you want to convince me that I’m so brain-washed that I can’t even see it. Last I knew, we were the only Christian church that actually has a Queen. Most other Christian sects don’t even think twice about Mary - are they against women? We also have doctrine that teaches that women are to be protected and loved. The Church itself teaches husbands to love their wives as they love the Church. According to our teaching, the Church is the highest point of authority after the Trinity, and we’re supposed to devote our lives to it, yet we’re saying to love our wives  as we love the Church. That’s a pretty big deal. I am currently going to a Catholic university that pushes me to work hard, teaches me what I am capable of, and that I can do anything I want to do. The teacher I see every day, who is the sole person responsible for the classes I take, is a woman. 

Two decades of sex scandals? So… what’s that, 1% of how long we’ve been around? And statistically, more protestant ministers commit a sexual crime as the Catholic Church. Teachers are even higher. So if you’re afraid supporting an institution of sex abuse, you definitely shouldn’t send your kids to school. Anywhere. Ever.

…and the Catholic Church has battered women’s shelters. Just saying.

Thanks NYT. Talk about discrimination. You just ran an ad that was against 23% of America. 

Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph Ratzinger, talking about Jesus’ three temptations in the desert:

The tempter is not so crude as to suggest to us directly that we should worship the devil. He merely suggests that we opt for the reasonable decision, that we chose to give priority to a planned and thoroughly organized world, where God may have his place as a private concern but must not interfere in our essential purposes.

Um. Does that not sound accurate to America today?

I am so sick of people bashing my religion and not caring twice about it.

No one even stops to think about how it feels. I just went through and deleted “friends” of mine on Facebook for making fun of my Church, because in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, we’re sort of in the spotlight.

Here’s what gets me. I have been brought to tears over the harsh words of people against my Church. I have literally been to the point of wanting to kill myself because I feel like I’ll never be in a world where I can say, “I’m Catholic,” without expecting someone to get on my case about it. I have struggled with depression for years, and you know how they say that you need to watch what you say to people because you never know when it will be just enough to put them over the edge. I don’t consider myself suicidal, but sometimes I’ve gotten pretty close in my mind.

And why should you care? I’m just a normal American girl who can’t handle the world. But look at it this way. What if I was gay? What if I was in my room, crying because someone posted a status where they mocked the gay lifestyle? Or what if I was Muslim, and I was upset because someone alluded to my religion being full of terrorists? What if I was anorexic, and someone just made a joke about eating disorders? Would you feel bad for me then?

I bet you would. There would be songs written for me and music videos made to give me strength. People would come out and say encouraging words to make sure I don’t ever feel alone. But I don’t get any of that. I’m just a Catholic girl who is head over heels in love with her religion, founded by the Man she loves more than anyone can fathom. I don’t get any pity or sympathy. I’m just watching my home be attacked from all sides and verbally destroyed by anyone who has access to a computer. And it makes me want to kill myself. 

But I deserve that, right? I’m being too whiny, right? It’s the pedophile priests’ fault. It’s the corrupt popes of the early Church’s fault. It’s the crusade’s fault. It’s Galileo’s fault. My religion is bad, and therefore it deserves all of the ridicule it gets. I am just the majority and I deserve to have verbal rocks thrown at the institution that my life is based around.

That probably sounds sick to anyone who doesn’t do the same. But how is it any different than a morbidly skinny girl whose life actually does revolve around food? Or a gay man whose life revolves around their struggle with attraction - around how to deal with it with the rest of this homophobic society?

Words hurt. We’ve always been told that. But when we see something we don’t like or don’t understand, suddenly we can use all the hurtful words we want and it doesn’t matter. We don’t care who we hurt as long as we make a point. America has a problem with the Catholic Church, so we can make fun of it all we want. It doesn’t matter if we hurt the boys and girls whose lives revolve around it. It doesn’t matter if we bully them into depression. It doesn’t matter - just as long as we shut them up. Isn’t that how it is?

inmytsinelas:

sweetandlovelygirl7:

david-patrick-star:

I’m Catholic. I’m gay. I’m PERFECTLY happy with being both of these things. I can’t stand seeing so many people bash the Catholic Church.

Why? Ignorance.

The Roman Catholic Church does, in NO way, condemn gay people. The Church believes that gays can go to heaven; they have just as good a chance as His Holiness. The Church beliefs that gays are just as much God’s children as straights. Yes, the Church beliefs that marriage is between a man and a women. The Church is adamantly pro-life. I, personally, believe all of those things myself. I’m gay. You don’t have to like it. Sure, there are Catholic/Christian radicals, just as there are Muslim radicals, etc. Just because an individual, who says they’re Catholic, says that gay people are going to hell, that doesn’t mean that’s what the Church teaches. Not all Muslims are terrorists, we all understand THIS, right? Right. 

Honestly, how are you a better, wiser individual when you condemn an entire institution — a religion of more than a billion faithful — when you’re too ignorant to understand and grasp what it truly teaches. Sure, there are bishops, priests, regular old schmucks, etc. who openly show distaste for homosexuals. They’re individuals. I hate all the hate. I HATE all the ignorance. I don’t hate ANYONE, however. 

Father Christopher said in his homily a few Sundays ago that Jesus loves homosexuals just as much, if not more than the straightest, “holiest” people to ever live. I, personally, belief God made me this way. Who knows, maybe he added too many sparkles and unicorns to my batch. But, I guarantee you, when the time comes, one is judged by their heart and their ability to love, not for who they love.

I’m, most definitely, no theologian. I never spent seven plus years in a Catholic seminary. I’m not a “Bible-thumper.” I mean, look at my blog, it has a bunch of shirtless guys and boys kissing one another (in a classy, “Awww, that’s adorable” sense, of course.) I’m just a regular ol’e gay, faithful Catholic guy named David, who’s a bit fed-up with being indirectly attacked by so many ignorant people. However, as for the things I’ve said in this post, THAT’S what the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church teaches. 

Thank you for listening to my rant, God bless, and remember: 

It’s a two-way street. Don’t cross it only looking one way and expect to make it across alive. 

all the awards

<3

Look at the wedding picture under 263. That’s totally the oratory in the middle of my school campus. I’m amazed because this campus is only about 6 years old. Isn’t that cool?