Deja vu all over again!
Really, they shouldn't do that. Not a good idea. Not good. Not good at all.
Update: More on young Father Dan's social media adventures. The pub talks sound like a great idea, but I hope the content is real Catholicism and not just a mishmash of "cool ideas," e.g. "g*y m*arriage is consistent with Catholicism, yessiree!"
Update 2: Young Father Dan's side of the story can be found on his Twitter account.
Update 3 (June 1): Not anymore, I see.
****
My thoughts:
1. All priests and seminarians should be very careful as to what they post on Twitter or write anywhere. This is not because they might "get into trouble" but because they might create a scandal.
2. If a priest is mad at a practising Catholic, he should call up their pastor. Seriously. Then the pastor can call up Joe or Mary Catholic and say, "Hello, Joe/Mary! It's Father Such-and-Such. How are you? Listen, I hear you've taken a scunner at poor young Father Dan's tweet about the Holy Spirit being female. He's feeling very upset and embarrassed about it. Could you find it in your heart to give the wee scamp a break? He's new at this, and....! What? He tweeted what? Well, I suspect he's been reading America again. Oh, that James Martin! He writes about how much he loves Sex in the City, and then ALL the young priests think it's cool to watch that sort of thing!"
3. The LAST person the priest should speak to, heaven help us, is a LAWYER. "Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me?" "Yes, Lord. You know that I love you." "Sue my sheep," our Lord did NOT say.
4. There are nice ways to point out to a priest that he has fallen into some ghastly heresy, and there are rude ways to point out to a priest that he has fallen into some ghastly heresy. Quoting a short but highly relevant snippet of the Catechism is a nice way. Also there are nice ways to write to a bishop, and rude ways to write to a biship. Father Z has tips. I would add, "Use nice thick paper. Everyone likes a letter printed, typed or written on good, thick, expensive paper."
Should I ever write a letter to Cardinal Marx, you can bet it would be on the best paper I could buy. The chap is, after all, a Prince of the Church. Let me see. How to start? "Mit brennender Sorge...
Update 4: My heart is moved by the youth of this priest. I think he's only 28, which may seem old if you're 22, but let me tell you, from where I sit 28 is positively tadpolish.
Update 5: Whup. I see he tweeted something gratuitously nasty and stupid about the Queen. My maternal feelings have fled.
Sunday, 31 May 2015
7 comments:
This is Edinburgh Housewife, a blog for Catholic women and other women of good will. It assumes that the average reader is an unmarried, childless Catholic woman over 18. Commenters are asked to take that into consideration before commenting. Anonymous comments may be erased.
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
There is a long tradition of using feminine imagery for the Holy Spirit. I wouldn't call it "ghastly heresy."
ReplyDeleteOh well, I meant ghastly heresies (and tweeting young priests) in general. But saying the Holy Spirit was actually male or female, or God the Father actually male or...er....female, would indeed be a ghastly heresy, for it would be ascribing a human limitation to the two Persons of the Holy Trinity who were not made Incarnate.
ReplyDeleteWell, the way things are going, Cardinal Pell is also consulting legal advice (but at least he's not suing a blogger).
ReplyDeleteCardinal Pell has been targeted by news corporations in a most disgusting way for years now. There is no comparison. Of course clergy should be able to take legal action when slandered, especially by journalists who can ruin a man's life very easily. Suing a blogger who is much less powerful than you is bullying.
ReplyDeleteAussie girl in NZ
I obviously shouldn't make posts late at night. I have been wondering when the knives would really come out for Cardinal Pell because of his role in the Synod. Anyways, the point I think I was trying to make was that sometimes the clergy needs lawyers, but that the clergy needs them at all shows the devil is after them (either through external and malicious means or through their own pride/shortcomings).
DeletePoor Cardinal Pell. What is happening to him is definitely not on the level of a priest being petty about a little blogger.
ReplyDelete"Should I ever write a letter to Cardinal Marx, you can bet it would be on the best paper I could buy. The chap is, after all, a Prince of the Church. Let me see. How to start? "Mit brennender Sorge..."
ReplyDeleteOh ja BITTE!