tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post3391049780286223290..comments2024-03-23T12:05:23.537-05:00Comments on The Wild Reed: John McNeill's Message to the US Bishops: "Enough!"Michael J. Baylyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03087458490602152648noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-7871340985907675422008-12-21T17:52:00.000-06:002008-12-21T17:52:00.000-06:00Fr. McNeil's writings on natural law and Romans 1 ...Fr. McNeil's writings on natural law and Romans 1 is a disgrace of ignorance. Even so, he cannot change the letter or the "spirit" of Romans 1, and the letter of Romans 1, as Wayne Dynes and any scholar of Greek will inform Catholics, is quite clear -- homophilia is the exemplary sin of idolatry! And it is! Catholics' ignorance of Holy Writ is astonishing -- especially, since the Church codified it (and Hebrew Writ). <BR/><BR/>It's no mystery why Fr. McNeil was not invited to partake of the <I>New Jerome Biblical Commentary,</I> the original edition published by Collegeville, MN. Scholars are not allowed to whine, bitch, and moan they are the victims of a misunderstanding; they must address the topics of Holy Writ head-on -- which even McNeil cannot do (some of his Jesuit brethren did far better in periodicals of scholarly research).<BR/><BR/>Since McNeil lacked that competence, his writings insist the pastoral epistles are "historically conditioned" (duh?) and that slavery, women, and same sex relations have a new, more engaging anthropology than Romans 1. Right? And the resurrection is all metaphorical, as the infancy narratives are all parallelism of Moses? (duh?) What next? The Rebellious Rabbi was not really an existent person? (duh?)<BR/><BR/>But the Church has same-sex relations (homophilia) <I>in the vice</I> of Saint Paul's idolatry, OR by escaping that wrench, <I>violating the natural law,</I> and either one, much less both, are why homoeroticism today, while widely practiced outside Jerusalem in Jesus' time, remains the emblematic sin of idolatry "worthy of death." <BR/><BR/>Maybe Catholic priests who could no longer tow that story line and left in mass circa 1970-90, save for the one Fresno holdover, tell a story larger and more powerful than the Victim narrative. One of my Jewish friends admires Catholic's Victim narratology, second only to rehearing the Nazi Holocaust every Shabbat, but why no Jews stood in opposition to it. They wanted to prove Hitler wrong?<BR/><BR/>Perhaps the homophiles can get together and rewrite the Bible? Nope, forget that, the Vulgate stands -- even pre-Judaism. Perhaps homophiles can get together and embrace David Hume's rejection of natural law in 1740? Nope, forget that, they need it, as one Jack Malebranche nails it on the head: Today's gays need to be victimized, and the Jews and Catholics have no sense of themselves unless viewed as victims! Pure potty torture!<BR/><BR/>I pretty much disagree with Jack on most issues, such as his "masculinity" project, but he is right about one thing: Gay men have no identity unless they see themselves as victims of a masculine, hierarchical Church of cross-dressers. (It's true.) And so beholden to the victim and the hood theology, they need to persevere as if they are the Church's newest martyrs (coming lately after 2000 years). <BR/><BR/>And maybe one day, the Church calendar will appoint a feast Michael and the Martyrs, who stood up against Rome, while bending to Natural Law, and should be emulated throughout Christendom as saints. <BR/><BR/>It will occur, I suspect, on the day after a gay man gives the invocation on Barack Obama's inauguration, whose van Dyke scares men with hair. Right after Rev. " goateed turd," " hairfaced hobbit cretin" completes his victimology.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-62843636407657617662008-12-20T07:24:00.000-06:002008-12-20T07:24:00.000-06:00Basta! Basta! Basta! ... I am tempted to say to Jo...Basta! Basta! Basta! ... I am tempted to say to John McNeill. (Wasn't that the title of one of his open letters to the Vatican years ago?) I too found <BR/>him influencial and persuasive. I thought he was one of the real modern heroes in the Church. Many of us followed him along his road to what seemed like martyrdom. I remember his Easter retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani ..... his anguish over his priesthood, and the Jesuit order, and all of that drama. As it turns out, all the while he was playing the victim, he was living merrily with a lover. I believe he revealed all of this in last autobiography, didn't he? It sounds like he never believed in anything like celibacy. And that is fine, as long as you put all of your cards on the table in the first place. He never did that. This is one writer who should be read from his most recent work backwards. Too many people read the carefully crafted earlier works, and fall for a poseur.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-84178097275348601792008-12-20T01:14:00.000-06:002008-12-20T01:14:00.000-06:00I think your post is saying that gay Catholics, ar...I think your post is saying that gay Catholics, are more willing to make direct demands on the hierarchy. Otherwise there is no new news. The church leaders have been unmoved in centuries.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-85462510051918956572008-12-19T08:36:00.000-06:002008-12-19T08:36:00.000-06:00Fr. McNeill's writings were critical in my own com...Fr. McNeill's writings were critical in my own coming to acceptance and coming out as a gay priest. He has been persecuted for righteousness sake and will have his reward in heaven.<BR/><BR/>While I don't disagree with his open letter, I'm too cynical to believe it's going to move a single bishop to make even the slightest gesture towards gays. I also would say to my brother John that he's behind the curve ball. Integrated Gays have already dismissed the hierarchy as a voice worth listening to. I think the moment he is talking about for greater openness ended a good decade ago. The latest salvo from the Vatican, joining with hateful Islamic States, on the UN Resolution only cements what every homosexual man and woman knows about the fear and loathing are in the hearts of Vatican bureaucrats.kevin57https://www.blogger.com/profile/01681985465980196347noreply@blogger.com