He is an editorialist for the Macon Telegraph. The Telegraph is owned by the conglomerate The McClatchy Company. He often has editorials that comment on the Catholic Church and he laments each time that the Church isn't like it was during the time of Saint Pope John XXIII in the early 1960's. He studied for the priesthood in that period of time in Rome. But he's stuck in that period, a sort of arrested development. The world and Church have moved on, the Church is recovering today from the excesses of the post-Vatican II "spirit of Vatican II" ideologies, although Catholics and former Catholics of his age and ilk are trying to revive it prior to their demise and the Lord calling them to their personal judgment.
There are often stories and editorials in the Telegraph on the Catholic Church. Some show us in a positive light, but others are quite negative. I submitted recently a rebuttal to Rev. Dr Kirby Godsey's rant against Pope Francis and faithful Catholics who uphold Scripture, Tradition and Natural Law as it concerns marriage and human sexuality but he veiled it in a veneer of candy coating. He called the pope and all faithful Catholic bigots for upholding the teachings of the Church on marriage and sexuality. The Telegraph did not print it. So much for being fair and balanced.
Catholics comprise about 1% of Macon's population, maybe even less. I wonder why the editors of the Macon Telegraph find us such a threat since we are such a small minority in this community. What ax does Dr. Cummings have to grind and others in the newsroom. Are they sycophants to the hierarchy of that paper and know what their bishops, I mean bosses, want them to write in an obsessive, negative way about the only institution in the world that is standing in the way of ideologies and political positions opposed to natural law, the right to life of the unborn and the true nature of marriage even if it isn't a sacrament as well as human sexuality and reproduction?
Here is Dr. Cummings wish list for the Catholic Church and for a return to his favorite time when he was young, the early 1960's. It appeared in Sunday Morning's Telegraph, Father's Day, June 15. My comments are in red:
The Catholic Church is changing. It used to be rigid. Back
in the 1930s when I grew up on the south side of Chicago, Catholics
stayed in their own neighborhoods, dated and married “their own kind”
and never ever went inside a Protestant Church, let alone (God help us) a
Jewish synagogue.
But the church is changing. Some Catholics say “not enough.” Others say “too much.” But the fact is obvious to anybody who watches TV and reads the paper that something’s going on here. For example, when the pope is asked about gays, instead of condemning this “horrible, unnatural” sexual orientation and all the actions that flow from it, Pope Francis laughs and says: “Who am I to judge?” Let me tell you something: Old Pope Pius IX (after whom our Macon street, Pio Nono, was named,) would never ever have laughed. [Here we go again. Dr. Cummings is not an idiot and he knows the context of the Pope's remarks. He is either disingenuous or only reads commentaries and not the full transcript of what the pope said. The pope was speaking about priests with same sex attractions. If they were trying to follow the Lord and faithful to their promises, who am I to judge? That was the context. The pope spoke negatively about gay lobbies in the Vatican or elsewhere and that these ideological lobbies are bad, evil. Then the Holy Father said, I am a son of the Church and uphold what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches on homosexuality. The catechism teaches that the homosexual orientation is disordered. But that doesn't mean it is a sin. It is living an unchaste life, whether one is homosexual or heterosexual that is the mortal sin. How many who read this blog have drunk of the same kool-aide as Dr. Cummings?]
Yes, the church is changing. For example, who would have thought that a pope would resign? It hasn’t happened since the 15th century. They die in office. But Father Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), whom I knew in Rome back in the ‘60s, saw the changing handwriting on the wall of St. Peter’s, and he knew he could no longer read it. Other popes would have erased it. Instead, he resigned. [How self-serving is this comment. Dr.Cummings knows that Cardinal Ratzinger in 1968 changed many of his positions concerning the radical push for change by those who misused the documents of Vatican II and pushed for a completely different church compared to historic Catholicism. The turning point was 1968 and the student rebellions in Germany and other parts of Europe against the Catholic Church. Cardinal Ratzinger did not stay stuck in the 1960's unlike Dr. Cummings. There is no comparison between the two.]
Sure, the church has always been changing, but never as quickly. Changes used to take centuries. Look at the issue of slavery. The church approved of slavery all through the Middle Ages. They finally condemned “unjust” slavery in 1839, but some American bishops supported “just” slavery until the abolition. In fact, our own Pio Nono stated that “it is not against divine law for a slave to be sold, bought, or exchanged.” Today, you can’t find a Catholic bishop or priest who approves of slavery. That change has finally taken hold. [Dr. Cummings could cite Jesus Christ negatively who never condemned the slavery of his period, but rather used the slave-master model as a paradigm for his followers, that we are to be slaves to the Gospel, servants and that Jesus is the Master. This is another straw man and Dr. Cummings knows that the cultural context of slavery infected the Catholics of that period but that the Church did grapple with the sin of slavery before most institutions did at least theologically.The Civil War in this country did not divide the Catholic Church between the south and the north as it did Protestantism.]
One of the biggest changes, however, was the stripping of divinity. The Catholic Church is no longer a “divine institution” incapable of error or mistakes. Now we know that it was created and is run by humans just like all the other churches and institutions of the world. Imagine that. This stripping began with Pope John XXIII, and it continues on with Pope Francis. It’s like pulling the sheet from the Wizard of Oz and revealing a little old man with a microphone. [Here we go, and this really reveals Dr. Cummings ignorance or bitter malice against the Church. The Catholic Church is both a divine and human institution. Her members are sinful and need to repent continually and seek forgiveness and reconciliation often. Was Dr. Cummings duped by his own misunderstandings of the Church and her human members as a naive and idealistic child and seminarian and when he discovered that popes, bishops, priests, religious and yes, laity sin and are corrupt too, he never got over it? Is there arrested development here and an axe to grind?]
I remember hearing that my old Scripture professor, Cardinal Bea, explained to Pope John XXIII that the Scripture text in Matthew 16:18, “You are Peter (Rocky) and upon this rock I will build my church,” is a much disputed text. It was written 50 years after Jesus died and cannot be used to prove Jesus founded the Catholic Church. Cardinal Bea said that Pope John’s reaction to this rather startling piece of news was laughter. Makes you think of our current Pope Francis, doesn’t it? [Here Dr. Cummings is intentionally trying to deceive by using dubious Scripture scholarship and esoteric academic musings, especially that of the historical critical method of studying the Scriptures to call into question a dogma of the Catholic Church concerning her Founder and the nature of the Church. It is part of the "modernism" that we spoke of earlier and a part of Protestant enlightenment ideology that deconstructs Jesus Christ, His Gospel and the Church and her teachings. Come on Bill, you can do better than that!]
Will there be more changes? Of course there will. If the Catholic Church is to survive as an instrument of “grace and peace,” it must change. Old restrictions like the ban on birth control (how many Catholics practice birth control today?) and the rules on priestly celibacy, women priests, gay marriage, divorce, remarriage and many more incrustations that hang around like cobwebs in cathedral ceilings must all be wiped away. [Bill, Bill, Bill--mixing apples and oranges to further your corrupt dreams? Celibacy is a human discipline and rule and is not consistent as such in the Catholic Church. The Eastern Rite completely in union with Rome has married priests. The Latin Rite has them with former Episcopal priest who become Catholic. This isn't the same as the Sacrament of Marriage based upon natural law which is to be applied to all marriages even secular, it doesn't apply to women priests, that won't happen, and it certainly doesn't apply to the natural law reasons that oppose artificial contraception. Divorce as a civil agreement for legal purposes is allowed by the Church, but a second marriage without a Catholic annulment isn't. Really Bill, do you think your readers are as ignorant as you on these things or oblivious to your manipulations by mixing these apples and oranges?]
Dr. Kirby Godsey said: “Grace will ultimately prevail. Only courage will determine whether its prevailing will occur in the stewardship of our time or a time yet to come.”
It takes courage to stand up to people who still believe the Catholic Church is infallible. It takes courage and patience and compassion. For two years, I was fortunate to see these three virtues in action in Pope John XXIII, and I hope I will see them again in the “stewardship of the time” that I have left to me. [Sorry, Bill, you are delusional. Fight your way out of your arrested development encapsulated in those two years in the early 1960's! Stand up for the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Go to Mass each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, daily if possible, pray everyday, especially the Holy Rosary and stand up for Holy Mother Church and not the ideologies that you promote so despised by your hero Saint John XXIII and his successor Pope Francis.]
Dr. Bill Cummings is the CEO of Cummings Consolidated Corporation and Cummings Management Consultants.
But the church is changing. Some Catholics say “not enough.” Others say “too much.” But the fact is obvious to anybody who watches TV and reads the paper that something’s going on here. For example, when the pope is asked about gays, instead of condemning this “horrible, unnatural” sexual orientation and all the actions that flow from it, Pope Francis laughs and says: “Who am I to judge?” Let me tell you something: Old Pope Pius IX (after whom our Macon street, Pio Nono, was named,) would never ever have laughed. [Here we go again. Dr. Cummings is not an idiot and he knows the context of the Pope's remarks. He is either disingenuous or only reads commentaries and not the full transcript of what the pope said. The pope was speaking about priests with same sex attractions. If they were trying to follow the Lord and faithful to their promises, who am I to judge? That was the context. The pope spoke negatively about gay lobbies in the Vatican or elsewhere and that these ideological lobbies are bad, evil. Then the Holy Father said, I am a son of the Church and uphold what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches on homosexuality. The catechism teaches that the homosexual orientation is disordered. But that doesn't mean it is a sin. It is living an unchaste life, whether one is homosexual or heterosexual that is the mortal sin. How many who read this blog have drunk of the same kool-aide as Dr. Cummings?]
Yes, the church is changing. For example, who would have thought that a pope would resign? It hasn’t happened since the 15th century. They die in office. But Father Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), whom I knew in Rome back in the ‘60s, saw the changing handwriting on the wall of St. Peter’s, and he knew he could no longer read it. Other popes would have erased it. Instead, he resigned. [How self-serving is this comment. Dr.Cummings knows that Cardinal Ratzinger in 1968 changed many of his positions concerning the radical push for change by those who misused the documents of Vatican II and pushed for a completely different church compared to historic Catholicism. The turning point was 1968 and the student rebellions in Germany and other parts of Europe against the Catholic Church. Cardinal Ratzinger did not stay stuck in the 1960's unlike Dr. Cummings. There is no comparison between the two.]
Sure, the church has always been changing, but never as quickly. Changes used to take centuries. Look at the issue of slavery. The church approved of slavery all through the Middle Ages. They finally condemned “unjust” slavery in 1839, but some American bishops supported “just” slavery until the abolition. In fact, our own Pio Nono stated that “it is not against divine law for a slave to be sold, bought, or exchanged.” Today, you can’t find a Catholic bishop or priest who approves of slavery. That change has finally taken hold. [Dr. Cummings could cite Jesus Christ negatively who never condemned the slavery of his period, but rather used the slave-master model as a paradigm for his followers, that we are to be slaves to the Gospel, servants and that Jesus is the Master. This is another straw man and Dr. Cummings knows that the cultural context of slavery infected the Catholics of that period but that the Church did grapple with the sin of slavery before most institutions did at least theologically.The Civil War in this country did not divide the Catholic Church between the south and the north as it did Protestantism.]
One of the biggest changes, however, was the stripping of divinity. The Catholic Church is no longer a “divine institution” incapable of error or mistakes. Now we know that it was created and is run by humans just like all the other churches and institutions of the world. Imagine that. This stripping began with Pope John XXIII, and it continues on with Pope Francis. It’s like pulling the sheet from the Wizard of Oz and revealing a little old man with a microphone. [Here we go, and this really reveals Dr. Cummings ignorance or bitter malice against the Church. The Catholic Church is both a divine and human institution. Her members are sinful and need to repent continually and seek forgiveness and reconciliation often. Was Dr. Cummings duped by his own misunderstandings of the Church and her human members as a naive and idealistic child and seminarian and when he discovered that popes, bishops, priests, religious and yes, laity sin and are corrupt too, he never got over it? Is there arrested development here and an axe to grind?]
I remember hearing that my old Scripture professor, Cardinal Bea, explained to Pope John XXIII that the Scripture text in Matthew 16:18, “You are Peter (Rocky) and upon this rock I will build my church,” is a much disputed text. It was written 50 years after Jesus died and cannot be used to prove Jesus founded the Catholic Church. Cardinal Bea said that Pope John’s reaction to this rather startling piece of news was laughter. Makes you think of our current Pope Francis, doesn’t it? [Here Dr. Cummings is intentionally trying to deceive by using dubious Scripture scholarship and esoteric academic musings, especially that of the historical critical method of studying the Scriptures to call into question a dogma of the Catholic Church concerning her Founder and the nature of the Church. It is part of the "modernism" that we spoke of earlier and a part of Protestant enlightenment ideology that deconstructs Jesus Christ, His Gospel and the Church and her teachings. Come on Bill, you can do better than that!]
Will there be more changes? Of course there will. If the Catholic Church is to survive as an instrument of “grace and peace,” it must change. Old restrictions like the ban on birth control (how many Catholics practice birth control today?) and the rules on priestly celibacy, women priests, gay marriage, divorce, remarriage and many more incrustations that hang around like cobwebs in cathedral ceilings must all be wiped away. [Bill, Bill, Bill--mixing apples and oranges to further your corrupt dreams? Celibacy is a human discipline and rule and is not consistent as such in the Catholic Church. The Eastern Rite completely in union with Rome has married priests. The Latin Rite has them with former Episcopal priest who become Catholic. This isn't the same as the Sacrament of Marriage based upon natural law which is to be applied to all marriages even secular, it doesn't apply to women priests, that won't happen, and it certainly doesn't apply to the natural law reasons that oppose artificial contraception. Divorce as a civil agreement for legal purposes is allowed by the Church, but a second marriage without a Catholic annulment isn't. Really Bill, do you think your readers are as ignorant as you on these things or oblivious to your manipulations by mixing these apples and oranges?]
Dr. Kirby Godsey said: “Grace will ultimately prevail. Only courage will determine whether its prevailing will occur in the stewardship of our time or a time yet to come.”
It takes courage to stand up to people who still believe the Catholic Church is infallible. It takes courage and patience and compassion. For two years, I was fortunate to see these three virtues in action in Pope John XXIII, and I hope I will see them again in the “stewardship of the time” that I have left to me. [Sorry, Bill, you are delusional. Fight your way out of your arrested development encapsulated in those two years in the early 1960's! Stand up for the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Go to Mass each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, daily if possible, pray everyday, especially the Holy Rosary and stand up for Holy Mother Church and not the ideologies that you promote so despised by your hero Saint John XXIII and his successor Pope Francis.]
Dr. Bill Cummings is the CEO of Cummings Consolidated Corporation and Cummings Management Consultants.
41 comments:
The Macon Telegraph is a rag, a bird cage mat that is poorly written, poorly laid out, and poorly edited. Macon citizens should be embarrassed by it, but the majority are too illiterate to realize it.
You said Cummings is no idiot…I disagree…he seems more like a drooling moron.
But, again, one has to ask, where all of a sudden is the media getting these ideas of a liberalizing Church? Hmmmm….
By quoting Pope Francis completely out of context--they did it to Pope Benedict too on his talk about the Muslims and they do it with the Scriptures too. Nothing new here, nothing to see, move on.
"...he seems more like a drooling moron"
"Discuss ideas and leave the personalities out of it. No name calling or calling anyone disastrous."
The FARCE continues....
Thanks for reading and policing! :)
Modernists, such as this poor fellow, want neither the faith nor the morals of the Church, and yet they retain an attraction to her. I suppose the typical Modernist, a category into which most American and European Catholics would place themselves upon hearing the term's definition, really just want to belong to a fraternal organization that helps people. They want the Catholic Church to be a welcoming home without defined faith or morals.
JBS, exactly and the Kiwanis Club would fit the bill.
"He seems more like a..." is a description, not a name. Perhaps Anonymous should adopt the name "Judgmental". Or, Anonymous could offer a rational defense of the columnist in question.
Anonymous also seems like a….well, never mind. LOL!
I'm a different anonymous. The writer gets his history wrong, too. Slavery existed under the Roman Empire but was mostly eradicated under Christianity. In fact, Christians like St. Patrick were sold into slavery. Muslims held most if the slaves in the Middle Ages. Perhaps he should discuss Islamic invasions, slavery of the Middle Ages. Slavery existed mostly in Islamic lands despite their precepts.
Father, this article is so poorly written and argued it's best to ignore it. The problem is the many people who might read it and believe it.
"The problem is the many people who might read it and believe it." Yes, that is the problem but thanks be to God the Telegraph like many newspapers have seen their readership, advertisements and influence diminish because of new ways of getting news. The paper is so small now, literally in terms of the newsprint that one wonders how long it will be in circulation.
Anonymous:
"Muslims held most if the slaves in the Middle Ages". Good point.
Also later on:
The Barbary pirates raided the coastal villages of Europe to capture Christian slaves for the Arab slave market in North Africa and the Middle East. I've read that perhaps a million Christians were enslaved by the Muslin Barbers many never to be returned. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison ended up dispatching American military forces to North Africa after these Barbers started capturing some of our merchant ships.
This seems like lazy writing to me. No research and only relying on his experience from 50 years ago.
Considering the one-sided attitude of so many daily newspapers in this country toward Holy Mother Church, and the potential it has for continuing the mis-education of so many Catholics, I think it is high time that those Catholics who have the means to do so should begin taking out full-page PAID advertisements to rebut the likes of these hateful anti-Catholic bigots. They should consider it simultaneously a work of charity, evangelization, fraternal correction, admonishing of the sinner (work of mercy!) as well as good ol' fashioned "setting the record straight.
Who knows? It might even serve to help some of these older, '60s generation dissidents to come to their senses, repent, and get back into a state of grace before they leave this mortal coil and face the Master against whose spotless bride they calumnate!
Gaudete in Domino Semper!
Father McDonald:
The Telegraph’s refusal to print your rebuttal to Dr. Godsey’s article seems, as you say, rather unfair and unbalanced. I am surprised that they would only want to have one side presented. Did they give any reasons for not accepting what you submitted?
Please confirm his biography, if possible. He claims to have been a "Father" for ten years as a Redemptorist priest while also working for Bechtel Corp. Did I also understand he is a Doctor? His education profile on the web does not indicate so. I am thinking you should ignore this guy. If the Telegraph is legit, I wonder about that as well, then you might contact them to discuss as review of things they publish about the Church or at least an alternative view from an active priest. Heck if they really wanted an active discussion they could have point and counter-point columns from you and PI. At least it would be legitimate.
A2 they gave no response to my submital whatsoever . They simply did not print it! Passive aggressive I guess.
They're like you. They print what they choose to print.
In my comment on Barbary pirates I meant to use the term Berbers, not Barbers, in referring to these North African Moslem groups.
RE: Farce
Stating as policy one thing and then doing the exact opposite is precisely one of the reasons Mount de Sales is in hot water.
To state as policy "No name calling or calling anyone disastrous" and then to approve for posting comment after comment after comment that are nothing but name-calling is simply hypocrisy.
There's no integrity in that behavior.
So...when I state some true fact (not name calling) about Gene that you think is inappropriate or rude and you don't print it....that's passive aggressive in action??
I have never known a newspaper to respond to a letter-submitter, explaining why they did not print his/her letter. It's their paper - they can choose to print whichever letters they want.
For my tastes, the Telegraph prints to many feuds.
Although I do appreciate that they print much longer letters than papers in other cities in Georgia I have lived in.
I suspect if you counted the PRO and CON letters regarding the MdS mess, you might actually find a balance.
Father McDonald:
That is disappointing to hear. I hope you ask them to explain why (even if they regarded Godsey’s article as a response to Erik Erikson’s pieces, for example, they should say so). Even more, I hope they just overlooked your submission inadvertently. As you know, I am very much in favor of furthering civil dialogue on controversial issues.
Pater Ignotus:
Normally I would agree with you, but in this case I would have thought that a contribution from Father McDonald, as one of the main protagonists in this episode, would be treated somewhat differently, at least by extending the courtesy of giving a reason. Perhaps I am just being naïve (it wouldn’t be the first time =)).
So, Anonymous, what true facts have you stated about me? LOL! I haven't seen any.
Interesting, Father, that you say the church has "moved on" since the days of John XXIII, and that Ratzinger changed his views. You make Cummings' point for him -- that church and its leaders change and "move on" from outmoded teachings like anti-Semitism and support of slavery. Who's to say that will not happen again on different issues?
As the internet so too the print media can lend itself to excessive passions, strawmen and ad hominem in place of calm disputation and persuasion.
I know, much of this is not directed at the principles but rather at the lurkers, the peanut gallery, the 99% watching from the sidelines for entertainment or curiosity.
But it's always a shame that the principles can't have a face to face meeting - even if via a public debate to square off. It's a shame we've lost the art of genuine "dialogue" (as much as we talk up how wonderful that word is).
So much of communication is non-verbal, so much of our actions are based only loosely on intellectual conclusions! It seems as though people feel their way through life. So 'tone' is considered more important than substance (ergo Our President being hailed a great orator while most people can't recall any particular brilliant sentence he's said as his delivery is good but the substance...just fluff.)
Our Lord met people where they were, basing his teaching on that plane of evidence or authority that they accepted as trustworthy. So too must we.
As most secular hedonists claim to accept "science" and the scientific method in place of Revelation or metaphysics, such that they'll bow down in awe of some University's "computer model" of what the climate MIGHT be doing in the next century, it follows that we must base our disagreement with these folk on science.
Fortunately there's quite a good amount of scientific data they can't deny which backs up our moral and doctrinal dogmas and destroys their position on things.
So let's use it.
OK Gene...true fact...You are an annoying, pompous arse.
Anonymous, there are no "arses" in America.
Plenty of apses though
Actually, Anonymous, that is not a true fact. That is your subjective opinion. But, that is no surprise because lefties like you have always had difficulty with facts.
Keep going Gene. You're helping me out...
Is calling me a lefty a true fact or your subjective opinion?
The entire world is crawling with arses. Perhaps you may qualify...
Hi Father McDonald, are there any details you can provide for that anti-Catholic cartoon you've posted?
No just got it off the Internet
Anonymous, I think your posts indicate your political leanings. Ask some other people on the blog.
So.....you're one of those guys who refuses to answer direct questions....the kind of guys you whine about so often....
Anonymous, exactly what direct question did I refuse to answer? If I missed one, please run it by me again so I can answer it.
"There you go again."
Um, Anonymous, just what in the Hell are you talking about?
On an etymological note, the word 'arse' signifying the posterior is derived from the Old English word 'aers' and is cognate with the German 'Arsch'. The American substitution of 'ass' is surely incorrect. However, to call someone a 'pompous ass' is no doubt what is intended by the epithet, where pomposity is associated with asinity (Latin 'asinus') rather than with the backside. I suspect 'pompous arse' is a fairly recent coining which is a pun on 'ass' and implies that the person concerned is not only pompous but is speaking out of his fundamental orifice.
Gene, you are so evasive. Never direct.
And I am living in a parallel universe.
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