Dear Parishioners,
Sunday Masses went very well on Pentecost Sunday last weekend. Thank you for observing our requests to help maintain the health, and sanity of those coming to Mass despite the fact that nothing we do will be 100% effective in preventing the spread of contagion. We will resume daily Mass in our Martha and Mary Chapel with this Saturday’s First Saturday Mass at 9 AM. Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament resumes next Wednesday and Thursday in the Martha and Mary Chapel.
Last Saturday at our Cathedral’s diaconate ordination, one of the permanent deacons in attendance learned after the Mass that he had tested positive for COVID-19 because he had been tested earlier. If not for that test, none of us would know he was infected including him. Thus, all of us have to be aware that in public settings, more than likely people who do not know they have the virus may be attending and sitting next to you. You take a risk any time you go out in public today during this pandemic. No one can guarantee that you won’t be exposed. The sobering statistics for Georgia is that out of the more than 48,000 of our Georgia citizens who have contracted this virus, about 2000 have died, many of these with other health issues. Eternal rest grant unto them. You can obsess of this statistic and fail to take hope that more than 46,000 have recovered and God willing with immunity from this virus. So are we going to obsess on the 1/3 empty glass of those who died or on the 2/3rds full glass of those who are recovered?
The Obligation to attend Mass is still lifted due to the ongoing pandemic. Therefore, if you are sick in any way, have a hacking cough, are sneezing, or have a fever PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND MASS FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS who are fearful or vulnerable. If you have underlying health issues or are age 65 and older with health risks, please do not attend Mass. If you are fearful in anyway about being in a public room like the church building, where we can’t guarantee your safety as it concerns your health, please do not attend Mass. If someone comes to Mass with an active virus, common sense tells us that it can be spread in the congregation. Let us pray that our precautions will prevent that. We are recommending that you wear a mask to help dissipate any risks to others. It is an act of charity on your part as you sit in the pew with someone who may be anxious.
Please go to our web page for our precautions. But nothing we are doing from masks to disinfectants will be 100% effective no matter how helpful these are in reducing the risk. And your priests who are on the front lines of ministering to people are at a higher risk and we like you can have it have it and not know. Thus tragically we can be a source of infection to others. This is the new reality today.
When Jesus tells us “be not afraid” it isn’t a Pollyanna denial of deadly dangers to body and soul, but precisely to go forward in faith into the dangers of life and death united to Him. God keep you safe.
76 comments:
The political left will be thrilled if Churches remained closed, as they view them as a non-essential services.
I think part of the problem is that in a lot of countries is that many people, while sick, go out and about. I have a friend from India who told me that India did well during this epidemic because it is part of India's culture, that sick people self-quarantine. It sounds like a wonderful part of their cultural upbringing, indeed life saving, that we should emulate
No.
India - they did so well....
5 June 2020: "India and Pakistan have experienced their largest single-day increase in coronavirus infections, confirming more than 14,700 cases between them Friday, as the virus shows no sign of peaking in South Asia.
Each country now exceeds the number of reported cases from China, where the pandemic originated.
India, with the highest coronavirus count in Asia, reported 9,851 additional infections Friday. Its daily tallies are now higher than any country's except for the United States, Brazil and Russia. Neighboring Pakistan reported 4,896 new cases Friday. Its total of 89,249 cases has surpassed China's tally for the first time, with its most populous Punjab province accounting for the largest share of infections."
Yes, wonderful upbringing.....
Father McDonald, this should make your blood boil and our resident lefty posters challenged to explain:
"Just a couple weeks ago, it would have been the stuff of public health professionals’ nightmares: Thousands of people clustered together amid a pandemic, chanting, shouting, and, after police hit them with tear gas, coughing.
But that was before Minneapolis police officers killed George Floyd, and before the week of protests against police violence and institutional racism that have erupted in Seattle and across the nation.
Since then, local public health professionals and leaders have supported the protests, both tacitly and explicitly, despite the increased risks of new coronavirus outbreaks and despite the protests violating their own guidelines.
Infectious disease experts at the University of Washington wrote a letter, that ultimately circulated nationally and drew more than 1,200 signatures, saying that protests against systemic racism “must be supported.”
They wrote that the protests, even amid the pandemic, are “vital to the national public health and to the threatened health specifically of Black people in the United States.”
Don't worry....be happy....I have a plan which will fix EVERYthing, ripped straight from the front pages of national news.
Remove Confederate memorial statues....remove the Texas Ranger statue from Love Field over "racial concerns"....defund all police departments....ban poverty, illness, ignorance, lack of education and skills, and death....split the country into 350,000,000 equal shares of cash and land with each person declared absolute sovereign of each kingdom....watch foreign debtors move in and sieze each parcel and cash, and sell its tenant into slavery...and in 5-6 generations, we can all start this all over....it is only just. Nobody will care about the virus. Just wave cash and new toys. End of problem.
TJM, the problem is two-fold as Father pointed out here:
Those who know they are sick/symptomatic but do not isolate; and then those who are positive but are NOT showing symptoms so do not know to isolate,
Yes, faith not fear, but then some good common sense in following CDC guidelines.
As long as your parishes recite the depracations and curses written by Wilton Gregory (Lord, smash the skull of Donald Trump and all his followers) and the updated Leonine Prayers after Mass (St Michael the Archangel, defend us from Capitalists and all who seek to earn a paycheck rather than accept welfare.) promulgated by the USCCB, you'll be fine. The rona doesn't strike liberal gatherings.
Anonymous at 12:31,
A bit dramatic but in spirit accurate. Gregory has to be dumber than a box of rocks. I suspect donations in the Archdiocese of DC will take a hit from his iil considered and inflammatory statement
Bob,
Notice how none of our resident lefties have not responded yet to comment upon how the State of Washington justifies NO social distancing for rioting and looting, but for any lawful activities one must shut up, stay home, and practice social distancing?
Fr JMcD,
Anon 11:58 mentioned following CDC guidance.
So now you have been exposed to someone infected with COVID-19 you are required to self-isolate for 14 days which means you can celebrate parish masses this weekend. In the UK you would be breaking the law if you didn’t send-isolate subject to fines or ultimately arrest. Will you be refraining from potentially exposing your parishioners, as per CDC guidelines? Praytell please?
I know I can. You must not know the difference between guidelines and laws in the USA. And you forget that there was an American Revolution against England and its rigid laws and we won.
Hey UK Priest,
Are Muslims exempt from the law in England? I hear they have raped a lot of young females there and it seems they have been immune from prosecution. Also, has England introduced “knife control” yet or is that off limits since the Religion of Peace loves their knives?
Dear American priest pretending to be a UK priest, your spelling, diction, and grammar gives you away entire, not to mention your ISP, computer and IOS.
THE CDC guidance strictly defines "exposure" which seems not to have been the case, and you should read up on the details, such as time, proximity, was coughing/sneezing involved, etc.
Mixing with mobs for a hot afternoon and swilling from open beer is far more risky, and I hope you take your parishoners into account when you decline to minister to them period, have burned your virtue signalling priestly political costume, and have mercy on the rest of us by getting off the internet entirely, as your posts and personality seem every bit as toxic as the virus.
Bob, here is something. The latest bulletin for St. Ambrose parish in Detroit leads off with a vitriol filled article by heretical and dissident "priest" James Martin, who takes a chance to blame the killing of Floyd on President Trump. The same bulletin them publish a piece by Wilton Gregory, again twisting the Floyd tragedy as an excuse to bash President Trump.
Were Martin and Gregory ever this vocal to speak out against Obama's harassment of Catholics by way of his mandate to force Catholics to supply condoms and pay for abortions?
https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/14173/bulletins/20200607.pdf
Fr. McDonald,
UK Priest obviously knows the difference between laws in the UK and guidelines in the USA.
In fact, that's exactly what HE SAID!
"In the UK you would be breaking the law if you didn’t send-isolate subject to fines or ultimately arrest. Will you be refraining from potentially exposing your parishioners, as per CDC guidelines?"
In the UK you would be breaking a law......
Will you refrain as per CDC guidelines.......
See? He points out the difference in his 2:52 post.
"Sunday Masses went very well on Pentecost Sunday last weekend."
Use of "Sunday" twice is redundant.
Better: Masses went very well on Pentecost Sunday.
"Thank you for observing our requests to help maintain the health, and sanity of those coming to Mass despite the fact that nothing we do will be 100% effective in preventing the spread of contagion."
Comma misuse. If you use a comma after "health" you should use another after "sanity." Otherwise, the comma after "health" has no legitimate function.
"Last Saturday at our Cathedral’s diaconate ordination..."
Use of the possessive form isn't correct. The ordination took place at the Cathedral, but the Cathedral doesn't own the event.
Better: Last Saturday at the diaconate ordination at our Cathedral...
"...one of the permanent deacons in attendance learned after the Mass that he had tested positive for COVID-19 because he had been tested earlier."
That phrase "...because he had been tested earlier." is just lost out there by itself.
Better: ...one of the permanent deacons who had been tested earlier learned that he had tested positive for Covid-19.
"You can obsess of this statistic and fail to take hope that more than 46,000 have recovered and God willing with immunity from this virus."
"Of" should be "on."
"God willing" should be set off with commas.
"And your priests who are on the front lines of ministering to people are at a higher risk and we like you can have it have it and not know."
A comma should follow "risk."
The phrase "like you" should be set off with commas.
"Thus tragically we can be a source of infection to others. This is the new reality today.
A comma should follow "thus."
UK Seminarian here,
Fathers,
Can you explain to the city council's regulations, where my parents live, for me?
In their UK city, tourist buses can carry no more than 20 people while no more than 10 people are permitted to worship in the large cathedral.
I don't understand.
Anonymous @ 11:08 AM
Do you know the population of India and Pakistan? Those COVD numbers are minuscule.
As far as China, if you believe their numbers, then you're either naive or intentionally ignoring what should be obvious just to make an argument.
The internet is not a bad search tool if properly and carefully used.
Have a good day.
UK Priest,
UK Seminarian here again,
I have greatly appreciated your insights on racism which you have expressed recently in this blog.
One thing has always confused me though and that is the endless use of the word/term "COMMUNITY".
Do you know what I mean?
Repeated talk of the "black community", "the gay community" in London. This that and other "community" etc and so on...
To explain what I mean take a hypothetical London man who is black, gay and Buddhist.
In what true sense is that man a part of London's "gay community", "black community" or Buddhist "community"?
Don't you think it possible such a black, gay and Buddhist Londoner may have, for example, as his "community" the people at the bank branch he works at as an accountant and or the "community" of the rugby club or art house film club he belongs to ?....
I don't want to give away too many personal details here as the London "Catholic Community" can be a small place but....well, I have red hair, I love cats and I have suffered from episodes of both bipolar disorder and herpes. These are important aspects of who I am!
Should I thus identity as a member of the "red haired community" or "the ex psych patients community" or even the London "herpes suffering community" ?
Anon 4:46
Similar to most pastors, Fr. McDonald is likely quite busy. Cut him a break, and be grateful that he continues to maintain this blog.
We all belong to a variety of communities and we move between and among them regularly and, one hopes, with alacrity.
You can choose to identity with any community you like, including the Liar's Community if you so choose.
Any group of Leftist-liberal journalists, bloggers etc could be regarded as a "Liar's Community".
There is no doubt African Americans are seriously disadvantaged, and that this disadvantage arises (at least in part) from the brutal history their forebears suffered. But if influential people like Leftist -liberal media people keep telling them that there is no hope because of systemic racism - that their only recourse is defiance and civil disobedience, and that personal agency in work and education mean nothing and identity politics is everything -then this will have tragic consequences. Similarly, if the message of progressive liberals and radical Leftists is that almost all white people are complicit in racism and enjoy white privilege, that may work OK as a meaningless affectation for affluent whites living in rich neighborhoods where they never meet street crime, but it will cause suppurating retaliatory resentment among working class, unemployed and otherwise disadvantaged whites.
It is a recipe for needless racial polarisation. The Left is smart enough to grasp the above which is almost like stating the obvious, but they are too dishonest to admit it.
Can you name the names of the left-leaning media people who have told blacks that they cannot succeed?
TJM,
Thank you for your explicitly racist reply. Your true colours are coming out. It also reflects badly on Fr McD that he allows racists to comment on a supposedly Catholic blog. It makes a mockery of his prayer day for the atonement against sins of racism, and confirms that it is mere virtue signalling.
1. Since the Magna Carta, all citizens including the monarch are subject to the law in our land. Unlike your President who thinks he is immune from prosecution and could shoot someone on a New York street and get away with it.
2. You will know that the Muslim and non-Muslims you refer to have indeed been convicted of rape and sexual assault following a large scale police investigation.
3. Knife crime and possession of any dangerous blade or article is legal in our country. We certainly would not tolerate vigilante groups parading around with guns and rifles intimidating peaceful citizens.
UK Seminarian,
Yes you are right, the correct usage should be “communities”.
TJM, as a fellow Conservative, both as regards politics and religion,
can I politely request you "pull your head in" regarding some of your comments, for example, your comments on Muslims in the UK. Though almost 60 now and financially secure and comfortable now, and respectable etc...
Through unfortunate circumstances and bad choices made as a young man I have spent time in D and A rehabs in both the UK and Australia and in Council housing and "Houso" Housing Commission blocks in Sydney, Australia.
Over 15 plus years I have shared rooms in long term rehabs with blacks and both Arab and Pakistani Muslims and had them as neighbours in cheap public housing.
I have known these people, some were and are still friends, and your sweeping stereotypical characterizations of these people are mostly very wrong and deeply insulting.
I as a white Christian conservative find some of your stated views quite repugnant. No offence, but in SOME of what you write you give Orthodox Christians/traditional Catholics and political conservatives a bad name, which is a shame because other times I can really appreciate your comments here.
But I disagree with UK Priest that Fr MacDonald should block any of your comments.
I love how often on this blog people with opposing views can interact.
SHOULD WE PERMANENTLY CLOSE UP OUR CHURCHES UNTIL A VACCINE …? YES!!! THE LONGER THE NOVUS ORDO MASS IS SHUT DOWN THE BETTER.
Hey UK "Priest"
Please respond to this if you will:
"Former Home Secretary and parliament member Jack Straw once said, "There's a particular problem involving Pakistani heritage men who target young, vulnerable, white English girls." He also said these Pakistani heritage men view white English girls as "easy meat."
This is when some shout 'racism,' but here are the facts: calculations based on convictions show that a British Muslim male is 170 times more likely to be a part of sex grooming gang than a non-Muslim. And there are no recorded instances of non-Muslims doing this to Muslim girls as part of a criminal enterprise. In one local jurisdiction, it was estimated that six out of seven Muslim males either knew about, or were part of, a grooming gang."
The article goes on to lack of interest by English law enforcement, so I don't see where there is equal protection and treatment under British law as promised by Magna Carta.
Left-wing loons, when faced with inconvenient facts, shout racism as a cover. That may work where you come from, but not here. I also doubt your countryman, John Nolan, takes the casual attitude you do. As a matter of fact, he might call you a "berk."
The president who thought he was immune from the law was one, Barack Obama, whose administration illegally spied on the opposition's presidential campaign and then invented a hoax to derail his presidency. But since you are a lefty, you are fine with that guy breaking the law. I suspect in the very near future many members of his administration will be facing indictments.
As a "priest" you seem quite shallow and more interested in secular matters than spiritual ones, kind of like your US alter ego who posts here quite frequently, when he should be tending to the needs of his flock. Fortunately younger Catholic priests in the US (and I suspect in England) prefer to minister to the spiritual needs of the Faithful rather than serve as toadies to the State and other secular interests.
You are definitely not of old Winston's spirit and temperament! You are a Neville
Cheers!
The police officer who killed Mr. Floyd was a member of the police union, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party. The City of Minneapolis has been controlled by the Democratic Party for over 50 years. The inconvenient truth is that this officer had something like 18 serious allegations filed against him over the years, but he was protected by his union. Senator Amy Klubachur, hoping to be Senile Joe Biden's VP pick, did nothing to deal with him when she had the authority to do so, probably because it would upset the police union. It requires a massive disregard for the truth to attempt to assign blame for Floyd's death to either President Trump or any member of the Republican Party. But a media and party so dedicated to the murder of the unborn could hardly be trusted with the truth. I guess UK "Priest" has a lot to learn about the US and his "spiritual" allies in the US.
Fr. McDonald says: "When Jesus tells us “be not afraid” it isn’t a Pollyanna denial of deadly dangers to body and soul, but precisely to go forward in faith into the dangers of life and death united to Him. God keep you safe."
Will that newly minted courage in the face of the "dangers" we face in daily life apply to the use of the Common Cup for communion when it is reinstated?
Will he recant his opposition to the Common Cup now that he has discovered the concept of "Be Not Afraid?"
No, he will not. His "Be No Afraid" persona will fade into the sunset. He will return to his old "You Will DIE if you drink from the Common Cup" position.
God keep you safe.
Let me see. The Holy Sacrifice of Calvary celebrated in a glorified way at Mass is necessary for salvation. The common Chalice is not. Let me see, human contact is necessary for the propagation of the human race and mental health, the common chalice is not. Let me see, participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is obligatory (normally) on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation, the common chalice is not. Let me see, the mask is recommended, not mandated in Georgia, the common chalice is not. Let me see, the Kiss of Peace is not necessary for the laity and the common chalice is not necessary for laity as well.
Be not afraid to go to Mass; be not afraid to not use your mask if you maintain physical distancing or not if both agree not to do so; be not afraid to receive Holy Communion completely by the Host only; be afraid, only, if you are in a state of mortal sin and receive nonetheless out of pride. Be not afraid to receive Holy Communion and the tongue while kneeling as this is the safest way to receive Holy Communion second only to being in a state of grace.
Be not afraid to go forward into the Mass and life; be afraid of risky behavior that is not necessary for your salvation, like the common chalice, speeding and also texting while driving; be afraid of smoking and second hand smoking; be afraid of illicit drugs and gluttony. You get my drift.
The one who wrote the @7:34 am post probably is afraid to join deacons and priests, many not wearing masks, out of an abundance of fear, cowering in a corner and taking photos of those who go forward in faith with their brother priests and deacons, sick or well, masked or not and unafraid.
Father McDonald, more utter hypocrisy from the "Party of Science. " I would love to see Father Kavanaugh twist himself into a pretzel justifying this:
Grant Park and Union Park [Chicago] will be designated spots for demonstrators to gather this weekend, as part of a plan announced by Mayor Lori Lightfoot Friday. But Chicago just entered Phase 3 of the governor’s reopen plan, and groups of 10 or more are still prohibited. Or are they? The city expects hundreds if not thousands to gather peacefully this weekend. (Snip) But for some who are waiting eagerly to enjoy the parks and lakefront, they are still greeted with closed signs. Many are questioning how opening the parks for protesters supports the science of social distancing. “I don’t see how it makes sense,” said Piaree Moser
Father McDonald more for Father Kavanaugh to ponder, first Chicago, now Michigan:
"Michigan's Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer defied her own controversial social distancing rules while attending a Detroit civil rights protest Thursday. The one came just days after the governor expressed a "high level of concern" that such mass gatherings could spread coronavirus."
The Democrats being called the Party of Science is the ultimate joke, including that abortion is an essential "health care" service.
Let me see, "When Jesus tells us “be not afraid” it isn’t a Pollyanna denial of deadly dangers to body and soul, but precisely to go forward in faith into the dangers of life and death united to Him. God keep you safe."
So, does that mean you will go forward without fear of the Common Cup? Or, as I suspect, you will continue to rant about how dangerous it is and how we must fear catching deadly disease from its use?
Double talk as usual.
Now, for some good news, Father McDonald. In Uber Lefty Madison Wisconsin, Bishop Hying fought the Democrats and won!
“We are pleased that the County and the City have ended the unequal 50-person cap on religious gatherings. As bishop, it is my duty to ensure that Sunday Mass be available as widely as possible to the Catholic faithful, while following best practices when it comes to public health. Indeed, in a time of deep division, it is more important than ever for the Church to provide solace and comfort to all, in the great tradition of American religious freedom. We look forward to working together with the County and City to continue the reopening process in a safe, cooperative, and responsible manner.”
The resident lefties posting here, will be grieved.
TJM - we are not discussing PAST events in the UK but CURRENT events in the USA. I am not going to be distracted by engaging with your deflections - I believe this is called “whataboutism” - although I note you do not give a source to your statistics or provide a reference to the article you refer to, probably because it came from a disreputable source. However I do not accept the facts you have misrepresented.
Earlier you labelled me as a “leftist” “Marxist” “communist”, in the same sweeping way you have wrongly characterised the MANY MANY MANY peaceful protesters in the US, and across the world. I note that such tactics have also been used by Nixon / Hoover and other right wing US politicians against civil rights demonstrators in the past. Indeed just those words and worse were used to label and undermine MARTIN LUTHER KING....
The poison pen letter sent to MLK by FBI agents read: 'King, look into your heart. The American people would know you for what you are — an evil, abnormal beast. There is only one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.' "
Well we all know whose side in that argument, history has judged to be morally superior.
Bob the slob - “ Dear American priest pretending to be a UK priest, your spelling, diction, and grammar gives you away entire, not to mention your ISP, computer and IOS.“
YOU ARE BLUFFING & LYING.
- I am not an American priest, especially Fr K.
- I am sitting on my sofa in my UK residence now.
- My grammar, diction and spelling is standard ENGLISH USE not American (with occasional mistakes c/o my phone’s spellcheck).
- You have not tracked my computer details to show otherwise because, if you had, it would demonstrate the opposite.
- Anyway, my virus protection program includes use of a VPN encryption during internet access which protects against tracking.
ARE YOU PARANOID OR JUST A LYING BLUFF?
- There is no evidence that I am Fr K.
- Do you think there is only one priest in the world that disagrees with your disgusting prejudiced viewpoints?
- Actually the motivation behind your lying comment is to try and intimidate me by suggesting that you have been tracking my identity and whereabouts.
- Y’all are basically trying to bully and intimidate Fr K, in my opinion; and Fr McD is complicit to this cyber-bullying.
- It was after continually reading these unreasonable and disproportionate attacks upon Fr K’s very reasonable considered statements that spurred me into contributing comments after being a quiet bystander for sometime.
UK "Priest"
You are a typical, low intellect, liberal. You NEVER address the substance of what I have stated because you can't. To change the subject, you just toss around words that no longer have any real meaning because they have been used and abused by tools of the left, like racism.
Good to know that it is morally superior now to murder the unborn and rejoice in gay marriage because those are the primary sacraments of YOUR side.
Although I have never asked Father McDonald to ban someone from posting here, I will take a page from the lefty playbook and insist he ban you!
Naff off
Bee here:
Oh my, now we have picked up another Pharisee...(sigh)...argumentative, self-righteous, sanctimonious, and oh so dictatorial.
How we all love to be told off every day, and told how we are not getting on the PC bandwagon, and we are wrong for it.
I just wish these trolls would always use the same nom-de-plume, so that I could skip over their comments.
I think there are forces out there trying to destroy your blog, Fr. McD. Like obnoxious little kids who make sure to throw a fit when they are ignored or contradicted, they cannot just go do something constructive about what they think is correct, but have to disparage and criticize those who do not agree with them.
Believe me, UK-Priest, we already know what you think about just about everything. We get hours of that propaganda daily in the public media. We don't care. We don't believe it. And we hold our own opinions, in spite of you trying to browbeat us into submission.
So there.
God bless.
Bee
Anonymous UK-Priest said..."- My grammar, diction and spelling is standard ENGLISH USE not American (with occasional mistakes c/o my phone’s spellcheck)."
"Y’all are basically trying to bully and intimidate Fr K, in my opinion; and Fr McD is complicit to this cyber-bullying."
Y'all?
If 10,000 people can gather to peacefully protest, in close proximity, some in masks and frankly, many not, then surely gathering in church at greater than 25% capacity is easily done. This is as much a right for us as gathering to express our upset with what happened to George Floyd. Politicians have now ceded this fact. Continued suppression of the faithful, under the guise of staying safe from Covid, is no longer a credible action.
Bee,
Bravissimo!
Tom Making,
If the left (Dems) did not have double standards they would have no standards at all.
Father McDonald,
Do you think Father Kavanaugh will have the intellectual honesty to come here and say what the Democratic Party is doing in allowing thousands to gather in protest, which violates all principles of their "Party of Science" and then demand Faithful Catholics stay home from Mass, or will he just slither away and hope we forget it?
Here is something that simpleton priest from England should read and ponder:
Almost none of the hand-wringing performers screaming about American racism have any idea what racism really looks like. Here's a summary of how things are.
Racial slurs against blacks are grounds for termination throughout American society. Even if it happened once, decades ago; see that old cooking lady who got robbed in the 80s. Racial slurs against whites are casually ignored or, at most, result in a private counseling. This is systemic anti-black racism.
Blacks are actively selected for in hiring and admissions, even to the direct detriment of other supposedly threatened racial minorities (like Asians). This is systemic anti-black racism.
Any incident of a white person killing a black person in ambiguous circumstances is proof of collective white racism; even if the killer isn't white (see Zimmerman) or if it was in self defense (see Ferguson and Zimmerman). Disproportionate black killings of whites are glossed over, and pointing them out is proof of white racism. Pointing out the huge numbers of blacks killed by other blacks is also proof of white racism.
Objecting to the mass killing of black babies through normalized and subsidized abortion is systemic anti-black racism. Got that one? Encouraging black women to kill their babies is black empowerment. Wanting more black babies in the world is anti-black racism.
Black over-representation in any industry or field is encouraged and allows its compromise into an engine of agitation to call whites racist (see professional sports). Black under-representation in any industry or field whatever is proof of anti-black racism.
Blacks who speak out about the hypocrisy above, and object to double standards and the culture of dependency that hurts their people are called race traitors. Whites who want blacks to stand on their own like free people are evil racists. Whites who insist blacks are incapable of succeeding on their own are heroes. Blacks who insist that blacks cannot succeed on their own are also heroes. Racial tribalism goes one way, and trying to treat blacks like humans instead of a species of dependent animal is racist.
Blacks are not collectively responsible for anything done by any single individual, unless it's good. Whites are not collectively responsible for anything done by any single individual, unless it's bad.
Racial discrimination is illegal and has been for generations. Anyone caught engaging in it is financially destroyed and their reputation ruined. It is so dangerous that unethical influencers (like Sharpton and SPLC) use it as means of extortion, literally getting paid to not accuse people and entities of it. (which, BTW, gives these influences a direct pecuniary interest in racial discrimination being perceived to exist, even if it doesn't).
This reality summarized above is the 'systemic racism' that these stupid, lying lunatics are 'protesting.' It's all a lie. All of it. The premise of a racist society is a lie. The vacuous slogan that "Black Lives Matter" is a lie; if they did, they would give half a sh!t about the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of black murders in places like Chicago, DC, and St. Louis. But they don't. They never did and they never will. It's all a dishonest shakedown of the weak and gullible, enhanced by the Democrats who (as has been demonstrated) cannot win elections without black votes and large turnouts and so have every reason in the world to pander to and amplify every stupid, unfair, deceitful demand.
Anonymous-the-grammaticaster needs to attend to his own grammar and punctuation before lecturing others. Two examples will suffice.
'Last Saturday at our Cathedral's diaconate ordination ...' is a perfectly acceptable use of the genitive case. If I say 'Westminster Cathedral's ten o'clock Mass' I am not implying ownership. Even more so if I say 'one year's imprisonment'. My quibble would be that since more than one deacon was ordained, 'ordination' should be plural.
'Last Saturday at the diaconate ordination at our Cathedral ...' is clumsy with its repetition of 'at'.
When 'thus' or 'therefore' begins a sentence, it doesn't require a comma. See Fowler, 'Modern English Usage'. Inserting one wouldn't be wrong; however, over-use of the comma is generally regarded as bad style. And treating an obvious typographical error as a solecism constitutes bad manners.
Catholic churches might be closing virus or no virus if the left gets into power. President Trump's Pro Life policies are reason enough for Catholics to vote for him but almost as important is his protection of religious liberty.
DJR -
“Y’all” - yes I am aware of and can use American idioms.
You think I don’t have access to social media and TV / films?
Hey, UK guy, it is one thing for us southerners to mock our idioms but quite condescending for a UK @citizen/priest” to do so. Our idioms matter!
TJM
UK-priest exhibits all the prejudices and intolerance for long associated with the extreme left. Unless he addresses me personally I shall ignore him; if he does then I am quite capable of refuting his puerile views. If he expects Fr McDonald to ban everyone with a contrary opinion to his, he is being true to type but is on a hiding to nothing.
Beware of playing into his hands by making hyperbolic statements. The last two Islamist terror attacks in London (London Bridge in November 2019 and Streatham in February this year) involved knives; in both cases the perpetrators were shot dead by police. Both had previously been jailed but had been released on licence. Parliament moved quickly to end automatic early release for those convicted of terrorist-related or violent offences.
In the case of organized gangs of men of Pakistani origin exploiting vulnerable young white girls, the scandal was not that they were not prosecuted, tried and sentenced (they were), but that police were slow to investigate lest they be accused of 'institutional racism'. Religion didn't come into it; the crimes were sexual but racially aggravated.
Knives are a weapon of choice since unlike firearms they are easy to get hold of. Knife crime increased when the police scaled back 'stop and search', again for fear of being branded racist.
The footage of George Floyd's death is shocking enough. Even more shocking was the video released last year of the bloody aftermath of a fight between rival gangs in London. A policewoman is desperately trying to save the life of a young black man who has been disembowelled with a machete. Black lives matter because all lives matter.
Father McDonald,
Why won't Father Kavanaugh or one of his fellow travelers comment on the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Michigan violating social distancing rules by allowing massive gatherings of protesters (some of whom morph into looters and rioters). Does he no longer believe in science anymore?
John Nolan,
Thank you for your comments, which are always worth reading.
What I find frustrating with folks like UK Priest is that he knows very little of the United States and its politics. Obviously, I know as little of England's and should in the future follow my own rule and refrain from commenting on another country's issues.
Mr. Floyd's death at the hands of a vicious policeman would likely not have occurred if police were not members of public employee unions. The officer in question had years of complaints lodged against him for vicious conduct but his police public employee union always came to his defense and kept him on the force. It is virtually impossible to get rid of a bad cop because of police unions, which ironically, drum roll, please, are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Democratic Party. If Black Lives really mattered, the Democratic Party would force the unions to change their rules to make it easier to deal with cops like this. But they won't. A police officer who stood by allowing students to die in the Parkland High School shooting in Florida, has now been re-instated through his unions efforts. There has been no media outrage over that because 95% of the media in the US are leftists.
By the way, in the US you can no longer say "blacks lives matter because all lives matter." That is deemed racist.
UK Priest also seems extremely shallow spiritually and sounds more like a minion of the State than a priest.
TJM
The main systemic problem with the police (particularly the Metropolitan Police Service) is not casual brutality such as 'roughing up' suspects which was not unknown fifty years ago. Nor is it corruption (colluding with criminals) which was largely eliminated in the 1980s. Nor is it racism. No, the main problem is the unwillingness to hold senior officers to account for operational mistakes which have serious, sometimes lethal consequences. They remain in post and sometimes are even promoted, as in the case of Dame Cressida Dick who now heads up the MPS. She is the first woman to hold the post and also a lesbian, which cynics might say worked to her advantage.*
One positive result of having more women in senior positions is that the Masonic culture is less dominant. Membership of the Craft was at one time almost a necessity for promotion. It was peculiar to the police; the armed forces and the civil service were largely immune.
*In July 2005 Dick was in charge of a bungled anti-terrorist operation which resulted in the killing, which amounted to an 'execution', of an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes. More recently she was involved in the appallingly-handled Operation Midland. I'll leave you to google that one.
TJM - Fr. Kavanaugh has responded to your comments on earlier threads. You, then, in your typically childish and uncharitable manner, came back at him with rudeness and derision.
What on earth makes you think that he will respond to you now?
Anonymous at 2:54
No he has not responded to me on how he squares the Mayor of Chicago and Governor of Michigan allowing mass gatherings for protest but not for Church given his devotion to “science.” If you’d like to take a shot at it, be my guess
Fr McD - “ Hey, UK guy, it is one thing for us southerners to mock our idioms but quite condescending for a UK @citizen/priest” to do so. Our idioms matter!”
Thanks y’all, I’ll remember that after you call off your hound dogs TJM & Bob et al from labelling me far-leftist / Marxist, spiritually shallow, dim etc etc etc.
Also noting that you continue to allow their racist rants and dog-whistling comments. Perhaps they allow indirect expression of sentiments you sympathise with but cannot easily articulate publicly due to the limitations of your roman collar! Have you reflected on how your blog might impact upon the feelings of minority groups among your parishioners and their willingness to reach out to you for pastoral support?
Every blessing,
UK-Priest
PS - has your Vicar General been in contact yet?
TJM - No because you’re a waste of our time and beyond redemption. You’ve sold your soul to the devil and since you align with the crazy Vigano, we must assume you are part of the schismatic fringe!
And there you have it, folks.
TJM 9:08 - I know more about the US political system and politics than you assume I don’t know.
So now you’re blaming the police unions (which aren’t left-wing by any stretch of the imagination btw) for the brutal murder of George Floyd. Well yes they are part of the problem and block attempts to hold individual officers accountable.
But wait, it was the Trump administration that reversed reforms instigated by the previous administration (with bipartisan support) on this very issue. Oh and there’s video of a Trump rally where he has lines of police officers in rows standing behind him, while he tells them it’s okay to rough up suspects when you arrest them - don’t put your hand on their head to protect them while putting them in the back of your car, he says... and more. Trump signalled that police brutality was acceptable and effectively gave them the green light to act with impunity.
Law and Order - should mean the police and government are equally subject to the rule of law!
UK Priest,
Can we take the above to mean you have reported Fr McD to his bishop?
I believe you are at least a little too sensitive. I have heard it said that to be able to cope with and shrug off jibes and criticism etc, in fact to have in a healthy way a "thick skin", is one of the many gifts of the Holy Spirit.
You clearly find the views of some of the commentators here offensive; can't you see how some of the views you have expressed here may also be offensive to some?
I have no vicar general or bishop 🤧sede vacante!
UK-priest puzzles me. Normally if priests have extreme political opinions (either right or left) they are wise enough to keep them to themselves. At one time this would also have applied to ecclesiastical and doctrinal opinions, but given the polarized nature of the present-day Church this is perhaps too much to expect.
If a priest were to preach from the pulpit the condemnation of Western civilization that UK-priest regaled us with earlier, I would have no hesitation in standing up and challenging him. But I would not expect any priest to be crass enough to do so. Drawing attention to the profoundly anti-Christian nature of racism is another matter, as would be urging the just treatment of migrants, despite the fact that I am by no means in favour of unrestricted immigration.
UK-priest's interventions on this blog seem to have had effects which may well have been intended. Firstly they have given rise to anti-British sentiments from some commentators. Crudely insulting the US President, who (like him or not) was democratically elected, is to insult the American people, and not just those who voted for him. Secondly, by making provocative statements UK-priest elicits a reaction which he then castigates as 'racist'. Thirdly, having done so he uses this as a stick with which to beat Fr McDonald, whose blog this is.
I have been posting here for nine years. I don't care about personal attacks because I can give as good as I get (if not better, since I am more erudite and eloquent than those few who presume to attack me). Issues concerning the Catholic Church are not confined to one country, and there is a fruitful exchange of scholars between England and the USA. However, though not pretending much scholarship, I can at least contribute to the discussion from a slightly different perspective, and have learned a lot from other contributors.
Big Nose,
Police unions are wholly owned by the Democratic Party so why has there leadership not instituted reforms to discipline bad cops?
President Trump got prison reforms through that greatly benefit minorities, but you ignore that. Joe Biden was behind the laws that screwed them in the 1990s. Have you no shame, no decency?
John - We all know that, with your highly efficient rose coloured glasses firmly in place, you look at your preferred "Western culture" and simply cannot fathom how others might nor share your opinions and preferences.
Speaking as a life-long citizen of the United States and for all right-thinking US citizens, UK Priest or any other non-US citizen is most welcome to comment about the multiple failings, moral and otherwise, of President Trump. UK Priest's comments do not engender anti-British sentiments any more than your supercilious ("I am more erudite and eloquent than those few who presume to attack me") dismissal of others leads us to be enraged at "the British." In reaching for diplomatic high ground on this, you fail.
Your contributions here can be valuable. So can the contributions of others who do not share your self-assumed erudition and eloquence. Your perspective is one of many and it does not give your preferences, opinions, or contributions and pride of place.
Anonymous
I have never suggested otherwise. I don't claim the moral high ground, unlike some sanctimonious commentators on this blog. Everyone is free to challenge my assumptions and opinions. What I don't do (unlike some other contributors of which you are one) is to impute motives, intentions, even thoughts to others which cannot be reasonably inferred from what they have written.
John - What "high" motive might one have for asserting "I am more erudite and eloquent than those few who presume to attack me"? (I would point out that "attack me" is more than a bit self-serving, but it is a common thing today for people to claim victimhood when, in fact, someone has simply had the temerity to disagree with them.)
It is extremely easy to understand your motivation in that case. One need not be an Hercule Poirot or a Sherlock Holmes to figure it out.
It's two-fold - and it ain't pretty.
1. "You should listen to me, not to the others, because I am more erudite and eloquent."
Well, no we shouldn't because a. you might be wrong, and b. saying it with pretty language doesn't make it more accurate, and c. your assumption regarding your erudition is not necessarily accurate.
You've also shown yourself to be extremely prejudiced in favor of everything European, a prejudice that colors any appreciation you could have of us poor souls who don't share your geography.
2. "I pity those who are less eloquent and erudite - they are philistines."
Or, is there a motive I have not managed to infer?
No, don't hold forth on my use of quotation marks. I'm not saying that you said these things. And no, that's not what quotation marks must indicate. None of the words in Middlemarch that are found between quotation marks were ever said, either.
Anonymous
'You've also shown yourself to be extremely prejudiced in favor of everything European, a prejudice that colors any appreciation you could have of us poor souls who don't share your geography'.
That's wrong on several counts. I voted to leave the EU in 2016 (back in 1975 I voted to stay in what was then the European Economic Community). Many aspects of European society, and western society in general, I find deplorable. All the same, I would rather live in Europe or North America than anywhere else. This is less to do with prejudice than it has to do with astute observation of what things are like in the rest of the world.
European culture is not dependent on geography. For example, it is the predominant culture in north and south America. By all means deplore it as cultural imperialism and lament the fact that you are white, speak English, listen to Haydn and have read George Eliot, but even you must realize that it is a futile exercise.
To argue for the intrinsic superiority of European culture is not indicative of blind prejudice. To take one example, and it's a crucial one, viz. western classical music. Watching international music competitions such as 'Young Musician of the Year' one is struck by the number of supremely gifted artists who come from east Asia (Japan, Korea, China), areas which historically had little European penetration.
I would argue that the astonishing development and achievement of western music in the last thousand years is largely down to the Catholic Church. By the end of the first millennium Gregorian chant had reached such a level of sophistication and complexity that it required written notation, first by semiology (which is still important for interpretative purposes) and later by putting notes on a stave. Once it became possible to notate music in terms of pitch, polyphony could develop and the rest, as they say, is history.
Your last paragraph is a typical example of Kavanaugh-esque non sequitur, but I assume that it means that since 'Middlemarch' is a work of fiction, what its characters say is fictional, and your use of inverted commas indicates content which is equally fictitious.
John,
You must remember that millions of young people, in the West, since the 1970s, have been educated by teachers and university lecturers who stress how relative are our "truths" and how subjective are our values.
As the playwright, David Williamson, has stated it is possible you are dealing with 1 or 2 people here who basically believe that there is no reality other one constructed by words; and categories are constructed according to the power interests of groups advantaged by such constructions. He/she/they claim that the main intellectual labour confronting the humanities is to deconstruct these false categories and show them to be based not on objective reality or knowledge but generated by a group (especially conservative, white males) wishing to attain or maintain a power advantage.
Many young people in the west who believe they have, for example, mastered Postmodern literary theory, ie "Theory" can believe they are the powerful shamans of our time, they are like sorcerers who know all the rules of rhetorical deceit who can not only deconstruct all the literature and art of western civilization to show how complicit it has all been in the process of depriving women and LGBT people and people of colour of power, they can also expose all the fallacies and implausibilities in western, patriarchal ideology.... Also, even decipher almost all the puzzles in the known world!!
From the play "Dead White Males":
(A reincarnated) Shakespeare:
What hath caused all history to be littered with corpses, if not lust for power in the soul of man ?!
Angela (a young university student):
The western, patriarchal ideology CONSTRUCTS men obsessed with conquest and power !! And YOUR plays helped legitimise that obsession !
AJP
AJP
All the same, I am surprised that a Catholic priest should uncritically sign up to post-modern theory and deconstructionalist ideas regarding language. Or being so enslaved to relativism.
'In the beginning was the Word' But of course words have no definition outside context, and so 'cat' and 'dog' and indeed 'logos' don't really relate to anything at all ... blah, blah.
These theories are indeed open to challenge, and in the end will probably carry as much weight as phrenology and the phlogiston theory of combustion. At least these were an attempt at scientific explanation, rather the abstract conceits of pseudo-intellectuals.
John,
I think the playwright, David Williamson, who is politically left of centre, and a few other people have written brilliantly on this subject.
Williamson again:
I think the irritation that many feel with Postmodern theory springs from the fact that "Theory" itself can be seen as a grab after power and prestige within the academy AND the wider community by those who espouse it.....in part, this claim to authority and prestige is based on overstatement of the domain of legitimacy of Theory... The claim that there is no reality other than the reality created by words is at the heart of this overstatement.
Most of us know in our bones that there is a reality out there that has not merely been created by rhetorical sleight of hand and are annoyed when this possibility is denied.
Also, while "patriarchal ideology" can be found in various works of the historically great western writers it is NOT all that can be found.
Many followers of Foucault and Derrida etc would regard as fools those of us who still think the works of the "Dead White Males", from Dante, to Shakespeare, to Dostoyevsky etc, can still reach out to us from the past with truths about life and our common human nature.
I look forward to an era of POST - POSTMODERNISM.
I look forward to a Post Post-Christian era in the future.
GS.
Of much greater significance for the West and the Catholic Church are the followers of Antonio Gramsci, d. 1937;
rather than those caught up in the nonsense of Foucault and Derrida from only the 1970s till the present.
By the 1970s, many neo-Marxist followers of Antonio Gramsci had successfully made their "long march" into and through many institutions in the west; from schools and universities to the media and so on ....and also the Catholic Church.
Gramsci actually knew a lot about the Catholic Church; he even knew Thomist philosophy. He knew that for socialism/communism to be bought about the focus should not be on overthrowing capitalism but the focus should be on neo Marxists, leftists in general, successfully establishing themselves within the cultural institutions of Western capitalist societies, including the Catholic Church.
Gramsci died in 1937. 83 years later, in 2020, how many thousands of neo Marxists, leftist secular humanists, "democratic" socialists etc in the USA (and the UK, Canada, France and Australia and so on) hold influential positions in universities, the media and the different Christian denominations?
Many thousands!
BTW the Gramscian (sp?) neo Marxist war cry "the long march through the institutions" was actually coined by a 1960s radical student leader in Germany.
I know I am writing here what most who read this blog already know but it is incredible to reread a few old university texts and re-listen to a few old YouTube clips discussing Gramsci, cultural hegemony etc and then reflect how so MANY politicians, academics, media people (and Church leaders too!!) are now reacting to and reporting on what we've seen take place on the streets of major cities in the west over the past 2 weeks.
A previous successful long term infiltration of Leftists into western cultural institutions is the only explanation for what is now taking place.
That above should have been:
A focus not on a sudden, violent overthrow of capitalist political institutions but instead a long slow march through the cultural institutions of the capitalist west, including the Catholic Church.
BTW I read somewhere today the famous British Fabian socialists had a saying:
"Out of Chaos Order".
PS:
Thus it is wrong in many ways to regard the past month as a time when "decades happen in weeks.", as some journalists on the left and right are claiming...
There is some truth in that quote applied to the present, but events have unfolded as they have over recent weeks and months only because of decades of people, with leftist/socialist views, in the west becoming journalists, academics, politicians and leading churchmen; journalist especially; many journalists in recent years have been simultaneously political activists; though many would claim many Church leaders and academics are equally and simultaneously leftist activists.
PSPS However, it is true that that Chinese curse is upon us:
" May you live in interesting times !!"
The Left doesn't have all the running. The intellectual Right has considerable heft, despite the loss to cancer earlier this year of the philosopher Sir Roger Scruton. There are academics and journalists who are ready and able to challenge the left-wing 'consensus'. They are aided by two important factors. Firstly, much left-wing thought is intellectually lazy, and its tendentious view of history is not shared by most historians. Secondly, most of the population at large is conservative (with a small or large C).
Check out New Culture Forum on Youtube for a mature analysis of current issues from a right-wing standpoint.
John,
Thank you for your reply.
Yes, it is true what you wrote re the Left not having and or not had "all the running"....
BUT, as one quite well educated who lived through an era in the UK when trades unions were SO powerful in the UK, until largely tamed by Margaret Thatcher, you must be aware of the fact that any institution (like a UK trades union) may have anywhere from 40% to 80% socially and even politically "small c" conservative members, it only takes as little as 10% even 5% hard core leftist activists to push, to a significant extent, that institution in a leftist direction.
And I am sure institutions in the UK TODAY from Oxbridge academics to BBC journalists and the good old C of E have leading members who are quite Left in outlooks and beliefs and they would make up far more than 10% of the above named institutions.
AJP
PS I have enjoyed reading almost everything Paul Johnson ever wrote. Johnson must be in his 90s now. BTW
Have you read any of his books? He is I believe not only a great popular historian, but a man with brilliant insights into the politics, religion and culture of our modern era.
AJP
Paul Johnson is an example of someone who started on the left but moved to the right since as an intelligent man he came to see the left for what it is.
He's fairly sound on Catholic issues, apart from the fact that he wants women priests.
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