Catholic and Loving it!
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Hello! My name is James Preece and I'm a Catholic... This is my blog. My wife has nothing to do with it!
james@lovingit.co.uk
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What do Catholics believe?
God so loved the world that he gave his only son...
Pope Benedict Visit
The UNOFFICIAL Website of the Papal Visit
Sunday 28 Nov 2010
Making the Advent Wreath
Blogged by James Preece 10 Hours ago...
Pink one! Can we light the pink one?! Can we? Can we? Can we?
Um... no. Sorry. You have to wait weeks...
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Smurfs in the Snow
Blogged by James Preece 13 Hours ago...
Last year it snowed and I tried to buy a sledge, only to discover that all the sledges were sold out. This year I was determined to have a sledge - a couple of weeks ago it was a bit frosty one morning and I got myself straight to it, realising of course that I would have weeks and weeks to wait for the snow, if we even got any at all.
Little did I know I only had days to wait...
More photos here.
Song I had stuck in my head the whole time here:
embed
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Friday 26 Nov 2010
Vigil For All Nascent Human Life
Blogged by James Preece 2 Days ago...
This Saturday Pope Benedict will celebrate a vigil for all nascent human life (life in it's earlies stages). He has invited Bishops all across the world to join him.
Here in Middlesbrough Diocese there will be a vigil at the Cathedral beginning at 3pm with Eucharisic adoration and an opportunity for confession, then Mass at 6.30pm. "All are strongly encouraged to join us in this Spiritual Union with The Holy Father."
Ella and I will be going to Leeds (closer) where the vigil coincides with the visit of the relic image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Leeds vigil begins at 12:30pm and concludes with mass at 6pm.
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Pray for the Shinobi's friend...
Blogged by James Preece 2 Days ago...
One of the things priests don't realise is that when they do a bodge job it's people like the Shinobi that end up having long chats with people trying to put it right.
Stop watering down the paint guys - then it won't come off in the rain.
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Thursday 25 Nov 2010
Cardinal Burke: Pope in no sense saying that the use of condoms is a good thing.
Blogged by James Preece 3 Days ago...
Raymond Cardinal Burke (whose press secretary presumably didn't get the memo about keeping quiet on this one) has weighed in on the whole Pope condom thing...
I don rsquo;t see any change in the Church rsquo;s teaching. What [Pope Benedict] is commenting on mdash; in fact, he makes the statement very clearly that the Church does not regard the use of condoms as a real or a moral solution mdash; but what he rsquo;s talking about in the point he makes about the male prostitute is about a certain conversion process taking place in an individual rsquo;s life. He rsquo;s simply making the comment that if a person who is given to prostitution at least considers using a condom to prevent giving the disease to another person mdash; even though the effectiveness of this is very questionable mdash; this could be a sign of someone who is having a certain moral awakening. But in no way does it mean that prostitution is morally acceptable, nor does it mean that the use of condoms is morally acceptable.
The point the Pope is making is about a certain growth in freedom, an overcoming of an enslavement to a sexual activity that is morally repugnant [unacceptable] so that this concern to use a condom in order not to infect a sexual partner could at least be a sign of some moral awakening in the individual, which one hopes would lead the individual to understand that his activity is a trivialization of human sexuality and needs to be changed hellip;
The text itself makes it very clear that he says the Church does not regard it as a real or moral solution. And when he says that it could be a first step in a movement toward a different, more human way of living sexuality, that doesn rsquo;t mean in any sense that he rsquo;s saying the use of condoms is a good thing.
[link]
Come on guys, this is not difficult.
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Sin now morally justified as long as you can think of something worse...
Blogged by James Preece 3 Days ago...
It's been a couple of years now since a priest told me to stop worrying about his abuse of the liturgy because "there are so many greater wrong in the world" such as "genocide, abortion and war". No kidding - he said I was to ignore anything silly at mass because at least it wasn't genocide.
I thought he was wrong, actually I thought he was a complete moron - turns out he was at the cutting edge of moral theology. That must be why Bishop Drainey made him a Canon.
Regardless of what Pope Benedicts words on condoms might have actually been, you know, what they actually mean when you read them, it turns out that he was actually speaking in a clever code that only people much cleverer than me can understand. What he actually mean't was this: If you are going to do something evil but you find a way to lessen the damage a bit then you are morally justified.
This is fantastic.
You see, I was going to go down the road and beat an old lady to death with a cricket bat but I won't do that - I will beat my wife instead and leave her alive. Because I intend to reduce the amount of death and suffering involved I am morally justified! Hooray!
Then I reckon I might go to the shops and steal loads and loads of beer. Oh wait, I intend to reduce the amount of revenue lost, I'll only steal a few cans. I am morally justified! After I drink the beer my wife will probably have locked me out of the house (after the beating) so I will probably go and rape someone... hmm, that might cause suffering. In my intention to reduce suffering I will use a prostitute instead. Using a prostitute instead of rape is now morally justified!
None of you can say anything about it because I haven't committed genocide, had an abortion or started a war so to be honest, I've not really done anything wrong at all. I'm taking steps towards rightness!
Christianity just got so much more exciting.
Clarification:
Apologies, I thought this was clear but perhaps it is not. These days a lot of people arrive at my blog via google etc and read posts in isolation. This blog post makes little sense on it's own.
My point here is that many people are saying that Pope Benedict said that choosing one evil over another was "morally justified". I don't see how choosing any evil can ever be "morally justified" simply because somebody can think of a worse one. Hence the blog post above which is a sarcastic parody of that view.
They say that choosing fornication with a condom is morally justified because at least it isn't fornication without a condom. They might as well say that stealing four cans of beer is justified because at least it isn't five.
It is the intention to reduce harm that Pope Benedict specifically identified as a step towards a different way of living sexuality.
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Archbishop Nichols' Press Secretary: Reporting has been fair.
Blogged by James Preece 3 Days ago...
Alexander Des Forges is Archbishop Vincent Nichol's press secretary. He also seems to be involved with the Catholic Communications Network whose email address he used to send the following to most (if not all) of the diocesan communications officers in the country, instructing them not to "get involved".
Sent: Sunday, 21 November, 2010 10:25:55 Subject: FW: Background notes for guidance on the issue of what Pope Benedict said re. condoms These are background notes for guidance on the issue of what Pope Benedict said re condoms. Media reports are stating that this is a major change in Catholic teaching (I don rsquo;t think that is the case but the tone is significant and is clearly a pointer to the way thinking on the issue is going). That would be for the Holy See to say so we should not get involved in those conversations. I think the reporting has been fair, but the lead on this should come from the Holy See rather than statements from us. The guidance below can be used to help reporters factually and put the comments in some context. Best wishes Alexander
The media reporting has been fair - we should not get involved.
The Pope will just have to deal with this on his own?
Wow.
Somebody should have told the bloggers. We've witnessed widespread misquoting, misrepresentation and subsequent confusion. We've seen headlines like "Pope Benedict says that condoms can be used to stop the spread of HIV" (here) which definitely do not fairly represent what he actually said.
Will any of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales be doing their bit to counter the media narrative? Will they like Cardinal Burke be helping to clarify what Pope Benedict actually said?
No. Because Vincent Nichol's media man has told them not to.
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Wednesday 24 Nov 2010
What Pope Benedict said about condoms...
Blogged by James Preece 4 Days ago...
The world has gone mad it really has. I expected the media to misrepresent to Pope - that goes without saying, but all over the internet there are people I highly respect saying things that are, as far as I can see, plain wrong.
Reading the original text...
Here are the relevant passages from the Ignatius press website:
There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.
Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?
She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.
[link]
This all seems quite reasonable to me and nowhere near as exciting as the headlines might suggest.
What Pope Benedict did not say...
Damian Thompson has said that Pope Benedict “did say that the use of condoms was justified in certain circumstances. No he didn’t. He also did not say “condoms use is not always bad” or “if people are going to have sex anyway they should at least use a condom”. He didn’t say any of those things.
I’ve heard Catholics doing everything from praising Pope Benedict for saying these things to criticising him and it’s all absurd because as far as I can see he didn’t say any of them!
Moralisation - I do not think it always means what you think it means...
There is a real ambiguity with this word. It can mean “to make morally right” as a bad thing can undergo moralisation and become a good thing but that is not always what the word means. Take a quick glance at a dictionary and you will discover that moralising can also mean “to think and speak about morals”.
This is important because if you look at the text, Pope Benedict qualifies his “first step in the direction of a moralization” as being a “step on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants”. It is very clear he is not saying “a step on the way toward a morally right situation”.
His “step” is a step towards thinking about rightness, not a step towards rightness. This is an important distinction.
A handy analogy might be a conversation about chess. A player might make one bad move or they might make a different bad move and I might say “in choosing one bad move over another they are making a step towards thinking about chess”. I wouldn’t be saying anything about whether one of the bad moves was better than the other.
It’s in the intention...
Pope Benedict then goes on to say that using a condom is the first step towards a more human sexuality... doesn’t he? No wait. He actually says this: “there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.”
There are two things going on here: 1) A man is intending to reduce the risk of infection. 2) The man is putting on a condom. In which of these things does the Pope say there may be a first step toward a more human way of living sexuality?
If you answered “in the putting on of a condom” then you can’t read.
It’s in the intention! Not in the action... He clearly says “there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step...” and not “there can be nonetheless, in the putting on of a condom, a first step...” Again, this is a major difference.
Pope Benedict is not saying anything here about the act of using a condom. He speaks only about the intention. It is quite possible to have good intentions and do something very wrong. For example, many people these days intend to reduce suffering (very admirable) but unfortunately they choose to do so by killing the elderly and the unborn (not admirable at all).
So what does he say about condoms?
Once we remove all the sentences about steps towards thinking about morality, intentions etc we are only really left with this...
1) Condoms are “not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection”2) Condoms are not “a real or moral solution”
That’s all folks.
Being very careful about the language we use...
I’ve already emailed one or two fellow bloggers about this. We must be very careful not to write that the Pope has said that using a condom “is a step towards a more human sexuality”. Pope Benedict didn’t say that. He only said using a condom was a step towards thinking about morality, then he said that the intention to reduce infection was a step towards a more human sexuality.
This is why I think Fr Lombardi at the Vatican press office made a mistake. Given how many people are saying Pope Benedict made a mistake I think I can get away with suggesting Fr Lombardi slipped up. He issued a clarification which said that the Pope “believes that the use of condoms to reduce the risk of infection is a "first step on the road to a more human sexuality”, rather than not to use it and risking the lives of others”
That is simply not what the Pope said. The Pope didn’t say “the use of condoms” is a first step. He said “in the intention to reduce infection, there is a first step”. A big difference. I’ve seen quite a few well meaning bloggers repeat the same mistake. Indeed, this is where Fr John Boyle goes wrong when he says “Holy Father, since you allow me the freedom to do so, I respectfully disagree. I cannot see how the introduction of a condom into sodomic relations is in any way a first step in a movement toward a more human way of living sexuality.
The fact is that the Holy Father didn’t say the “introduction of a condom” was a first step toward a more human way of living sexuality. Rather, he said that there was “in the intention to reduce infection” a step towards a more human way of living sexuality.
The consequences of all this...
While I don't think the Pope said anything wrong, he certainly hasn’t done me any favours.
It is now almost certain that the “Catholic” school my child attends will distribute contraception. They will argue that teenagers will have sex anyway and Pope Benedict said that it is better to use a condom than not to use one. I will argue about it as above and they will tell me that if there was a problem surely the Bishop would say something, I will write to the Bishop, he will refer me to CES who will refer me to the Bishop again who will tell me that he has every confidence in our excellent (Ofsted said so) schools. Everybody will tell me that I obviously lack charity.
Of course, that would probably have all happened anyway.
Just to be extra clear:
1) Pope Benedict said that using a condom can be a first step towards thinking about right and wrong and not that it is a step towards rightness. He most definitely did not say that using a condom is ever justified.
2) Pope Benedict said that in the intention to reduce infection there may be a step towards a more human sexuality. He most definitely did not say that putting on the condom was a step towards a more human sexuality.
I should add that as others have pointed out this is an interview and not a teaching document. We are free to disagree with it. In another part of the book Pope Benedict even says himself that we are free to disagree with him on this - I just happen to think he is right on this one. I certainly don’t think others are wrong just because they disagree with the Pope, I just think they are wrong about what they think he said.
Rate this blogentry:+- +31
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Year for Priests
Recent Comments
MariaHow very sad, Kennyp. May I recommend that all those who don't have a parish or community vigil in their area, gather...NikkiKatAgree with Maria (beautiful name!): if there are no community vigils available, please just join the Holy Father in...SarahA quick look back over James' blog and it's pretty clear that Jack Valero has been laying the groundwork for a...Paul PriestJack receive an apology?I'll apologise to Jack when he takes a stand on what he believes:That Austen Ivereigh's...fra fredrikNot quite right, Deo gratias. Fr John Emerson FSSP held a vigil in the FSSP house oratory in Edinburgh, yesterday...
When someone gives you a gift reply with Thank You Cards. When our Father
God gives you a gift reply by living through his will. And acting with kindness and love.a
Ceramic
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To the Blessed Virgin Prayer for England
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy "Dowry" and upon us all who
greatly hope and trust in thee.
By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world; and He has given thee to us that we
might hope still more.
Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the cross.O sorrowful Mother! intercede for our separated
brethren,
that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son.Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith
fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee, in our heavenly home.
Amen.
Couple's Prayer
O God, our heavenly Father, protect and bless us. Deepen and strengthen our love for each other day by day.
Grant that by thy mercy, neither of us may ever say one unkind word to the other. Forgive and correct our faults, and make us constantly to forgive one another should one of us unconsciously
hurt the other.
Make us and keep us sound and well in body, alert in mind, tender in heart, and devout in spirit. O Lord, grant us each to rise
to the other's best. Then, we pray thee, add to our common life such virtues as only thou canst give.And so, O Father, consecrate our life and love
completely to thy worship, and to the service of all about us, especially those whom thou hast appointed us to serve, that we may always stand before
thee in happiness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Babies Bedtime Prayer
Father, thankyou for all the good things that have happened to me today.Thankyou for keeping me safe and well, thankyou for fun and laughter
with my friends, thank you for what I have learned, thank you for all those that I love.
Help us all to sleep soundly tonight.
Amen.
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