Diabolus and Fidelius -- Act II
- Wed 19th November 2008, 10:52 am
Once again, here are Diabolus and Fidelius with a post-election recap.
Diabolus: Guess who’s here???
Fidelius: Not you again!
Diabolus: Oh but it is.
Fidelius: You still realize that we can’t talk.
Diabolus: That might be true if I were the devil.
Fidelius: Are you?
Diabolus: What do you think?
Fidelius: I have no way of knowing, you tell me
Diabolus: Just like you had no way of knowing what you did when you did your civic duty last Tuesday?
Fidelius: I voted my conscience!
Diabolus: You mean you voted the way your bishop told you to vote.
Fidelius: He told us no such thing!
Diabolus: Then why are you having second thoughts about how you voted?
Fidelius: I have no regrets or second thoughts – life’s too short for that.
Diabolus: Then why does it bother you that you and others voted to strip gays of a right formerly guaranteed by the constitution?
Fidelius: It does not!
Diabolus: Remember who you’re talking to.
Fidelius: YOU are NOT my conscience…maybe you’re just that piece of chicken mole poblano that’s giving me heartburn!
Diabolus: Hmmm, not the most flattering thing I’ve ever been called… yet it is a tasty dish….
Fidelius: Like I said, you are what you are – the Evil one.
Diabolus: Did I ever suggest that you do something wrong or illegal?
Fidelius: You suggested I go against my bishop and holy mother church on both of these issues.
Diabolus: So why did you vote the way you did?
Fidelius: How do you know how I voted?
Diabolus: I was there, remember.
Fidelius: I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: There are no views but those of the church
Diabolus: Yet you had a hard time voting the way the bishop told you to.
Fidelius: How did you know about that?
Diabolus: Like I said, I was there…Besides, I know it’s eating you up inside.
Fidelius: It was the will of God
Diabolus: Just like it was the will of God that you lived with Cynthia for 2 years before you got married? That when you tried initially to get married in the church, the pastor and bishop denied you because of this and because she’s an evangelical Protestant? On top of that, the state nearly denied you a marriage license because of the color of her skin if I remember right.
Fidelius: That was different. What Cynthia and I were trying to do is natural.
Diabolus: Says who?
Fidelius: God! – Genesis 1: Be fruitful and multiply. Further, Per Humanae Vitae and the larger tradition of the church, marriage exists for fulfillment of the parties and the procreation of children.
Diabolus: But you’re in violation of God’s law on that one too. Three children in 20 years….you ought to have at least seven!
Fidelius: And Cynthia would have been dead due to her female problems that come from having children like that – her last pregnancy almost killed her.
Diabolus: So, you love your wife more than God or his laws.
Fidelius: Not true at all.
Diabolus: Then why did you two have sex last night when you both knew there was no chance of pregnancy resulting from it?
Fidelius: Hey! That’s personal!
Diabolus: You know, that’s what millions of Gay couples do every night.
Fidelius: Stop talking like that…it makes me squirm. It’s wrong.
Diabolus: Is that why you voted the way you did?
Fidelius: I’m not telling you.
Diabolus: Is the memory of David Farnsworth the fag getting the better of you after the fact?
Fidelius: We can’t let children get the wrong ideas. Being Gay is wrong. End of Story!
Diabolus: Another good line of demagoguery. David’s partner couldn’t be with him in the end because of hospital policy nor receive his estate due to state law – do you want Cynthia similarly barred when you’re on your deathbed? No chance to see her one last time?
Fidelius: What Cynthia and I have is the natural order of things.
Diabolus: Yet what David and Gary had also is too – remember. They’re finding that being gay is something you’re born with. Since that’s the case, it’s within the natural order of things for gays to pair up with members of the same sex.
Fidelius: It’s intrinsically disordered.
Diabolus: Doesn’t discount the fact that you voted to deny rights to people both times. First, you voted against legalized abortion and pregnant women in distress with your presidential pick, and again when you voted for the constitutional ban on Gay Marriage.
Fidelius: That’s because both of those issues are intrinsically evil and wrong.
Diabolus: Yet denying basic rights to God’s creatures is not?
Fidelius: I voted for the initiative that set standards for humane animal treatment!
Diabolus: Yet you voted against fidelity and for promiscuity.
Fidelius: And I have no problem with it.
Diabolus: Do you now? You still wonder what you could have done about David and Gary.
Fidelius: My salvation was at stake if I didn’t do what Holy Mother Church and my Bishop said. Eternity’s a long time and hell gets really hot you know.
Diabolus: We all have free will to do good, why didn’t you use it?
Fidelius: Why are you lecturing me on Moral Theology?
Diabolus: Because you could have allowed these rights to go forward and not have risked your salvation. The fact that one of them won and not the other might move you up a few levels in hell… I don’t know if it will get you to purgatory though….
Fidelius: Hey! Who are you to say where I will spend my eternity? I attend mass every Sunday, even go to the Tridentine High mass when it’s offered, go to confession, pray my rosary and everything.
Diabolus: But you made a choice against God given rights…and it bothers you.
Fidelius: God said nothing about Gay rights – in fact he’s on record as being against them in the bible.
Diabolus: He’s also on record there as being in favor of slavery.
Fidelius: It’s not the same thing!
Diabolus: Whatever man. Look I gotta Jam. More souls to torment you know.
Fidelius: What about me?
Diabolus: You’re hopeless!
Fidelius: Hopeless?!?!
Diabolus: Yep. You participated in a church sanctioned lynching.
Fidelius: DID NOT!
Diabolus: Oh, but you did, and it bothers you… Look I gotta scram.. Later!
What is Communion….Really
- Sat 15th November 2008, 7:58 am
The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States and Joe Biden as Vice President has caused some serious issues for the country’s Catholic Bishops – specifically around the issue of abortion. Although the Democratic party platform that Obama ran on calls for social services and other means to reduce the number of abortions short of re-criminalizing it, the Bishops will accept nothing short of re-criminalization. Additionally, Vice President-Elect Biden is Catholic and always supported keeping abortion legal. Some bishops have advocated denying him and other pro choice Catholic politicians communion over the issue, as has happened with Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Rudolph Giuliani the former mayor of New York city – who interestingly enough received communion at a mass presided over by the pope himself!
These issues should cause us to ask ourselves this question: What is communion? Is it a wafer that the priest zapped in an elaborate cultic ceremony, or is it more? The answer can be found with some examination of languages involved. Our term communion comes from the Latin Comunio, which is a translation of the Greek term κοινονια (koinonia). This term can mean fellowship, but it can also be used as an adjective to describe something that is held in common. This can be anything from property, weapons and language, to beliefs. While the consecrated body and blood of Christ, under the appearances of bread and wine are something we hold in common, we also have in common the faith that Christ came to that whoever believes in him will have eternal life, which for the earliest Christians meant a reprieve from Hades – the Greek underworld.
That being said, there is no question that abortion is an intrinsic evil. Other intrinsic evils that we face here in this world include War, Murder, Disease, Poverty, Crime, and our own imperfections. While we can do our best to bring forth these kinds of changes, we need to keep in mind the words Jesus said before Pilate in John 18:36 “My kingdom does not belong to this cosmos/world;” While most theologians think Jesus was describing the state of things prior to his crucifixion and resurrection, the evidence around us is strong enough to say that the kingdom of God is still not here, as all of these bad things still happen and the randomness is still here. Therefore it is prudent especially in these times to take Jesus at his word.
Since that is the case, while not every Roman Catholic can agree on methodology or strategy for reducing/eliminating abortion, we can all agree on our faith in Jesus. That being said, nobody has a right to deny communion to anybody. That wafer, aside from being the Body of Christ, Symbolizes something much bigger – the faith in Jesus that united the earliest Christians and continues to unite us today.
21st Century Congratulates President-Elect Barack Obama
- Wed 5th November 2008, 3:17 pm
On behalf of everybody involved with 21stcenturycatholic.net and our sister site Theologika.net, I would like to congragulate Barack Obama on his election as President of the United States. As the first African American to hold this office, he continues the great dream that the great Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about back in 1963.
May God be with him as he guides our country.
A Prayer for America At Election Time and Beyond
- Sun 2nd November 2008, 5:37 pm
Immaculate Heart of Mary - Artist unknown - U. Dayton
In the days and weeks leading up to the 2008 election in the United States, we’ve seen tons of ink, forests of paper and kilobytes of words on the internet used to address issues of life and freedom that we face as a nation. We at Theologika.net and sister site, 21stcenturycatholic.net offer our prayer for America at this time of the election and as we move into the challenges of the days, weeks and years to come. It is a prayer to Our Lady because she is the patroness of our country.
Most Blessed Virgin, Mary,
Our country is at its most critical crossroads in its history. We entrust it to your loving care.
Most Holy Mother, we beg you and your Son to be with us as we face this crossroads.
Overwhelmed by our problems and sins, we cry from the depths of our pain for your motherly protection and guidance.
Look with mercy on us and touch the hearts of your imperfect people.
Open our minds to the broader responsibilities of caring for your human family, which comes from our divine gift of freedom.
Guide and inform us so we can best deal with the issues of life and death, which have so grievously divided us.
Pray for us that we may receive the wisdom, clarity and openness of thinking we need to make the best choices we can on behalf of our human family, for our common good.
Oh Merciful Mother, intercede for us with your Son, who through the power of the Holy Spirit has entrusted to us the care of your people and creation and is the true source of our cherished rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We ask for this grace in the Name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the Unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
May the Lord bless and guide each of us as we vote in accordance with our own individual consciences.
