Tequila, dissent, and Vatican III; 'Give Cures' campaign

By Matt C. Abbott

A reader wrote (edited):

Friday, I spent eight hours with a former priest who was booted for doing something nasty with an adolescent years ago. (Why? Recall that even Jesus ate with sinners.) He's in close touch with the remaining priests in the scandal-ridden [redacted] diocese. Over some tequila, he revealed that he thinks the Church is wrong on not ordaining women, on not ordaining married men, and used flawed logic in banning contraception.

The First Vatican Council was about the papacy. Vatican II was about bishops and priests. Vatican III should be about the laity. Let's get that ball rolling! [seemingly tongue-in-cheek]

It certainly doesn't surprise me that this troubled ex-priest with whom the reader was socializing is a liberal dissenter. As one faithful priest recently stated to me: "Where there is dissent, there are problems below the waist."

Or, to put it another way: Wherever there is a disordered spirituality, there is a disordered sexuality.

And speaking of Vatican III...

Former media mogul Conrad Black has penned an "ode" to Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, in which he writes:

It was 90 years between the first and second Vatican councils, and when the third one occurs, there will be some accommodation of the reality of contraception (which is not generally considered a confessable infraction anyway), and probably wider eligibility for the priesthood....

So Black believes the use of contraception isn't "generally considered a confessable infraction anyway"? Really? Considered by whom? I think he needs to buy a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and quickly.

From the Catechism (section 2370):

Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, 'every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible' is intrinsically evil:


Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality.... The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle ... involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.

That which is intrinsically evil — in this case, the use of contraception — is definitely something a Catholic needs to bring to confession. Perhaps Black has been led astray by the very poor post-Vatican II catechesis that is so pervasive in the Church today, thanks in large part to dissident clergy, religious and laity. Or maybe he just doesn't give a hoot one way or another.

Kind of like Vice President Joe Biden.

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From Kim Lehman, director of the Give Cures campaign (edited):

Who knows about Give Cures, the John Paul II Medical Research Institute's campaign to raise funds for ethical cancer research? It's brand new. Give Cures is focused on funding research to find cures while protecting life. You can help make a difference.

October is Cancer Awareness Month, a time when people all over the country help raise funds for cancer research. Many of them want to know who does ethical research that does not use embryos or aborted-baby tissue. They're looking to give to a research group that does not support embryonic stem-cell research.

Help get the word out about the campaign by sharing the Give Cures flyer with your church or friends. Go to www.GiveCures.org to download the flyer and share it with the pro-life committee at your church. This is a simple way to help more people know about the John Paul II Medical Research Institute so they can give to ethical research. Become a volunteer to help spread the word.

© Matt C. Abbott