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War Crimes and Genocide in Gaza?
Back in May 2024, the question was posed: Has Israel lost the war against Hamas? To recap: Israel’s original intention for counter attacking Hamas - its “jus ad bellum,” - i.e. the conditions under which states resort to war - was to recue the hostages and also to eliminate Hamas because of its ongoing threat to Israel. It was not revenge for the horrors of October 7 th , 2023, although that was the immediate cause. It was about the damage that Hamas could do in the future given it stated intent to annihilate Israel. Is Israel aiming for a realistic, achievable goals? Rescuing hostages is a clear and potentially achievable end. But is eliminating Hamas possible? How do you reduce civilian casualties in the face of Hamas tactics? Is her present strategy producing more chaos? Is her approach encouraging future terrorist attacks on her. Is there an alternative approach? As the war goes on and civilian deaths rise, questions increasingly surface about Israel’s conduct ...
Rose Hudson-Wilkin advancing the CofE party line on immigration.
ReplyDeleteI don't even want to think about Rose Hudson-Wilkin.... Can't she also emigrate if she is so enamoured of the idea?
DeleteWelby's legacy is a hierarchy stuffed with miserable ideologues, whose priorities are those of Twitter, not Christ. Every time I feel a little bit nostalgic for my CofE days, today's version of it slaps me in the face.
DeleteWhat might be a little bit unusual about a book entitled Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing?
ReplyDeletehttps://medium.com/@artofkissing/heal-me-with-your-mouth-the-art-of-kissing-c5300a81bb93
Answer: The author is an archbishop who has just been named as the new head of the Dicastery (formerly the Congregation) for the Doctrine of the Faith. The press release announcing his appointment lists twenty-something books he has written, though this one isn’t mentioned.
https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/07/01/230701a.html
@Ray,
DeletePerhaps he's a latterday John Donne (who became Dean of St. Pauls when he was done with the snogging)!
"So, so, break off this last lamenting kiss,
Which sucks two souls, and vapours both away,
Turn thou ghost that way, and let me turn this,
And let ourselves benight our happiest day,
We asked none leave to love; nor will we owe
Any, so cheap a death, as saying, Go;
Go; and if that word have not quite killed thee,
Ease me with death, by bidding me go too.
Oh, if it have, let my word work on me,
And a just office on a murderer do."
Except I'm betting he's not...
HJ won't post it, but one can read some of his advice to married couples on kissing here’s.
DeleteHis advice is sound but HJ isn't sure it's the place of a priest to offer it.
This is clearly a highly controversial appointment. Archbishop Fernández is also accused of covering up sex abuse by a priest who eventually committed suicide. Surely it can't be good for the Church, can it?
DeleteNo, but this is unrecognisable to me as "the Church".
DeleteHJ is right, it's not the place of a priest to be offering this kind of advice, and frankly it comes across as a bit creepy. Besides, according to Wiki, Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández entered seminary at age 16, so what on earth does he know about 'slow, deliberate, tremulous kisses', sexual intimacy and the 'thermometer of love'?
DeleteAll of the monastic Orthodox priests I know will tell people to consult married priests about conjugal concerns. But I'm sure that even married priests would consider someone a bit odd if they started to ask for on the mechanics of kissing.
Every appointment by Pope Francis is controversial these days.
DeleteHere's the archbishop’s Facebook post on his book:
Dear friends,
I am heartily grateful for the greetings and prayers of so many of you who have written to me through this medium, by e-mail and by different means, in addition to the telephone calls. I have been overwhelmed for almost three days by so much affection from my brothers and sisters.
On the other hand, there are also groups opposed to Francis who are enraged, and who go so far as to use unethical means to harm me. For example, for years they have been referring to a little book of mine that no longer exists, which spoke about the kiss. I was inspired by a phrase from the time of the Fathers of the Church that said that the incarnation was like a kiss from God to humanity.
At that time I was very young, I was a parish priest, and I was trying to reach out to young people. Then it occurred to me to write a catechesis for teenagers based on the meaning of the kiss. I wrote this catechesis with the participation of a group of young people who contributed ideas, phrases, poems, etc…
Well, what these extreme groups do is to say: “Look at the low quality of this theologian, look at the nonsense he wrote, look at the low ability he has.” They have been ridiculing me for years with quotes from that book.
But a catechesis for teenagers is not a book of Theology, there is a great difference in literary genre. A catechesis of a parish priest for teenagers cannot be asked to be a manual of Theology.
And I am proud to have been that young parish priest who tried to reach out to everyone using the most diverse languages. That is why when the Pope speaks of my curriculum vitae he mentions that I was dean of the Faculty of Theology, but at the same time he says that I was pastor of “Santa Teresita.” For him it is important for a theologian to get down in the mud and try to use a simple language that reaches everyone.
I also have written books at higher levels, I have written several articles in the magazine “Angelicum” and in the “Nouvelle Revue Théologique,” for example, texts that perhaps few understand. But the task of a theologian is not limited to these texts.
Worse still, since these attacks come from Catholics in the United States, and they do not know Spanish, they mistranslate one of the poems in the book. They translate the word “bruja” (witch) as “puta” (bitch). But the book says “bruja.” They have no right to change my words. It seems they have no ethics for this, and it’s not the first time they have done it to me.
Anyway, they will continue to say many things, and they will ally with whomever they can in order to attack Francis for having named me. But those who have known me closely know who I am. Thank you for the trust and affection you have always shown me.
I am not doing this to defend myself. I have already endured these things many times and the storm will pass. But I am making this clear so that some of you do not feel confused or suffer because of these and other accusations, but above, all I am doing it so that you will not try to harm Francis.
A big hug.
Tucho
"Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández entered seminary at age 16, so what on earth does he know about 'slow, deliberate, tremulous kisses', sexual intimacy and the 'thermometer of love'?"
Delete@Lain you clearly didn't go to a school like mine! A lot of 16 year olds had more than a passing, theoretical understanding of these things.
"At that time I was very young, I was a parish priest, and I was trying to reach out to young people. Then it occurred to me to write a catechesis for teenagers based on the meaning of the kiss. I wrote this catechesis with the participation of a group of young people who contributed ideas, phrases, poems, etc…"
DeleteThe book hardly seems appropriate for young people, and one hopes he didn't hold such discussions with teenagers!
@ Clive - no comment on the grounds of self incrimination!
DeleteBut nobody's asking 16 year olds for their advice on marital longevity either. As I recall, that wasn't something anyone was overly focused on at school. Allegedly.
@ Jack yes, that's a weird basis for catechesis. Mine was Pokémon themed.
Roll forward 20 years and children are now being taught how to use condoms and the "joys" of masturbation and same sex acts. Kissing is sooo yesterday!
DeleteWe had sex-ed twice at school, both of which were so traumatic I tried to repress the memories. I think we were about 10 the first time; the teachers were hugely embarrassed and the whole process looked horrendous. Then all the girls were sequestered in a separate room to hear about the horrors of menstruation, and the boys pestered us for weeks afterwards to try to find out what our secret lesson had been about.
DeleteSecond time we were 13/14 and had some organisation come in from outside to teach it. We learned how to put condoms on a cucumber (I think), which is a very helpful life skill. We were also given a bag of free condoms, most of which ended up as water balloons after people realised how much water you could fill one up with before it split.
There was never any mention of the moral implications of sex or relationships, only descriptions of the mechanics and exhortations not to catch STIs or get pregnant.
HJ's sex education was very different. His all boys Catholic school placed an emphasis on the morality of sex and restricting it to marriage. There was no talk of condoms, nor STIs. The 'mechanics' were left to parents with a letter sent home to HJ's father outlining how to approach this. Of course, this was opened on the school bus home! No doubt it's very different these days with all sorts of Ofsted 'guidance' in place.
DeleteThinking back on it, I'm not sure that it was particularly appropriate for schools to be having those sort of conversations with us. A Catholic school (or any faith school) speaking about the morality of sex seems fair - parents (should) send their children to such schools to learn a Catholic perspective on life - but I don't think it's right for any school to go into the minutiae. I'm pretty sure that my parents would have blanched if they knew some of the stuff that was included. Fortunately, I was going through my incommunicative teenager years at the time, and it certainly wasn't something I was going to bring up at dinner.
DeleteOne has had many things on one's mind these last few months, and not so many were positive from a temporal perspective, but one has found that this focuses the mind anew on the eternal verities and for that one is indeed grateful. Reading the Philokalia, one has just completed Evagrios the Solitary and is now embarking on that inspirer of monastacism St. John Cassian. Don't knock it till you've tried it - recommended for these times.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, this is a time for spiritual reflection!
DeleteI'm trying to make sense of the news coming out of Scotland. The Mirror refers to some event scheduled for "Wednesday (July 7)" (sic). Has Scotland declared its independence from the Gregorian calendar?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/huge-security-operation-king-charles-30373812
It's clearly an attempt to get the protestors to turn up on the wrong day.
DeleteAbsolutely disgraceful....Lain this sex ed fiasco must have been going on for at least ten years. I feel as if I was raised on another planet which I am most grateful for. How dare schools subject children to this ....reminds me of Nazi Germany indoctrinating children against Jews at schools. I feel so sorry for the children.....imagine what it is like now with the trans gender issues etc....Kids cannot be innocent kids anymore ....All too terrible.....Solution???
ReplyDeleteThe above is Cressie
DeleteCressie - it also occurs to me that the whole focus of it was avoiding pregnancy, which was treated like a disease. Of course becoming a young mum can be a great hardship, but my cynical side also wonders if the state has an interest in deterring you from getting pregnant early so you can graduate into being a good tax drone.
DeleteIf I had kids, my solution would absolutely be homeschooling.
Lord’s Prayer opening may be ‘problematic’, says archbishop,
ReplyDeleteArchbishop of York tells General Synod that ‘Our Father’ has patriarchal connotations.