Sunday, May 03, 2015

The Not So Comfortable Pews

                                                         http://mic.com/

In the latest edition of The New York Review of Books, Gary Wills writes that Pope Francis is making the billionaires -- particularly Catholic billionaires -- quake. On the eve of his encyclical on climate change, they are mounting what they hope will be a pre-emptive strike:

Now, as the pope prepares a major encyclical on climate change, to be released this summer, the billionaires are spending a great deal of their money in a direct assault on him. They are calling in their chits, their kept scientists, their rigged conferences, their sycophantic beneficiaries, their bought publicists to discredit words of the pope that have not even been issued: “He would do his flock and the world a disservice by putting his moral authority behind the United Nations’ unscientific agenda on the climate,” they say. They do not know exactly what the pope is going to say in his forthcoming encyclical on preserving God’s creation, but they know what he will not say. He will not deny that the poor suffer from actions that despoil the earth. Everything he has said and done so far shows that Francis always stands for the poor. 

The poor may be always with us. But they're easier to deal with when no one calls attention to them. They get in the way of profit:

Those who profit from what harms the earth have to keep the poor out of sight. They have trouble enough fighting off the scientific, economic, and political arguments against bastioned privilege. Bringing basic morality to the fore could be fatal to them. That is why they are mounting such a public pre-emptive strike against the encyclical before it even appears. They must not only discredit the pope’s words (whatever they turn out to be), they must block them, ridicule them, destroy them. The measure of their fear is demonstrated by an article in First Things, the Catholic journal that defended the donations to bishops of the pederast religious founder Marcial Maciel. The First Things writer Maureen Mullarkey calls the pope “an ideologue and a meddlesome egoist,” and continues: “Francis sullies his office by using demagogic formulations to bully the populace into reflexive climate action with no more substantive guide than theologized propaganda.” 

I was educated by Jesuits. I found some of them unbearable. But Francis is one Jesuit I admire. He's making those who sit in the comfortable pews nervous -- as they should be.


6 comments:

Lorne said...

“Francis sullies his office by using demagogic formulations to bully the populace into reflexive climate action with no more substantive guide than theologized propaganda.”

that is extraordinarily rich, Owen, coming from the rabid right wing. They truly have no shame.

Owen Gray said...

Strange, isn't it Lorne? There are none so deluded as those who truly believe that self interest is the prime directive.

Unknown said...

I was educated in Catholic schools, but am today an atheist. I do however like and admire Pope Francis. Being called a "meddlesome egoist", I say meddle away Pope Francis, meddle away.

Owen Gray said...

These days, Pam, the so called "free market" can use some meddling.

Anonymous said...

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/encyclical

Yes yes I remember when our southern neighbors bombed the heck out of two Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing 99.9% of the population in those two cities.

And they claimed "dog" spelled backwards was at their backs. Okay so dog gets to spell out what you do?

Bomb Iraq Afghanistan Libya and now Syria and Iraq all over again? I thought Christians were to turn the other cheek.

Not Harper because he is a phoney Calgary cowboy. I remember as a child they used to drive the bulls down town real cowboys through the streets of "cow-town" [Calgary]to the Stampede grounds. They did the same thing with the bucking broncs we used to line up as children and watch. It was more fun than the actual "Calgary Stampede" started by the big four.

It was Guy Weadick's a real cowboy idea and the "Big Four" Funded him for his idea of the largest outdoor show on earth. Who were the big four? Rich men:

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/06/big-four-families-honoured

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/Program_for_1912_Calgary_Stampede.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Four_%28Calgary%29&h=400&w=263&tbnid=h73LBlqEilOdbM:&zoom=1&tbnh=160&tbnw=105&usg=__0Qhxwh5e-Z73DX1q1UFxAMh1elg=&docid=uDJImbuOs8356M

But is an ever lasting testament to Guy Weadick he had a vision and man he was spot on!!!!!!!!!!!

Mogs Moglio,
Sorry to be so long winded and a little off topic...

And Owen what the fuck why do I have to choose Japanese food combinations in order to publish a comment????????????????????????
I am not a robot never have been never will I am a human being that is who I am. So now in order to reply I have to learn Japanese cuisine huh? That is the definition of crazy. So why you don't ask me about Canadian foods instead?

Okay I'll play the game but I hate it...

So since I'm not Japanese it took me like 45 tries to get in to leave a comment why? Buddy why?

Moglio

Owen Gray said...

Patience, Mogs. Robots don't have the patience it takes to make a comment.

You're obviously not a robot.