Outside The Asylum

Two recent articles. Imagineing a Heretic Cardinal and Imagining a Heretic President , dare to take a canon law view of excommunication- and why a Catholic cannot, should never, teach against the church on matters of faith and morals, particularily sins against the fourth, fifth, and sixth commandments. But as much as American heterodox Catholics like to break the fourth, fifth, and sixth commandment, often in ruin and distruction not just for themselves but for their families out to the 7th generation; this is NOT the unforgiveable sin you are looking for. The whole intent of excommunication is as a teaching tool- to inspire conversion back to the true faith. Even heretics deserve salvation; all are called to be Catholic in deed in Heaven, the only question is, are you willing to give up your favorite sins to answer the call?

 With Apologies to Heather Heyring. Do you dare to share? Here's a list of pandemic related conspiracy theories that turned out to be predictions that were true. Did you cancel somebody from your family over one or more of them? Perhaps it is time to apologize and create a new bridge. Rest of post is from Heather Heying, with a couple of links to her content. Consider these ideas, and who knows what could happen. Early in the pandemic we thought that masks were broadly effective. We were wrong. First, we spoke about the importance of masks, and as new evidence came in, our position changed. We spoke about that, too. We also thought that short, early, and strong lockdowns had a chance of stopping the spread of SARS-CoV2. We were wrong about that. I don’t think lockdowns could have worked, in part because I don’t think sufficient worldwide compliance was possible to stop the spread. And as much as I am disappointed to have landed here: I no longer trust my government to borrow a...

 On facebook, a friend asked if racism was ever correct.  My answer, is nuanced. Perhaps at one time long ago (racism is a *culturally evolved* behavior, after all, protection of the clan/tribe from invaders) but I would argue that increases in travel technology and war technology defeated all positive reasons for this behavior more than 800 years ago. Evolutionarily, skin color has no bearing on intelligence, honesty, trustworthiness, persistence, or any other human behavior. It's merely an indication that you have a large percentage of ancestors who spend time in an area of the world that got a certain average amount of sunlight a year. Nothing more than that. And since your recent ancestors (within the last 6 generations) could have been from anywhere it isn't even a good predictor of ethnic culture anymore.

 The Synod has released the Document for the Continental Stage. It's extremely problematic in one significant way- censorship of cisgenedered heteronormative lifelong relationships. It starts with paragraph 11 of the introduction, which looks like it came straight out of a secular HR department, using language that pretends to be inclusive, but which we find later on is radically EXCLUSIVE, with a dismissal of the concerns in Catechism of the Catholic Church 2300-2400 inclusive. The one small concession we have to my way of thinking is in paragraphs 17-19, but even here conservative cisgendered lay Catholics and priests faithful to the 2000 year old teaching are called "rigid" thinkers who are unwelcoming of change. Paragraph 28, in particular, abuses the word of God to pretend that "enlarging the tent" means "welcoming diversity"- but we already know from the secular world that diversity is only for the minority, majorities are not included in the div...

 Dead Name  is a new documentary staring parents of trans children.  I think I need to watch this.

  It is time for Democrats to join Republicans and say that BIRTH MATTERS. Pro-choicers have claimed for years that they care about babies after birth- now is the time to prove it. Let's see this bill guaranteeing medical care to the most helpless members of the human species pass with no opposition. Providing medical care to infants who are born alive and trying to survive after an attempted abortion should be something that we can all agree on. Tragically however, Oregon does not afford this basic protection of human life, thanks to pro-death malthusian eugenicists, and so Congress must act on its responsibility to enforce the guarantees of equal protection of ALL races and abilities under law. Let's put bigotry, racism, and ableism behind us and speak out strongly for the least of these. If we can't even do that, how can we possibly claim to be a moral nation? Please vote “Yes” on the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act when it comes before the House. The bill would m...

Health of the mother (including mental health):  Past the 21st week with modern healthcare, the only use of pregnancy is to save two weeks in the hospital for the child for every week the pregnancy continues.  If the mother's life is in danger, an emergency c-section is safer for both her and the child than either abortion or inducement. Health of the child- so you kill the child rather than treat it?  How does that help?  This one is just ableist bigotry from people who fear the disabled. Wealth of the parents- this is the biggest fallacy of all.  Children are an investment that pays off in ways you'll never expect. They are ALWAYS worth bringing into the world. Race of the parents- how despicable is it that some medical professionals would rather abort a child of the wrong color or ethnicity than allow it to be born?  This needs to be eliminated from the medical profession. Biological sex of the child (including intersex children, but quite often female c...