--- Ok, still can’t find

--- Ok, still can’t find the All That You Can’t Leave Behind,
disc. Have no clue as to where it is. Which is highly annoying for two
reasons: first, I want to listen to the damn thing, and second, I’m
going to go to Florida in two days to see my parents and I’m not
going to be able to annoy them without it. It’s kind of sick that I
still, at age thirty-two, enjoy annoying my folks with that awful, tuneless, rock and roll,
but what the hell, right? I like expanding their mindsets: it’s fun.
I have checked everywhere---twice. I have no clue as to where it is.
And I’m pissed off about it. Things like CD’s should not just up
and disappear in an apartment the size of ours. --- And today we have
more bitching about the Catholic Church. Feel free to skip if you want.

Ok, so let me see if I’ve got this hypocrisy straight. The Bishop of Toronto, sends a letter out
to all parishes in April, telling people to stay home from mass during
Holy Week if they feel they have any symptoms of SARS. He instructs the
priests not to place communion hosts on anyone’s tongue, but in the
hands, instead. Likewise, Communion from the Cup was to be suspended
completely. No one was to shake hands when giving the Sign of Peace.
Confession was to be given outside of the box, and on Good Friday no
one was to kiss the crucifix. And all of these measures were to prevent
the possible transmission of a highly contagious disease. The
Archdiocese of Toronto acted responsibly in this case; it was easy for
them to act responsibly: no Church doctrines were being thwarted by
doing so. It was an easy call, so they made it. It’s a little bit
different, however, when there is a massive doctrine attached. The
Church decides to go against scientific evidence because it would be
inimical to their interests to do otherwise. Here you have the Catholic
Church saying, hey, the HIV virus can actually get through a condom;
the WHO and all those other organizations who actually practice medicine and science are wrong.
You should, of course, take our word for it and not theirs. Don’t
bother with a rubber because it will get through anyway. You’re just preventing conception if you use one.
And God only knows, we can’t have anyone preventing conception. That
would be sinning. Now the 90% effective reduction rate of STD
transmission the WHO claims comes from consistent and correct usage of
condoms isn’t foolproof. The fact they say it’s 90% is an open and
honest statement on their account. Condoms do break: it’s a fact of
life. They are a manufactured product, and like any other manufactured
product, there are bound to be glitches. 90%, however, is a lot better
than certain death. But Cardinal Trujillo isn’t saying that; he
isn’t instructing any of his priests in Africa, South America, or
Asia to say the effectiveness isn’t perhaps what it should be; he’s
instructing his clergy to say they don’t work at all---despite hard
evidence to the contrary---so why bother using them? A lot of people
don’t get why the Catholic Church is so against any form of
contraception. Here’s a quick rundown for you if you don’t know.
The Church teaches that God is the only one who makes or can take a
life. Only God.
Forget everything you learned in biology class about sperm and egg
hooking up; think more about the finger of God allowing for them to do
so---if that’s the way God wants it. Preventing
conception---placing a barrier, like a condom or birth control pills in
the way---is a sin against God. By taking that pill every morning, you,
the average female, are getting in the way of God’s plan. It’s the
same with a man who puts a rubber on. That very same rubber that a man
uses to prevent the spread of STD’s, is also the same condom that
prevents God’s plan from happening. This is why the Vatican doesn’t
like condoms: the disease prevention factors are not part of the
equation. Condoms primarily prevent conception and that’s as far as
their reasoning will take them.
Now, the cynic in me has always claimed that this policy is not about
the romantic notion of God being the source of all life and death, but
more about the Church’s need for more dues paying Catholics. As the
politicos would say: they’re expanding their base. Oh, and what a
base it is: Catholicism is the largest organized religion in the world.
Even the Muslims haven’t passed them by yet, despite predictions that
they would. And make no mistake about it: they’ve gotten to the top
spot by manipulating their members with inane policies like this one.
On Saturday afternoon, the husband was flipping through the channels
and came across The Devil’s Advocate
on cable. This film is one of those guilty pleasures he enjoys: it’s
not great cinema, but it’s damn fun to watch Al Pacino stick his
finger into the baptismal font and see the holy water start to boil.
There’s always been this quote from the movie that’s stuck with me,
and it’s appropriate for use here today. “Let me give you a
little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a
prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts! He gives you this
extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own
amusement, His own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in
opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but
don't taste! Taste, don't swallow. I don’t think it’s true,
honestly, but the writer had a point, particularly when the Word of God
is shot out there by people who would manipulate to serve their own
ends. In case you hadn’t noticed, the Vatican drives me insane. They
do. I’m a Catholic. I go to mass. I follow the teachings of Jesus;
and it consistently amazes me when the Vatican does things---like
protecting pedophiles---that are so obviously things Jesus would not
want to be a party to, yet they do them in His name.
It’s amazing to go to mass on a Sunday morning and then to come home,
open up the Sunday paper and read stories like this one. Where does the
message go in between mass and the time you get home? If you’ve read
the Gospels, you know what Jesus had to say about suffering. The
Beatitudes are one big consolation to those who suffer here on Earth,
for their reward in the Kingdom of Heaven will be great. But Jesus
didn’t just leave it at that: he also healed the sick and raised
people from the dead, saying their faith in God had cured them: he knew
that life was hellish enough as it was---why should it be harder? Where
the spread of HIV/AIDS is concerned, I just cannot honestly believe
that Church that claims to be the one true Church---that it can prove
its lineage all the way back to Peter, Jesus’ main man, and does so
on a regular basis as proof of its authority---would say that using
condoms to prevent the spread of this horrible virus is verboten. Jesus
never negated suffering, entirely; he knew there was value to it, and
that in itself is a controversial aspect of what Christianity teaches.
But I cannot, I refuse to acknowledge that because there is suffering in the world already, Jesus would want more of it---particularly when it was preventable---even if it meant going against a doctrine of the Church.

This is what flames me. In Africa, some have estimated that half
the continent’s population will be dead in fifty years due to
malnutrition, warfare, but the main culprit will be HIV/AIDS. Let that
figure sink in a bit: half of the most populated continent on Earth
will be dead in fifty years mainly because of a disease that
has no cure. It incredibly disheartening, but there is hope: we have
the means to prevent this massive plague from spreading
further---condoms. But because condoms prevent life from occurring as
well as preventing disease from spreading, they are forbidden. It’s
not only irresponsible in the extreme, it’s murderous: they are
condemning people to death with this action, just as effectively as a
southern governor signs a death penalty warrant: there’s no
difference here. That sounds harsh, doesn’t it? Well, the reality is
harsh. HIV/AIDS is harsh. If you contract it, you will eventually die from it: there is no cure. And millions of uneducated people will take their priest’s word on the efficiency of condoms and will die.
Have they no shame? Has Cardinal Trujillo no pity for the suffering of
millions of people? Is he more interested in more dues paying Catholics
than he is about the quality of their lives? Ah, but Kathy, get over the quality of life issues; the Church doesn’t really care all that much about it.
Nope. I don’t believe that either. If that’s the case, why are
there millions of soup kitchens, shelters, and medical clinics operated
by the Church all over the world? Why does the Pope instruct people to
take care of the poor? Why is Mother Theresa, a woman who was devoted
to caring for the poor, on the way to being canonized? If none of these
things are devoted to improving the quality of life of those who
suffer, why does the Church do them, let alone advocate that everyone
should do them? It’s absolutely maddening to think that, with all the
Church does for the poor of the world, that they refuse to do the one
thing that would help the most: allow for artificial birth control,
particularly when it means preventing the spread of a horrible disease
that has already killed millions, and will continue to keep killing
until a cure is found. I have the solution for the Vatican. Not like
they’ll listen to me about it, but hell, it’s worth a shot. When
the husband and I were married we were told that the only acceptable
form of birth control was Natural Family Planning: the rhythm method
with charts, graphs and thermometers. The archdiocese praised this;
during our premarital counseling they brought in couples to talk about
how effective it was, how wonderful it was, etc. But the main points
were obvious to all in attendance: the Church was, in essence, saying,
we don’t want you to feel just as if you’re here to make babies for
us; we want you to realize we understand there’s science to it;
we’re going to give you some control; we will allow you to plan your families by advocating the least intrusive method of contraception and by doing so, we’ll maybe keep some of you off the pill. The Church told us that one form of birth control was acceptable. So, while the Church doesn’t advocate artificial birth control, they do advocate some
birth control. I’ve always wondered if they advocate Natural Family
Planning in the poorer parts of the world, where people don’t have as
many options as we do, here in the industrialized one. Anyway, the
solution is quite simple, and they don’t even have to back away from
their life doctrines. Where HIV/AIDS is running rampant, and it’s not
like they don’t know precisely where these regions are, they can
advocate the use of condoms. After all, they always tailor the message
to the beliefs and social structures of the recipients: it shouldn’t
be too large of a jump for them to advocate condom usage for infected
Catholics in Africa. They’re already doing this in some instances.
They let priests off the hook for having sex with nuns in Africa
because they allowed for the priests native beliefs, which do not
preach celibacy. The Church chalked the priests’ slip-up as a lapse.
They can do this while keeping the Natural Family Planning rule in
effect for those of us who don’t have to worry about becoming
infected from our partners. I would like to think that those Catholics
who aren’t affected by this plague wouldn’t automatically think
they’re free to use condoms now. It would be nice if the Vatican
would have a little faith, eh? If the Church preaches that the
individual person has free will and subsequently argues that the burden
for being good, for getting into heaven, is on the individual, it seems
the Church should help, rather than hinder, that noble mission. Condoms
do not promote promiscuity; people promote promiscuity. People sin.
That’s a fact of life; their sin, however, should not cause
adverse---and deathly---effects on others. Sin should not be communal;
if the Church preaches that we have free will, and that everything’s
up to us, they should help us achieve that goal, rather than making it
impossible. That’s what it boils down to: the Church has a mission to
help, not hinder. And they’re ignoring it because of a shortsighted
doctrine. It honestly makes you wonder what Jesus would think about it.
I’d really like to see him come down and bitchslap Cardinal Trujillo.
I really would. Someone needs to.
--- Here’s your Chuckle for the Day.

And the French call us repressed when it comes to all thing sexual?

--- I’m off to go and give myself a complex. A swimsuit hunting we will go, a swimsuit hunting we will go, hi-ho, the merry-o, a swimsuit hunting we will go.
I’m not likely to be in a good mood later, so I will wish you a happy
day now and get it over with.