CHARLIE CONDOU - No.792

HASHTAG #TWAT

cyc1984: Having a "woe is me" moment... Need to get a grip! #Drama #ManUp #Twat

cyc1984: @Charliecondou I called myself a #twat on here, accidentally clicked on the hashtag afterwards & look who comes up?!

POPE FRANCIS 

SAYS HE DOES NOT JUDGE 
GAY PRIESTS

His comments were short, subtle, but unmistakably direct: “If they accept the Lord and have good will, who am I to judge them? They shouldn't be marginalized.”
This week the Pope stated that he does not judge gays—a statement that will send shock-waves through the church. His comments were short, subtle, but unmistakably direct. “If they accept the Lord and have good will, who am I to judge them? They shouldn't be marginalized,” he told reporters on his return flight from Rio de Janeiro to Rome. “The tendency [to homosexuality] is not the problem … they’re our brothers.” The Pope also criticized journalists for reporting on allegations of homosexuality within the Vatican, saying those matters concerned questions of sin, not crimes, like the sexual abuse of children. He said when someone sins and confesses, God both forgives and forgets. “We don’t have the right to not forget,” he said. The Pope is the voice of God for hundreds of millions of people around the world. His attitude is a marked departure from his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who signed a document in 2005 stating that gay men could not become priests. Now bishops all over the world are going to wonder what the Pope’s statement means for them in their own churches. The most crucial response to the Pope’s comments may come from countries whose governments and cultures are far less open to gays and lesbians than the United States and Europe. Countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, gay activity can be a crime, and violence against gays and lesbians is common. But the country is also nearly 50% Catholic, and if the Catholic Church adopted an attitude like Pope Francis is modelling, the climate toward the gay community could dramatically change. The response in the United States will also be significant. When the Pope speaks and takes a position on an issue, the United States Council of Catholic Bishops is not going to directly contradict him. Now visible Cardinals across the country will have to consider what steps they will take to not judge or marginalize their gay brothers and sisters. For example, a gay Catholic couple in Oceanside, NY, has been petitioning Cardinal Dolan to break bread with them since Easter. Dolan has not responded to the request, arguing that the couple lives outside his community, and that they want to foster debate. Now the Pope is setting a moral example that indicates he himself would probably dine with them, and that puts Dolan in a tight position. As the Pope opened up about gays, he reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s position that women cannot become priests. “On the ordination of women, the church has spoken and said no,” he said. “John Paul II, in a definitive formulation, said that door is closed.” But he also argued that the Catholic church has an underdeveloped theology of women, and he seemed to suggest that the church needs to deepen its understanding of women and their roles in society. He reminded listeners that he holds women in the highest regard: “The Madonna is more important than the apostles, and the church herself is feminine, the spouse of Christ and a mother.”

It’s Not What the Pope Said About Gays, It’s How He Said It

By Stephan Faris / Rome 

July 29, 2013

At first glance, Pope Francis’ statement on homosexuality, delivered today in an impromptu press conference aboard the papal plane, seemed to indicate a remarkable break with church tradition. “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis told journalists, as he flew from Rio de Janeiro to Rome. “The tendency [to homosexuality] is not the problem … They’re our brothers.” The Pope’s words were warmly received by gay activists in Italy and elsewhere. “From now on, when I hear a bishop or a priest say something against me, I’m going to say, ‘Who are you to judge,’” says Franco Grillini, president of Gaynet Italia, the association of gay journalists in Italy. But like many of Francis’ more news-making statements, the real difference is less about the contents of his words than in the direct, earthy style in which he delivers them and the church teachings he chooses to emphasize. “It’s the way he’s expressing himself, with great candour, that is surprising to people,” says John Wauck, a professor of communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. “Actually, the substance of it is nothing exceptional.” Francis’ comment in May that some atheists might make it into heaven drew headlines. The Vatican’s subsequent explanation that his words were in line with a long tradition of church teachings did not. Similarly, Francis’ statement on the plane was not far from the passage on homosexuality in the catechism of the Catholic Church, published under Pope John Paul II in 1992. That text calls on Catholics to accept homosexuals “with respect, compassion and sensitivity,” avoiding “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard.” Where he differed is in what he left out: the accompanying message in the catechism that while a gay person is to be accepted, acting out on homosexual acts is to be deplored: “Under no circumstances can they be approved … Homosexual persons are called to chastity.” Francis, who cited the catechism in his answers to reporters, said nothing to contradict this. Asked for his position on gay marriage, he answered: “You know perfectly the position of the church.” But while Francis has put little doctrinal space between himself and his predecessors, comments like the one on the plane reflect a clear choice in the early months of his papacy to de-emphasize the issues of sexual morality that have made the church a lightning rod in the culture wars. Even as France was consumed last spring in debate over the legalization of gay marriage, a battle that pitted the French church against the government, Francis made no mention of the issue. In Brazil, he told the reporters on the plane, he purposefully avoided talking about abortion or gay marriage, in order to stay focused on the positive. “His message is not ‘Don’t do that, don’t do this,’” says Wauck. “The moral strictures are present, but they’re implicit. The attention of the Pope is on a much larger vision of the church and what Christianity has to offer to the world.”

HIP TO BE SQUARE

gogibbogo: Not too impressed. Maybe I just don't understand rap music :-/ JAY Z - Magna Carta... Holy Grail on #Spotify

ChasCondouBlog: @gogibbogo the only rap song I've ever liked enough to play more than once was Hitler Rap by Mel Brooks lol #oldmanmusic

gogibbogo: @ChasCondouBlog I like a bit of old skool Jay-Z, me.

ChasCondouBlog: @gogibbogo back in the day I used to be a working DJ and kept plenty of Jay-Z on hand but I'm not a big fan. Am currently remixing acapella files of Caro Emerald trying diff beats under the tracks

ChasCondouBlog: @gogibbogo #OnceaDJalwaysaDJ

gogibbogo: @ChasCondouBlog you are so hip

ChasCondouBlog: @gogibbogo ..... It's a curse x

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU 

BUT HERE ON THE BLOG

WE LIKE TO JUDGE THE CLERGY!

NB. The above picture is Reverend Bob Horrocks of Bolton "The Naked Vicar"
Rev Bob appears in a video made by Channel 4 talking about his experiences as a naturist and man of the cloth. The following link comes with a warning that Bob's video contains full frontal nudity. Discretion is advised with minors and / or if you are viewing in a public area:
Click HERE

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN

ByronStol: @SirThomasWynne LOL I think we should judge the bastards. :)

tnvol194: @SirThomasWynne rejoicing for LGBT community in Pope's stance. Yet, his church continues to marginalize women.