Spin as he might, Bill O'Reilly will never convince congregants at Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco that Archbishop Neiderauer simply "made a mistake" when he gave communion to two transsexuals from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
As I've said- and many others as well- Bill has granted absolution to the Archbishop when absolution was not warranted. The Diocese (and the Archbishop) have been "gay friendly" for quite a while now- something O'Reilly would have known if he had bothered to do even cursory research.
If you're going to fight in the culture war, Bill, you'll need to recognize the wolf in sheep's clothing. Do your homework next time.
_________________________________
From WorldNetDaily:
Catholics want Vatican to clean church
Holy Redeemer members tired of drag queen bingo, sexfests
Posted: October 25, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
The recent highly publicized photos and video of San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer serving Communion to two flamboyantly dressed members of the anti-Catholic "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" was no happenstance.
And soon the shocking images will be on their way to the Vatican for any Catholic leaders who have not yet seen them.
"I am the gentleman responsible for the filming of the whole thing," Anthony Gonzales, chief of the St. Joseph's Men Society, told WND shortly after the first round of publicity over the photos and video. "I sent one of my men to film this."
Gonzales said he knew the archbishop was going to the parish in the heart of the homosexual street fair to "be part of the celebration of their lifestyle, and we were waiting to see what he was going to do and how he was going to do it."
And the reason?
"We can't even take our children to Mass anymore. We can't even go to our churches," he said. "We finally got to the point, and said, 'Hey, look, we can't take this anymore.'
"We want the Roman Catholic faithful to return, and are sick and tired of having to deal with men who are faithless, who are our leaders," Gonzales said. "They come into positions of power because of other homosexuals, or at least are promoting them into positions of power.
"We want to keep the fires burning. This guy has to know he can't continue to get away with his actions. He's played dumb before," he said. "He says, 'I guess I made a mistake.' So he always makes these mistakes!
"He says he didn't recognize two gay men dressed in drag coming up to receive Communion in clown makeup!" Gonzales exclaimed.
The incident was publicized with the men's group video on the Catholic blogsite Quamdiu Domine.
The archbishop, in a diocese newspaper editorial, apologized for serving the two "Sisters," explaining he didn't recognize who they were.
He described the Oct. 7 event as routine.
"The congregation was devout, and the liturgy was celebrated with reverence. I noticed no demonstration, no protest, no disruption of the Eucharist," he wrote.
"At Communion time, toward the end of the line, two strangely dressed persons came to receive Communion. As I recall one of them wore a large flowered hat or garland. I did not recognize either of them as wearing mock religious garb," he said.
"Afterward it was made clear to me that these two people were members of the organization 'Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,' who have long made a practice of mocking the Catholic Church in general and religious women in particular," he said.
"Although I had often seen photographs of members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, I had never encountered them in person until October 7th. I did not recognize who these people were when they approached me. After the event, I realized that they were members of this particular organization and that giving them Holy Communion had been a mistake. I apologize to the Catholics of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and to Catholics at large for doing so," he said.
But Gonzales and several other activists who contacted WND said such "incidents" long have been occurring at the church, and it's likely that the archbishop knew about them. So now is time for action, they told WND.
"We are going to be submitting all of this information to Rome, getting it into the right hands," Gonzales said. "I believe that he is constantly a proponent of homosexuals."
Archdiocese spokesman Maurice Healy told WND that Niederauer does not know the membership of that particular church.
"There's a lot of people who are upset. I think we're equally upset," he said. But the archbishop has a policy of reaching out to "those people."
Gonzales disagreed.
"They don't reach out to that community to call for repentance and healing and their reconciliation with Christ. They say, 'This is your lifestyle and we are here to give you approbation.'"
Gonzales, a theologian, said a compilation of documentation will be forwarded to Rome within the next few days.
"We're also composing a letter to Neiderauer asking him to excommunicate the group, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, so that this mistake cannot happen again. And we're asking him to excommunicate (San Francisco Mayor)Gavin Newsom and (U.S. House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi for not adhering to Catholic doctrine on same-sex relationships and abortion."
The incident with the "Sisters" was just the final straw, Gonzales said. He said just last fall the pastor of Holy Redeemer gave the "Sisters" permission to run a bingo operation at the church hall. Healy said the archdiocese wasn't aware of what was going on, and when it found out, it ordered it stopped.
But other activists told WND they have been notifying the church archdiocese of their objections to such issues regularly. One such case was a recent "Drag Queen Calendar Nite" at the church. Those who objected notified the church office of their concerns before the event but apparently were ignored since it was held anyway.
"I had hoped that after the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence's obscene and perverted monthly bingo nights (supplying male sex toys for prizes) had been stopped that this type of activity was no longer going to be a problem there. Obviously not," one wrote in an e-mail to the church.
On the Catholic Blog, participants listed some of the documentation being prepared for Rome's attention.
The information includes a video advertisement for the "Sisters' Revival Bingo," where one winner boasts of getting "more gay porn than most young boys have" and organizers boast of "spanking" participants.
Also assembled was documentation from Americans for Truth about the church's repeated sponsorship of booths and other entries in the various San Francisco "gay" festivals, such as the recent Folsom Street Fair, on which WND reported.
Niederauer also said he's pleased the activists cited his opinion that the "gay"-themed "Brokeback Mountain" is "very powerful" and his endorsement of a plan to have Catholic adoption agencies refer babies for adoption by homosexuals.
The activists also cite X-rated YouTube videos that feature the same "Sisters" who organized the drag queen event. One of the less offensive has one of the bingo organizers, named "Heklina," singing about "taking a young handsome boy out for luncheon…"
One activist who requested anonymity wrote: "The [archbishop] issued an apology, but, if he's sincere about it, he'll issue a press release to publicly excommunicate the organization and the members, so that no priest or pastor in his diocese has any trouble deciding what to do."
Allyson Smith, an analyst for Americans for Truth, noted the Catholic Church believes Communion involves the actual "body and blood of Jesus Christ," and such participation by the "twisted 'sisters'" is offensive to many.
Her opinions were echoed abundantly on a response section to the California Catholic News story about the situation:
"May God have mercy on his soul."
"We need to bulldoze to the ground every Catholic Church in S.F. and send these left handed Catholics to the Masonic lodge where they truly belong. Let Satan put up with them."
"Blasphemy."
"You could say the Archbishop has a 'wide stance' toward perversion-enthusiasts in the church."
Showing posts with label Fox News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fox News. Show all posts
Friday, October 26, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Catholic Professor Says Archbishop was Right
A Jesuit Professor defended the actions of Archbishop Niederauer by stating that he behaved properly in serving the Eucharist to two transvestites dressed as nuns. In other words, I was right- it was no accident. So to all of you who sent me nasty emails, and you all and O'Reilly can spin things any way you want, but that won't change the facts. The pro-gay Archbishop knew exactly what he was doing.
I've italicized the pertinent portions below, but posted the entire article because it shows that many in the Catholic laity have drank the poison of the post-Vatican II Catholic Church. Apparently, they don't know their Archbishop very well, do they?
________________________________
From this morning's San Francisco Chronicle:
Archbishop apologizes for giving Communion to gays dressed as nuns
Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
(10-16) 21:58 PDT San Francisco -- It was a typical Sunday Mass until two men in heavy makeup and nuns' habits received Holy Communion from San Francisco's top Catholic official.
On Oct. 7, Archbishop George Niederauer delivered the Eucharist to members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence - an activist group whose motto is "go forth and sin some more" - prompting cries of outrage from conservatives across the country and Catholics in San Francisco.
In response to a request for comment, Niederauer released a letter of apology addressed to "Catholics of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and to Catholics at large" in which he said he did not realize his mistake until after the Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church in the Castro district.
"At Communion time, toward the end of the line, two strangely dressed persons came to receive Communion," Niederauer wrote. "As I recall, one of them wore a large flowered hat or garland."
Niederauer said that although he was familiar with the group because its actions had been condemned by his predecessors, he had never encountered any of the group's members until that Sunday.
"These two people have long made a practice of mocking the Catholic Church in general and religious women in particular. Someone who dresses in a mock religious habit to attend Mass does so to make a point (that) was intended as a provocative gesture," he said in the letter, which will be published in this Friday's issue of Catholic San Francisco, a diocesan newspaper.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, founded in San Francisco in 1979, are known for their white face paint, outrageous costumes, theatrics and support of the gay community. They adopt names such as Sister Chastity Boner and Sister Constance Craving of the Holey Desire and have mottos such as, "It is not wise to say no to free drinks, cheap jewelry, discount cosmetics or pretty boys."
Sister Barbi Mitzvah, who serves as "Board Chairnun" and "Sexytary," said Tuesday that the group is "not offering a comment.
"These people are always after us," Sister Mitzvah said, referring to conservative pundits and Catholic leaders.
The group did not identify the two members who took the wafers. One of the men, however, sent an e-mail to the church after the Mass and gave the name "Sister Delta Goodhand."
Conservative Fox news commentator Bill O'Reilly, who has disparaged "San Francisco values," called the latest flap another example of how the city is run by "far-left secular progressives who despise the military, traditional values and religion."
On his Friday news show, O'Reilly called San Francisco "a disgrace on every level."
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom dismissed O'Reilly's comments.
"This debate really is about San Francisco values. The Bill O'Reillys of the world are threatened by San Francisco because we value diversity, universal health care and civil rights for all. They will exploit any controversy to attack our values."
Some local Catholics, however, said they were hurt by what they said was a mockery of their most holy ritual.
"It's been all the news in Catholic circles," said Bill May, chairman of the San Francisco-based Catholics for the Common Good. "Catholics are hurt, frustrated and a bit angry because nobody is standing up and saying this is not right. This is a desecration of the Eucharist. They were there to make a statement and embarrass the archbishop and, in doing so, they desecrated what is most sacred and dear to every Catholic in the world."
Holy Communion is a centuries-old tradition in which the celebrant receives from a priest the consecrated bread and wine representing the "Body of Christ" and the "Blood of Christ." It is to be taken reverentially, as it is considered the source of Christian life.
"The general sacramental principle is that you don't deny the sacrament to someone who requests it," said the Rev. Jim Bretzke, professor of moral theology at University of San Francisco, a Jesuit Catholic university. "The second principle is that you cannot give communion to someone who has been excommunicated."
He said such people are designated "manifest public sinners" in canon law.
"This is someone who violates in a serious way one of the Ten Commandments or one of the important laws of the Church," he said. "While I can see Bill O'Reilly and others might be offended, the sisters do not meet the criteria the church has for denying Communion. Over-accessorizing and poor taste in makeup is not an excommunicable offense."
Bretzke added, "Even if these people were bizarrely dressed, the archbishop was following clear pastoral and canonical principles in giving them Communion. The default is, you give Holy Communion to one who presents himself."
Matt Dorsey, who works in the city attorney's office and is a parishioner at Most Holy Redeemer, attended the Oct. 7 Mass. He said the service was held on the day of the Castro Street Fair, so many parishioners were casually dressed.
"The Sisters have done a lot of great work for social justice," Dorsey said. "I think it's deeply offensive to see this incident politicized this way. It's not about religion. It's about the culture war."
On a lighter note, he said he couldn't help but notice the Sisters as soon as they entered the sanctuary.
"I was there in jeans and T-shirt," he said. "I have to give the Sisters credit for taking far more time getting ready than I did."
Dorsey said he was impressed by an e-mail sent to the general mailbox of Most Holy Redeemer after the Mass.
Sister Delta Goodhand, one of the two who received communion from Niederauer, wrote: "Just a quick note to recognize the wonderful mass yesterday at your Church. Your entire congregation was so welcoming and it was great to be able to participate. You are a wonderfully inclusive Church."
I've italicized the pertinent portions below, but posted the entire article because it shows that many in the Catholic laity have drank the poison of the post-Vatican II Catholic Church. Apparently, they don't know their Archbishop very well, do they?
________________________________
From this morning's San Francisco Chronicle:
Archbishop apologizes for giving Communion to gays dressed as nuns
Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
(10-16) 21:58 PDT San Francisco -- It was a typical Sunday Mass until two men in heavy makeup and nuns' habits received Holy Communion from San Francisco's top Catholic official.
On Oct. 7, Archbishop George Niederauer delivered the Eucharist to members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence - an activist group whose motto is "go forth and sin some more" - prompting cries of outrage from conservatives across the country and Catholics in San Francisco.
In response to a request for comment, Niederauer released a letter of apology addressed to "Catholics of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and to Catholics at large" in which he said he did not realize his mistake until after the Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church in the Castro district.
"At Communion time, toward the end of the line, two strangely dressed persons came to receive Communion," Niederauer wrote. "As I recall, one of them wore a large flowered hat or garland."
Niederauer said that although he was familiar with the group because its actions had been condemned by his predecessors, he had never encountered any of the group's members until that Sunday.
"These two people have long made a practice of mocking the Catholic Church in general and religious women in particular. Someone who dresses in a mock religious habit to attend Mass does so to make a point (that) was intended as a provocative gesture," he said in the letter, which will be published in this Friday's issue of Catholic San Francisco, a diocesan newspaper.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, founded in San Francisco in 1979, are known for their white face paint, outrageous costumes, theatrics and support of the gay community. They adopt names such as Sister Chastity Boner and Sister Constance Craving of the Holey Desire and have mottos such as, "It is not wise to say no to free drinks, cheap jewelry, discount cosmetics or pretty boys."
Sister Barbi Mitzvah, who serves as "Board Chairnun" and "Sexytary," said Tuesday that the group is "not offering a comment.
"These people are always after us," Sister Mitzvah said, referring to conservative pundits and Catholic leaders.
The group did not identify the two members who took the wafers. One of the men, however, sent an e-mail to the church after the Mass and gave the name "Sister Delta Goodhand."
Conservative Fox news commentator Bill O'Reilly, who has disparaged "San Francisco values," called the latest flap another example of how the city is run by "far-left secular progressives who despise the military, traditional values and religion."
On his Friday news show, O'Reilly called San Francisco "a disgrace on every level."
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom dismissed O'Reilly's comments.
"This debate really is about San Francisco values. The Bill O'Reillys of the world are threatened by San Francisco because we value diversity, universal health care and civil rights for all. They will exploit any controversy to attack our values."
Some local Catholics, however, said they were hurt by what they said was a mockery of their most holy ritual.
"It's been all the news in Catholic circles," said Bill May, chairman of the San Francisco-based Catholics for the Common Good. "Catholics are hurt, frustrated and a bit angry because nobody is standing up and saying this is not right. This is a desecration of the Eucharist. They were there to make a statement and embarrass the archbishop and, in doing so, they desecrated what is most sacred and dear to every Catholic in the world."
Holy Communion is a centuries-old tradition in which the celebrant receives from a priest the consecrated bread and wine representing the "Body of Christ" and the "Blood of Christ." It is to be taken reverentially, as it is considered the source of Christian life.
"The general sacramental principle is that you don't deny the sacrament to someone who requests it," said the Rev. Jim Bretzke, professor of moral theology at University of San Francisco, a Jesuit Catholic university. "The second principle is that you cannot give communion to someone who has been excommunicated."
He said such people are designated "manifest public sinners" in canon law.
"This is someone who violates in a serious way one of the Ten Commandments or one of the important laws of the Church," he said. "While I can see Bill O'Reilly and others might be offended, the sisters do not meet the criteria the church has for denying Communion. Over-accessorizing and poor taste in makeup is not an excommunicable offense."
Bretzke added, "Even if these people were bizarrely dressed, the archbishop was following clear pastoral and canonical principles in giving them Communion. The default is, you give Holy Communion to one who presents himself."
Matt Dorsey, who works in the city attorney's office and is a parishioner at Most Holy Redeemer, attended the Oct. 7 Mass. He said the service was held on the day of the Castro Street Fair, so many parishioners were casually dressed.
"The Sisters have done a lot of great work for social justice," Dorsey said. "I think it's deeply offensive to see this incident politicized this way. It's not about religion. It's about the culture war."
On a lighter note, he said he couldn't help but notice the Sisters as soon as they entered the sanctuary.
"I was there in jeans and T-shirt," he said. "I have to give the Sisters credit for taking far more time getting ready than I did."
Dorsey said he was impressed by an e-mail sent to the general mailbox of Most Holy Redeemer after the Mass.
Sister Delta Goodhand, one of the two who received communion from Niederauer, wrote: "Just a quick note to recognize the wonderful mass yesterday at your Church. Your entire congregation was so welcoming and it was great to be able to participate. You are a wonderfully inclusive Church."
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The Spin Continues
Last night on the O'Reilly Factor, Bill continued to spin the San Francisco Transvestite Communion story. He and Ralph Reed both talked about how this was an attack on Christianity and Catholicism by radicals homosexuals, and that the Catholic Church wasn't complicit in the blasphemy. Neither O'Reilly nor Reed could understand why the Archdiocese has been basically silent since the event. The answer is simple, gentlemen. This is a pro-gay Archbishop in a pro-gay diocese in what is becoming a pro-gay American Catholic Church. They not going to condemn that which they have been helping to orchestrate.
You can watch the dialogue between O'Reilly and the former head of the Christian Coalition at Christian Crisis on the Fox News website.
You can watch the dialogue between O'Reilly and the former head of the Christian Coalition at Christian Crisis on the Fox News website.
Monday, October 15, 2007
O'Reilly Defends San Fran Archbishop
Before proceeding, let me tell you all that I am not a Catholic, and please forgive the length of this post, but the spin job provided by Bill "no spin zone" O'Reilly in defending a pro-gay bishop requires this lengthy rebuttal.
That disclosure being out of the way, Bill O'Reilly's defense of Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco is one of the most ridiculous spin jobs I have ever come across. The apparently blind Archbishop served the Eucharist to two outlandishly attired transvestites, and Pope Bill granted him absolution, placing all the blame for the communion fiasco on the crossdressers.
I'm going to insert O'Reilly's "Talking Points" memo from Friday, October 12th, here- in it's entirety, so that I can't be accused of taking anything out of context. More of my diatribe will continue afterwards.
__________________________________
From Fox News:
Another Unbelievable Outrage in San Francisco
Monday , October 15, 2007
By Bill O'Reilly
Another outrage in San Francisco and this one is very hard to believe. As you may know, San Francisco is run by far left secular-progressives who despise the military, traditional values and religion. Not everybody in San Francisco feels that way, but certainly the power structure does. Time and again, we have brought you stories of outrageous behavior on the part of militant people living in that city.
Now, things have reached critical mass, no pun intended. Last Sunday, at the Catholic Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, Archbishop George Niederauer was celebrating mass. As part of that ritual, holy communion is given to Catholics by the celebrants. Two gay militants in bizarre dress took communion from the archbishop in an attempt to mock the mass and the man. — The people who did this are members of a militant homosexual group that runs around San Francisco dressed as nuns.
All city officials are aware of the group because in the past they have publicly demeaned Christianity. The Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, has refused to comment.
The District Attorney, Kamala Harris, says she is waiting for a complaint to be filed.
The Catholic Church says it will do its own investigation and doesn't want the police involved at this point. The archbishop has apologized, saying he's embarrassed and sorry he gave communion to people committing sacrilege.
But it really is not the archbishop's fault. — He is an elderly man who was taken by surprise. The fault here lies with the leadership of San Francisco. Mayor Newsom has consistently avoided criticizing behavior that is harmful. He hides under his desk and attacks messengers like me:
VOICE OF GAVIN NEWSOM (D), MAYOR, SAN FRANCISCO: Guys like Bill O'Reilly attack this city and use it as a way to attack Nancy Pelosi and "San Francisco values", it makes me sick to my stomach. How dare you attack this city because of a few exceptions, not the rule, in terms of where our elected officials are with relationship to the military.
Now that comment came after I criticized Newsom for refusing to allow the Marines to film a commercial on city streets. By the way, the comment had nothing to do with Nancy Pelosi.
Again, we've invited Mayor Newsom on the program, we've asked for a statement about the Catholic situation but the mayor is consistent. He condones terrible behavior by refusing to confront it.
Incredibly, the San Francisco media has blacked out the story, refused to report it; with the exception of KNEW Radio. If a mosque had been attacked like this, if a synagogue had been defiled, this would have been page one not only in the San Francisco Chronicle but in every liberal newspaper in the country. Instead, there is no reporting on a violation of a church service by those militants.
"Talking Points" believes all Americans should take a very hard look at what is happening in San Francisco. Certainly the 65 million American Catholics should be deeply offended by the city's behavior.
Enough is enough. Desecrating a Catholic Mass or any other religious service is unacceptable in the United States of America.
And that's "The Memo."
_____________________________________
Ok, back to me again. There you have O'Reilly's insane defense- it's all the fault of the gays and secular progressives in San Francisco... the poor Archbishop was hoodwinked- Bill flat-out states it was "not the Archbishop's fault."
What the Archbishop did was no accident, and O'Reilly should certainly have done his homework before opening his mouth to defend him. For proof I offer the following article which clearly demonstrates Niederauer tolerance and acceptance of gays- even gays in the clergy.
O'Reilly, if you're going to masquerade as a "culture warrior," you better realize that the Catholic leadership in San Francisco is every bit as "socially progressive" as Newsom and the other political leaders.
___________________________________
From The San Francisco Chronicle, December 16, 2005:
A NEW ARCHBISHOP FOR S.F.: VIEWS
Tolerant statements toward gays
Homosexuals can minister as priests, Niederauer says
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005
San Francisco's incoming Catholic archbishop, George Niederauer, has spoken boldly in support of gay priests and has praised gay parishioners, leaders of gay Catholic organizations said Thursday.
Many in the church hierarchy have blamed the international clergy sex abuse scandal on gay priests, and the Vatican's recent instruction on gays in the priesthood stated new rules on gay clergy were "made more urgent by the current situation."
Niederauer disputed those ideas in an interview with his diocesan newspaper in Utah.
"Some who are seriously mistaken have named sexual orientation as the cause of the recent scandal regarding the sexual abuse of minors by priests," Niederauer said in the interview with the Intermountain Catholic News, which was published Monday.
His reference to "sexual orientation" stands in contrast to the Vatican instruction's description of "persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies."
Niederauer said gay men committed to Christ and the church can effectively minister as priests, and he said sexual orientation was "a structure of human personality." In contrast, the Vatican instruction states that men "who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture' " are unfit for priesthood.
"I don't think there are any ifs, ands or buts that the Vatican is trying to blame the sex abuse crisis on gay priests, and this man says that is 'seriously mistaken,' " said Sam Sinnett, national president of DignityUSA, an organization in Washington, D.C., of gay and lesbian Catholics.
"Very few bishops have come out and said clearly that this is not about sexual orientation," Sinnett said. He added that, if the statements reflected the bishop's thinking, his appointment in San Francisco would be "more than a small step forward for gay and lesbian Catholics."
As archbishop, Niederauer will have a central role in determining who is ordained in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo, the counties included in the San Francisco diocese.
In 10 years as bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, Niederauer rarely had to address gay and lesbian issues in the church. DignityUSA, which has chapters in 24 states, isn't active in Utah.
In 2004, however, Niederauer publicly opposed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that appeared on the Utah state ballot, even though he opposed same-sex marriage.
Many Protestant leaders and the powerful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supported the ban. But Niederauer said he was troubled that the amendment banned any union beside marriage. He also saw the ban as unnecessary because same-sex marriages already were prohibited by Utah law.
Niederauer also helped form the "Coalition of Concerned Religious Leaders," a group of Utah clergy who urged tolerance for gays and lesbians after the state legislature in 1996 banned gay student clubs when students at one school expressed interest in starting such a club.
Before he was assigned to Utah, Niederauer spent his career in Southern California, including a stint at a parish in West Hollywood, which has a large gay population. In a 2003 interview with the (Salt Lake City) Deseret News about his work in West Hollywood, he was enthusiastic.
"I don't have to take a back seat to anyone in the church in my admiration for the people I met," Niederauer said. He added, "They were as wonderful and gifted and generous and compassionate as any you meet."
Francis DeBernardo, who leads New Ways Ministry, a national advocacy group for gay and lesbian Catholics, and met with Niederauer in Salt Lake City, said the bishop was genuinely interested in reaching out to the gay and lesbian community.
"With his pastoral experience in an overwhelmingly gay Catholic parish in West Hollywood, and his political experience dealing with extremism from anti-gay forces in Utah, I think that Bishop Niederauer is one of the best candidates to lead the heavily gay-populated Catholic community of San Francisco," DeBernardo said.
Niederauer's predecessor, Archbishop William Levada, received mixed reviews from gay and lesbian Catholics. Levada spoke several times at the Most Holy Redeemer Church, a largely gay parish in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, and appointed gays and lesbians to important positions in the diocese.
But on Levada's watch, the diocese stopped its ministry specifically for gay and lesbian Catholics and left that work to local parishes, said the Rev. Jim Schexnayder, who founded the Berkeley-based National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries. Schexnayder said he hoped Niederauer would revive that ministry.
"There's a great need obviously in San Francisco, with so many gay and lesbian Catholics who would greatly benefit from a public pastoral outreach," Schexnayder said.
__________________________
There you have it. The gay community in SF was thrilled when Niederauer was appointed to replace Levada, and now you know why.
So much for the "no spin" zone, eh, Bill? Guess the spin started with you- but the spin stops here.
That disclosure being out of the way, Bill O'Reilly's defense of Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco is one of the most ridiculous spin jobs I have ever come across. The apparently blind Archbishop served the Eucharist to two outlandishly attired transvestites, and Pope Bill granted him absolution, placing all the blame for the communion fiasco on the crossdressers.
I'm going to insert O'Reilly's "Talking Points" memo from Friday, October 12th, here- in it's entirety, so that I can't be accused of taking anything out of context. More of my diatribe will continue afterwards.
__________________________________
From Fox News:
Another Unbelievable Outrage in San Francisco
Monday , October 15, 2007
By Bill O'Reilly
Another outrage in San Francisco and this one is very hard to believe. As you may know, San Francisco is run by far left secular-progressives who despise the military, traditional values and religion. Not everybody in San Francisco feels that way, but certainly the power structure does. Time and again, we have brought you stories of outrageous behavior on the part of militant people living in that city.
Now, things have reached critical mass, no pun intended. Last Sunday, at the Catholic Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, Archbishop George Niederauer was celebrating mass. As part of that ritual, holy communion is given to Catholics by the celebrants. Two gay militants in bizarre dress took communion from the archbishop in an attempt to mock the mass and the man. — The people who did this are members of a militant homosexual group that runs around San Francisco dressed as nuns.
All city officials are aware of the group because in the past they have publicly demeaned Christianity. The Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, has refused to comment.
The District Attorney, Kamala Harris, says she is waiting for a complaint to be filed.
The Catholic Church says it will do its own investigation and doesn't want the police involved at this point. The archbishop has apologized, saying he's embarrassed and sorry he gave communion to people committing sacrilege.
But it really is not the archbishop's fault. — He is an elderly man who was taken by surprise. The fault here lies with the leadership of San Francisco. Mayor Newsom has consistently avoided criticizing behavior that is harmful. He hides under his desk and attacks messengers like me:
VOICE OF GAVIN NEWSOM (D), MAYOR, SAN FRANCISCO: Guys like Bill O'Reilly attack this city and use it as a way to attack Nancy Pelosi and "San Francisco values", it makes me sick to my stomach. How dare you attack this city because of a few exceptions, not the rule, in terms of where our elected officials are with relationship to the military.
Now that comment came after I criticized Newsom for refusing to allow the Marines to film a commercial on city streets. By the way, the comment had nothing to do with Nancy Pelosi.
Again, we've invited Mayor Newsom on the program, we've asked for a statement about the Catholic situation but the mayor is consistent. He condones terrible behavior by refusing to confront it.
Incredibly, the San Francisco media has blacked out the story, refused to report it; with the exception of KNEW Radio. If a mosque had been attacked like this, if a synagogue had been defiled, this would have been page one not only in the San Francisco Chronicle but in every liberal newspaper in the country. Instead, there is no reporting on a violation of a church service by those militants.
"Talking Points" believes all Americans should take a very hard look at what is happening in San Francisco. Certainly the 65 million American Catholics should be deeply offended by the city's behavior.
Enough is enough. Desecrating a Catholic Mass or any other religious service is unacceptable in the United States of America.
And that's "The Memo."
_____________________________________
Ok, back to me again. There you have O'Reilly's insane defense- it's all the fault of the gays and secular progressives in San Francisco... the poor Archbishop was hoodwinked- Bill flat-out states it was "not the Archbishop's fault."
What the Archbishop did was no accident, and O'Reilly should certainly have done his homework before opening his mouth to defend him. For proof I offer the following article which clearly demonstrates Niederauer tolerance and acceptance of gays- even gays in the clergy.
O'Reilly, if you're going to masquerade as a "culture warrior," you better realize that the Catholic leadership in San Francisco is every bit as "socially progressive" as Newsom and the other political leaders.
___________________________________
From The San Francisco Chronicle, December 16, 2005:
A NEW ARCHBISHOP FOR S.F.: VIEWS
Tolerant statements toward gays
Homosexuals can minister as priests, Niederauer says
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005
San Francisco's incoming Catholic archbishop, George Niederauer, has spoken boldly in support of gay priests and has praised gay parishioners, leaders of gay Catholic organizations said Thursday.
Many in the church hierarchy have blamed the international clergy sex abuse scandal on gay priests, and the Vatican's recent instruction on gays in the priesthood stated new rules on gay clergy were "made more urgent by the current situation."
Niederauer disputed those ideas in an interview with his diocesan newspaper in Utah.
"Some who are seriously mistaken have named sexual orientation as the cause of the recent scandal regarding the sexual abuse of minors by priests," Niederauer said in the interview with the Intermountain Catholic News, which was published Monday.
His reference to "sexual orientation" stands in contrast to the Vatican instruction's description of "persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies."
Niederauer said gay men committed to Christ and the church can effectively minister as priests, and he said sexual orientation was "a structure of human personality." In contrast, the Vatican instruction states that men "who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture' " are unfit for priesthood.
"I don't think there are any ifs, ands or buts that the Vatican is trying to blame the sex abuse crisis on gay priests, and this man says that is 'seriously mistaken,' " said Sam Sinnett, national president of DignityUSA, an organization in Washington, D.C., of gay and lesbian Catholics.
"Very few bishops have come out and said clearly that this is not about sexual orientation," Sinnett said. He added that, if the statements reflected the bishop's thinking, his appointment in San Francisco would be "more than a small step forward for gay and lesbian Catholics."
As archbishop, Niederauer will have a central role in determining who is ordained in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo, the counties included in the San Francisco diocese.
In 10 years as bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, Niederauer rarely had to address gay and lesbian issues in the church. DignityUSA, which has chapters in 24 states, isn't active in Utah.
In 2004, however, Niederauer publicly opposed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that appeared on the Utah state ballot, even though he opposed same-sex marriage.
Many Protestant leaders and the powerful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supported the ban. But Niederauer said he was troubled that the amendment banned any union beside marriage. He also saw the ban as unnecessary because same-sex marriages already were prohibited by Utah law.
Niederauer also helped form the "Coalition of Concerned Religious Leaders," a group of Utah clergy who urged tolerance for gays and lesbians after the state legislature in 1996 banned gay student clubs when students at one school expressed interest in starting such a club.
Before he was assigned to Utah, Niederauer spent his career in Southern California, including a stint at a parish in West Hollywood, which has a large gay population. In a 2003 interview with the (Salt Lake City) Deseret News about his work in West Hollywood, he was enthusiastic.
"I don't have to take a back seat to anyone in the church in my admiration for the people I met," Niederauer said. He added, "They were as wonderful and gifted and generous and compassionate as any you meet."
Francis DeBernardo, who leads New Ways Ministry, a national advocacy group for gay and lesbian Catholics, and met with Niederauer in Salt Lake City, said the bishop was genuinely interested in reaching out to the gay and lesbian community.
"With his pastoral experience in an overwhelmingly gay Catholic parish in West Hollywood, and his political experience dealing with extremism from anti-gay forces in Utah, I think that Bishop Niederauer is one of the best candidates to lead the heavily gay-populated Catholic community of San Francisco," DeBernardo said.
Niederauer's predecessor, Archbishop William Levada, received mixed reviews from gay and lesbian Catholics. Levada spoke several times at the Most Holy Redeemer Church, a largely gay parish in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, and appointed gays and lesbians to important positions in the diocese.
But on Levada's watch, the diocese stopped its ministry specifically for gay and lesbian Catholics and left that work to local parishes, said the Rev. Jim Schexnayder, who founded the Berkeley-based National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries. Schexnayder said he hoped Niederauer would revive that ministry.
"There's a great need obviously in San Francisco, with so many gay and lesbian Catholics who would greatly benefit from a public pastoral outreach," Schexnayder said.
__________________________
There you have it. The gay community in SF was thrilled when Niederauer was appointed to replace Levada, and now you know why.
So much for the "no spin" zone, eh, Bill? Guess the spin started with you- but the spin stops here.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sean Hannity
I don't often watch Fox News- or CNN, MSNBC, or any of the rest of the cesspool that is the mainstream media polluting my TV set. They're all lackeys of special interest and shrills for either the Dems (MSNBC) or the Bush Administration (FOX). The two worst excuses for commentators, in my humble opinion, are Keith Olbermann at MSNBC and Fox's Sean Hannity. I'll post some thoughts on KO, but I ran across the following on the National Expositor website, and it pretty much sums up my feelings for Hannity:
Smug, dishonest, sellout, scum... just a few words that come to mind when I think of Sean Hannity. If anyone watched the NH debate the other day and the ass kissing spin fest that followed, they know what I'm talking about. The coolade drinkers at Fox and Freaks were up to their old antics. Hannity proved once again that there are no lengths to which he will not go to hide the truth from America.
Does anybody really believe that Sean is unaware of how the phone text polling works? Why is it beyond Sean's comprehension that 33% of the callers would prefer a candidate that answers a direct question with a direct answer, who wants to end the phoney war, and who wants to restore constitutionally protected freedoms? Does he really believe that given a choice between an America with lower taxes, less government, more privacy, and a nation that protects its own sovereignty rather than agressive wars and nation building - that people would voluntarily choose an America with eroding freedoms, rising inflation, a promise of more debt, unending war, and a police state with national ID cards and more gun restrictions??? Does he really think so little of people? No. It isn't possible.
Hannity is a phoney who is trying desperately to become one of the elite by hanging on to the coat tails of the power machine and being a good little lackey. He has lost all credibility by backing the wrong horse. He backed slavery instead of freedom. "Let freedom ring?" you bet. Old Sean has dug himself a hole and after the regime change, he'll be lucky if he can get a job selling newspapers. Won't that be sweet justice?
Smug, dishonest, sellout, scum... just a few words that come to mind when I think of Sean Hannity. If anyone watched the NH debate the other day and the ass kissing spin fest that followed, they know what I'm talking about. The coolade drinkers at Fox and Freaks were up to their old antics. Hannity proved once again that there are no lengths to which he will not go to hide the truth from America.
Does anybody really believe that Sean is unaware of how the phone text polling works? Why is it beyond Sean's comprehension that 33% of the callers would prefer a candidate that answers a direct question with a direct answer, who wants to end the phoney war, and who wants to restore constitutionally protected freedoms? Does he really believe that given a choice between an America with lower taxes, less government, more privacy, and a nation that protects its own sovereignty rather than agressive wars and nation building - that people would voluntarily choose an America with eroding freedoms, rising inflation, a promise of more debt, unending war, and a police state with national ID cards and more gun restrictions??? Does he really think so little of people? No. It isn't possible.
Hannity is a phoney who is trying desperately to become one of the elite by hanging on to the coat tails of the power machine and being a good little lackey. He has lost all credibility by backing the wrong horse. He backed slavery instead of freedom. "Let freedom ring?" you bet. Old Sean has dug himself a hole and after the regime change, he'll be lucky if he can get a job selling newspapers. Won't that be sweet justice?
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