Spanking now illegal in Texas? June 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, foolishness, General Catholic, North Deanery, scandals, sickness, silliness, Society.comments closed
(CN) – A Texas mother was sentenced to 5 years probation and lost custody of her 2-year-old child for spanking the girl on the butt. The mother also got a lecture from a state judge.
“You don’t spank children today,” Judge Jose Longoria told Rosina Gonzales.
Gonzales, of Corpus Christi, pleaded guilty to injury to a child, for spanking her 2-year-old daughter on the butt. As part of her plea, she agreed to take parenting classes.
“In the old days, maybe we got spanked, but there was a different quarrel,” Judge Longoria of 214th District Court told Gonzales. “You don’t spank children. You understand?” according to a KZTV report.
Prosecutors say Gonzales struck the girl in December with an open hand, leaving red marks. She was arrested after the child’s grandmother reported the injuries and took her to the hospital.
KZTV reported that the judge’s ruling made it clear that spanking is a crime. The station reported that Gonzales is trying to regain custody of her daughter and another child, but they will both stay with their paternal grandmother until authorities agree her home is safe.
Although the above story was written rather unprofessionally, the story is true. 5 years probation and loss of custody for spanking? Is separating a family really in the child’s best interest? Her other two kids were taken away, as well. And, apparently, the judge in this case massively over-reached – spanking is actually legal under Famil Code Section 261.001. This is legislating from the bench.
Meanwhile, a family lies in tatters.
Archbishop Chaput – Catholic social work must be Catholic first June 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, episcopate, General Catholic, North Deanery, sadness, scandals.comments closed
What’s not to like about this guy? Maybe something, but I’m unaware:
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver warned Catholic social workers against the danger of Church institutions losing their religious identity amidst increasing hostility from the government and society.
“The more that Catholic universities or hospitals mute their religious identity; the more that Catholic social ministries weaken their religious character … the less useful to the Gospel they become,” he said.
Archbishop Chaput delivered a dual message to Catholic social workers this week, urging them to not let their Christian identity wane and also stressing that the government has no right to impede the work of Catholic institutions.
At a June 21 address to the Catholic Social Workers National Convention in Denver, he said that civil society consists “not just of autonomous individuals” but communities as well.
“Those communities also have rights. Catholic institutions are extensions of the Catholic community and Catholic belief,” he emphasized. “The state has no right to interfere with their legitimate work, even when it claims to act in the name of individuals unhappy with Catholic teaching.”
Archbishop Chaput’s remarks were made against the backdrop of Catholic Charities in several dioceses across the U.S. shutting down adoption and foster care services after their local states enacted civil union laws.
Despite these setbacks, however, the Denver archbishop said that Catholic ministries “have the duty to faithfully embody Catholic beliefs on marriage, the family, social justice, sexuality, abortion and other important issues.”
“And if the state refuses to allow those Catholic ministries to be faithful in their services through legal or financial bullying,” he added, “then as a matter of integrity, they should end their services.”
“Catholic social ministry begins and ends with Jesus Christ,” he said. “If it doesn’t, it isn’t Catholic.”
“And if our social work isn’t deeply, confidently and explicitly Catholic in its identity, then we should stop using the word ‘Catholic.’ It’s that simple.”
Writ large, this can be applied across the entire spectrum of Church activities. If all of our activities – social work, evangelization, Liturgy, education, etc. – aren’t confidently and explicitly Catholic, if they don’t serve the proclamation of the Gospel, then what are we doing? The Mystical Body of Christ is an instrument to proclaim the Gospel and celebrate the Sacraments with the end of saving souls. Everything else in ancillary. If we’re not constantly promoting that core objective of the Church in everything we do, then we are not fulfilling our calling. And areas of the Church that have consistently failed to put the Gospel of Jesus Christ first, as Catholic social work sometimes has in the last several decades, need to be seriously re-examined for their worth to the Church.
Voris weighs in on the Corapi situation – condemns critics June 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, awesomeness, Basics, blogfoolery, Dallas Diocese, episcopate, foolishness, General Catholic, Interior Life, North Deanery, religious, Saints, scandals, sickness.comments closed
And I think you could say that he finds much of the criticism of Corapi as self-serving as I do:
Regarding splinters and timbers in the eye, we all suffer from that, to an extent. There is always a tendency to find fault in others that we may overlook in ourselves. But this almost gleeful pounding of Corapi has been rather beyond the pale. In almost all the most severe condemnations, there has been little mention of the years of great service Corapi gave, of his seminal role in disseminating knowledge of the Catechism back in the 90s, and the fact that his series of Catechism lectures helped provide the theological knowledge base for much of the revival in traditional catechesis that we are enjoying today. We no longer know what we used to not know – an odd expression, but one that is true. John Corapi played a huge role, in conjunction with Mother Angelica and EWTN, in bringing formation in the traditional Doctrine of the Faith to the masses. How can this be so totally forgotten?
And, Voris raises another critical point. While many critics are demanding that Corapi ‘reveal’ his financial dealings and are insinuating that he is leaving the priesthood solely to continue his ostensibly lucrative public career, they fail to reveal their own financial connections – and some of these connections are very closely tied to elements in the Church that would like to see Corapi either gone or disgraced. I won’t go into details, but let me put it this way – some of those most vehemently attacking Corapi’s supposed love of money over Church have their own issues in that regard.
Before decrying Corapi for failing to take the path trodden by a great Saint and Doctor of the Church (how would any of us fare if held to such a standard?), perhaps we should wait and see what fruit his new ministry will bear. Corapi maintains that he acted on the advice of the founder of his order and the Bishop that first incardinated him. As far as we know, that is completely true. And as long as we’re making unsubstantiated allegations, how do we know that the vitriol being directed at him isn’t a ‘pre-emptive attack’ designed to discredit Corapi, place him outside the bounds of ‘reasonable Church discourse,’ and thus defray the impact of his new apostolate’s work? How do we know this is not all part of some dark, sinister plot by elements in the Church that despise Corapi and his work, elements who have been dissatisfied with the increased orthodoxy in the Church that Corapi has helped bring back to the fore? We have just about as much evidence for that, as we do that Corapi is a money grubbing false prophet who will lead his google-eyed followers astray.
Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ June 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, Ecumenism, foolishness, General Catholic, Latin Mass, North Deanery, sadness, Society.comments closed
Also known as Corpus Christi. I was supposed to read at Mass this morning (sorry, Bill!), but realized last night that if I didn’t go to TLM today, and went as usual on Sunday, I would completely miss this great Feast!
Anyone want to join me in praying – we want our Holy Days back! Let us have this great witness to our Faith back, instead of rolling these great Feasts into Sunday! Back in the day, there would frequently be great processions through city streets of our Blessed Lord in the Eucharist. What a brilliant witness, what a great gift to bring to others! We could literally bring the our True, Real Lord into the presence of an increasingly pagan culture! People who have never seen Jesus before could see Him in the Blessed Sacrament! We can show people of other faiths how much we love our Lord, and how literal His Presence is in our Church! How can we not be doing this anymore?!?
Such processions still occur today, but far too rarely:
Look at that cloud of incense! I love it! A ‘sweet fragrance to the Lord’!
Non sequitir – ballistic effects June 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, awesomeness.comments closed
Colleen might enjoy this one:
The .338 Lapua and .50 are just ridiculous. The 7.62 x 51 is a standard military round, also used by many hunters in the US as a .308. That’s a dang destructive round, too. I did quite a bit of shooting this last weekend. .270 Winchester, mostly, which probably hits with a bit less force than the 7.62 x 39 shown in the video. I had alot of fun……..
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