Please don’t censor this column

"Interestingly, so was St. Faustina Kowalska, the Polish mystic who founded the Divine Mercy devotion. Her writings spent 20 years on the Index before they were removed."

Having a POLISH POPE helped....
http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2002c/083002/083002f.htm

"Too bad the church treats adult Catholics as if we were preschoolers."

If the Church dos so it is for a good reason. Most Catholics adults understanding of the teaching of the church is at the preschooler age.

I was born in the same year as the encyclical Vigilanti Cura. During the years of growing up that followed, movies were not the 24-hour a day option they are now. So, the highlighting of a movie by the Legion of Decency served to provide one more fascinating input to youthful education, pointing out facets of human behavior not generally discussed in daily life at the time.

The Index may be gone but not the inclination. Today, the Archdiocese of Boston is reportedly working to shut down the Boston Catholic Insider, a Web site which it finds distasteful ( http://bostoncatholicinsider.wordpress.com/ ). Apparently, diocesan administration and finance have come to be viewed as an obscenity not fit for public attention. Any connection to faith and morals remains obscure.

"Among those labeled as heretical, superstitious and immoral or obscene were scientists Copernicus and Galileo, ... so was St. Faustina Kowalska, the Polish mystic who founded the Divine Mercy devotion. Her writings spent 20 years on the Index before they were removed."

I can't thank you enough for pointing that out. Were it not for JPII, who intensified the "devotional craze," Faustina's writings would still be obscure, which is where they probably belong.

I believe that the 'new (old) church' being force-fed on the Catholic population is an attempt to make good theology and general intellectual content inaccessible to a larger number of Catholics, while pretending that true spirituality consists of devotion to this or that saint.

It makes one wonder if the next Vatican ploy will be an attempt to limit the number of laity admitted to Catholic universities.

How long are we expected to swallow this dumbing down effort?

How long are we expected to tolerate *anything* that Benedict tries to inflict on good and holy people in the name of religion?

From my experience this attempt at censorship and pathological need of the "official" Church to control what the "people of God" Church seems to be a vestige of the official church's view of its people as docile, uneducated, child-like whose posture vis a vis the church is pray-pay-obey. Sadly the church continues to wallow in a medieval mind set as her members from generation to generation continue to develop and evolve in their faith, leaving the CHurch behind in so many respects as a quaint museum piece rather than a vibrant and timely circle of followers of the life and message of the New Testament.

There is no censorship. The Church cannot stop anybody from writing anything or printing anything. But the Church can judge whether or not certain writings are in accordance with Catholic teaching. If they did not do that then the public at large would have no idea what writings are in line with the teachings of the Church as guided by the Holy Spirit and which are in error or even heretical.

Don't believe me, it's simple, if there were censorship the NCR would not exist. As it is the Church can make it clear that most of what you see on the NCR is in error, if not outright heresy. But of course the NCR would like you to believe that there is no guidance from the Holy Spirit, that Sacred Tradition and the teaching of Magisterium mean nothing, that pop culture and individual rationalization trump all. So for that reason we should be glad that Church can still point our error, despite the fact they cannot censor it.

I really appreciate this column. Although I consult the USCCB for movies my children might watch and find them useful with regard to their warnings about sexuality and vulgarity, I have found many worthy films, including "The Golden Compass," condemned as morally offensive because "someone" seems to find them threatening to the Catholic faith. After we watch them, we wonder why.

This article is a good example of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. The author Heidi presents herself as the level-headed Catholic who employs humor (i.e. she can’t watch Animal House) to show how wrong and silly and backward and repressive the hierarchical Church is; when in fact she is actually creating and a ‘near occasion of sin’, gently encouraging people to expose themselves and their children to evil, and nudging Christians further away from Christ. Good job!

There's something I don't understand. When I read a book or see a movie or listen to an opera, I don't feel any impulse to go out and start imitating the fictional characters, modeling my life on theirs, or adopting their habits and personality traits. I mean, they're fictional! That's pretty clear, isn't it? Why does it matter whether fictional characters subscribe to one orthodoxy or another or none at all? We can't save their souls, they're fictional. Why would anyone trade his or her real life for that of a fictional character?

And the same goes for nonfiction. What's wrong with listening to others' ideas and opinions? Does that mean I'm going to trade away everything I believe in? I can surely identify when a criticism or depiction of Christianity is fair or unfair, interesting or uninteresting. I have identified criticisms and depictions thus for Judaism, too, and other religions. Some of these ideas about other religions even come from the Vatican or the pulpit, and I assure you not all are fair or even interesting. It's good to hear ideas. Some might even be new to me and correct. A lot are off target, but it's strengthening to think about them in moderation.

We cannot live in our world if we try to quarantine off all ideas that are not our own. We must be strong enough to deal with them, reject them, entertain them, modify them, or even accept them if they ring with truth.

great article, heidi. censorship is unethical. reviewing from one's clearly articulated position and bias (which are common to every human being) makes for useful reviews (opinions). programming (which could be stretched to conceptually include the imprimatur) and censorship are two distinct actions and processes. Sobrino is not censored. he has been censured - chastised - by the Catholic Church but he has not and cannot be censored by the Catholic Church because it has been centuries since the Catholic Church controlled any significant portion of printed materials. Now, the Church simply has the ability to lend its name to those publications and positions that the institutional Church chooses to endorse. Because I really don't believe in censorship, I find it hard to object, even though I would love to see the Catholic Church choose to endorse writers like Sobrino. Nonetheless, Sobrino is out there and available and, as you say, even more so because the Church declined to endorse his work. i think it is a stretch, heidi, to say that the current use of the imprimatur is about abuse of power. it is an exercise of power but i am not at all sure i buy that it is an abusive exercise of power. the Church so obviously does not have a monopoly on the publishing business or theology schools or political powerin this country. the institutional Catholic Church is a voice and there are millions of other Catholic voices in the world and many, many of them have spectacular forums for making their voices heard. thank goodness the means of communication and study and education are no longer held by the institutional Church. they can no longer censor. they can censure but so can and do most of us. we just cannot censor. and neither can they.

What censorship? It was mom and dad who didn't let you go to the movies with your friends. Besides, it doesn't work that way anymore, but I am sorry you didn't get to see Animal House. It's a very hilarious movie, a classic in the genre of low-brow humor. Besides the wonderful food fight and toga party "Shout" number there's a college kid deliberating whether he should "eff" a passed out drunk underage girl (he doesn't); another frat boy does screw the dean's wife; all the boys cheat on tests; oh, and they kill a horse. So, yeah, it is morally offensive. It's supposed to be and your parents were right not letting you see it as a kid as were the the old fogey bishops advising them. I think the secular MPAA did the same for the rest of more enlightened America. And by the way, the fully uncensored Animal House was on HBO recently; I watched it, and it's still just as funny and just as morally offensive.

The Church couldn't censor theological works even if she wanted to do so. There is no longer an Index of Forbidden Books. However, common sense says there needs to be some censorship of movies made for general distribution. Even Hollywood has some standards!

Personally, when it comes to theological dissent what I find is dishonesty in examining the historical record, distortion of what the Church has actually taught or teaches now & a failure to apply logic properly.

example of liberal logic:

1) all people are equal
2) men & women are equal (1 implies 2)
3) any discrimination based on gender is wrong (2 implies 3)
4) women can't be ordained - fact
5) failure to ordain women is discrimination
6) this is wrong #3
7) therefore women must be ordained

Can anyone find the fallacy in the liberal argument? Actually, there are four fallacies in this argument.

I am sure that book publishers would love the "Index" to return...get a negative reating from the chuch and that would help "sell" the book.

Amazing how you never bothered to rent "Animal House" or watch it on TV. I hope you do realize, the Church has no coercive authority. It can't stop you from seeing a film. Perhaps it's time to get over it?

I want to seriously question why there is this need or impulse to frame the Church as taking away your freedom or liberty even when it is Holy Mother Church that throughout the ages has taught about, advised, and censored as an extension of it, that certain material is designated as suspicious and thereby for the time being is to be unread. Thank the Lord for the Index and it's paternal discipline because the problems of current times like that in the home is sure indicating signs of discrepancy somewhere(i.e. in discipline). I also want to be thankful for Vigilanti Cura of Pius XI, the Holy Office 'CDF' and all of its work as well the potential work on admonishing and clarifying the way for those who propose the thesis of ideological and moral errors in 'liberation' theology, anti-humanae vitae, feminism (or more so the "radical"), the philosophy of whatever branch of Sartre and Kant and practically everything else known to God. Yes, I have more to learn about history regarding these topics but when you are anchored on that path of fundamental principle, then you are obliged as I to stand up against whatever is lowering the standard of contained dignity. We must draw the line somewhere, it should be more apparent that society is falling into paganism, ignorance, sloth, and any other ill that neither of us is absolutely pure or safe from. Commentators here have indicated that wise precept of the Church regarding sin and penance which is "occasion of sin". This comes along with that humility and logic that supplements readers and teachers world wide aimed for charity namely that charity that flows from the Sacred Heart of Christ which impels us to serve others. It can be found in something as nuanced as some would call it as the imprimatur. We simply can't presume anymore that people will come to the right path if we don't pave the way first. It's important to note at the same time that a person's authority or discretion does not hold preeminence but in fact the Lord who inspires and begins the road. I want to thank and encourage the USCCB for their input on movies. Finally I wouldn't mind censorship if need be for I know that God will work on it and not me, for off course there are those in the church that may err like the case mentioned on Galileo and the index. I pray for Heidi and all sharing similar views on either end that we may render our lives to the Queen of Heaven and Earth and the King of Kings so that his Kingdom may reign in all that we do. Amen

You didn't miaa much, Heidi. Caddyshack was better.

It's interesting to see how the Church has been striving to create its own, strictly orthodox, version of hip. Over the past few years, various high-ranking Curia figures have praised the Beatles, the Blues Brothers, and Oscar Wilde. Twenty years down the road, who knows? Some cardinal or other may spare a kind word for Lady Gaga.

Ooh, wait, wait, wait. Good story about Catholicism and pop culture and the disconnect between the two. On YouTube, I saw a video where Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., trains his sights on a singer he's clearly pegged as a knight commander in the legions of Moloch. No, it isn't Madonna, or Gaga, or even R. Kelly. It's Billy Joel. Yes, that Billy Joel. Why? Well, according to Pacwa, "Only the Good Die Young" is an insult to the virgin martyrs.

Feel free to disagree, but in this reporter's opinion, he shattered all previous records for stuffiness. Even Ned Flanders would blush to make such a statement. If there were a high court for culture war crimes, it would pack Pacwa off to the galleys for life.

There's something silly about this article. If it's author wants to see Animal House she can get on Netflix and order it up. What she shouldn't expect is that an major organization shouldn't speak up and articulate its mission and values. We allow corporations in this country to have 1st amendment rights to define who they are and what they believe. The Catholic Church should have the same privilege.

There is an Italian Proverb
Che Pecora si fa, Il lupo se la mangia.
Those who act like sheep will be eaten by the wolf.
It's time some Catholics stop acting like sheep, start thinking for yourselves.
God has given us a mind to use and free will to act. We don't need permission to see movies or read certain books.
Come on all you sheep leave the flock and be independent thinkers.

Finally, Grancy hit the nail on the heard.

Dominic Tomasso
Advocate for Bishops Accountability
tomassotucson@cox.net

Men and women are equal in dignity, not equal in 'everything'.

In Genesis, Eve is described as first to eat of the forbidden fruit...but the human race didn't fall when she bit it. It fell only when Adam ate of it. So the blame and fault was not Eve's....it was Adam's.

And that is why reparation/sacrifice has been something only a few men have been called on to perform for the people. This is also why - if you need to know - that the Word became flesh as a man, not a perfect woman. Eve facilitated the fall of Adam as Mary facilitated the Incarnation and Redemption of Jesus.

But was Cain a priest? No. Because God was not pleased with his offering. It's not enough to make the sacrifice and be a man, one has always had to be chosen - priesthood (like the church itself) is a two way street, not something we control the definition of but just something we either accept or reject.

Ordained ministry has NEVER been considered a birthright to any man who wanted it...it's always been something only those called and chosen were accepted into. Something 1% or less of men 'got' so it's hard to claim unjust discrimination is going on.

But what IS the priesthood? Something we the people make up and so something we the people can re-define at whim? No. It's something we didn't cook up and so we don't control the definition of...sort of like marriage.

New Testament has Jesus accepting Genesis Creation Story One, the one that says God created Man and Woman in Gods image and it is good.

Jesus never stated women are evil Eves, Jesus never shunned women, or silenced women or left women out of the sacred space beside him. Jesus went about making women, married women too like Junia, and Samarian well woman, and Mary Magdala too, his apostles, of which we get apostolic succession... our basis of priesthood. Co-partners, co-equals, co-workers.

Galatians 3:28 yeah, equality of men and women. JPII notions of men and women are junk. He should have stuck to Theology of the New Testament and not the trash he came up with. His theology of the body is just a rehash of crap recycling misogynist unChristian socalled church fathers mid-evil (and fourth century) junk.

You, an adult, are blaming the institutional church for your own timidity? Did the church (I admit, I didn't bother to read your article beyond the first sentence) also "stultify [you] intellectually"? I suppose you watch no TV, either, adhere to a dog-eared copy of the index of forbidden publications, and can't bring yourself to say the word "pregnant," either. Sure you do.

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Any therapist can tell why those forbiddings did not stop the many problems and evils of our society and the world.; It is because the simple act of forbidding something often makes it a taboo thus it becomes almost a thing of intense interest even though forbidden. E.G, the seemingly intense obsessive forbiddings of sexuality in some overly intense super Catholic households makes those taboos ever more seductive. Any therapist, Sociologist, Psychiatrist, Psychologist or Social Worker can tell you that. It's really just the way the human mind works. GOD made that extraordinarily complex organ.

Recently, we do know that there is such a thing as a Right Wing mind and a Left Wing mind. Two fMRI studies and a study done by Newburg, M.D(Univ of Penn)revealed some clear differences between the two minds.

The problem is---
What the Legion Of Decency and the forbidden list of books did NOT do is to "win hearts and minds". Simply treating people like little children and slapping them on the wrist does not work now or even back then in the 40s and 50s when I was not allowed to see or read those books/magazines or movies.

As regards homosexuality--
Very soon(1-2yrs)geneticists will be able to show that homosexuals are created by God. It is NOT, NOT, NOT and NOT a chosen lifestyle! Actually, there but for the grace of God goes any one of us straight people. Just consider that according to various polls done at various times by various researchers about 30-70% of Catholic priests are active homosexuals. Many of us "trained people"(Psychologist)so often see the homosexual thought patterns reflected in the speech patterns of many Catholic clergymen/prelates. I will not name any of them, ever!! That is between them and God.

Once geneticists show that homosexuals are created by God --because our science today does not yet know how to do that--will the pope then do some serious back-pedaling and some serious apologizing. Very doubtful. He will more likely promulgate another serious "Galileo event"(Lysenkoism-Michurinism)!

There are those in the Repub party, Pat Buchanan and others, who have talked about putting all homosexuals in jail/prison. Some have talked of executing them under the "three times and your out rule"/concept/notion/idiocy. Will they really execute all homosexual priests and prelates??

Two high school students who attended my Catholic H.S. committed suicide last year. Every time I think about it I get sick all over again. Two high school students. Just think about it. I'll never be involved in hating homosexuals. NOT in any way.

Dark religion is upon us. The endarkenment is upon us. Christian(Christ-like) love has been thrown out of the 50th story window and is now a dead corpse. Despite Christs death.

Homosexuals often think of themselves as the modern day Christ crucified. Maybe, they are. Just maybe, maybe, maybe Christ has come back, again and again, and HE is watching to see what we have learned from HIS teachings about peace, love, tolerance and "do unto others...message!! And, what ever happened to: "Thou shalt NOT kill". Republicans have totally forgotten that one. And, I used to vote for some of them. Never again!! Right Wingers have also forgotten: thou shalt not covet, thou shalt NOT steal and thou shalt NOT bear false witness. As long as it's to their economic benefit anything goes. No morals, values or ethics, other than oil, money and political power, so the money keeps flowing to them(Trickle-down economics).

Don't tell me about homosexuality being in the bible as the pope does. There are a great many things in the bible that we do NOT do!!! Certainly we do not stone people(women), even though some Muslims do. Is that really what some of you fundie Catholics really want. We do not cut off fingers, hands, eyes or heads. Even if it offend thee. If you want that, then become a Jihadi Muslim!

We must ask ourselves are we following the rules OR are we following the message behind the rules? Do we worship the structure(false gods) or do we worship The Almighty??? For me, that IS the real lesson behind these clergy/prelate sex scandals.

Watch for the Geneticists announcements. Then watch what the pope does and says. God is always watching. Christ must always be weeping for us. the Holy Spirit breathes but some never listen.

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"And censorship by the church originally had the noble goal of safeguarding the faith and morals of the institution and its members."

Isn't this the undoing of your argument? Surely the reason the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith admonishes certain theologians -- even if you believe they have made mistakes in certain cases -- is because it wants to safeguard the faith and morals of the Church. The same is true of the movie reviews, which I do not think come even close to being censorship.

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