Conscience of a Catholic Radical

This replaces Musings from the Christian (or Catholic) Left. I am still using the term Catholic, because that is where I am coming from (and no, I have not left, nor will I for it is as much my Church as it is Raymond Cardinal Burke’s). I dropped the word Musings because I am not amused. Radical is a better fit. It grabs both the idea of a manifesto . I went with Conscience instead of Confessions to draw parallels to Goldwater, who is one of the nicest men I have met, and Krugman, who should have called his book Conscience of a Neo-Liberal. I use the term Anachronist because it is the opposite of Modernist and, as many have pointed out, there is no left or right in the Church and I don’t concede the point that my views are not orthodox. Indeed, no one who rejects the Nicaean Creed is heterodox. Heterodoxy is heresy. Exercising the gift of prophesy is about the self-criticism the same way it is meant by radical Marxists. I am the most radical of Marxians in that I believe coming from a place of faith is necessary to highlight both the Communism and the self-criticism practiced in the apostolic age, which meant witness as much as being the time of the Twelve. Women were apostles too.Radical Catholicism and Catholic Radicalism are used interchangeably, meaning that I believe that society needs radical change and so does the Church. We have suffered too long under Capitalism in its most reactionary form, that being oligarchy (at least the Russians are honest about it). Likewise, there is no longer room for the Medieval Despotism that clings to a stoic Neo-Platonism preached by an asexual clergy. Asexuality is the third sexual orientation, not a tradition. It is characterized by a natural apartness from intimacy, a mark of holiness rather than what we used to call dysfunction before political correctness. It is more disordered, to use Ratzinger’s word, than homosexuality and has no place defining sexuality for the rest of us. It has also led to what can only be called misogyny. It excludes women from ministry thinking them impure (they are still hung up on menstruation) and because sexual contact before offering Mass makes the priest impure. Asexual men prefer the company of other men (and sadly, some prefer boys due to their own undeveloped sexuality). Catholic Radicalism is about human dignity in both society and morality. Christian Humanism goes back to Erasmus (who was gay) and fights oppression in all its forms. Tradition is fine ritual, but not ethics. It’s Rads v. Trads. Both Anachronists and White Evangelicals, aka, cultural conservatives to be polite and racists to be honest, hold fast to the idea of an angry God who demands perfection in every detail, instead of perfection in love, with the Sacrifice on the Cross the satisfaction of angry God. Scriptures show that the Crucifixion was more divine vision quest to reach the point where God can experience human suffering so that we can go to him in our suffering. We believe salvation is an escape from Hell in this world rather than the next. Anachronists are masters of self-righteousness rather than the righteous justice of the Beatitudes and the Magnificat. If you really look at Mary and her sons, they are named for the Maccabees, the radicals of their day. Self-righteousness spills over into the reactionary conservatism found in both Republican politics and its race baiting and in Capitalism, which glorifies wealth. Jesus said not to be like the gentiles, who delight in their social position. Maybe John of Patmos was right after all about the evils of the Pauline Church. Elitism is the natural state of reactionaries, where the elite are the masters of society and Church. Radicalism is the opposite right and liberalism is weak tea.