Sunday, October 29, 2006

one clear opinion: i went to the coolest high school in the world.

"This new document puts more emphasis on the church’s moral teaching about sexuality. It says that although having a 'homosexual inclination' is not itself a sin, homosexual sex is a sin — as are premarital sex and adultery. The answer in all these situations is chastity."

so according to today's nytimes, apparently the US bishops are voting on a new document about ministering to gay catholics. i dunno. i'll snarkily say that this is a better summary than i expected from the times, because at least it's not "the catholic church says gay people are EVIL EVIL EVIL. for no reason." but i'm waiting. i don't know for what. things change slowly, but they do change - right?

i predict that the "gay Catholic leaders" quoted in this article are going to protest anything less than a 180 on moral teaching. that's not news as much as the times wants it to be news. time will tell if their protest is healthy or divisive - but again, the spirit leads people all kinds of places, and who can say which revelations are valid?

"A previous document, issued by a committee of bishops in 1997, was directed primarily at parents with gay children. But it proved controversial and was never approved by the bishops conference. "

i don't think that's true. as a rule, i'm suspicious of blurbs that quote a mysterious "previous document" as if the rest of us are too stupid to look it up. i don't know if always our children was controversial, but it's certainly not un-approved. perhaps there is another level of approval somewhere. we learned about it in high school, though, and i don't think i even realized at the time how concerned (in a good way) our teacher was about the gay students in her class. this is one of those things i didn't realize was cool until later, when i thought about how many catholic high school religion teachers would never bring this up...

i'd like the church to be a little clearer on loving gay people, with a little less emphasis on morality. but church leaders have a balancing act on this one, and i honestly don't know how i'd do it better. BAH. wait and pray...

apostles at the voting booth

"Jesus lived in politically hot times, and the people of his day were looking for a political leader and savior. Consequently, people were constantly trying to get Jesus to throw his weight behind this or that political issue, but Jesus consistently refused. He never so much as commented on the politics of his day. We know that two of his closest disciples -- Matthew (a "tax collector") and Simon (a "zealot") -- were farther apart politically than Michele Bachmann and Patty Wetterling could ever dream of being. Yet Jesus never said a word about it."

i haven't seen this point made a lot, but i LIKE it. i think i've said before that i'm afraid that this God's politics push is going to turn into another pendulum swing - aaaand now the left is religious! wheee! so i'd like to see more articles like this one from the faith perspective. as much as i'd like everyone to agree with me (wheee!) i think there must be some degree of danger in that. i know this is a point that pretty much goes without saying, but i think it's even more important to consider when we're talking about faith and politics - that is, the fact that disagreements are possible (and even necessary) among faithful christians.

who's picturing two men with beards and sandals glaring at each other before they go into the voting booths? anyone?

Thursday, October 26, 2006

SEAN CASEY, YOU ARE SO GOOD AT BASEBALL.

oho, i am so darn happy to be watching sean casey on tv again. i just saw his player personality or whatever (brought to you by hp, the computer is personal again) and guess what - 1) dave matthews is his background music, and 2) he reads the bible every day. we'd totally be MFEO if, you know, he wasn't already... oh, whatever. anyway, he's playing really well.

do you ever glance at the tv and not realize that they're showing a replay from earlier in the game? i think that replays should be sepia-toned or something.

i wrote the earlier part of this post before the tigers started losing. missed the end of the game because we went to see little miss sunshine. um. i haven't laughed so hard at a movie since middle school. much better than that time we all went to see i heart huckabees.

Friday, October 13, 2006

oh my?

"i've decided i'm rooting for the lions. i mean the tigers."

okay, in my defense, here are things i know about the tigers.
1) they were almost the worst team ever in 2003.
2) my secret lover sean casey plays for them.
3) refer to the previous post on yankees hatred.

so there you have it. the tigers are going all the way.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

TAKE THAT

dear sean casey, thanks for beating the yankees and then spraying the fans with champagne. for this, i still love you. and maybe i'll stop hiding in trees and cabinets because it's october and my team is out of the playoffs.

"not only are the yankees out of the playoffs, but the red sox already got all the good tee times."
- dad, being snarky.