Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

The first line of this guy’s article indicates that what follows is going to be a We Are Church type distorted lionization of every Catholic dissenters’ favorite hero, Charlie Curran: “Charlie Curran doesn’t look like someone who’s doomed to be burned at the stake.” The article goes down hill from there and just about every canard one can think of, this not too original thinker of an author throws into the mix. Given the glowing praise, one might at first think that the article was written by Charlie himself; however, the demonstration of such tremendous factual ignorance reveals that to be unlikely (e.g. that Curran’s criticisms of the Church for the “scandal” which broke out in 2002 was one of the reasons he lost his teaching faculties in 1986). Other possible affiliations of this author that next come to mind include Voice of the Faithful’s public relations folks, and the publisher’s publicity department of his soon to be released autobiography. Based upon the timing of the article and the book’s release, and the article’s unbelievable slantedness, there is clearly some connection.

The first thing that catches one’s attention is the title of the article, “Loving Dissent.” While no doubt, the author expected the reader to view the title as an adjective followed by a noun, as one reads the article it is clear that the truth of the matter is that it is rather a verb followed by a noun. Charlie certainly does love to dissent. The long list of dissenting issues the author lists makes one wonder why he still formally remains in the Church because he has long since left it doctrinally (more on that later).

Here are some of my favorite quotes in this article about the one man who is probably most responsible for an event which has caused such wide spread confusion in the Church and damage to so many lives: a letter publically dissenting from Humanae vitae shortly before its release:

“There are days when one gets discouraged,” he said. “But I’ve never seriously contemplated leaving the church I love.”

When Charlie gets discouraged, that means that it is a good day for truth and fidelity.

The church wanted people to make decisions on marriage and birth control and other matters based on very specific moral precepts — but how moral was the church’s own behavior toward members who were struggling to integrate church teachings with the realities of their lives? And just how integral were those proscriptions to the core of the faith?

Now what an idea! The world now says that artificial contraception, divorce and remarriage, “gay” sex, etc. are all good things. I know what we will do. Let’s just say, on our own authority, that the Church’s 2000 year old teachings that say these things are sinful and damaging, are not really part of the Church’s teachings. Now with that settled, we can now see how insensitive the Church is for refusing to tell Catholics that it is o.k. to chase after the idols of the nations. The Church is so unfair.

“The key phrase to describe Charlie is ‘loyal dissent,’” Walter said — and indeed, that’s the title of Curran’s forthcoming book. “Many people have written about him as if he’s standing outside the church and criticizing it, which is wrong. He loves the church.”

Loyal dissent, he loves the Church . . . I won’t go there . . .

Sometime before Curran managed to forgive those responsible for his firing, he invented a proverb for his students to remember: “I made up an academic maxim and told my students that it’s very old, but it’s not. It says: ‘A big heart does not excuse a stupid ass.’” In any case, Curran still can’t be sure which stupid ass to blame.

Well, Charlie, I think you see him every morning while you shave.

“There’s never been any quality of the ‘ego trip’ about Charlie’s stands,” Walter said. “He’s a thoughtful man who respects the people who disagree with him.

This is the same man who stood up to accept an award from the dissenting College Theological Society a couple of years ago after being described as a priest and prophet and said; “to hell with priest and prophet, I want to be king!”

Curran steadfastly maintains that he has never departed from the Catholic Church’s core teachings — those included in the creeds or revealed by the sacraments — in anything he’s written or said.

This is such a sad statement. It is even more sad coming from a priest with the schooling that he has had. Please pray for Fr. Curran; he is another confused priest who has been misled almost as much as he has misled. Please also pray for those who have used his erroneous personal opinions as justification for adopting sinful and personally harmful life-styles.