Priesthood ‘a hiding place for men who don’t want to deal with their sexuality’

Trinity College Dublin (TCD) professor Siobhan Garrigan said it was fundamentally unjust that women could not join the priesthood.

Prof Garrigan made the comments ahead of the visit by Pope Francis to Ireland this week to attend the World Meeting of Families (WMOF).

 

“The priesthood has become a hiding place for men who don’t want to deal with their sexuality,” she said.

“That’s just one of the problems caused by the fact that women are not allowed to be priests.

“Only men are allowed to be priests and they are required to be celibate. Both those rules are terrible.”

She added: “You have to be identified as a man to even begin training for priesthood. That is just fundamentally unjust.

“We should be pushing for women priests.”

Prof Garrigan said the Church changing its rules to allow women to become priests would not solve the misogyny problem overnight but it would be an important milestone for the institution.

“It’s only one step on the road to where we need to get to,” she said.

“Where we need to get to is an end to misogyny.

“Misogyny pervades every aspect of church life.”

The Loyola chair of Catholic theology and head of the school of religion at TCD said she would be a lot happier about the pontiff’s visit if it was not tied to the WMOF.

The WMOF, which gets under way in Dublin on Tuesday, has faced criticism from LGBT+ groups, who have complained about being left…

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Baby Kissed by Pope Francis Recovers From Brain Tumor, Will Start School in Fall

(Screenshot: CBS)One-year-old Gianna Masciantonio being kissed by Pope Francis in September 2015.

The parents of a girl who recovered from a brain tumor after she was kissed on the head by Pope Francis continued to celebrate her recovery Friday with a $50,000 donation toward pediatric brain tumor research.

“She’s doing great. She’s going to attend preschool this fall. She’s so excited,” Kristen Masciantonio told CBS Philly in a recent interview of her now 3-year-old daughter, Gianna Masciantonio, who was treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Francis was traveling down Market Street as part of his 2015 Papal visit to three U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, when he decided to plant a kiss on the head of the then 1-year-old Gianna. He had no idea at the time that she was suffering from a debilitating brain tumor stemming from her struggle with Histiocytosis.

Histiocytosis is a group of rare disorders involving specific cells that normally have important roles as part of the immune system. The cause of the disorder is unknown but it can frequently behave like cancer.

Dr. Amish Shah, who treated Gianna and watched her recovery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said she’s one of about 40 people ever recorded to have the specific condition resulting in a brain tumor.

“She’s blown our expectations out of the water in terms of how she’s doing. She’s resilient and she’s tough, and instead of taking all this as something to be fearful of, she’s really taking this in stride,” Shah, a pediatric neuro-oncologist at CHOP, told CBS on Friday.

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Netflix Cancels Series by Comedian Who Said ‘God Bless Abortions’

Netflix Cancels Series by Comedian Who Said ‘God Bless Abortions’



Netflix has opted not to renew the comedy talk show The Break with Michelle Wolf, which sparked controversy this summer when the host threw a celebration for abortion and even said, “God bless abortions and God bless America.” 


The 10-episode series debuted in May and concluded July 29, according to Deadline.com. Sources told the website that The Break and another series, The Joel McHale Show, failed to draw “enough viewership to secure a renewal.”


Rated TV-MA, The Break included a routine in which Wolf joked that abortion “should be on the dollar menu at McDonald’s.” She then donned a patriot-themed outfit, marched in front of a four-member marching band and shouted, “Abortion, I salute you! Women, if you need an abortion, get one! If you want an abortion, get one!”


She joked that at $300, abortion was a “great deal.” 


“Women, remember: You have the power to give life, and men will try to control that,” she said. “Don’t let them. … God bless abortions and God bless America.” 


In April, Wolf made headlines – most of them negative – with a vulgar routine at the White House correspondents’ dinner that included abortion jokes and jabs at White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.  


Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog, MichaelFoust.com.


Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Rachel…

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Far-right graffiti church vandal jailed for 6 years

Austin Ross, 23, stuck racist posters on buildings around his home town, as well as torching a school and a masonic lodge, causing tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage.

A court heard Ross was both a supporter of Tommy Robinson and far-right group System Resistance Network, and painted their initials SRN, as well as messages such as Free Tommy Robinson on buildings.

 

Between 2nd May and 31st May this year he spray painted Nazi symbols and stuck racist propaganda on to landmarks around his hometown of Newport, south Wales.

Prosecutor Jason Howells told Newport Crown Court that Ross first targeted the city’s Riverfront Theatre by posting a “racially abusive poster” on a window pane.

Mr Howells said: “The poster was linked to the System Resistance Network, and there were swastikas spray painted next to it.”

Ross went on to post racist posters on Bethel Community Church which read “Marxist maggots we remember faces, names places. SRN”

His next target was Newport’s multicultural Maindee Primary School, where parents reported seeing racist posters outside it referring to refugees, and the message “You have been visited by the SRN”.

Ross returned to the school four days later to spray paint several swastikas on its walls.

Crown Prosecution Service/PA Wire

Undated handout image made available by the Crown Prosecution Service of swastikas and the letters…

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Inmates across the United States Go on Strike

Inmates across the United States Go on Strike



Inmates across the nation will be going on a two-week strike starting this week.


The strike coincides with the anniversary of the killing of an African American activist who was imprisoned and then killed in 1971. Inmate George Jackson took guards and two other inmates hostage when he tried to escape from San Quentin State Prison. A guard shot and killed Jackson.


Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, a network of jailed prisoner rights advocates, say they are protesting “modern day slavery” because inmates are paid pennies on the dollar per hour for work.


As part of the strike, inmates will not report to their assigned jobs and will not spend money at commissary. They will also not eat and hold peaceful sit-in protests.


“Prisoner participation depends on their location and privilege status,” said Amani Sawari, a prison reform activist and spokesperson for the strike. “If inmates are working they can suffocate the prison industrial complex by reducing their spending. In some detention facilities, prisoners may not be working so they might do a sit-in. It all depends.”


The prison strike ends Sept. 9, the day in 1971 when the Attica Prison riots started in New York. Some 40 people were killed in the riot.


Inmates with the protest said they are also protesting after this year’s Lee Correctional Institution in South Carolina’s own riot. In April, seven inmates were killed and many…

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Tearfund encourages churches to play their part in reducing global food waste

The report by the Boston Consulting Group said the amount of food that is thrown away will rise considerably by 2030.

It is already a third of the amount of food produced globally, meaning the increase would take the amount going to waste to 2.1 billion tonnes.

Clare Lyons, Tearfund’s senior campaigner told Premier’s News Hour there wasn’t one person to blame:

“It’s actually not wasted at one stage of the supply chain – it’s wasted at every stage – from farm to fork. So really to tackle it we all need to act – that means government, companies, churches, all of us at home as well.”

Aside from the moral problem of waste in a world where people go hungry, she explained that waste has many more negative consequences:

“It also has a really big impact on some of the poorest people in the world and that’s because it has a huge carbon footprint, when you’re wasting food at this kind of scale. So, this make climate change worse, that leads to more droughts, floods and less reliable rainfall.

“But there is some really good news – if we stopped wasting food from our homes in the UK it would be the same as taking one in four cars off the road. So reducing our food waste is part of the fight against climate change.”

She added: “We’ve been really thankful that churches have been really taking action,

“I visited a fantastic church in Bristol last year who held a food waste feast and…

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UFC’s Cody Garbrandt Reveals How Christ Saved Him after Attempted Suicide

UFC’s Cody Garbrandt Reveals How Christ Saved Him after Attempted Suicide



Mixed martial arts fighter and former UFC bantamweight champion Cody “No Love” Garbrandt reveals in a new video how Christ saved him when he was in a “very dark place” in his life.   


“I always knew that He was with me,” Garbrandt says in the video for the non-profit I Am Second organization.


The 27-year-old Garbrandt, who has a record of 11-2, said he grew up in Ohio in a family of fighters and that he and his older brother, Zach, fought for fun. It was a way of life, even if some of the fights resulted in bloody injuries.  


Garbrandt said, “My brother was always bigger, faster, stronger, meaner than me growing up.” He continued saying, he felt he had “something to prove.” 


Garbrandt wrestled in high school but then started doing drugs and partying. It “consumed” his life.  


“I was in a dark place – very, very dark place,” he said. 


Eventually, Garbrandt tried hanging himself. He would have died if his brother had not walked in and stopped him. They hugged, and Zach told him everything was going to be okay. It brought Garbrandt closer to his brother but, more importantly, closer to God. 


“It was a changing point for me in my life,” Garbrandt said. “That moment, that bond and that thing that we went through really, you know, brought us even closer. [We began] attending church services together. It was…

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Fired Crossroads Pastor Patrick Garcia Thanks Elders as Hundreds Call for His Reinstatement

(Photo: Facebook)Former Lead Pastor of Crossroads Christian Church in Evansville, Indiana, Patrick Garcia.

Two days after elders at the Crossroads Christian Church in Indiana described him as a power-hungry, inexperienced leader who wanted “complete control,” fired lead pastor, Patrick Garcia, thanked them for the opportunity they gave him to lead.

He also urged the church community divided by his firing to practice “kind grace” even as hundreds signed a petition calling for a vote seeking to reinstate him.

“The Elders. Thank you for taking a chance on me 2.5 years ago when you called me to this role. Like I said in our meeting last week, serving Crossroads as the Lead Pastor has been one of the biggest honors of my life. While we may disagree on some things, you guys are brothers in Christ,” Garcia wrote in a statement posted on his Facebook page Monday.

“We’ve spent much time laughing, praying, and dreaming together. Each of you have taught me a lot. I’ll be praying that the Lord fills each of you with discernment, wisdom, and vision for the kind of church Crossroads can be. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of playing a small part in the Crossroads story,” he added.

The posture taken by Garcia comes after elders at Crossroads Christian Church told…

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Hamas Refuses to Disarm as a Part of Any Truce With Israel

Hamas Refuses to Disarm as a Part of Any Truce With Israel



According to The Jerusalem Post, Hamas made a statement on Monday saying that it will refuse to lay down its weapons or “pay any political price” in accordance with any cease-fire agreement with Israel. 


Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official, made a statement to an online newspaper called Al-Khaleej, saying, “We benefit from the truce. Our weapons will remain in our hands and there are no conditions regarding Hamas’s right to the resistance.” 


Zahar continued, “The truce does not require a political price [from Hamas] and it is not part of the deal of the century.”


The “deal of the century” is the yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East that was proposed by US President Donald Trump. 


Zahar made this statement in response to remarks made by Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials who, according to The Jerusalem Post, said a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel would pave the way for the deal of the century, which they believe is going to make efforts to terminate the Palestinian cause.  


The Jerusalem Postreports that Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the State of Palestine and Palestinian National Authority, along with some of his top officials claimed that efforts to reach a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas were underway in the past few days. The efforts, it was reported, were not only working toward a cease-fire,…

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