When the Homily is about Immunology

Huzzah for the RC Pope

I really think my RC friends have a good man at the helm.

Pope says not to reject God for science

A few excerpts from the article:

Benedict said modern people suffered from "hardness of hearing" when it comes to God.

"Put simply, we are no longer able to hear God — there are too many different frequencies filling our ears," he said. "What is said about God strikes us as pre-scientific, no longer suited to our age."

"People in Asia and Africa admire our scientific and technical progress, but at the same time they are frightened by a form of rationality which totally excludes God from man's vision, as if this were the highest form of reason."

Of course, the solution to wetsern perceptions as noted above is simply to cave to them and revision the Christian story....right? As Spong does?

The need for Western Europe to return to its Christian roots is one of Benedict's favorite themes, and he is repeating it during his visit to his native country — home to a shrinking and liberal Catholic Church and a highly secularized society...
Benedict gently rebuked the German church for putting social service projects and technical assistance to the poor ahead of spreading the Christian message. African bishops, he said, told him all doors were open to them in Germany when they wanted to talk about aid projects, but added they were greeted with reservations when it came to evangelization.

"Clearly, some people have the idea that social projects should be urgently undertaken, while anything dealing with God or even the Catholic faith is of limited and lesser importance," Benedict said.

He said that faith must come first, before progress can be made in social problems, such as the AIDS epidemic in Africa. "Hearts must be converted if progress is to be made on social issues and reconciliation is to begin, and if — for example, AIDS is to be combated by realistically facing its deeper causes."

That message is consistent with church teaching that chastity and faithfulness to one's spouse — and not condoms — are the best way to prevent the disease.

"Best" because despite the predominant philosophy of the world around us, people really can keep their pants on. Yes, they really can and we should start expecting them to. As it is we pat our teens or pre-teens or Africans on the head, and give them a condom to face the world's "realities." Condoms are "effective" in reducing the spread of disease - perhaps, as some studies have show (yes take a moment and ponder the inherent problems with such studies), very effective - but they are by no means perfect. Even the house loses at the card table from time to time.

Chastity and Faithfulness. Wow, oncepts we need to start taking way more seriously. As it is we just seem to laugh at these as being "pre-scientific, no longer suited to our age."

Oh how illumined we are! We smile and nudge one another knowingly about our former president's "fun" with interns and then wonder why so many are dying of wholly preventable STD's all around the world.

Many Years to Pope Benedict XVI for having the guts to tell us to our face...and for it, his birth home is vandalized. Really now, Chastity and Faithfulness, on such ground, we Orthodox ought to stand united beside the Roman Catholics.