Congrats Illinois.
You will have marriage equality next summer and you survived some idiot (Bishop Paprocki) performing an exorcism on what?
I am not an expert on exorcism, having only seen the Exorcist a couple of times on TV, but what exactly is being exorcized? Seriously, and people wonder why I am an atheist, when you have flaming morons like this as the poster boy of your “organized” religion.
Anyway, Happy 16th State!
Please share widely!
Very happy, especially for my friends Ruth and Amy, Evvyson and Chris, and Anil and John!!
As for Paprocki- the demons of hatred, bigotry, and ignorance should and will be exorcised from the Church. It is his message that is incompatible with Scripture.
when someone like Paprocki or Santorum get into the whole Satanic nonsense, it reminds me of when, very early in my own coming out process, that I would sometimes become borderline suicidal. As such, I am concerned about others who may be at that point now, and seeing flaming idiots like this might make them loose in their own struggles. I now see it similar to the way that Mel Brooks views Hitler, that they need to be made the objects of ridicule, to be made to be jokes, in order to strip them of their power to do harm. My pantry of outrage overflows with this nonsence.
Anyone performing an exorcism in 2013 is just being a goofball and inviting himself not to be taken seriously. It’s as respectable as claiming one is radioing UFOs to land saucers and intervene on the bigotry’s behalf.
After years of saying things about gay people that sound mean-spirited and churlish, the opponents of same sex marriage have largely retreated into silence. If the remaining ones wish to further discredit themselves with outlandish hocus-pocus and Abracadabra, let them. Let them drift from frightening to contemptible to pathetically comic.
I think the new Pope and progressive Christian voices inside and outside of Catholicism are getting a wider platform to discourage this nonsense. A great person I knew in high school hung himself rather than come out to his religious family, and I will never forget how awful I felt when I heard the truth about his death. I realized then that it wasn’t enough for the faithful to ignore their leaders teachings on this issue, but for the faithful to actively and willfully make the changes so that these teachings are never taught again. It’s as damaging as a Klansman passing on racism to his son in my book. I am comforted that for every bishop like Paprocki there are ten priests and nuns like Fr. Vaughn who have done great work ministering to the gay and transgendered community. The change will have to be bottom up.