A cardinal has declared that Nancy Pelosi can’t receive the crackers and wine. But the order only applies in the cardinal’s own district, and the bishop of DC is ignoring the order.
Yessirreeee, that’ll teach old Nancy a lesson! She will mend her ways immediately and become a contemplative nun! Total penitence!
Aside from the fact that Nancy doesn’t give a fuck about cheap crackers and wine on the days when she remembers what food is, this shows why the Roman church is no longer a church.
Looking at the intentions of Jesus, Paul, Luke, etc, the original function of the church is clear. It’s a strong community or guild for its members, much more than a club but somewhat less than a family.
The church should provide a valuable service for loyal and paying members. The church should keep members together in friendship, focused on a common task to avoid partisan divisions. It should protect them from outside forces when they are being attacked. It should gently change their behavior when they’re breaking small rules. It should kick them out when they break big rules or betray the union.
In simple terms, tasty carrots and pointy sticks.
Labor unions performed these tasks admirably before 1970, and some still do a pretty good job. Some churches, esp Mormon and Black Pentecostal, still perform these tasks. Rome stopped a long time ago.
Kicking out an extreme or prominent violator is crucial for unions. If influential members are seen violating major rules without punishment, the rules become nothing more than a cruel prank. Ordinary people no longer feel protected and sheltered, and see no fucking reason to stick around.
Which organizations are real churches? Academia and media. These churches INSTANTLY kick out an influential member who misses half a bead on the rosary. These churches protect their obedient members from outside scrutiny.
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Later, a great line on the subject from Dave Griffey.
“In the last two years as the world has revealed itself, we’ve watched in stunned amazement as line in the sand after line in the sand is stepped over by those who would conform to the world. And now we have Catholics acting as if the Eucharist is everything the world has said it is, and less.”
All those lines in the sand were drawn and advertised for centuries by alleged “protectors”, from churches to courts to legislatures to unions to professions to corporations to schools to bureaucracies to gangsters. Carter Mecher stepped across all the lines to torture and murder the world. All the “protectors” collaborated and ASSISTED the demons.
Polistra's Mill 