The housing crisis facing the United States is apparently worse than first thought. It seems that even nuns are being forced to join the ranks of the homeless!
To be fair, in this case it has nothing to do with sub-prime loans. Rather, the Catholic church in California is selling off property in order to pay out of court settlements in dozens of sex abuse cases involving priests. And how much do those settlements total? Oh, only $660 million! Needless to say, that's a hell of a lot of Communion wafers.
Among the properties being sold to raise the funds are a number of convents. As a result, the nuns--some elderly and ill--are being forced to relocate. So how do the nuns feel about all this? Well, it's hard to say. It seems that church officials have slapped a gag order on the good sisters. Apparently freedom of speech is not guaranteed by the Bible.
Still, the crisis isn't as bad as it might seem. For example, the home of the Santa Barbara bishop--a former convent, on a corner lot with palm trees--is safe.
And yet there are people out there who continue to listen to the church as it explains what's right and what's wrong. For example, there's Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis. He's the guy who in 2004 said priests should refuse Holy Communion to John Kerry because the Senator supported abortion rights. Now Burke is at it again, saying the sacrament should also be denied to Rudy Giuliani for the same reason.
Burke is part of an organization that for decades condoned (yes, I used the word "condoned"--how else to describe the actions of church officials?) the sexual abuse of children by priests, and suddenly he thinks he's qualified to judge the moral character of other people?!?!?!
Give me a freakin' break.
To be fair, in this case it has nothing to do with sub-prime loans. Rather, the Catholic church in California is selling off property in order to pay out of court settlements in dozens of sex abuse cases involving priests. And how much do those settlements total? Oh, only $660 million! Needless to say, that's a hell of a lot of Communion wafers.
Among the properties being sold to raise the funds are a number of convents. As a result, the nuns--some elderly and ill--are being forced to relocate. So how do the nuns feel about all this? Well, it's hard to say. It seems that church officials have slapped a gag order on the good sisters. Apparently freedom of speech is not guaranteed by the Bible.
Still, the crisis isn't as bad as it might seem. For example, the home of the Santa Barbara bishop--a former convent, on a corner lot with palm trees--is safe.
And yet there are people out there who continue to listen to the church as it explains what's right and what's wrong. For example, there's Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis. He's the guy who in 2004 said priests should refuse Holy Communion to John Kerry because the Senator supported abortion rights. Now Burke is at it again, saying the sacrament should also be denied to Rudy Giuliani for the same reason.
Burke is part of an organization that for decades condoned (yes, I used the word "condoned"--how else to describe the actions of church officials?) the sexual abuse of children by priests, and suddenly he thinks he's qualified to judge the moral character of other people?!?!?!
Give me a freakin' break.
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