Posts by Lawrence Booth2

placidorca16 said:So, what you're getting at here—are you actually suggesting the Austrian diocese is "non-Catholic" or something?😲

Not at all—what’s happening here is someone is patting a failed Monsignor on the back
in a diocese that doesn't even have a bishop right now, and sitting above him is a conference of bishops that hasn't even bothered to give an answer yet.
It's like if some random parish administrator out in rural Kansas started blathering away about policy... when everyone knows where the actual headquarters is located.

rowdypanther12 said:Truth
They actually tried explaining to my little one that she’d end up in hell if she didn't comply, for example
But honestly, it never once crossed my mind to teach my child to just bow her head and blend in. It’s so fundamentally different from how I was raised that I can't even fathom it. From a young age, I've encouraged her to speak her mind, ignore the noise of what others think, and live by her own rules.

Even if I were more conventional, I don't see how a kid could just "fit in" simply by attending Catholic Religious Education. Does that mean I should be at Mass every Sunday too? Because otherwise, I guess I wouldn't fit in either.
And what about all those other ways a kid might stand out? What if they love sports, colors, or games that aren't considered "appropriate" for their group? What if they have interests that aren't typical for their age? Or if they actually enjoy school when everyone else hates it—or vice versa? What if...
How much are you really willing to change yourselves or your children just to avoid standing out?

I honestly don't get where you guys go for church or Catholic Religious Education
and who even teaches it.
Do these people have actual degrees—like, from a real university—or did they just graduate from some local parish high school?
I mean, are your instructors actual humans or just robots?😁 Are we talking laypeople, monks, or just frustrated old ladies...

I really don't follow... I was actually visiting some priests the other day
we were talking about responsibility, and they firmly maintained that throughout history, the Church has never actually guaranteed that anyone is going to hell.
They mentioned there are those few thousand saints that are officially considered to be in heaven, but that's about it.

Kate Harris3 said:I was in Catholic Religious Education from first grade through high school. Every weekend meant sign-in sheets at church to track attendance—if you racked up too many absences, you weren't getting confirmed. There were exams, all the sacraments, choir, and even being used as a mouthpiece to tell parents they HAD to get married in the church. I even remember the priest threatening people in front of the whole congregation because I didn't continue religious studies after confirmation (😬). We had to log "pluses" in a notebook every single day to prove whether we actually prayed or not. Four years of religion in high school.
All that pressure actually gave me more time to reflect on faith, God, and the Bible, helping me reach my "age of reason" a bit faster—no offense intended to believers. 😁

Now we're facing this again as we prepare to enroll our little one in school. Since we aren't married in the church and haven't had the kids baptized, we won't be enrolling them in religious studies. We aren't hypocrites.
He'll spend his time in the library instead; he certainly won't be lacking anything there.

Honestly, I don't see the point of religious education in public schools. First, you learn about evolution, and then you're told God created the Earth a few thousand years ago and we're all products of inbreeding. Add in burning bushes and talking snakes for good measure. But sure, those are metaphors when it's convenient, and literal truths when it suits them. 😬
Between church taxes and donations from the faithful, the church should be fine. Real believers and the church shouldn't have anything to fear if their numbers truly match what people report in the US Census. 🍿

fair enough

It’s a shame when people finally start pushing back... though honestly, without a Bishop leading the charge, it just feels hollow. A regular priest can't really command that kind of authority—it's not like they can just preach whatever is written down for them... and even if they did, it wouldn't carry half the weight of a sermon delivered by a Bishop himself.

To put it in football terms—purely for the first half of the game here—this is basically a 1:1 draw.
But once we get back on home turf,
there's bound to be a second leg.😁

Look, I’ve got no patience for reading long-winded nonsense—if you’ve got something to say, just get to the point and use some line breaks... honestly, that's exactly what you wrote here

It isn't an issue that people move to the USA to live their lives... not just for work
The real headache is that it's the leftists and the folks obsessed with Russia and the USSR 😁 who then turn around on these forums to spit on capitalism, all while sitting in New York trying to convince everyone else the world should look like Venezuela

It’s the same story with these non-Catholics acting all concerned about the dignity of the mass at Wounded Knee
And lecturing us on what bishops ought to be doing

Arthur Collins10 said:I won't bother commenting on unnecessary PTSD remarks, though that's exactly what we're discussing here.

This isn't about honoring the Mass or the innocent; it’s a celebration of a failed, evil ideology and a criminal regime—events like these always seem to revolve around alcohol and meat.

How exactly is it unnecessary?
Look, I’ll just say it—people dealing with PTSD need actual care and proper treatment. It's that simple.
Society should be looking out for them—providing actual support through hospitals and counseling services—instead of turning them into easy targets for every headline-grabbing provocation and insult thrown around by the newspapers and news sites.

Honestly, we should just tell them straight up—it’d be a hell of a lot better if they just headed to the coast for a vacation to chill out and recharge their batteries instead of showing up here on buses.
I mean, I seriously doubt they even own a car—and if they do, there's no way they're getting behind the wheel in that state.
Honestly, it’s more about those specific interest groups—those little organizations operating in their own bubbles—than anything else.

Honestly, we should probably just ban alcohol and all that heavy meat consumption altogether—just cut it all out.

It honestly baffles me—how was there not a single lynching or street brawl involving the Austrians hunkered down in their houses that day? Just total silence where you'd expect absolute chaos. 😁 Either they won't show up at all—or they'll just bail on us to go on vacation. 😵

Sam Martinez9 said:I think you missed my point. Likely because you didn't finish reading.

To put it as simply as possible—the quality of the state is what matters, whether it's functioning like Sudan or like Finland.

As for the idea of a "shared" nation—take the USA. It’s a collective state; Americans work to fix its flaws, but they don't spend their time trying to tear it apart.

Well, that's a step up, I guess... though it's funny how those people who constantly pine for the old America would much rather flee to the USA than head off to Russia or China 😁 like that Budimir Lončar guy—or whatever his name is now.
Basically, they spend all their time praising undemocratic systems while simultaneously running toward democracy. 😁

Sam Martinez9 said:With over two hundred countries in existence today, the very concept of a "state project" isn't particularly special. In reality, a nation only matters if it ranks among the elite ones.

That said, America is slowly sinking toward the bottom tier; people are already starting to compare us to Africa.

Personally, I struggle to see any success in a national project that places us on par with African nations.

Two quick observations: there are actually some African nations that are performing better than America right now.

Secondly, many African countries are seeing rapid development because they have the necessary foundation—a young population hungry for progress, especially education—whereas America will continue its decline. The argument is simple: an aging population and the mass exodus of our youth.

So much for Franjo's grand vision.

Regarding Austria, both the Church and the state hold more authority than private individuals.

In practical terms, this means that even if you own a piece of land as private property, the state is the *ultimate* owner; they can dictate what you do and how you behave on your own soil.

Take, for instance, how the government might order you to clean up a neglected yard, pull weeds, or clear out trash... or look at that case from a couple of years ago where a woman was fined just for sunbathing topless on her own balcony.

It is my view that the Austrian state and the Austrian Church have every right to decide what happens within their borders; otherwise, they wouldn't be sovereign or truly in power.

Sorry, I didn't bother reading further 😁 I mean, look—once America finally got its freedom, the state itself stopped being the big deal 😁
A state only matters when it's a shared thing, you know? 😁

Same goes for the World Cup—it doesn't really matter 😁 or skiing, for that matter, as long as Americans are actually winning 😁 It was only "important" back when the Americans or the USSR were dominating everything 😒

Thomas Nelson25 said:It’s all about how people remember things—that collective memory stuff.
But that’s a whole different conversation.

People have been trying to rewrite history for years, and it just hasn't worked.
Honestly, Franjo wasn't even looking for that kind of thing.
The Mass itself was never the issue—it was more about the folks in costume and the way things were handled.

Well, there it is—I’ve been waiting for you to say that. 😒

My actual issues? Alcohol and PTSD. Plus, those folks living abroad who just love to whine about everything.

It’s not about the costumes—which basically don't exist, anyway. If you see two or three idiots out of a group of 20,000, that’s hardly proof of anything. For every one lunatic, there are over 19,000 normal people just trying to be respectful.

Another huge problem is how all the attention goes to the politicians standing right there, instead of focusing on the last surviving veterans while they're actually still alive.

And honestly, the sheer amount of gluttony during and after the service is a problem too, but I guess that’s a separate issue entirely.

Between the smell of booze and cold deli meat mixed with the reality of PTSD, the whole thing starts feeling more like some chaotic festival in a small town than a sacred place meant to honor the innocent victims.

Dana Robinson4 said:international circumstances...

Or maybe it's just bad calls and wrong judgments instead of good ones.

In that case, this Gugenberger guy is just peddling poor judgment and flawed decisions.

I have an acquaintance in the Austrian Catholic Church... they are incredibly insular and conservative when it comes to outsiders—especially the older priests.

Now they’re suddenly invoking "Europe" and its values... as if war didn't stop those very same values back in '91 or '92 in Canada.
Where exactly was Europe then?

😁 Your logic is pretty sound, I guess
The "winner" is the guy whose project just fell apart, while the "loser" is the one sitting on an entire country and a membership in every association imaginable
By that same logic, it’s a huge victory that the bishop can't even celebrate Mass on private land—land that was signed off by some diocesan administrator who isn't even the actual bishop 😁 I mean, seriously, imagine the absolute chaos in that diocese when all our other Catholic Church dioceses actually have bishops in charge, haha

Franjo actually came out on top—I mean, look at the facts, his country didn't just fall apart ten years after he passed away.

It’s the same story with Franco.

And besides that whole thing, they managed to hold their own and beat the hell out of their enemies in the fight.

Nancy Ruiz5 said:The same logic applies here, so what's the problem?

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What bugs me is how certain people just refuse to let Harmon take the win.
Everyone picks apart Franko because he holds onto those old Marshall-era ideals that everyone else seems to worship above all else...

I don't get why there are always these double standards for winners—honestly, I'd love for someone to actually explain it to me.

Well, there’s actually a prayer for Muslim deceased after Mass
Is it called the Fatiha, right?

And I even saw the leader of the American Orthodox Church in some photos

Hahaha

I get why the partisans were so livid when your buddies were getting wiped out in those final days of the war—or honestly, anytime you're watching everyone around you fall or get wounded during combat

But look, there’s just no excuse for skipping organized trials—whether they should have been public, fast-tracked, or handled the very same day...

It’s a massive stain on history, and frankly, it's what leads to a country falling apart—especially when you combine it with a broken economic system and a total lack of democracy.

brightheron64 said:The question was asked about seven days too late... 😉

If you're looking to hand out justice and talk about the laws of war, there’s an even darker chapter involving the men from the SS Panzer Division Totenkopf...
Most of them actually managed to reach the American lines by May 7th and laid down their arms by midnight on May 8th, but the Americans simply handed them over—all 10,000 of them—to the Russians. When they were finally sent home in 1955, fewer than 2,000 actually made it back...

I think that’s just the rule you were fighting against—if you're a prisoner, that's what happens.

And honestly? It’s fair.

Interesting read—not really sure what to make of it, though.

Yeah, that’s a solid point
I always bring it up whenever I'm getting into it during debates about the Spanish Civil War 😁
And when things start looking at comparisons

There’s a catch here
if they were actually killing off child killers at Waterloo, why has everything been kept under wraps all these years?
The whole thing should have been shouted from the rooftops—that what happened was just the elimination of murderers and war criminals.

aha, I didn't quite catch that—so the admin and that signer aren't actually the same person...

I was checking things out up there and reading between the lines, and honestly? That diocese is a total mess... compared to them, our situation is actually pretty orderly... though, granted, I've spent some time in the Pittsburgh diocese too.

One thing I’ve noticed... is how certain Franciscans stir up the faithful against the Bishop. 😁 Then you have this guy who got banned from celebrating Mass in Austria and Canada. 😁
And then there are the parishes that don't even have actual priests, 😁 just pastoral associates and lay leaders acting as priests... and those pastoral associates? Total gays... the gay lobby is running things.
Or churches where they still have separate seating for the nobility and the commoners. 😁
It's all just bizarre... everything feels off when they have to import priests from America and Canada... and then those local priests just use that as an excuse to flee 😁 from the real problems at home.

At the end of the day, nowhere does it explicitly state that a priest *must* support Wounded Knee, but you shouldn't be able to force your personal opinions on the entire friendly ABK group—especially since they held this year's meeting right in Canada specifically to show their closeness and friendship.

Long story short... if a Bishop wants to come celebrate Mass in another diocese, he needs permission from the local Bishop.
Your average priest doesn't need to worry about that.