The Practical Parson

 The presidential election of 2024 is finally over, and we have a new president set to take office in January.  Almost instantaneously, the opposing party and their surrogates began bewailing, bemoaning, blaming, and berating everyone they could imagine as to why their candidate did not win the election.  What has been most disturbing is the pure vitriol, absolute hatred, and lunacy; coming from people who proclaim to be men and women of the cloth.  To hear these ministers of misinformation preach their message of doom, one would presume that the president-elect were the devil incarnate himself; bent on destroying the world and imprisoning/ persecuting all those who disagree with him.  Yet is that the case?  Did not we live 4 years under this same person in a previous administration in virtual peace and prosperity?   The problem that the liberals ideologues in America have, is that they cannot conceive of a peaceable existence wherein they are not...

 So the General Conference of the United Methodist Church decided this past week, that they would lift the church's ban on openly gay clergy, broaden the church's definition on marriage, and extend to deacons the right to baptize and consecrate the elements of Communion.  Quite the few days they had, no?   While the traditionalist world is loosing its collective mind over the 'gay clergy' matter, they overlook simple facts that make the situation worse than it truly seems.  There have always been gay clergy in every church, and there always will be; because it is not something that people simply, actively choose for themselves.  No, what is worse is what is done WITH who and what one may be in this life.  Rather than simply expressing "we are clergy and gay" and going back to worshiping the Lord in the traditions handed to them; the UMC has decided that it needs to change everything in order to make a pronounced statement about their acceptance of gay ...

For those of you who may be unaware, in recent months; the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fort Worth, Texas has been embroiled in legal wrangling with the Carmelite Sisters of Arlington, Texas,  over purported accusations of broken vows.   The aforementioned Bishop has leveled allegations that the mother superior of the Carmel violated her vows of Chastity and the sixth commandment (thou shalt not commit adultery) with a priest.  A very serious accusation it would be, and one that should be handled seriously; if not for one simple fact in the case: the entirety of the case leveled against this poor, sick nun, is based on the one-sided accusations of the Bishop's own diocesan vicar.  He claims that the Reverend Mother told him (outside of confession, else he would NEVER spread it, yeah right) on multiple occasions that she had violated the vow and even on one occasion thought she might be pregnant; despite the recording of their examination of her revealing that the pr...