How the Catholic Church got its good back
October 18th 2010 06:18
:
A saint for the sinners
In case I haven't made it clear before, I don't believe in any kind of religion. I wasn't raised with it and over the years I have seen the destructive influences that dogmatic beliefs can have on people. I am writing about this because I am living in a town that has relatives of Australia's first saint who was cannonised yesterday.
I think the idea of a woman who died over a hundred years ago performing miracles is rediculous; the fact that it is not only accepted as true but reported as such by the media is beyond frightening. The story goes that a woman dying of leukaemia in 1961 prayed to Mary Mckillop for intercession and was then cured. Another woman had inoperable brain and lung cancer and too was cured.
In a news article about the supposed first miracle, the Sydney Morning Herald is quoted as saying "While Mrs Hopson has kept her identity secret for decades, she is understood to have an arrangement with a commercial television network for her story".
All of my personal thoughts aside, if you look at the facts there are a few things that look a little odd. The first of the miracles was accepted in 1995 and the second in 2009, years after they supposedly happened. There was also a 'back up' miracle at hand in case it was required, but apparently they had enough to go around and it wasn't needed.
All of this is happening at a time when the Catholic Church's image is at its worst, and the cannonisation will probably be the first positive things to happen to the current Pope. Funnily enough this Pope, who Richard Dawkins has tried to have arrested for covering up sexual abuse within the church, has cannonised a person who will be a saint for the abused.
This story has been on the front page of papers all over the world and the cannonisation was being broadcast live on TV. There is not a negative story to be found about the Church, whereas a month ago you couldn't pick up a paper without seeing it.
The only mention of child abuse now has a positive spin on it, take the first paragraph of this story printed one hour ago:
"Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd defended the Catholic church's record on tackling child abuse within its ranks, as a nun who once exposed a paedophile priest became the nation's first saint".
Coincidence?
I think the idea of a woman who died over a hundred years ago performing miracles is rediculous; the fact that it is not only accepted as true but reported as such by the media is beyond frightening. The story goes that a woman dying of leukaemia in 1961 prayed to Mary Mckillop for intercession and was then cured. Another woman had inoperable brain and lung cancer and too was cured.
In a news article about the supposed first miracle, the Sydney Morning Herald is quoted as saying "While Mrs Hopson has kept her identity secret for decades, she is understood to have an arrangement with a commercial television network for her story".
All of my personal thoughts aside, if you look at the facts there are a few things that look a little odd. The first of the miracles was accepted in 1995 and the second in 2009, years after they supposedly happened. There was also a 'back up' miracle at hand in case it was required, but apparently they had enough to go around and it wasn't needed.
All of this is happening at a time when the Catholic Church's image is at its worst, and the cannonisation will probably be the first positive things to happen to the current Pope. Funnily enough this Pope, who Richard Dawkins has tried to have arrested for covering up sexual abuse within the church, has cannonised a person who will be a saint for the abused.
This story has been on the front page of papers all over the world and the cannonisation was being broadcast live on TV. There is not a negative story to be found about the Church, whereas a month ago you couldn't pick up a paper without seeing it.
The only mention of child abuse now has a positive spin on it, take the first paragraph of this story printed one hour ago:
"Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd defended the Catholic church's record on tackling child abuse within its ranks, as a nun who once exposed a paedophile priest became the nation's first saint".
Coincidence?
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Comment by kylie humphries
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The MEDIAtor