Maoni yangu binafsi juu ya masuala mbalimbali yanayoendelea duniani

Maoni yangu binafsi juu ya masuala mbalimbali yanayoendelea duniani

I believe
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HILI LISIKUPITE

Gentlemen, I am not a fun of posting, forward, judging others who do the same. Notwithstanding, I would like to state that blames and judgemental approach will not help us.

Things have changed and will continue changing. Of all that I read, I found the following worth reflecting. It seems long but it is worth in my view reading: STEPPING DOWN THE VATICAN DOCUMENT "FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS."

The internet has been awash with sensational journalists writing high and low about the new documents released in Rome. Indeed, I felt the gravity of the problem yesterday evening when, within an hour, I got four calls from priest friends and religious asking if I have seen the new document and what sense do I make of it.

I was lucky to have glanced through it before their calls came, so I responded to them and, like the document, advised them to bypass journalists and go read the document itself.

Now, in catechism format, I attempt to simplify the document.

1. Is the Document Entirely about Gays & Lesbians?
No, it is about pastoral closeness to those in irregular union in general.

2. What is the meaning of irregular union as used by the document?
Irregular union, as used in the document, encompasses such cases as divorced and remarried couples who were not granted annulments for their previous marriages, those living in same-sex unions, and the like.

3. Who issued the document?
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued Fiducia Supplicans on Monday, a declaration on the “pastoral meaning of blessings,” specifically treating the blessing of Catholics in irregular unions or same-sex couples.

4. Why was the document issued?
Before the synod on synodality that was held in Rome in October 2023 amongst the questions asked the Holy Father directly by a group of bishops (DUBIA) was whether "the Church is now going to be blessing irregular so-called marriages or not." By rule, the Pope was expected to answer yes or no, but this time he did not. Thus, the DDF tried to explain to those who asked that question "what is meant by blessing in the Church. So, the document talks of two types of blessings: Ritual/Spontaneous Blessing & Liturgical Blessing. Every faithful, even a thief, has the right to ask a priest to pray for him or her, not to be a confirmed thief but as a sign of belief, and the priest with his prudence can pray for him or bless her. In the same way, when gay or lesbians ask for prayer, it is not a call for nuptial Mass; the priest is free to pray for them without judging them whether worthy or unworthy of blessings.

5. What is the content of the Document?
The document explores the theme of blessings, distinguishing between ritual and liturgical ones, and spontaneous ones more akin to signs of popular devotion. It is precisely in this second category there is now consideration of the possibility of welcoming even those who do not live according to the norms of Christian moral doctrine but humbly request to be blessed. Twenty-three years have passed since the former “Holy Office” published a Declaration (the last one was in August 2000 with “Dominus Jesus”), a document of such doctrinal importance.

6. What does the document say about Blessing?
en a blessing is invoked on certain human relationships through a special liturgical rite, the Declaration notes, “it is necessary that what is blessed corresponds with God’s designs written in creation” (par. 11). Therefore, the Church does not have the power to impart a liturgical blessing on irregular or same-sex couples. It is also necessary to avoid the risk of reducing the meaning of blessings to this point of view only, expecting for a simple blessing “the same moral conditions for a simple blessing that are called for in the reception of the sacraments” (par. 12).

7. Has the Teaching of the Catholic Church on Marriage now changed?
No, it has not. What the position of the Church has been is still what it is: marriage is between a mature man and woman, with full consent and within the levels approved by God, society, and the Church.

8. What is the difference between blessing a marriage and blessing a same-sex couple?
There are many differences: a. Marriage is a liturgical act and not a spontaneous one; thus, it has proper place, persons, form, and matter. b. In marriage, the Church blesses in a liturgical act the union and the persons. But in the issue of blessing for those in irregular marriage, the Church only prays for the individual and NOT their union, and the Church lacks their records as those whose togetherness is recognized or solemnized as marriage.

9. Why is everyone saying the Church has approved Same-sex marriage?
It is important to say here that there is nothing in the Church lexicon as Same-sex marriage; no, by the scriptures and Church documents, marriage is between two persons of the opposite sex; anything short of that is not marriage. The closest word might be irregular marriage, and it encompasses a range of practices. Now to your question, it is the fault of journalists who failed to practice ethically.

You may have seen such a similar attitude from them on the third Sunday of November (World Day of the Poor) when Pope Francis invited the poor to the table. Because journalists spotted some persons whom they know or think are in irregular marriages, they framed the news to Pope Francis dining with gays and lesbians.

10. Can I read the document in question?

Yes, that is highly advised, and below is the link: (the English version begins on pages 20 through 28).


And if you are unable to access the link, ask any Catholic priest close to you for a soft copy of the document.
Thanks for reading.
Peace be with you.🙏
 
Mr. Roger Wadada Musaalo, a Lawyer, human rights activist, researcher, and politician (PHOTO/Courtesy).
KAMPALA – To all my Catholic friends and enemies, kindly treat what I am going to say in these lines as fair comment or an intellectual debate and if you can’t, I will understand, brain wash is not so easy to deal with.


It is your right to throw rotten eggs at me but be reminded I also reserve the right to defend myself to the logical end. We cannot let the Pope to mislead the world just because he is a head of the Catholic Church where I belong. I fully understand the implication of challenging the Pope and I am ready to be banished if I am not allowed to comment about the alphabets.

What we are defending here is our heritage, our values and our culture. These existed way before the white man came into the interior of African with a bible in one hand a gun in another.

They manipulated our fore fathers and made them believe whatever the white man brought and said was good for us including paying allegiance to the Vatican. It is now clear the future of our children is under attack, it is our duty to fight back.


Deviants as the Catholic Church has previously called LGBTQ people must not be allowed to mislead us and our leaders.

In a shocking twist of events, Pope Francis has come out openly to criticize laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are. He therefore called upon Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.

“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Pope Francis said during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. In all fairness, I don’t know who told the Pope LGBTQs were denied access to catholic churches but it appear he was directing the Bishops to relax the rules of the Church for LGBTQs.

Asked whether the church should work towards repealing these laws, Francis said, “Yes, yes, they have to do it, they have to do it.” Francis said there needed to be a distinction between sin and a crime when it came to homosexuality.


The Catholic Church considers homosexual acts “intrinsically disordered” and a sin, but believes that people in the LGBTQ community should be welcomed with respect and sensitivity. This is where my bone of contentions is and I hope the readers will treat this write up as “Correctio filialis de haeresibus propagates”

The word “welcome” as used by the Pope in so broad in nature and carries a different meaning from what we see. A literal interpretation would infer that the Pope was telling his Clergy to allow LGBTQ people to enjoy every right or sacrament like all other catholic. That is the meaning of the word without discrimination. Otherwise what would be the purpose of welcoming the LGBTQ community into church and then discriminate against them by denying them Holy Communion, Holy matrimony, baptism excetera. If welcoming and avoiding discrimination means what I have said, then the world is in trouble.


Unless our government puts its foot down, these are very bad signs, and it appears we have lost the war and the battle to these forces. I don’t see the Catholic Church standing up to oppose that directive more so that it has come from the man considered a Holy Father. We are closer to facing a serious conflict between the laws of the land and the laws of the holy books. He is asking the public to oppose laws that criminalize homosexuality and asking us to live with sin yet the very bible that should guide the Pope tells us to shun sin, what a contradiction.

Pope Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and he himself referred to the issue in terms of “sin.” But he attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone. “These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” he said, adding that they should apply “tenderness, please, as God has for each one of us.”

To make sure I don’t misunderstand the Pope, I quickly opened the dictionary and the bible to find out if the two words “Sin and Crime” have different meanings. I actually realised the two are one and the same thinks parked differently in the penal laws and the holly books. Crime is defined as an action that is against the criminal law of the society. Sin is an Abrahamic concept that is a violation of God’s will. Crime is identified by the government but sin is identified by God. The punishment of crime is given in this world but the punishment of sin is given after death or forgiven before death.

All criminal laws in many parts of the world derived their origins in the holy books. Infact, most of the early law makers were religious leaders famously known as teachers of the law. There were minor modifications of the laws based on the various cultures at the time. There is nothing that the holy books consider as a sin that was not captured in the penal laws as crime. Thus, I agree with Evelyn Kasamba that every crime is a sin but every sin is not a crime.

Sin is a subjective term, and has no parameters to base exactly what it is. It is believed by religious people and ignored by others as a delusion. Crime is something that is set by social codes of the country you live in and if broken a penalty is to be paid. Brief of crime is given in criminal statutes while a brief of sin is given in religious books. For non believers anti-social activities are not sin but for both believers and non believers anti-social activities are crime. To buttress his argument, Pope Francis quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church in saying gay people must be welcomed and respected, and should not be marginalized or discriminated against. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” To him, dignity includes the right to be who you want to be.

Right from the beginning, Pope Francis has exhibited signs of being so liberal towards the LGBTQ people starting with his famous 2013 declaration, “Who am I to judge?” Besides, as archbishop of Buenos Aires, he is on record for having favored granting legal protections to same-sex couples as an alternative to endorsing gay marriage, which Catholic doctrine forbids.

Despite such outreach, Pope Francis was criticized by the Catholic LGBTQ for a 2021 decree from the Vatican’s doctrine office that said the church cannot bless same-sex unions. However, soon we may hear of a catholic ordained marriage of people of the same sex.

In 2008, the Vatican declined to sign onto a U.N. declaration that called for the decriminalization of homosexuality, complaining the text went beyond the original scope.

In a statement at the time, the Vatican urged countries to avoid “unjust discrimination” against gay people and end penalties against them. Some 67 countries or jurisdictions worldwide criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, 11 of which can or do impose the death penalty, according to The Human Dignity Trust, which works to end such laws. Experts say even where the laws are not enforced; they contribute to harassment, stigmatization and violence against LGBTQ people.

It is a known fact that some time back in the year 2019, Pope Francis was expected to issue a statement opposing criminalization of homosexuality during a meeting with human rights groups that conducted research into the effects of such laws and so-called “conversion therapies.” In the end, after word of the audience leaked, the pope didn’t meet with the groups. Instead, somebody else within the Vatican was delegated and reaffirmed “the dignity of every human person and against every form of violence.”

With these remarks, you can see they have been trading very carefully more so because Pope Francis Predecessor was a very conservative guy.

If I had a say, I would have demanded for an apology from the Pope as his remarks were an insult to many countries of the world that have put their foot down against the new world order of promoting LGBT agenda.

It is my humble conclusion that homosexuality and lesbianism are not any different from the infamous Female Genital Mutilation that is now a crime against humanity. If anyone should find my fair comments derogatory, just know I prefer to face the truth and if the Pope is the password to heaven, I am ready to stay here on earth alone.

The author, Roger Wadada Musaalo is a Lawyer, human rights activist, researcher, and politician
 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23RD 2023

THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT YEAR B

FIRST READING
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the day of the Lord comes.
MALACHI 3: 1 - 4; 4: 5 - 6

Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? “For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.”

The Word of the Lord.


RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 25: 4 - 5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14 (R.) Luke 21: 28

R/. Look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

O Lord, make me know your ways.
Teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth, and teach me;
for you are the God of my salvation. R/.

Good and upright is the Lord;
he shows the way to sinners.
He guides the humble in right judgement;
to the humble he teaches his way. R/.

All the Lord’s paths are mercy and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and commands.
The Lord’s secret is for those who fear him;
to them he reveals his covenant. R/.


ALLELUIA

Alleluia. Alleluia.
Come, O King of the nations and cornerstone of the Church! Come and save man, whom you formed from the clay of the earth.
Alleluia.


GOSPEL
The birth of John the Baptist.
LUKE 1: 57 - 66

The time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. And her neighbours and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.” And they said to her, “None of your kindred is called by this name.” And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all marvelled. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbours. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.

The Gospel of the Lord.
 
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