In what may be a first (if not a first, surely a rarity) a father and son, are both Catholic priests serving in the same Diocese. Making the story more interesting is that Father Dominic Cosslett(36) and his father Father Ron Cosslett(70) are both converts from the Anglican Church.
This is an interesting story and I encourage you to read the whole thing, but one part struck me as funny and I want to share it with you. Fr. Dominic, obviously trying to be very polite and not insult anyone employs an elegant euphemism for theological anarchy currently running rampant in the Anglican Church.
“I realised my own journey was to seek unity with Rome. Balanced with that was the awareness that the Anglican Church was going in a very different direction with various decisions it was making. I just felt I could not agree with those decisions. It comes down to authority. As an Anglican, it was sometimes very difficult. One parish might believe one thing. Another might believe something else.
“There is an incredible rainbow of thought in the Anglican Church. Perhaps I was looking more for a central authority of teaching that the Catholic Church has. It was something I had always been looking for.”
Father is being kind but I cannot help but wonder, what is it about rainbows?
The Hippies loved their rainbows. The homosexual lobby has used rainbow as its symbol. The leader of of the perpetually aggrieved, Jesse Jackson, had the Rainbow coalition. And of course the MuuMuu Militia loves rainbow colors on their bathrobes turned vestments. For a laugh out loud send up of the rainbow clad priestesses and their love of rainbows read this post. And now the rainbow symbolizes the complete loss of the faith (masquerading as diversity of thought) among the Anglican/Episcopalian hierarchy.
I am sure that I am not the only one who sees the irony that the rainbow has come to symbolize the very decadence of thought and deed that prompted the deluge that almost wiped us out. The symbol of God’s covenant with mankind is twisted to mock his patience with us. That never ends well.
December 30, 2008 at 5:25 am
Chromatophobes!
December 30, 2008 at 6:25 am
Here in Baltimore, we have a son who was ordained to the priesthood this past spring, and his father, a permanent (well, not so permanent anymore) deacon and widower, studying for the priesthood. I have met the son several times and their family is a wonderful witness to the faith.
December 30, 2008 at 2:52 pm
My sons seem to love rainbows. They even put them on their shields and swords that we made in our Blue Knights club. So it really ticks me off how that biblical symbol has been taken over by the homosexual activists. They’re just kids attracted to beauty and color, and they don’t understand why I’m gently steering them away from that all the time.
December 30, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Similarly, my wife really wanted the red cell phone but refused to buy it when I told her that was made to support AIDS activists (not that we want people to die, but AIDS activists are typically very pro-contraception and pro-homosexual). Also, she really liked a pink appliance of some sort, but she saw that pink ribbon on the tag that meant it was raising money for Susan G Komen, which is tied in with Planned Parenthood. Annoying how everything is “making a statement” these days.
December 30, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Hey… are you calling my pre-school daughters Idiots??? What’s next, attacking unicorns!!!
When the gay movement started with the rainbow thing and put rainbow bumperstickers on all their cars, my folks couldn’t figure out why so many middle-aged white guys driving Hondas were members of the “Rainbow Coalition!”
December 30, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Hahaha!
Ironically, someone explained to me that somehow Judy Garland’s death inspired the start of gay activism. She’s an iconic figure to them- not entirely sure why. Her song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow from Wizard of Oz, is probably why the rainbow imagery is used.
It’s kind of sad, yeah?
December 30, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I posted on that apparent irony years ago. The sign of the new covenant was a response and a promise after the destruction due to sin.
Really the sign of the homosexual community should be the flood. A flood is where the waters let go and cover everything and the homosexual community let’s go of their morals and by the number of homosexual hookups they are trying to cover a lot of things. The flood was a response to sin, and while not a response to specifically homosexuality – certainly homosexuality was part of the corruption.
December 30, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Daddio, it sounds like you and your wife are taking things to the extreme. A colour is just that. If you like it, there is nothing wrong with it. If someone chooses to associate some cause, theme or deeper symbolism to it, then let them, but don’t let it effect you. Here’s a quick anecdote: George Pepperdine founded the Christian “Pepperdine University” in Malibu, California. Both he and his widow abhored the color red since to them it meant communism, and spent a large amount of time purging any plans for buildings, decor etc of that color. One time the widow Pepperdine was approached by a student who then stated, “so does that mean we will have to purge the red from our flag as well? Because I will never betray the red white and blue!”
Green is the colour of Mohammedanism, but it is also the color of Catholic Ireland (as opposed to the Protestants who chose orange). Red is the colour of aids activism, but also the color of martyrdom and worn on said feast days in our church. So, my advice to you both would be to pick what suits you and not to worry so much about what others may think about you based on your decision. If they are your friends, you can explain to them “I love this colour phone because…” and if they aren’t your friends, then why should you care?
December 30, 2008 at 7:49 pm
“Ironically, someone explained to me that somehow Judy Garland’s death inspired the start of gay activism. She’s an iconic figure to them- not entirely sure why. Her song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow from Wizard of Oz, is probably why the rainbow imagery is used.”
I have read that it’s not only the “attractiveness” of her needy and boundary-destroying personality, and her struggles with alcohol, drugs, weight, appearance and failed relationships, which they could identify with, but the timing of her death to the Stonewall riots really made the link more solid.
December 30, 2008 at 8:36 pm
When the red Razr phone is advertised as a special edition supporting the UN AIDS program, or whatever, and that pink ribbon is so prominent everywhere, it’s hard to look at only the color. I’m not saying we don’t own anything red or pink – just that those special editions caught our eyes until we realized what they were directly supporting. That’s all.
December 30, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Gotcha. And I also applaud you and your family for being so conscious about where and how you spend your money. I know this crowd doesn’t like the term socially conscious, but that is indeed what we need more of when we spend money and invest.
I’ve often said “I’d rather wear oversized shoes than a pair made in China.”
December 30, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Yeah, but a lot of kids would have to go barefoot without Chinese shoes– (Check out Target, payless and walmart– how many AREN’T Chinese made these days?)
Eventually you have to weigh the options – If you boycott Chinese shoes as an individual, China doesn’t care…. but your kids may end up with deformed feet!
December 30, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Yeah, but a lot of kids would have to go barefoot without Chinese shoes– (Check out Target, payless and walmart– how many AREN’T Chinese made these days?)
Eventually you have to weigh the options – If you boycott Chinese shoes as an individual, China doesn’t care…. but your kids may end up with deformed feet!
December 30, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Sorry about the double post.
Oh, FWIW, expensive shoes like Stride Rite are also made in China… are there any kids brands that are BOTH afforadable (under $20/pair, pref. under $15!) AND not China-made?
December 30, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Diedre, no, sorry. I don’t buy it. The difference between Chinese made shoes and shoes made in say, Korea/Taiwan/Mexico/Malaysia would be around $20 max in any discount store…if that. So, parents can save up an extra $20 and wait a week or two to get it or buy Chinese shoes. I’m not making a moral judgement as it’s up to the individual. But spare me the “either we buy Chinese shoes or my children will suffer gangrene and then amputation and sure death to follow!” arguments.
No one said being Christian was easy.
December 30, 2008 at 9:39 pm
One more point: what you say is true–as individuals China doesn’t care. It’s only if WE COLLECTIVELY stop buying Chinese products that we can make an impact and FORCE the Chinese government to end their oppression against our church (see: God’s church).
Is God’s church not worth a cheap pair of shoes?
December 30, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Deusdonat-
I searched around for non-chinese kids shoes online and found this.
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=844311
Currently my family buys 24 pairs of kids shoes a year.(small kids, fast groing feet!) We could cut it down to 12 if we skipped out on church shoes and just had them wear play shoes to church.
We spend about 12$ a paiir. so we’d be looking at an increase of $40 a pair. so that’s a minimum of
$480/ yr, nearly $1000 if we keep the church shoes……
most young, growing Catholic families really don’t have that sort of money to cut from the budget– it’s not like we have extra cars, big TVs, or even an extra bathroom!
And used shoes are bad for kids’ feet.
We don’t LIKE buying chinese. For non-necessities (like Fish, Toys, books, etc.) we don’t buy if the only affordable option comes through China. (Which is why we don’t buy fish other than canned salmon)
But for a lot of the country, Walmart IS the shopping option, and many things are made in China.
And a lot of young families are really allready living as cheaply as they can without taking govt. aid or giving the kids inadequate nutrition.
And sometimes, Chinese shoes are a Godsend, because it means our kids have footwear!
December 31, 2008 at 1:36 am
Diedre – I just went to that website and went through the threads. One poster gave the link to This website which is both American made and runs $21 a pair. So that’s less than $10 more than the Chinese shoes you are buying at $12 a pair. If you can’t scrape together the 9 extra dollars to buy American or at least not Chinese, then none of us are in a position to judge your decisions.
But there ARE other options out there other than Walmart. If you have an internet connection (which you obviously do) you definitely have more resources available to you than the overwhelming majority of humanity walking this earth.
I guess if anyone NEEDS to buy Chinese, we could always follow up with an act of contrition and/or a prayer to Our Lady (the Patroness of China) to end the suffering of her church there. But I think an economic impact would work faster.
December 31, 2008 at 1:44 am
Deusdonat,
As someone who boycotts all things Chinese whenever possible, I feel compelled to weigh in.
It gets harder each month (year, forget it!) to buy non-Chinese shoes. I’ve been trying to find a pair of plain black leather shoes with decent soles (not slippy) for myself for over a year and can’t do it. (I’m wearing my old shoes, but even Goodwill would reject them.) It’s 99.9% impossible for children’s shoes.
New Balance makes some non-Chinese sneakers, so we wear NB tennies. (Guess which brand Germany’s neo-Nazis adopted as a symbol?)
The problem with children’s shoes in particular is that no one makes them to order (that’s what my husband does, and then he makes them last for 10+ years, but he wears a 15D). You just can’t find non-Chinese kid shoes where I live. I’d gladly pay more (except for moccasins, which I dislike), but I have no choices. If you have mail-order sources (that say the real country of origin, not just “imported”), I’d love to know about them. I can occasionally find summer shoes from Italy or Brazil, but winter (closed-toed) shoes are all from China. My daughter is not old enough for many women’s styles, which just compounds the problem.
I am completely onboard with your philosophy (collective buying power), and we avoid all MIC items (even though I curse at my remanned iron because I won’t buy a Chinese-made one, nor will I spend $120 for a German iron, because I will drop it within a year) but the reality is that, in a snowy state, kids cannot go barefoot. I spend hours of my life looking for non-Chinese everything, but winter shoes for my daughter are just about impossible.
Moving to Hawai’i is right out, too. The Navy won’t send us.
December 31, 2008 at 1:55 am
Deusdonat – Did you follow your own link? Those are for leather slipper-type baby shoes (Like Robeez) not actual, hard-soled shoes for bigger kids.
Once upon a time, there might have been affordable, US made kids shoes…. but the companies moved overseas! And mostly to China!
Maybe when the kids’ feet stop growing as much, we can do the $40-60 shoe thing (My loafers were 40, made in Brazil, and have lasted 4 years….)
But for now, I can’t see how it’s sinful to buy the available shoes at the price that also lets us tithe, buy protein, and set the heat all the way up at 62 degrees! (64 when someone’s sick!)