Spinning Out of Control

Happy Earth Day!...unless you think that Catholics like Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV.com are the bee's knees, in which case, forget I said anything. I wouldn't want to ruin your Good Friday glow.

In the script for the April 13th episode of "The Vortex" (a daily video presentation in which "lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed"), Mr. Voris wrote:

...the Earth Network [I think he means the Earth DAY Network] wants Catholic priests to devote their homily to the topic of Earth Day...[on] EASTER SUNDAY. Admitting in [their] letter that devoting a homily to Earth Day on Easter might be a slight problem .. the earth worshippers are perfectly happy to suggest giving a full blown homily the next Sunday .. which is DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY...They give suggestions on some material for the homilies .. like encouraging the congregation to clean up a park...Imagine .. going to Mass to hear about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead .. only to hear instead instructions to clean up a park...If you find yourself in Mass on Easter Sunday and the priest even so much as breaths [sic] a word about Earth Day .. throw nothing in the collection plate .. finish your Sunday obligation .. and resign from that parish on Monday.

Imagine...going to church on (what I hope will be) a lovely spring day...a season when nature seems to be resurrecting itself from the dead...to hear suggestions to clean up the planet you live on...the HORROR!

I'm not sure how many Catholics take Voris seriously. Marywood University and the Diocese of Scranton canceled presentations that he was scheduled to give earlier this month after they learned that Voris has "caused 'a number of controversies' and that his programs are not endorsed by his home archdiocese." Really? Suggesting that democracy should be replaced with a benevolent Catholic dictatorship is controversial? The video for the "Vortex" episode in which Voris made this comment has been taken down, but on the Internet, nothing can be completely deleted. PZ at Pharyngula and RationalWiki both quoted from the video, and Voris himself later tried to "clarify" that what he'd really meant was a benevolent Catholic monarchy, not a dictatorship. "Yea. That’s the ticket. A Catholic monarchy."

I suppose every religious group of any significant size has members on the fringes. Islam has the Taliban, Fred Phelps and the rest of the Westboro wackies consider themselves Baptists, mainstream Mormons distance themselves from their polygamist ancestors and contemporary fundamentalist offshoots. Would it be insensitive of me, on Good Friday, to make a crack about Voris being the Catholics' cross to bear?