Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 2/23/19

• DC Comics cancels ‘blasphemous’ Jesus superhero series, ‘Second Coming’

It’s good to see DC Comics has done an about face regarding this comic series, which satirizes Jesus Christ as a failure.

• As Pope Holds Sex Abuse Summit, U.S. Catholics Not Hopeful For ‘Bold Moves’

Pope Francis and 190 Catholic prelates from around the world are currently convening at the Vatican to address the clerical sexual abuse and cover-up scandal that pervades their church. The blazing irony is that many of these very same men, including Francis himself, are tainted by accusations of involvement in the scandal.

• Two Catholic cardinals urge end of ‘homosexual agenda’

Conservative cardinals, Burke and Brandmüller, are among many Catholic insiders who are now giving voice to a truth that’s increasingly coming out of the closet; a large percentage of Catholic priests are homosexuals. What they’re not admitting to yet is that Catholicism’s rule of celibacy for its clerics has both attracted and fostered deviancy.

• Pastor Robert Jeffress Calls Evangelical Christians Who Don’t Support Trump ‘Morons’

Jeffress needs to focus on spreading the Gospel rather than trying to advance his Christian nationalist “Reclaim America for Jesus” agenda. Christian nationalists (see also Jerry Falwell Jr., Franklin Graham, Mike Huckabee, etc.), become so intent on fighting culture battles that they lose sight of the Gospel and readily make compromising alliances with religious unbelievers.

• Pope Francis decries critics of church as ‘friends of the devil’

Francis accusing the opponents of the Roman church of being “friends of the devil” reminds me of the religious leaders of 33 A.D. Palestine accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil.

• Hillsong: Is this celeb-filled, Instagram-friendly church the new face of evangelicalism?

Hillsong has become the mother ship of hipster (c)hristianity. There is “some” Gospel there, but it’s really all about religious experientialism and emotionalism. Mixed in with the deafening music and light shows, this former Assemblies of God-affiliated church pushes ecumenism and the prosperity gospel.

• How Bingo Took Over Catholic Parish Halls

With all of the casinos being built across the nation, bingo halls are definitely on the decline. But forty-years ago, a large percentage of Catholic parishes featured weekly bingo as a fundraiser. A born-again believer would have serious issues with their church’s building being used as a gambling den, but Catholics have always been able to syncretize the profane with the “spiritual.”

• Two more settlements reached for survivors of sex abuse within the Rochester Diocese

We continue to see the pedophile priests and cover-up scandal being played out locally. The arbitrator who works for the diocese has two mandates: 1) hand out compensation to victims as a gesture of “goodwill,” and 2), most importantly, don’t break the bank.

• Actor Gary Sinise and family followed a journey to Catholicism

There’s no doubt actor Gary Sinise has done some excellent work on behalf of American veterans, however, he’s also one of a handful of high-profile Hollywood Catholics –  Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Colbert, and Patricia Heaton being others – who regularly use their celebrity to proselytize on behalf of their works-righteousness religion.

• Robert Jeffress Weeps Bitterly After Denying Trump Three Times (satire)

This is a timely and very apropos satire from the Babylon Bee in light of the story farther above.