[Acrylic-bob]

Bee in my bonnet and an habitual bigot, not to mention shabby posting. Well don't beat around the bush chaps, why not say what you really think.

Whether you subscribe to the beliefs of the Roman Church, or any other church, or none at all, is a matter for you and your conscience. I do not intend to get into a long and deeply boring discussion on the relative merits of faith versus atheism at the moment; maybe on another thread at another time.

What I find interesting in the appointment of Greg Pope is the blatant display of hypocrisy. Garinda has spoken to Greg and reckons he's a nice bloke - Rindi honey, he's a politician. and there is no such thing as a 'nice' politician. Just some who twist the truth and lie less than the others. Sadly that does not qualify them as 'nice' in the sense that one would confidently take them home to tea with mother, certainly not without checking the silverware before they left the house. All politicians are economical with the truth, that is their stock in trade, and any politician who tries to convince you otherwise is..well..lying.

As jaysay has pointed out, quite a number of catholics disregard the teachings of the magisterium on quite a number of issues, as do a significant proportion of the clergy, at all levels. In much the same manner, quite a number of people disregard the Law on a number of issues - does that make the Law wrong?

The thing that really irks me, the bee in my bonnet if you will, is that there is a gradual and increasing dilution of standards, in public life. The parliamentary scandals of the last year have given more than enough evidence of this fact. It is also undeniably true that, despite Blair's mantra of "Education, Education, Education." this dilution of standards has also taken place in our schools. The State education system is now a pale shadow of what it once was, at a time when the country needs it to be stronger and more effective than ever. Catholic educational establishments were often seen as a bulwark against diminishing standards (why do you think that Blair sent his kids to the London Oratory School?) The CES formerly maintained a high ethical and moral standard absolutely in line with the teaching of the magisterium and what parents expected of it. How can it continue to claim such high standards if its deputy director sees nothing wrong in the murder of infants in the womb, or that it is morally responsible to have sex outside of marriage purely for recreation, or that children really do not need to have a father in their lives, or that it is perfectly acceptable to polish granny off when she becomes a nuisance or the costs of her health care might swallow up too much of the kid's inheritance.

This is wrong. it always was and it always will be. Call me a bigot all you wish, but doing so will not make it right.