The Holy Father's General Prayer intention for this month of September was: "That politicians may always act with honesty, integrity, and love for the truth."
Many, many Catholics around the world pray daily for the Holy Father's intentions. I definitely do, without even knowing what they are most of the time. All those prayers must have had an effect with the Australian Federal Upper and Lower Houses and the Tasmanian Upper House firmly rejecting same-sex marriage this month.
Hopefully there will be some longer term effects from this prayer for NZ politicians when they vote again on the same-sex marriage bill here. We unfortunately missed out on the grace from this General Intention, as our initial vote was in August, ironically on the Feast of John the Baptist, who was killed because he spoke out against a king's choice of woman (or young girl, actually). Speaking out against what our rulers want to do when they are morally blinded is potentially fraught with danger - that was the message that I took from the vote being on that day.
Related link: Holy Father's Prayer Intentions For 2012 ~ EWTN
Many, many Catholics around the world pray daily for the Holy Father's intentions. I definitely do, without even knowing what they are most of the time. All those prayers must have had an effect with the Australian Federal Upper and Lower Houses and the Tasmanian Upper House firmly rejecting same-sex marriage this month.
Hopefully there will be some longer term effects from this prayer for NZ politicians when they vote again on the same-sex marriage bill here. We unfortunately missed out on the grace from this General Intention, as our initial vote was in August, ironically on the Feast of John the Baptist, who was killed because he spoke out against a king's choice of woman (or young girl, actually). Speaking out against what our rulers want to do when they are morally blinded is potentially fraught with danger - that was the message that I took from the vote being on that day.
Related link: Holy Father's Prayer Intentions For 2012 ~ EWTN
All those prayers must have had an effect with the Australian Federal Upper and Lower Houses and the Tasmanian Upper House firmly rejecting same-sex marriage this month.
ReplyDeleteWell, that or the fact that Australia is a much more conservative country than NZ.
Psycho Milt, as a Catholic, you can believe both. Not all prayers are answered with divine intervention...
ReplyDeleteIn any case, will be interesting to see how Australia holds out. The Western world is simply caving into gay marriage one by one. It's almost inevitable that they'll be accepted everywhere else.
That's according to conventional human wisdom, anyway.
Keep praying!
PM, the result of your statement (Australians more conservative than Kiwis) was achieved by an earlier prayer (and evidently would also apply as a miracle) :-)
ReplyDeleteEither way, the result of the vote does not necessarily mean that Australians are more conservative, but rather that the current crop of politicians are more "conservative" than the current crop of NZ politicians.
Although even that might not be the case. Maybe also, the Australian Politicians have this strange concept of canvassing their electorate and listening. Whatever side of the various many debates that waste space on the front page of the daily rags, our government has an appalling record of genuine public consultation.
Haha, that would be true if most electorate MPs had canvassed electorates and looked at how most NZers view marriage equality. And guess what? The vast majority support it. It's just raving god-botherers who are delusional enough to think that they are in the majority
ReplyDeleteAll those prayers must have had an effect with the Australian Federal Upper and Lower Houses and the Tasmanian Upper House firmly rejecting same-sex marriage this month.
ReplyDeleteEither that of the fact that the Liberals were not allowed a conscience vote, thus scuttling the Federal legislation. Lets see if these prayers will have an effect in NZ, France, Scotland etc.