Britney Spears, “Blackout” and Anti-Catholicism

by Deacon Keith Fournier

The continued growth of anti-Catholicism is only one more sign of a culture corrupted. Sadly, the entertainment industry seems to be the medium of the last acceptable prejudice. Britney Spears' new album "Blackout" promotes the mocking of a Catholic Sacrament.

[Pic:Centerfold images in Britney Spears New 'Blackout' album art. The pictures — one of which shows Spears wearing a cross and sitting on a priest's lap in what looks like a confessional booth while showing some fishnet stocking-ed leg, and another in which she leans suggestively against the confessional while the hunky priest sits on the other side of the partition.]

Centerfold images in Britney Spears New 'Blackout' album art. The pictures — one of which shows Spears wearing a cross and sitting on a priest's lap in what looks like a confessional booth while showing some fishnet stocking-ed leg, and another in which she leans suggestively against the confessional while the hunky priest sits on the other side of the partition.

LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - Today marked the release of the new album by Britney Spears, ironically labeled “Blackout”. It is an apparent effort to resuscitate her sagging music career. The airwaves were filled with multiple “talking heads”, the new oracles of the “entertainment news” subculture. They waxed on about whether the recording will sell well and volunteered their feigned expertise as to the poor woman’s problems.

The daily media has been filled with an endless stream of self professed experts only too eager to give their take on how pitiable the decline of this pop stars’ life has been. The internet and blogosphere are abuzz with rants concerning her struggles with substance abuse, marital infidelity and impulse control. She seems to be single-handedly fueling the insatiable thirst for celebrity gossip; one more sign of a Western culture in moral decline.

However, beyond it all, Britney’s tragic effort to fuel her flagging career and increase her net worth, reveal again that the only acceptable discrimination in America these days is bigotry toward the Catholic Church. Accompanying the album, the consumer receives a series of photographs, two of which picture the singer provocatively posed and scantily clad with fishnet stockings. She is pictured with a handsome young Catholic priest.

The two are seated in what appears to be a confessional, the place within a Church where a penitent confesses their sins and receives Sacramental absolution from the priest, acting on behalf of Jesus Christ through the Church. In the first photo, Spears is turned away from the priest in a seductive pose, exposing her legs, clad in fishnet stockings. She is behind the confessional screen. In the second, she is on the priest’s lap. Britney is doing anything but confessing her sins. She appears, with apparent glee, to be tempting this young priest to succumb to temptation.

Among those decrying this anti-Catholic insult was the dogged defender of the Catholic Church, Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for the Defense of Religious and Civil liberties. Donohue called the pictures a “bottom of the barrel” stunt, "This is all the puzzle pieces coming together. This girl is crashing," said Donohue. "She's not even allowed to bring up her own kids because she's not responsible enough. Now we see she can't even entertain."

The Catholic league, based in New York City, also offered Kiera McCaffrey for Press comment. The League's Director of communications addressed what she rightly called a publicity stunt at the expense of the Catholic Church. She told MTV that the photographs were a “…cheap publicity stunt that is a way to get people to talk about Britney Spears' album without talking about her music, which is what they should be focusing on. All we see is how troubled this girl is now, especially with her family, losing her kids, with her career on a downward slide. And now she's put out this album and this is her tactic to promote it? She should be focusing on singing and dancing and trying to be an entertainer without mocking a Catholic sacrament."

Though still early, it appears that Britney’s album may be a hit, with some predicting it will reach the coveted number one spot on the charts by next week. One can only hope that Britney’s exposure to a confessional, even if meant to mock the Catholic Church, will be added to the mental images which occupy her sleepless nights during this troubled time in her life, as she struggles to regain custody of her children and make sense of the last few years. Perhaps the next time she approaches a confessional it will be to seek absolution and request a new beginning from the One who is able to give her the grace that she needs.

In the meantime, we can pray for Britney. We must also continue to stand up against the continued exploitation of the images of our Church by those who have no shame.

This article is taken from Catholic Online website.

Fiji Catholics uncertain about prelate's political role

Suva, Fiji, Oct. 31, 2007 (CINS/CWN) - Catholics in Fiji are divided over the prospect of a prelate's membership on a commission drafting a new "people's charter" for the troubled country.

Archbishop Peter Mataca of Suva was named early this month as one of two co-chairmen of the charter commission. His appointment, announced by President Ratu Josefa, drew a protest from lay activists who said that the archbishop should not be involved in political affairs-- especially in light of the questions about the legitimacy of the current government.

Kelepi Lesi, the president of a lay organization known as the Catholic League, announced that his group had written to the Vatican and to the apostolic nuncio in Fiji, Archbishop Charles Balvo, protesting the archbishop's involvement with the government led by Fiji's ruling military chief, Commodore Frank Bainimarama.

Archbishop Balvo, the papal representative in Fiji, told Radio Australia that he has asked Archbishop Mataca to provide more information about his appointment to the charter commission. However, Archbishop Balvo stressed that he was not making any judgment about the appropriateness of the appointment. "There are precedents in other places," he said, for prelates to serve their countries in non-partisan roles. The papal nuncio said that he has merely asked for more details about Archbishop Mataca's plans.

Archbishop Mataca himself has not offered any public comment on his appointment.

Catholic pharmacists should not play any role in abortion and euthanasia

Vatican City, Oct.30,2007 (CINS/AsiaNews) – In receiving participants to the 25th International Congress of Catholic Pharmacists, Pope Benedict XVI said that respect for the human person must impel Catholic pharmacists to reflect upon the consequences of medical treatments that prevent the start of life or accelerates its end. They must also consider the unacceptability of using humans as experimental “objects” and address the issue of conscientious objection.

For the Holy Father, Catholic pharmacists have an “educational role” vis-à-vis their patients and must therefore take into account the “ethical implications of certain drugs” like those “whose purpose it to prevent an embryo from implanting itself or to shorten a person’s life.”

In his view, “pharmacists must raise awareness [in the public] in order that all human beings are protected from conception to natural death, and that drugs truly play a therapeutic role.”

“Moreover,” he said, “no individual may be used thoughtlessly as an object to undertake therapeutic experiments.” Such experiments “must be carried out following protocols that respect fundamental ethical norms.”

The Holy Father stressed that “all attempts at treatment or experimentation must be undertaken with the wellbeing of the person concerned clearly in mind, and not only be based upon the pursuit of scientific progress.” Indeed, “the quest for the good of humanity cannot proceed at the expense of the wellbeing of the people being treated.”

Benedict XVI insisted that conscientious objection “is a right that must be recognised for people exercising this profession so as to enable them not to collaborate directly or indirectly in supplying products that have clearly immoral purposes such as, for example, abortion or euthanasia.”

Finally, the Pontiff told Catholic pharmacists that they have a responsibility to “help young people who enter the pharmaceutical professions to reflect upon the increasingly sensitive ethical implications that their actions and decisions may have.”

Catholic Poll: Is Online Communities Hazardous?

Do you think Online Communities and Internet Chat Rooms help us to increase our friend circle ( or ) Do they lead us, especially the youths into licentious and lewd practices? Click here and vote your opinion

Catholic Bishops condemn Pakistan bomb

Karachi, Pakistan, Oct.24,2007 (CINS/totalcatholic)- The Pakistan Catholic Bishops' Conference has condemned the bomb blasts that killed and injured hundreds of people marking the return of a former prime minister from self-imposed exile.

"We consider the killings at Karachi an act of extreme cowardice and terrorism, and demand that the government should ensure the safety of the lives of citizens," said a statement issued

Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, the president of the bishops' conference and chairman of the bishops' National Commission for Justice and Peace.

Two blasts, including one by a suicide bomber, rocked the rally in Karachi on October 18.

The blasts killed more than 130 and injured approximately 290 people who were celebrating the homecoming of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party.

The statement said the bishops expressed "solidarity and condolences with the families of the deceased" and condemned the carnage.

Demanding "fair and prompt inquiry of the tragic incident and strict action against the culprits," the Church has urged "citizens irrespective of religion, cast and creed to work for peace and harmony in the country," it said.

Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Pakistani bishops' National Commission for Justice and Peace said "the massacre has come at a time when the nation was looking forward to more open political action and revival of democracy".

Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan comes ahead of the general election in January.

"This is a wake-up call for all political parties to stand firm and united," said Mr Jacob.

Islamist groups had threatened to target the former prime minister for declaring that she would not hesitate to allow United States forces to enter Pakistan in pursuit of Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

More than 97 per cent of Pakistan's nearly 165 million people are Muslim. Christians, Hindus and others make up just three per cent.

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