AmericanPapist Comments
He has absolutely nothing to apologize for, rather he should be lauded. By the way, he is a seminarian of the Diocese of Madison and will now be going to the North American College in Rome, may he grow closer to our Lord while at the NAC and hurry up and come back here, we need him!
He is in good company with Cardinal Arinsze, and thank it sad that Father Dease, the President, did not support him. I pray that Ben's Bishop comes out and publicly supports him or at the very least in private tell him a job well done.
In contrast, 19 years ago at my graduation ceremony from the College of St. Thomas (the year before it became a University), we were treated to the oratorical stylings of a female reporter from a major network, who has since passed into obscurity. She, in her speech, spoke of fighting "those who would limit our freedoms: of free speech, of religion, of the pursuit of happiness, of reproductive choice..."
No, this young man has nothing to apologize for, and he and his family have much to be proud of.
I find it refreshing to see a young Man actually to have the courage to speak up about these things. Hopefully this experience doesn't silence his honesty. Our youngsters are being brought up to not speak their minds, nor, to say what they believe. Increasingly the truth is being criminalised and increasingly people, especially the young, seem to go along with the herd. This is a fundamental shift in how America has operated since its inception. Of course, the ACLU will fight for this young Man's rights to speak freely, right? I thought so...
As I said over at Bettnet, we cannot simply be satisfied with blogging.
We really need to email and write to the president so that the affirmative response to Ben is noted.
We also need to find contact information of Ben's so that we can congradulate him and encourage him.
Good for him. There's footage on youtube.com, but it has some bad language. I pray that he does become a priest, because we need ones just like him.
Am I wrong or was that the camera crew that were booing? What was said that caused the crowd to erupt in laughter when Ben talked about "giving"? Ben clearly was nervous and the speech could have been written better, but the content was on the mark. Thank you Ben Kessler!
I notice that Ben's apology is careful to separate his actions from the way people may have received them. Good for him! He can really and truly regret the offense without regretting his words in the least. ("Love the sinner, hate the sin" in action, I'd say.) I strongly suspect that is the case here.
He had to know that his words would spark controversy. I'll bet that's largely why he sounds so nervous. But what a fine example to set for his fellow classmates: strength and courage in the face of adversity. The fact that he will soon become a seminarian fills me with great hope.
I found his e-mail address through the Madison Diocese Vocation website. I just hope the account is still open. He needs to be congratulated and strengthened. And he will definitely be in my prayers.
"Am I wrong or was that the camera crew that were booing?"
UST Dad,
That's my take on the video as well. And I detect a strong foreign accent, possibly German.
It's so ironic that a foreigner in our country is yelling, "Stop it!" at an American university commencement speech. If he doesn't like our Constitutional right to freedom of speech he should go home.
The laughing was due to a smart ass in the audience. When he was talking about happiness, a jerk in the crowd yelled "I'll be happy when you get off the stage," or something similar. That was the reason people laughed.
ust dad: one dad to another, right on.
my hero! it's about freakin time!!!!!
A young Catholic encouraging, uh, Catholic thought and practice. No, no no--that won't do at all! :-0
Wow, it looked like the bread of life discource where it was too hard to take... mention contaception and they are outta there... Wonder if that University is Catholic
one more thing: yes a few people left and a few laughed, but it appeared to me that most stayed and listened. This is hard to tell from one camera, one mike, but I thought I saw many paying attention.
What does Fr. Dease mean when he says to Ben, "that this was not an appropriate place to 'express his opinions.'" He was not expressing an opinion, just articulating teachings of the Church. If Fr. Dease does not know the difference, that may go a long way in explaing the problems of "Catholic" higher education.
"...I had hoped that he would focus on ... his fellow graduates and challenge them to continue their efforts 'to advance the common good' ...."
Now, is this not what had happened? Mr. Kessler does want his fellow grads to advance the common good. In order for them to do so, and us to do so, we must look at our lives first and change what must be changed.
God Bless this young man. I agree with an earlier post, the speach could have been written better.
The ironic thig is just earlier today I was talking to a freind about Jesus casting out demons.
Makes me wonder about the people who left when he mentioned contraception?
What is troubling to me is that there seems to be quite the pattern of disrespect in graduation ceremony audiences of late?
Did anyone see what the graduation students did to Senator McCain in Boston (I believe it was Boston)?
These graduates are out of control!
Wow, that was awesome! Congratulations to Ben for having the strength to get up and give that speech.
He will make a great priest.
I cried when watching that video. What a brave young man! To endure the cursing and the catcalls for speaking the truth! I pray that I might one day have a hundredth of his courage.
God bless "future-Fr." Kessler, and may we be blessed with many more like him!
What a brave young man! Im sure that he will become a great priest.
Make Ben Kessler a cardinal as quick as possible!
We need more people like him in the church!
God bless this young man. We need more like him. The reaction of the crowd was....SELFISH!
Ben is an amazing person and I am sure God will have great plans for him. I wish I would of stayed for the speech had I known it was going to be of this magnitude I would have stayed and cheered for him. Please keep him and all the Seminarians in the world in your prayers especially at SJV. It is a great place and as we can see in Ben it turns out great people. Let's here it for the church and the new wave of orthodox seminarians!!!
Well, more people are waking up. We are unpopular but we know the truth. People today have been conditioned, but some people are learning that Vatican II was an attack on the true Church. Sites like Traditio.com are leading the way, people are going back to tradition. There are more sedevacantist chapels and prayer centers opening up. People are reading old Catholic catechisms. I think people are waking up.
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