AmericanPapist Comments
Serious is not the word for it. This is outright confiscation of ecclesiastical property. The Socialists who run the Spanish government are trying to out-do those who ran Mexico for 70 years.
Western Civ just died a little more.
The Spanish courts have made a legal Memory Hole. This decision is a triumph of those who would replace real civil rights with rank positive determinism.
WAC
I think this would be a definite cause for the Church to disobey legal authority.
If push comes to shove and the state moves to seize the record and force its destruction, the Church should make a hidden copy of the record, for the day when this non-sense will be overturned.
It is time to ship legal copies of all diocene documents to Rome for safe keeping. Baptisms, confirmations, ordinations, marriages, everything.
Of course it always seems to be the liberal wackos who think they can change history by changing the records and the books. There is another word for this sort of thing. Lying.
And so it begins in Spain. How long till the full persecution begins?
"Of course it always seems to be the liberal wackos who think they can change history by changing the records and the books. There is another word for this sort of thing. Lying."
Sadly for some of St Blog's, conservatives also do this when history is inconvenient. The Bushies do it with Vietnam. The Nazis and Soviets, certainly, too.
Rather than Rome, my suggestion is to send baptismal records to internet volunteers. That way, Catholics around the world can feel they've done their part to preserve the historical record.
I'd ask for examples, but chirping crickets irritate my tinnitus.
But you can always count on Todd to show up with a stone and a prissy little lecture.
Rediculous! I agree, copies of records off to Rome or their embassy for safekeeping.
A couple of observations . . .
First, one way to combat this would be for the Church in Spain to announce that it planned to delete the baptismal records of anyone whom it did not consider sufficiently faithful. The Leftists would quickly rally to prohibit the Church from deleting baptismal records . . . problem solved!
Second, doesn't this call to mind Orwell's 1984 . . . as if deleting someone's baptismal record would change the fact that he or she had been baptized . . . re-writing history? Can I go back and change my voting record to delete the fact that I was once a registered Democrat??
The Church should have been a bit more creative - suppose the bishop had said "well, we cannot alter a historical fact - but if you are so offended by Christ we can formally excommunicate you and I promise you will never be bothered by Christ as long as you live".
The only problem with Todd's suggestion is that it risks violating the secrecy and integrity of the Church's records. Sending those details around broadly opens people up to the violation of their privacy, as well as the very real danger of identity theft.
I think creative obedience to the law is called for. Make a xerox of (or transcribe) the record, then erase or blot out the original.
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