has set out Scotland's position that Scotland voted to remain that we will work to positively influence article 50 negotiations by the UK government and that we are looking at all options to protect Scotland's interests The UK government has said that the Scottish Government will be fully involved in preparations for negotiations and that article 50 will not be triggered until we have a UK approach and objective for negotiations We will hold the Prime Minister and her government to that commitment and the Scottish Government established the Standing Council in Europe so we can look at all options in detail, in depth and with expertise Members have raised today a broad range of important issues that must be taken into account in the negotiations with the UK government and this debate has been important in setting out the expectations of members of this Parliament So let me respond and highlight some of those now with reference to the five key tests that the First Minister set out and which Michael Russell referenced at the opening of this debate The democratic interest the economic interest social protection, solidarity and influence and Lewis MacDonald in what I thought was a very considered speech talked about the importance of remaining fully in the single market and any relationship with the European Union that falls short of that risks reducing exports to the EU the introduction of tariffs and other non-tariff trade barriers Now, Adam Tomkins in the intervention in his last speech talked about the kind of access to the single market that we want but there is a serious point here the idea that the UK is going to be able to pick and choose aspects of that is something really we have to get a grip and have a reality check on Joan McAlpine was very correct when she said that we can't square access to the single market with prevention of freedom of movement and a point that Gifa Hosta the EU Parliament's negotiator has also underlined but the importance of the single market is not just about access for goods it is about all four freedoms including the free movement of people Ross Greer on behalf of the Greens set out the importance of the wider aspects of freedom of movement and the importance to this particular country of migration and the impact it has Ash Denham talked about the human face of what that meant in terms of the position on the EU for EU nationals and it's also about the people who work here in our key industries Rachel Hamilton talked about the importance of the food and drink industry and tourism I met with a number of EU nationals at the Deanston distillery 17 per cent of our tourism industry is dependent on workers and obviously food and drink that also has a big impact about 16 per cent on the number of the workers and she talked about the importance of being able to get new markets as part of the position post Brexit but there is a very important aspect as when and how those markets would develop and it's quite clear from even the G20 discussions last week that the issue will be after negotiations are being completed with the EU for many countries and indeed the UK may be at the end of that list so other areas that have been raised Colin Smyth talked about the importance of agriculture students Stevenson on fishing I want to move on to social protection and our membership of the EU has not only brought us economic growth but has ensured that alongside that growth social protection has been championed and it really is important that we make sure we are in a position that that is protected the idea of an unshackled race to the bottom of exploitation of workers is something that both Claire Hockey and Neil Findlay highlighted and we won't tolerate any attempt to downgrade those social protections on that point Mike Rumbles I have heard a lot quite rightly about protecting EU nationals living in Scotland as far as their residents and employment rights are concerned but I haven't heard from the Scottish Government anything yet about Scots living abroad in the EU and how we want to protect this I haven't heard it yet Fiona Hyslop The First Minister was in committee this morning and I would refer all members to look at that evidence as well for developing the Scottish Government's position Mary Evans in a very thoughtful and well informed speech talked about the importance of community-led projects and the different perspective of transnational funds and also warned about the existing reticence perhaps to develop new projects and that's something we should be very mindful of as we go forward and we also as a government want to see that the arguments of solidarity are supported the issues around climate change and importantly on justice Brexit does put at risk a range of co-operations in relation to civil and criminal law and it's imperative that our interests in Scotland are protected in any future arrangements and indeed before Brexit the first test will be the UK's government's immediate view on the European regulations that are coming soon and we must have influence in the decision that affects us and that will come down to I think future debates of what type of relationship we can secure in those negotiations with the UK government and the reflection on the democratic interests the Scottish Government is taking forward the views of Scotland as presented at the EU referendum but we will also make sure that in terms of representing the Scotland's interests as promoted at that vote Michael Russell will set out the position of the Scottish Government in his discussions with the UK and that first meeting is tomorrow and I think everybody in the chamber wishes him well in that first discussion with David Davis and that is the spirit in which we'll be entering in those discussions but gently and very politely to the Conservatives having a patronising constitutional law lecture by Adam Tomkins or our obfuscating Diversary Bluster from Jackson Carlaw from a party whose reckless politics has led to the position we're in that condescension is not conducive to consensus or collaboration and if we're going to go forward in the debates that we are going to have in this chamber about EU matters in the future let's try and do it in a spirit of respect and understanding and I also would want to look forward to the next steps I would refer all members to look at the official report of the First Minister's appearance at the European and External Relations Committee from today today we have also seen John Claude Juncker's state of the union's address but the clock is ticking and there are further future events in the EU that will have bearing on developments the Brattislava summit was taking place on the 16th of this month and it is the first first summit without the UK it's the EU 27 and that is of significance negotiations about the EU budget post 2020 are likely to start in 2018 and that will clearly focus the minds of the EU 27 we have French and German elections in 27 and the European Parliament elections are due in 2019 now Tavish Scott made a thought which was a made a very good speech and he reflected on the perspective and the importance of looking at this process as one that will not be quick but we are in uncharted territory Brexit as Ashton pointed out it has not happened yet we are at the start of the process to start the process of Brexit and we must work creatively and positively and constructively to shape a future which reflects and respects Scotland's interests I think in this Parliament we have that political will to try and shape that future there's definitely a will in wider civic Scotland and this Government will work to explore all options and Presiding Officer we will continue to update Parliament in doing so and in that spirit I urge all members of this Parliament to support the motion Thank you that concludes the debate on the implications of the EU referendum result and UK negotiating position and before we move on to the next item of business members may wish to join me in welcoming to the gallery the Honourable Antonio Hose Amelia MP Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique The next item of business is consideration of business motion 1429 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick on behalf of the parliamentary bureau setting out a business programme I would ask any member who wishes to speak against the motion to press their request to speak button now and I call on Joe Fitzpatrick to move motion 1429 formally moved thank you no member has asked to speak against the motion I will put the question to the chamber the question is that motion 1429 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick be agreed are we all agreed yes we are all agreed the next item of business is consideration of three parliamentary bureau motions and I'd asked Joe Fitzpatrick to move on block motion 1430 on the variation of standing orders motion 1431 on parliamentary recess dates and motion 1432 on suspension of standing orders moved on block thank you Mr Patrick these questions will be put at decision time to which we now come now there are four questions to be put at decision time I remind members that if the amendment in the name of Jackson Carlaw is agreed the amendment in the name of Lewis MacDonald falls the first question is that amendment 1412.2 in the name of Jackson Carlaw which seeks to amend motion number 1412 be agreed are we all agreed yes we are not agreed members may cast their votes now the result of the vote on amendment 1412.2 in the name of Jackson Carlaw is yes 29 no 93 there were no obsensions the amendment is therefore not agreed the next question is that amendment 1412.3 in the name of Lewis MacDonald which seeks to amend motion number 1412 be agreed are we all agreed yes sorry are we all agreed yes we are all agreed oh i'm sorry apologies we are not agreed we will move to a vote members may cast their votes now the result of the vote on amendment number 1412.3 in the name of Lewis MacDonald is yes 112 no five there were no obsensions the amendment is therefore agreed the next question is that motion 1412 in the name of Michael Russell as amended is agreed are we all agreed no we are thank you we are not agreed members will move to a vote members may cast their votes now the result of the vote on motion 1412 in the name of Michael Russell as amended is yes 87 no 34 there were no obsensions the motion as amended is therefore agreed finally I propose to ask a single question on parliamentary bureau motions 1430 1431 and 1432 if any member objects a single question being put please say so now no member has objected therefore the question is that motions 1430 to 1432 be agreed are we agreed we are agreed that concludes decision time we will now move to members' business and I'll take a few minutes to change seats


فشرف بالاشتغالي بالعلم ولا تبغي به ما عشت يا دا دا دا لا وياله من شراف عظيمي حسن الله تعالى نحن now going to be speaking about the way and the method in which an Islamic leader can be appointed we are now going to be speaking about what is the Islamic method of appointing a leader and how do we do it there are two ways in which an Islamic leader can be appointed the first طريقة the first way is اختيار اهل الحل والاقت it is اختيار اهل الحل والاقت they are the ones who choose who is going to be the leader and this is the asal this is the default position and it is the اهل الحل والاقت some ignorant people would say that you want to find them in the Quran you want to find them in the scripture you want to find them in the نصوص then this is كلام لا يتفت إلي it is a speech that we don't give no consideration to اهل الحل والاقت is present in the sunnah and it is also present in the اجمع of the قرون المفضلة it was present amongst them who are اهل الحل والاقت اهل الحل والاقت are a group of righteous and noble people in their religion also they are smart and they are clever they have good opinions they are also people of التدبير they are leaders they know how to run things and they also are موجهة موجهة الناس are they represent people they represent their community they can be chief tribes, tribe leaders there are conditions that have to be found in the اهل الحل والاقت the conditions that have to be found in them are seven conditions or else they are not اهل الحل والاقت the first one is الاسلام they have to be Muslims so a disbeliever cannot be from اهل الحل والاقت as Allah says in the Qur'an ولي يجع على الله الله is not one who is going to make للكافرين على المؤمنين سبيلا الله does not make ولي يجع على الله للكافرين على المؤمنين سبيلا so that's why the scholars they take from this verse that the girl's father if he's a disbeliever he's not there with her ولي he has no willaya over her he's not her guardian so even if he can't be a leader for his own daughter he can't be a guardian for his own daughter how is he going to be a leader and responsible over the months when he's a disbeliever when he's a disbeliever he can wrest a body it's something they now want to open discussions on the second is he has to be sane he has to be a and when we say it doesn't just mean good he has to be a smart person he can't be immatureasan a immature young boy شخص جداً. now he can never come into the fold of but if he's young and he's smart, he won't be pushed away because of his age and Ibn Abbas was what? Ibn Abbas was in the inner circle of him. he was in the inner circle of أمر رضي الله عقب. the conditions are age. no one brings age. number 3 is الرجولة. it has to be a man. a woman is not allowed to be from أهل الحل والعقب. she's not. Allah said in the Quran الرجال قوامون على النساء بما فضل الله بعضهم على بعض وبما فقوا من أموالهم. that the men are in charge of the women. so if a woman is part of أهل الحل والعقب then that means her husband has to be because he's in charge of her. or if a woman is the leader of a country her husband tells her what to do so he's running the country. she's not. and the prophet told us عليه الصلاة والسلام. he said يفلح قومون. a people will not find prosperity. أمراءة. a woman is running their affairs. what is the level of أصحب كتابي بعد كتابي الله. it is the most authentic book. after the book of Allah. isn't that the case? today he narrates. your youtube channel will be closed down. and you have a lot of problems. so the woman she's not allowed to. she's not from أهل الحل والعقب. if she can't be from أهل الحل والعقب. can she lead the people? election today. a woman consulted. how can he be from أهل الحل والعقب. no one consulted the women. no one consulted the immature ones. in this country how old do you have to be in order to do elections? 18 right? look at our 18 year olds right now. what are they doing? they're selling drugs on the streets. that guy goes and he puts the letter in the palette. he votes and he puts his voice in. his voice is equal to the voice of العلم المحدة. the taxi driver. his voice is the same as the blue bears. when I say taxi driver I don't mean tax drivers. because of his job. I mean the one who doesn't know anything. he doesn't know his right hand from his left hand in the religion. his voice becomes a voice of the righteous. the scholars. the scholastic people. the people who are looking at the benefit of the umma. fourth is free. he has to be a free person. he's not allowed to be a slave. number five is a piety. he has to be what? piety. when we say piety it means he has to be far. because some people would say our piety. you say it is infallible. no we're not saying it. we mean it's he stays away from major sins. and he's not consistent on it. if it happens from him he runs back to Allah and he asks for forgiveness. او ظلم وانفسهم ذكروا الله فاستغفروا لي ذنوبهم. وما يغفروا الدنوبة إلا الله ولم يسروا على ما فعلوا وهم يعلمون. when he does a mistake and a shortcoming occurs from him he runs back to Allah and he asks for forgiveness. so here the takwa is that he stays away from the major sins. and he's not consistent upon the minor sins. how can we know the person is takwa? the way we can know a person has takwa is شخرة. it becomes famous. استفابة. people all hear about it. today what do we hear about sheikh Abdulaziz ibn al-Baz? what do we hear? we don't praise in the eyes of Allah anyone as the prophet said but from what we know from sheikh Abdulaziz ibn al-Baz and those who studied with him and those who took knowledge from him and those who saw him it became a محل التفاق and that he was from the people of piety رحم الله عامل بعلمه. one who implemented the knowledge he had صح. so who that's how we know. استفادة. ولذلك what we know is من تشبه بما ليس فيه فضحته شواهد ليالي wanna be anyone who tries to make himself be where he really isn't تdeep. and ya takwa. and your piety will become credit to the people. Number 6 is هل كل ا khld is knowledge جاهل way we will the holy one the ignorant وصح so the knowledge here is are you with me brothers. is that فعندما يكون من إهل الحل والعقد، يجب أن يكون من رفع وعقيدة الثقافية والأحضار هو أنه يجب أن يأتي إلى عجب في حورة يجب أن يكون بالغة، يجب أن يأتي إلى عجب في حورة السؤال هو أهل الحل والعقد هل أنت أموت؟ أو يمكن أن يكون أموت كبير هل أنت أموت؟  ما هو المجرد؟ ما يجب أن يفعله؟ يوجد أعلى أعلى أعلى أول هو إذا كانت أحد أحد أحد يأتي في المدينة أحد أحد يأتي في المدينة هو أفضل المدينة التي أستطيع أن أستطيع أن أستطيع لأن لا يستطيع أن أخبره للمزيد في مدينة now ونهن بمدينة الله عليكم والنظام بشكل مدينة بمدينة now أنت أعرفه right بمدينة now بمدينة now أنت أستعملني أنت لستستطيع أن أخبرني أنت لستستطيع أن تلقمني أنت لست مستطيع أن أخبرني بمدينة now لصرفتك يا بادر إنك رجل ضعيف أنك رجل ضعيف أنك رجل ضعيف ولك النظام هو اهل الحل والعكد وإنها حسرتون ولداما يأتي به إذا وإنه غمال أكثر than one person is befitting among themselves they discuss it so and so what do you guys think everyone goes yeah you know what he's he's a person we all had in mind but what about so and so it's more than one name comes forward does that make sense no one deals with the leader no one talks to him these people are the ones who are choosing so what do they do they choose for the people who they think is right and he comes into power he comes into power are you with me brothers with what with the choice the consultation of these individuals now look at election and look at democracy are you with me brothers there's a lot of this come together what are are you are they initiating a ruling they're not initiating any law and they're giving the authority to legislate on their behalf and they're giving the leader of the country to legislate on their behalf no they're not but what are they doing is men who from these two people are اصلاح للإمامة who is the most befitting one for leadership و الرئاسة they can come to this conclusion because of the fact that they have Islam and they have عقل and they have رجولة and they have حرية and they have تقوى and they have علم and there is no preconceived belief in their hearts that's pushing them to lean towards this the hearts are clean election is what my beloved brothers and sisters كُلَّ من هبَّة و دبَّة everybody who you see whether he's right or whether he doesn't matter his voice counts now when you come to the people and you say election is haram are you there when you say to the people election is haram fear Allah stay away from election don't choose it are they going to be inclined to your speech why they're most likely they're not going to be inclined to your view the reason why they're not is because you're telling the person you're not من أهل تقوى you're not from أهل حلو العقل you're not deserving to be consulted your words have no value your words this gets to people my voice has to count I want to be known I want to choose تقوى and إيمان is what makes you realize that I am not I can't place any force on anyone I can't choose who am I to choose I will take it back and hope Allah with the choice of our brothers and our righteous scholars what they choose are you with me brothers the second job is they are the ones who supervise the bay'a taking place so they choose and they also they take the bay'a are you with me brothers what do we what do we mean they take bay'a sometimes they are you with are you with me they take the bay'a and the people don't have to هل حلو العقل already did it no one else has to everyone just has to submit not every single person has to go to the leader and say وبيعك على السمع وطع في من شطينا ومكرهنا ويصرنا وعصرنا واثارتنا علينا no not everyone has to do that أهلو الحلو العقل they take over that from the people they do it and so they tell the leader السبع وطع في غير المعصية we listen to you we obey you in that which is not حرام we will do that في المن شطي و المكره times of ease and times of hardship okay and we won't go against you as a leader are you with me brothers and bay'a brothers is فرضو كيفاء it's not فرضوع I mean everybody to do it it's different صحيح is that فرضو كيفاء the second way that a Muslim leader is elected is and is appointed is what is known as الاستخلاف الاستخلاف is the leader who is already in position the leader who is already in position will say to an individual you are the one you are my successor you are my successor as Abu Bakr رضي الله و تعالى عنه he did for who عمر رضي الله و عنه and there are conditions that the scholars stipulate there are conditions that the scholars stipulate for the الاستخلاف to be صحيح and to be correct if the Muslim leader pay attention are you with me the one who is doing the الاستخلاف are you with me let's pay attention to his brothers pay attention the Muslim leader what are the conditions that he needs to come he's Islam he has حرية his بلوغ عقل ذكور right all of that when the Muslims choose him as time goes on he can change right if he changes and he loses the fact that he was chosen for are you there brothers pay attention and then he does الاستخلاف it won't be accepted from him are you with me الاستخلاف he's taken on board if the conditions are still present in him that's the first condition and there's another sura that we're going to take later are you with me which is a third form which we're going to see later that's not شرعي but he has to be obeyed and he has to be listened to anyways the second form I mean the second condition that is needed for the الاستخلاف is what that the one who is appointing the other leader like when Abu Bakr appointed عمر عمر has to accept it if he rejects and says I'm not going to do it then there's no الاستخلاف nothing worked third is that the one who it has been passed on to has to be present or he's in the ruling of the one who's present he's gone but he's coming back the fourth condition is that when he's passing it on to him the leader has to be alive the leader has to be alive who's passing it on and appointing are you there you can't have written on a letter or something like that so he does it all while he's alive and Abu Bakr did that while he was on his deathbed the fifth one is he has to have consulted are you with me أهل الحل والعكد and they agreed with him on this without him forcing them putting them on the dress last but not least are you with me the person who he is appointing the one who he is appointing has to be not from he's descended he can't be from his parents and up and he can't be from his children and down can't be a kingdom can't be a monarchy and there are two reasons why it can't be the first one is we follow the path of the خلافاء الرشدين المهديين we were told to what عضو عليها من الواجد hold on to it with your molatif the خلافاء الرشدين didn't do that the four guide for the خلافاء they didn't do a monarchy they didn't pass it over to their children is it goes against our messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم his methodology what do we mean by the prophet's methodology and the prophet's way the prophet عليه صلى الله عليه وسلم who was the best companion in his eyes أبو بكر ربي الله تعالى عنه and who was present علي was there his own cousin his own daughter was in life فاطمة ربي الله تعالى عنه and the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at that level and everything he didn't make it something that's inherited because for my family you have to have this but what I do need to mention is that what I do need to mention is that if this happens then the leader does appoint somebody after that and he passes it over to his child and it does happen to that it does happen there is no there is no right for any individual to refuse to give way and that's exactly what happened in the Umawi and the Abbasi dynasty right we have to listen and we have to obey the other point that needs to be and it's a very important point which is which of the two paths is better the استخلاف or the اختيار اهلي الحل والعكت the first path and the second of which of the two is better والراجحو the strongest is that اختيار اهلي الحل والعكت is the best the choosing of اهلي الحل والعكت is better just like the message عليه الصلاة والسلام did not directly and clearly say that Abu Bakr should take after me or Phulan needs to take after me the Prophet left it who did he leave it for اهلي الحل والعكت are you with me are you with me brothers just the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم left it the chosen of اهلي الحل والعكت and that's the best path right that's the best path are you with me brothers also there are circumstances there are circumstances when the استخلاف is actually better when the person sees when the person sees after him there's going to come a lot of and a lot of corruption if he doesn't put his finger down on a particular individual he fears that he may cause havoc that he may cause harm in that circumstance he should choose a person and appoint a person the reason for that درقا للخلاف وسعيان للاتلاف because he's trying to get rid of خلاف that may come and also bring the people together those are the two شرعي ways that a Muslim leader is appointed brothers those are the two methods and they are the two ways a Muslim leader is appointed when you now look at this democracy system the governments today in the western countries when you look at America as well are they from do they follow this way لا من قريب ولا من بعيد not from anywhere close nor from anywhere


Question. What's the most important thing to you off the tee? Finding a fairway or pure distance? And what club gives you that solution. Driver, fairway wood, utility, loeín iron, and one last question. Which gives you the most confidence and how important is that to you and your decision? Lemie explain. A number of questions that I've asked myself in recent weeks and probably asked myself a number of times over the years事 but it's led to something that I never thought would ever happen. Yn dwy cynnwys yn dweud, ac rwy'n cael ei gweithio. Felly, mae'r ddweithio'r cael ei weld y gweithio gyda'r got yn dweud, mae'r ddweud, mae'n syniadol yn olygu ar gwrthio'r golygu. Oni ymloed wedi wneud llawer yw oed myfyrwyr dros unigig iawn, o'r debyg o'r dim yn fath, o'r bys gwybod i'r dweud.  A hynny'n gwneud ni'n gweithio'i draff, ac mae'n credu hwn i'n gweithio'r dyfu, rhai' hefyd. Roedd gennym'u dod. Y flin cofio'i gynnwys y gallu y byd y ddwy yw'n ni'n ddiddorg. A wedi'u dyfu, maen nhw'n gwneud y t Мfwysig, pan ddweud yr hynny'n gwneud y resume sydd wedi wedi sticksio fel gweld o'u ddigon. Felly, rydyn ni'n gweld ein llwyffan yn ei bod yn ei wnaeth i'w phanol gyda'r gynhyrchu. Felly, mae wedi bod y gair gwybwyr, gallwn gynhyrchi'r gwaith, alech i ni, maen nhw ychydig yn gweithio allan yn y meddwl weithio'n gwahanol i'w gwahanol ac yn y parwg. Felly, os ydych gennym mewn cyfartnog. Felly, yna ddod yn ddweud o'r ffordd y mae'r bwerdd. Gwyrdd opeth yn donc mas peddi. Rhaen i wnaeth hoff iddynt gukaeth eich dweud o'u tyfn uch charlede. Both pretty much exactly as I'd hoped to. The second shot was with my driver. That's going to be the one that's ultimately going to be the longest. How much longer is it and why do I feel the need to have this other club in the bag? Okay, so first two tee shots and more than happy with both but here's the kind of difference we're talking about. First ball left of pitcher that is with driver one and then you can see driver two is realistically I would say probably 30 maybe even 40 yards further on and that's a huge difference in choice of club for the next shot in. Right, so second question was which do you feel most confident with or which would you choose to go to and for me like I said if I had the choice to do it pitching wedge off the first tee or do it driver so sort of first shot in the morning which would I prefer? Well it would be the pitching wedge because sure to shaft greater control more confidence all those kind of things and far easier to hit. That would be my simple explanation. So it's the same with driver. I want the club in hand that I am the most confident with. The one I get the most distance with, assume I'm playing this with a par 4, par 5 start and that's where it starts to beg a question. What am I most confidence with? And in recent weeks what I've noticed is when a game goes astray for me it all focuses round the driver and when I lose lack of control of the driver the whole game goes to pot and again that's where I need a solution. If I'm going to carry two drivers then we're potentially having to move something else out the bag to make way for it and quite possibly that's going to be three wood and a three wood is where I'd look to be reaching to the bag now to play this kind of shot in. The question is can I utilise this driver to play the same shots that I would with a three wood and that means picking it up off a tight lie on a fairway and the answer is yes and maybe far better than I count with me three wood. So it's ticking two boxes and yeah you're guessing you know what it is. I'm still not telling you know. Right so the second driver in question no doubt you've all guessed and the one that I'm really considering putting back in the bag and he's considering carrying on doing and playing with these two clubs is the tailor-made mini driver. Many of you who watch the channel know this is a product I put straight in a bag after testing last year sometime and to be honest with you it made a massive difference to my game in that I was able to get I was finding more fairways it's that simple. My confidence grew I then did the inevitable thing I wanted more distance I wanted that all out distance I wanted the 20 30 yards extra distance that we've seen so I snuck back the driver went back and the mini driver went out. Have my driving stats been as good? I don't know exactly but I would say no they probably haven't I don't think I've found as many fairways and for me dry ball data says this 20 to 25 yards difference in carry difference between the two drivers spin number again maybe 1500 revs of spin higher so this ball isn't going to travel as far not only in the air but when it lands and we've just seen that in those first two drives but they each do a totally different job and like I've just shown with a shot from the fairway and hopefully another one here there's plenty of versatility to suggest the option of putting them both in the bag could be a could be something that can really really help my game and do two things and not only make it a very playable club in the bag but also do something that is really key oh wow I'll tell you what I said at the time and I've forgotten a little bit the ball flight that you're able to get in pink I've just hit two shots there with a driver effectively off the deck the ball flight suggests it's nothing like a driver but the big key factor and the final thing in all this is the word confidence now I've got to be quite honest with you this is probably the best scenario in terms of what could have happened in terms of playing down 12 here to do this video we've ended up with one ball on the green pin I put for eagle and the other ball is to my right by my feet and like I said I'll play this whole number of times and it's very rare I get up on the green in two so trust me it's a there's an element of good luck and good fortune here this morning have it two absolute belters but I suppose it is what it is but anyway the point is this mini driver mini driver is the ball that's to my right and again just short of the green or whatever 20 yards short of the green take that in a par five any day that we and to get the ball up into the plane driver mini driver is the ball that's pin I into which is a fantastic result for me like I said but the point is this having the two clubs in the bag even in this whole alone demonstrate the versatility and a possibilities of considering playing both and in the last clip that I mentioned I talked about confidence and for me that's the major key and the final thing that I want to talk about and why it could be ultimately what makes this decision very straightforward and easy I ran the situation that I can't walk away from an eagle pup because I don't come across them too often but I haven't even got a putter in the bag this morning for this testing so the question is can a mini driver also double up as another club in the bag a putter oh that would have been some eagle driver mini driver mini driver decent birdie though no other questions I asked you last of all in the introduction was about confidence and how much that impacts on your decision as to what you carry in your golf bag and for me to carry two drivers in the bag then confidence is a big reason as to why I would do that I've already mentioned about that first T that situation where getting going with your swing and often I don't know about you but if I start off pretty ropey with the driver it all becomes a little bit wayward it impacts on the rest of me game and it impacts in a negative way in that not so much the confidence becomes an issue because all of a sudden you've got no rhythm you've got no tempo and that's the biggest thing that plays a part in my game into whether I play good or bad so when I start bad with the driver the rhythm starts to go I start to try it the ball inevitably as we do that little bit harder off the tee that then starts to resonate throughout the game and the swing becomes like I said disjointed it's got no rhythm so it has a negative impact throughout the game and the idea for me is perhaps starting with a club that is gives me more confidence that I don't feel that I've got it I'm looking for pure distance it's not all about distance I'm just about finding the fairways playing my way into the game starting off with the likes of the mini driver as soon as the confidence builds as soon as the fairway starts to widen up making the right decisions to say right plenty of room on here I can really start to go after the driver then reaching for the driver as well as that second option and it's not such a bad idea after all and I quite like the idea of the combination and like I said more importantly for me it has to double up as another club and I can honestly say I'm going to hit this as good if not better than any three word that I've played so it does replace that idea of the three word as well but this video like all videos I do the reason I asked the questions at the beginning is the questions that I ask of you because it doesn't matter this might be an absolutely ridiculous idea for most golfers if you don't struggle with your driver if you've got no issues with rhythm with control with your driver then it's not something you would ever look at I purely ask the questions based on the questions that I ask myself but ultimately it's only the answers that you give that matter so I hope you enjoyed the video thanks for watching I've enjoyed it in some of the best shots that I've hit on a video to be quite honest with you in in recent months unexpectedly as well and they went out the screws and I really do think that in the coming weeks that I'll end up with two drivers in the bag and I like the idea and hopefully it gives me confidence hopefully I find fairways and hopefully it's a good combination between the two


Nice to see you all here, those in the room and the 80 or so registered online, you're also equally welcome. My name is Paul Lakeland. I direct the Center for Catholic Studies and I welcome you to this, the third and last of our living theology sessions for this semester. And the event that you are attending is entitled, Building a Church that Excludes No One, the US Church and Transgender Policies. Before I hand it over to our chair for the evening, I just want to make a point about questions. So we have the audience here and the audience out there. The audience here, Kevin Malloy here is going to hand out cards. So if you have a question as the event goes on, write the question down and we'll collect them up and we'll handle the questions that way. If you are online, you will see on your screen in the bottom corner a Q&A button and you can type your question in to that box and I will be collecting those questions for later in the session. And the thing about online is, the moment it pops into your head, you can write it down. You don't have to wait till the end and you can be anonymous or you can put your name in entirely up to you. So that's how we'll proceed. We'll be here for an hour or so. So I think that's all the business. So without any more ado, I'm going to hand over to our emcee for the evening, Kevin Malloy from Campus Ministry. Thank you. Good evening all. My name is Kevin Malloy. I teach in religious studies. I use pronouns he, him, and I welcome you this evening. Just before Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 17th, the university community came together to remember those transgender individuals who were killed this year. We have an annual Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil in the chapel. At that service, we lit candles and heard the names of 32 people. Those 32 names and lives represented only the documented cases of anti-transgender violence for this past year. Some three nights later, on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, a gunman killed two more transgender individuals along with three other members of the queer community in the club queue massacre in Colorado Springs. These numbers that we recall do not reflect all transgender folks who have lost their lives this year, including folks who have died by suicide, a number we know to be disproportionately higher than the national average. And at the same time, at that event, we celebrate the vibrancy, the resilience, and the creativity of the transgender community. As we all are creatures of a mysterious God, our trans and gender expansive siblings help unravel the infinite mystery of our God and invite us to new and creative ways of being church. In the U.S., we have an almost constant debate about whether or not rhetoric and legislation are directly tied to acts of violence. We see this most predominantly right now and in the situation with January 6th, where pundits, politicians, the Justice Department, and individual tweeters are speculating whether or not words spoken in public and in policy can inspire people to commit violence. At the same time, in the U.S. Church, dioceses have begun to institute policies regarding transgender people. Some of these policies are public, while others are private internal documents within dioceses. They have real life consequences for parishes, hospitals, foster care systems, adoptions, and most primarily for schools. Tonight, we will examine these policies, where they are coming from, what they are saying, and what effect they are having on transgender Catholics, their families and allies, our church, and our world at large. To frame our discussion tonight, I'd add that this year in Rome, Pope Francis was meeting with a group of Italians who were working for LGBTQ plus inclusion in the church. And Pope Francis encouraged that group to keep working toward, quote, building a church that excludes no one, end quote. Whether or not the church's rhetoric on transgender people contributes to violence against them, or that the targeting of this already marginalized group represents a failure of our gospel mission, we ask tonight, do these policies help build a church that excludes no one? And to aid in that discussion, we are lucky to have two esteemed panelists with us this evening. Robert Shine, he, him, is Associate Director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic outreach that educates and advocates for LGBTQ plus equality in the church and society, where he has served since 2012. He regularly leads educational programs on issues such as transgender or gender identity and Catholicism, the Catholic case for LGBTQ plus non-discrimination, and developing inclusive Catholic schools. Bob is managing editor of Bonding's 2.0, a daily blog of LGBTQ plus Catholic news, opinion, and spirituality. He has degrees in theology from the Catholic University of America and the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. Michael Sennett, he, him, is the Director of Communications and Coordinator of Social Justice Programming at St. Ignatius of Loyola Church in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. His passion for LGBTQ plus ministry began while he was in college. In 2018, he graduated from St. Xavier University in Chicago, Illinois with a degree in communications. He hopes to further study theology. Thank you both for being here. Bob and Michael have graciously agreed to open with some introductory remarks and then answer a few questions that I have prepared for them before turning it over to you all on Zoom and in person to answer your questions. As Dr. Lakeland said, if you have questions, feel free to raise your hand and we can give you a card to write your questions so that we can ask them of the panelists. So I turn it over to Bob for his opening remarks with my thanks for being here. Thank you, Kevin. And good evening, everyone. I, when the question was posed to these policies, help us build a church that excludes no one. I thought it's a very short program. No, they do not. We can all go home now. And, you know, but I think what I'd like to do is talk a little bit about what, set the context. What are these policies and how can we work to either improve them or resist them depending on the context? So I've been tracking these policies for about three or four years. And so far we have nearly three dozen U.S. diocese that have issued some sort of written document on gender identity. They're primarily or often related to Catholic education, but not exclusively. So think of anything that's going on in the church, not only education, parish life, employment, these policies tend to be fairly comprehensive. The policies differ in terms of their length, in terms of their tone, their specificity, the intensity of the restrictions that are being placed on trans and non-binary people. So some of them are just like a page or two. And some of them are 25 pages with all the minutiae you could think of.  And then decide to develop a policy on it. So in the most restrictive forms, like the Archdiocese of Denver, which has had a policy for several years that was private and was made public last month, the restrictive ones have a wide variety of prohibitions. So for instance, trans and non-binary students could be denied admission or re-enrollment to Catholic schools. LGBTQ folks are banned from parish ministries. In extreme cases, queer folks have been barred from the sacraments so they can't receive communion, or as happened in the Diocese of Springfield, folks who were in a same-gender marriage weren't allowed to have funerals at the church. Some of these policies mandate that educators or pastoral ministers deliberately have to misgender the people they're serving. So they have to use names, pronouns, and identities that might be on legal records but are not chosen by the individual student or parishioner. Some of these ban any education on LGBTQ topics in Catholic schools so there's no discussion of diverse sexual and gender identities. Some prohibit students from receiving medical care. So if a high school student is receiving hormone treatment, they can't do that on church property, which presents immense difficulties to certain students. And then one of the other things that has been even longer term than these gender policies is church workers' employment contracts having what are called morality clauses that say you have to abide by different things.  And in the last 10 years that I've been following these, it's like I think we have 120 public firings of LGBTQ and ally church workers. And I would just note tonight's discussion is on the restrictions being placed on trans and non-binary people in the church, but a lot of these policies also do sort of affect the entire LGBTQ spectrum. For instance, you're looking at prohibitions on same-gender prom dates or something like that. They focus on gender but then they sort of spill over. A few notes about the policies. So often they have two sections. The first is sort of guiding principles or catechesis, a teaching section about why the bishop is enacting this. And then the second part would be the specific policies. The first sections almost always rely on a theology of complementarity. So this is the idea that there's only men and women in a very binary form and you have to accept the sex you were assigned at birth and there is something special or unique to the male-female coupling. So it's standard stuff, I guess. But there's also some bishops take it further. So some bishops have compared being trans to sexual abuse, to disordered eating, to original sin. They in some ways have intensified the rhetoric that is being used against LGBTQ folks. There is an effort in some of these policies to be pastoral, to be compassionate, but that often looks like we should care for this student who has gender dysphoria and help them to accept the sex they were assigned at birth as God created them rather than affirming their gender and who they know themselves to be. So I don't know if it's quite conversion therapy, but that's often sort of the road that the pastoral dimension of these documents go down. A few more things. One, it's likely we'll see more of these. I know of several that are probably going to be released in January. So you're looking at a growing number. But I would point out there are 200 Latin right diocese in the US, and we're talking about maybe 40. So this is not the majority of diocese. There's still an opportunity to do better. And what I want to say is just to give you a little international context to think about. The New Zealand bishops conference just put out a wonderful document on guidance about how to deal with trans students. The Australian bishops have done similarly. The New Zealand bishops focus not on the ethics of sexuality and gender, but their focus is how do you ensure that students or parishioners are treated in a just way? Their emphasis is social justice. In Germany, there's a process called the Synodal Way that has bishops and lay people talking to each other. And they've issued a document calling for the bishops to affirm trans-non-binary intersex people and for the church to come out in full support. And they actually have Mara Klein is a non-binary member of this Synodal Assembly. In other places, Kevin mentioned Pope Francis' outreach. In Italy, there's an archdiocese formally ruled that a trans person could be confirmed using their chosen name. And so you see, I guess my point is in the US, it's really kind of a tough situation. But when we're looking for how the church can do better, we have to keep a global perspective because people are doing it better. So I'll pass it over to you, Michael. Thanks, Bob, and thank you, Kevin, and welcome everyone here tonight. So in terms of how the faithful are responding to these policies, it's very difficult to lump the faithful into one category. People are all over the lot and not just on the issue of transgender policies, but on everything. We know that Catholics disagree about a lot of controversial topics like abortion and birth control. But looking at some statistics, and this was done by the Pew Research Center both in 2021 and 2022, and in 2021, it was found that 52% of Catholics believed that gender was determined by sex assigned at birth. And now in 2022, the number has jumped to 62%, which has definitely been influenced by a lot of the anti-transgender rhetoric that we're seeing and hearing as a result of the policies that many dioceses are releasing or that are influencing them to make these policies in the first place. And but interestingly, though, for the numbers of Catholics who believe that society has gone too far with acceptance, that number's at 37%, but the number of Catholics who think that society has not gone far enough in accepting and supporting transgender people is 34%, so that's actually not too far off. And so that provides a little hope, I think, and is showing that the faithful, even though they might have a belief about what gender and sex are, they are willing to realize that we have to care for each person, that everyone has human dignity and that we need to minister and welcome people. And we see that in a variety of different ways. Parishes have LGBTQ ministries and so many are doing a lot more to welcome transgender people, like with doing vigils or services for the Trans Day of Remembrance in November. And I know Kevin mentioned that Fairfield did a service here. And the parish I work at, we've done, we started doing a Trans Day of Visibility service in March because that's when that annual day is. And we also, aside from just mourning the loss and feeling a lot of sorrow for the lives who have been taken, which is definitely needed, we also want to be able to celebrate people being visible and recognizing them and giving them the power to be themselves and letting them speak their truth. But on the other side of that then, there are dioceses and different organizations that are coming out really strongly. And using the rhetoric that transgender people are predators, especially with bathrooms. And so that fuels a lot of fear. But then there's also so many different Catholic advocates right now. Father Jim Martin, he has been pretty outspoken, mostly on LGB issues, but he's beginning to embrace more discussion about transgender folks. And Sister Louisa Derowin, who has ministered to transgender people for over two decades at this point, and she's just starting to step out of that. But she's allowed trans folks and non-binary folks and intersex people to speak to different Catholic leaders. For example, in 2021 in the spring, I was part of a group of transgender people who spoke to Bishop Thomas Zinkula in the Archdiocese of Davenport. It was done through Zoom and we shared our own personal stories. And the Archdiocese of Davenport used that to shape some of their own guidelines and policies in dealing with transgender people. And I don't think it's any coincidence that they were a lot more positive. Because I think one of the biggest issues is that a lot of these policies, or I would say even all of them, have lacked the voices of transgender people. We're not invited to the table. We're not asked about our own experiences, our own faith journeys. And it's very exclusive. And they're only getting that one side of the discussion, the side that they wish to hear themselves, that validates their own point of view. But when folks have been able to meet us and talk and really have a true dialogue, there becomes a mutual understanding that creates a lot better space for transgender Catholics. And I'll say more about all of that too, but that's pretty much what I wanted to touch on just to begin with in giving the background about how the faithful are just so split. It's not that everyone's accepting or everyone's rejecting. It just depends on where you happen to be, what parish resources you have available to you, and the attitudes of people in your area. Thank you both for sharing. I have some questions for you both. Bob Shine is what I call a church policy wonk, which he hates. So this question is for Bob, but Michael, please, if you have any thoughts. It seems to me that individual dioceses, even as you were talking about 40, about 40 out of 200, and then different policies in New Zealand, Australia, even Germany, it seems very decentralized for what we think is a centralized church. And I'm wondering if you have any kind of idea of why there's no central policy or what the Vatican has to say about any of this and what Pope Francis' take on all of this is? Sure. I think the Vatican attempted a centralized take. In 2019, what was formerly known as the Congregation for Catholic Education was to put out a document called, Male and Female, He Created Them. It was supposed to be guidance for Catholic schools on gender. And it wasn't as restrictive as a lot of the U.S. policies, but it wasn't good. I mean, it was nonaffirming. And it got a lot of critique, and I think people in Rome heard that critique, and they realized that they hadn't done a good job. In fact, the head of that office acknowledged like a week later, he was like, yeah, we didn't talk to any trans people. I guess we should have done that. So, I mean, I think they made a first attempt. They did a poor job. There's been more caution now about what the church is to do on this. The Vatican is much more willing now under Francis to discern the question, not to rush to judgments and policies, but really figure this out. This is speculation now, or rumor, but I have heard that the Vatican, the U.S. Bishops Conference, wanted to put out a centralized document. They also wanted to have a national document on gender, and the Vatican actually intervened to stop that. And so what has happened since is Bishops who are particularly strong on this are now putting out their own policies. And now it seems maybe the Vatican is now trying to stop this in the U.S. with the fear that it will spread to other countries and have an explosion of these policies popping up in different dioceses around the world. So I don't know. Maybe a universal policy is coming, but I don't think so, because I think people high enough up in the Vatican realize that even for society, questions around gender identity are newer for society. It's not that trans and non-binary folks just popped up. I don't want to make that claim, but the world is grappling with these questions in a new way, and I think there are church leaders who are saying, we should sit back and listen and learn and try to figure this out before rushing to treat it in a punitive way. No, nothing to add about that. Thanks, Bob. Michael, you were sharing that you suspect that zero policies consulted any trans Catholics or trans people in the writing of their policies, and that Davenport did, and it came out to be a little more affirming or a little more careful and caring because they spoke to trans folks. Can you share a little with folks what you think the real-life costs to these restrictive policies are for trans Catholics, their parents, their families? I'm thinking primarily of the Archdiocese of Denver, which explicitly bans trans youth from Catholic schools and actually denounces the idea of parents affirming trans children as a healthy way of parenting. What's the real-life cost here? I think the immediate concern with cost that comes to mind is the loss of so many innocent lives, especially to suicide. It's no surprise that the suicide rate for trans people and trans youth, especially, is so high because people are being told to reject their loved ones, that it's being who they are is wrong, it's disordered, and so that, I mean, you're telling people to reject the dignity of another person, and that's extremely tragic. Other consequences that come out of that are estranged family relationships, a lot of trauma, people feeling isolated, like they don't belong, and the church I think has kind of been grappling with the fact that so many people don't feel welcomed and they're making sort of baby steps into having those dialogues and conversations, but it feels that with every step forward it's almost two steps back and I mean particularly in Denver I'm thinking of, I think it was the fall 2018, a young woman named Alana Faith Chen, and who she identified as a lesbian, but because of her, she was very close with religious in the archdiocese of Denver and ended up completing suicide because she was led to believe that she was worthless and was sinful and that God didn't love her and she was evil and it was so much for her to deal with and eventually she ended her life. We invited her mother to speak at our parish last spring and it was heartbreaking to hear the account of her story and undoubtedly there are trans people who are in that same position who feel like they're not worthy, that they shouldn't be alive and that they're not loved for who they are and these policies are only worsening that. They're driving people to the point of isolation and desperation and not everyone will end their life, but so many people have already and it's just so counter-intuitive to the church's love of life and their embrace of human dignity and it's just so worrisome to know that there are trans youth out there struggling who feel that they can't come out to their parents because of how the bishops have guided the faithful to act and believe and of course there are always people who disagree and will make their own decisions and have their own ideas and views about trans people and how to encounter them but for people who do hold on to the words of Catholic hierarchy it's very damaging and it encourages families and parents and adults who have significant roles in children and youth lives to reject them and it's creating a lot of hurt and despair. I have another question for both of you but based on Bob's opening statement I think it's a short answer from Bob at least. So if folks have questions and want to write them down and hold them up we can come around and pick them up and then Q&A or the online folks can turn them in but for both of you our title here was building a church that excludes no one from Pope Francis my original question to you was do these policies really build a church of inclusion and if Bob said you could answer the question no and leave what would be a better approach to fulfilling Francis's vision for this church? Well I would say briefly that part of the problem with the Catholic church is that we take decades and centuries to change and I also think that's one of the great gifts that we don't, in the best part of our tradition we are willing to sit with questions, we're willing to learn, we're willing to tease them out we're willing to engage people's experiences I think that's what we need to do, I think we're in a learning phase I think we're in a phase that we need to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying through trans and non-binary people, through their families through the pastoral ministers working with the community through the theologians, through the entire faithful who have something to offer to this conversation discernment is very difficult in that it leaves us without clear answers sometimes but I would hope that what Catholics would become more comfortable with is sitting with the discomfort that we don't have clear answers and by that I don't mean we shouldn't do affirmation I mean I don't want to suggest that the question is are trans identities valid but I think the questions we are dealing with are what do you do when you have a 12 year old at a Catholic school come out how do you support that child, what's the best way to do that how do you acknowledge when someone transitions their role in the faith community that this person has taken on a more authentic identity and how do we recognize that liturgically for instance so when I say questions I don't want to be seen as whether we should respect trans people when they tell us who they are but how does the church pastorally serve in its different ministries in ways that are supportive and I just hope we can be willing to take the time to get a good response rather than a quick one I think one of the more obvious ways for me at least is just going back to Scripture and looking at how Jesus calls us to embrace other people you know in Isaiah we hear enlarge your tent and I think by making these spaces bigger and more inclusive and starting there and being more welcoming that's the first step and then you know when we have these people when we have people together we can dialogue and learn from one another and that's something the Synod on Synodality has really reminded me of is the importance of conversation and dialogue because I think as a transgender person myself I sometimes am so impatient for the church to just move forward even though I really like what you just said Bob about how our rich tradition takes the time and we keep coming back to these questions and throughout the Synodal process I've met so many genuinely amazing people who just don't know what transgender people who they are that we're just like them we have families and lives and passions too and really taking the time to talk to them and learn about them and their own fears and walking them through that has been a learning experience for me it's humbled me a little bit and it's really given me the opportunity to grow in my own faith and so I think when we are following Jesus's call to walk with one another and welcome one another it enriches all of us and it can only make our church and our faith stronger and also by recognizing too that I think a lot of the time when we talk about the church we put the onus on our hierarchy and they should be making better statements of welcome to people that's no question but we are also the church each one of us and when we come together too what we do matters and it's so powerful and that's the work we are the hands and feet of God and so we have a lot of work to do too and so I think each taking our own personal responsibility and looking at what that means whether it's educating people in our community or educating ourselves or just taking steps to welcome people we have questions from we have lots of questions do we have questions in the room anybody who filled out cards who wants to pass them in hold on a minute we've got so many questions online we're not going to get to everything but I'm going to try and do my best to maybe combine a few so let's start with Kathy Harmon Christians question here she says hello thank you for this forum as a parent of a trans person I've consistently chosen them but there are so many that struggle I've tried to dialogue with some priests and bishops but they really haven't been open to hearing the truth of the lived experience of my child in the age of synodality this word again in the age of synodality the bishops who force their view in documents and policies and procedures are essentially using prejudice and power which is abuse of power here's the question how do you think we should hold them accountable while also pursuing dialogue and deep listening over to you man if I could tell you how to hold the bishop accountable I would have solved a lot of the church's problems the one thing I will say and I don't know if it gets to accountability but I think you have to keep knocking at the bishops door until the bishop is willing to open the door and sit down Catholic parents of LGBTQ children I always say are some of the fiercest advocates because they over several decades have refused to give up they just know in Philadelphia there's a parents group they just kept coming back and writing to the bishop can we meet with you, can we meet with you, can we meet with you finally they got a meeting I don't know how productive it was but I don't think we know when we sit down and encounter another person what's going to come of that but I think we have to be sure that we're creating spaces where church leaders can encounter us whether we're LGBTQ or family members or just concerned allies you have to just keep asking for those meetings and making sure whether and this is also true for your pastors pastoral associates university leaders anyone who's involved in sort of the Catholic officialdom I think you have to just keep pushing them to meet with you sometimes it's right to make demands sometimes it should just be sort of a moment of dialogue to learn about each other's stories and where you're coming from The persistent widow is really coming to mind right now who if you recall the unjust judge won't grant a decision in her favor but she keeps coming to him and coming to him and asking him to grant her just decision and I like to imagine she's probably following him around everywhere in his life she's going to work waiting for him at his wagon with his horse later just really everywhere until he decides to grant her a just decision not because it's right but just to get her off of his back which is not to say that that's the best reasoning about forgiving justice or getting justice but it's also a reminder that God will work to create justice no matter what and I think also gaining support from others in your community and I know that's not always possible but when it is the more support you have and the more people who are with you knocking at the door and asking the bishops to talk or asking the priests to talk they're going to have to start listening because there's more and more voices and they can't or they shouldn't ignore everyone okay I got what I think is a quick question here from the floor has any church or diocese come out with a policy that supports LGBTQ plus trans folks? the US, not that I know of in the US I knew it was a short answer why is it the church is concerned how people identify? I mean creation is so central to Catholic tradition and we see it it comes up in so many different parts in the liturgy it comes up just in parish life or if you're in a parochial school it's just always so present and I think primarily there's an idea that God creates in binaries but there's this really good book that I read a few years ago he's a trans theologian he's not a Catholic trans theologian but he's a Christian and his name is Austin Hartke and he talks about the fact that God doesn't really create in binaries because there's so much in between you know in Genesis when we're talking about light and dark there's still dusk and dawn those in between stages or land and sea there are still swamps and marshes there's that gray area and while it may name those extremes, those binaries there's so much in between but we don't recognize that we're not taught to recognize that and it's just our theology has impacted how we think and how we talk about things and how we view gender among other things so I think it's just it's another area that the bishops have also latched on to that they know that they can use to be in control of the laity too because they know a lot of people won't question it I want to congratulate you Michael on answering a question before I even asked it there was a question about about trans friendly theology and you just did something on that so a couple of questions I want to pull together here that relate to synodality right so do you does either of you have hope in the synod on synodality processes in creating spaces where trans voices can be more adequately heard and included in the direction of the future of the church and I'm going to combine that with I think personal accounts of individuals are very powerful and can move hearts and minds are their organizations of trans people who could provide individuals to speak at meetings with accounts of their own life experience in order to promote education and understanding of trans people so I think the questions about how the voices of trans people can be heard whether through the synod on synodality or some other way I'll speak briefly to the synod question because I am a big advocate of the synodal process right now I think this is an amazing opportunity for the church for advocates of reform and renewal for queer and trans folks you know I think there's skepticism because we haven't done this before so each step is sort of a new thing and we're learning and walking together but I take a lot of hope from the fact that you know there were these local sessions and then diocese put together reports based on the local sessions and then the US bishops put together a report and all the national bishops conferences put together reports replicated this process and then the Vatican Synod Office put out a report and it's an interim document it has no authority so to speak but at all of those points LGBTQ people could have been weeded out they could have been you know removed by the diocese or the bishops and I'm sure in some cases that happened but the Vatican document clearly talks about the need for the church to attend to LGBTQ Catholics and issues of gender and sexuality more generally I mean that is a Vatican document coming out and saying amongst the other issues the church has many issues to attend to but we are needing to respond to queer and trans folks families in terms of how we be church today so I don't know what happens but I have a lot of hope because so far in the first year or so we've seen progress made and to answer the part about where you can find trans voices there are quite a few personal stories on the new ways blog bondings that can be shared there's fortunate families and they have a whole section of writings from transgender Catholics specifically and then sister Luisa DeRowan has she has in her work created a group of folks who has gone around and done different events and programs to share their stories and enlighten people on their journeys and to just talk and walk with others and that's been very successful too. Okay I got another couple of questions to put together they're sort of the same I think so one first one says in what way is the shame felt by LGBTQ plus persons amplified by the church's inability to articulate a healthy theology of sexuality for people of all gender identities that's one question to do with how the church is or is not handling the issue and then the other question is a little bit more historical what do you believe is the connection if any with the Protestant Puritan conservative foundations of the country and its impact on our own societal views of this issue so the church and the I guess dominantly Protestant culture well I think the Puritanical culture definitely has shaped a lot of our framework around sexuality and gender in our nation and we still are feeling the effects of that today and certainly within the theology of the Catholic church or at least the theology that leaders are choosing to stick with but and I think that so that does it creates so much shame around being different especially in regard to sexuality or gender and we're just made to feel very uncomfortable being different and we're told that's wrong and it's all of that internalized shame just comes out in so many ways and we're seeing negative effects of it all the time to speak to the question about theology and connections with maybe Protestantism it's a whole other panel to talk about today how Christianity Christian nationalism right wing sort of ideologies, fascism these things are coming out of toxic theology and Catholics are right there in it both Catholics in the pews and some church leaders so I think that's its own question what I will say about that is clearly the right wing has found that trans people are an easy scapegoat to use as a wedge issue politically that most people don't know a trans person or they don't know that they know a trans person really this is confusing to people it challenges sort of fundamental assumptions that we're socialized to believe that there's just men and women and other myths like that so it becomes an easy issue because it's confusing to people it causes fear of the unknown all of these things and for Catholics I think as we move forward as a nation that is why it's so important for our church to get this right because we have a civic responsibility to push back against a lot of the anti-transgender work that is happening sort of in civil society we have a slightly different question here so how does the church account for those who were born both so medically and scientifically the numbers are small and this DD Tostanowski is asking this question she says until recently parents or medical professionals made the decision regarding which gender to select now it is more common to avoid a surgical correction and allow the individual to mature as a both person and make any choice him or herself as adults does the church have anything to say about this some of the policies do acknowledge the reality that there are intersex people and basically intersex folks in sort of the bishops estimation are treated as exceptions that prove the rule rather than something that would challenge us to think maybe the binary isn't real they sort of say well there is this group of people and that's how we know that the male and female is so strong is sort of the two options one thing I would say in terms of our theology of the church that needs to what we need to account for when discussing gender is you know gender identity is more fluid social construct that kind of stuff but assigned sex is also a social construct when you talk about the sex of a child these are just medical norms right this is we have created the idea that this is what makes someone male and this is what makes someone female and when a baby is born it's a reductionist sort of what is the genitalia and that's how you decide or the genitalia is ambiguous and thankfully our medical procedures are moving away from sort of violating surgeries but you know I would guess that if people's hormone levels chromosomes all kinds of things beyond just genitalia internal reproductive organs if people were studied we'd find that I think a lot of people don't quite fit exactly into these male female boxes that there's a lot more of a spectrum and a lot greater diversity in terms of how we are created and our theology Catholic theology just doesn't account for that we official theology that there are theologians getting to that I have a question here for you Michael it's probably a question you get every time something like this happens and Jocelyn Cullen would like to know how do you stay in the Roman Catholic Church when there is so much transphobia especially from the clergy and bishops yeah I do get that's a very common question so I had actually a realization back in the spring of 2021 when the document was released about not blessing same-sex marriages because they're sin and you can't bless sin and you know so many people were reaching out to me and asking how I stay and you know why and more so how do I reconcile because I think that's like the bigger question behind why you stay is how do you reconcile your faith and your identity and I really came to the realization that I don't reconcile because I just I am me I know church teaching I'm informed on church teaching but I'm also equally informed on the science of being transgender the psychology sociology societal norms and the LGBT community and you know all together with guided by my primacy of conscience I'm choosing what is healthy for me because I'm not going to live in a state of despair and feel you know wrong about being I'm not going to subject myself to being in a body that doesn't feel like mine and I'm not going to feel bad for that because I know the consequences and I'm going to embrace myself and be authentically me because authenticity is so important in our relationship with God we have to be able to be fully ourselves and embrace ourselves as God created us to have that loving relationship with God and so I came to the realization that I don't have to reconcile my faith and gender because I'm just me and I'm Catholic and my faith is a huge part of my life and so that's why I stay because I love our deep and rich traditions I admire our theology and you know caring for people caring for the sick for the for the outcast because they're that theology is so rich that encourages us to welcome our scripture is very clear in calling us to do for others and live for others and I love being part of that and I love being part of the body of Christ and I wouldn't change that for anything so that's why I stay okay so I got one more question here okay is that right Kevin and but apologies to those whose questions have not got answered or not directly answered so here's the last question we have here from Caitlin Merritt it's a bit long but there's a question at the end of it given that we know the deep psychological and emotional harm as well as economic harm and physical harm self-caused or otherwise that results from practices of misgendering dead naming shutting down opportunities et cetera is this a matter of cognitive acrobatics on the side of parishes perpetuating these practices with the exceptions you name it seems as though the theology of social justice is more or less forgotten how can trans I think this is the real question how can trans Catholics and allies work to center dignity justice and the protection and raising up of vulnerable populations in these conversations I think the questioner is entirely correct that we have a choice as Catholics because we have multiple parts that we can draw from in the tradition and on the one hand you have sort of sexual and gender ethics and these teachings that tend to be less affirming on the other hand you have that rich social justice tradition and there's sort of a tension between the two in making decisions about how to proceed and this is the case in many things in our lives you have to choose between goods basically you have to choose what's the primary lens I'm going to view the situation in front of me and I think Catholics need to choose the lens of social justice that when you're looking at the question of trans equality when you're deciding what principles am I going to draw from what parts of the faith tradition are most relevant here you've got to lean on that social teaching and I mentioned earlier the New Zealand bishops put out their policy and really that's what they did that's why it's so good is they treated it as a social justice issue and I'll just quote this is from the New Zealand bishops how we as a church treat those members of the LGBTQIA plus community should reflect Catholic social teaching so you can only imagine what US diocesan policies would be like if they took that approach so on the whole LGBTQIA spectrum take social justice but specifically we're talking about these diocesan policies imagine if the first question you ask is how can the church be in right relationship with its trans members and the larger trans community in the world keep amplifying trans gender voices because we're not voiceless we're just silenced and part of that is empowering trans people to speak their truth and creating spaces where they're safe to do so where they're not threatened with either violence or verbal assault so keep amplifying our voices thank you both before we close I'm wondering if by way of closing out your statements here I could pose this to each of you right to the trans youth out there some of whom are sitting in Catholic schools they don't know these policies are happening right they're just trying to be themselves in a place that's supposed to be safe and encourage their development or to Catholic parents of trans youth who are just trying to love their children the way God is encouraging them to love their children what can we say to them as the Catholic church that the church is and I know I already touched on this earlier but the church is more than just the bishops and the priests who are making these statements the church is us and that there are so many people who love and embrace you even if it's not visible at the moment there is a community out there and we are working to build it and I think what's important is also inviting them to build not just the kingdom of God but the kingdom together with other trans people and allies and eventually it will become more Catholics more and more as people encounter one another and learn about our truths so I may do something unpopular given we've been talking about how problematic the us bishops are but I would answer this question by actually quoting a us bishop because I think this is you know the message that the church should be saying to people all kinds of people who feel themselves marginalized by our ecclesial policies and practices Washington DC's Cardinal Wilton Gregory was at a theology on tap event and a trans Catholic basically asked him you know what's the church doing about me you know where do I fit in and Cardinal Gregory said told this person you are at the very heart of the church and the church is your family and there is always room for you and we don't want you to go anywhere so you know the bishops get a bad wrap but I think we should be looking for those church leaders whether they're formal or informal people in our communities who can make elevate that message in very public ways so I don't know that I would say it but I think you know asking your pastor to say something positive about trans people in a homily saying just God loves you could go a long way it's not the end result we need to do much much better but I think as a starting point just saying you are at the heart of the church and we want you here is sort of the baseline we need to get to thank you both thank you for joining us and sharing of yourselves with us here and on Zoom and thank you Dr. Lakeland for inviting this conversation here


Hello and welcome back YouTube channel, I'm EvilRabbit joined by Rizzo, Reveils, and Addy. We are doing some testing on a new street pack. So I've been wanting to bring out a new street pack for a while. So these are our first 10 platforms. We are running a BMW, a Mustang, and a Corvette. There's going to be more cars into it and these are just basic CUNOS models right now. But we are testing physics. The cars all have different power ratios. Because the BMW is taking out Mustangs apparently. It should be the other way around Reveils. But these are our basic test platform with some secret sauce tires that you guys will find out when the cars fully get released. We are just going to be doing some team testing here on Clutch Kickers. So if you guys follow me on all social media you'll never be able to find it in the description box below. I'm tired of watching these guys run trains so I'm going to actually go jump in this so let's do it. These cars are good. I like them. I don't know what the heck you did to these cars but they feel amazing. They ain't no factory CUNOS cars. That's for damn sure.  Addy and I, big brains. There's no way these cars drift this perfect light. This is unheard of. So this is his M4 physics that I did for him. With the corrected inertia and stuff for an actual car. Correct inertia. Correct all that stuff, correct weight, correct wheelbase, correct center of gravity. So all of them feel really different but they all feel really good at the same time. I'm just back here in third person just trying to file and train. I can't see too much milk. Well that's when you know you're in the right spot. I know right. We get stacked. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm killing the Mustang. That was me. I kind of like straight up just punted for veils. Oh, what the heck, oh. Now he's dead. Oh my god.  That'll happen. So like I said, these aren't the test platform based off the Kunos models. We're going to be doing a lot of different cars, probably six or seven of them for the full total pack. But I've been definitely working with Addy for my M4. So these, like he said, are my M4 comp physics kind of altered for street cars.  It's not a super, it is a very grippy tire for a street tire but it's not crazy grippy where the cars blog out as you can see. So this is something I've been on my mind for a while and working with Addy in physics and everything correctly for my M4 and how happy I was with that in his A90 and of Nate's, you know, RX-8 too. You know, bringing out a new street pack is something I've been wanting to do because the server's going to be coming back up. My official server will be back up. I'll be running the server pilot out of myself from my gaming laptop so that it's easier for me to manage, easier for me to switch up and change around. So that's going to be coming back with the original street cars on it for prior release of these but these cars are definitely going to get some modeling work done and things like that.  Come here Corvette! Come here!  Don't leave me! Ah, there's no replacement for this placement. Hi! No!  No! No, Monica! Addy, if I crash into you, I'm sorry. Okay. I went first person while I was doing that. From third? Oh, jeez! Now I really can't see with the smoke. What was that? Oh my god, now Rizo jumped in it. Oh, I can't see!  You can't see anything, can you? Oh, that's me. Sorry, sorry Rizo. Freakin' V8s. Oh, oh, oh. That was a really short car. I killed Rizo. Oh, you can go ahead and meet him. Hi, Rizo! Hi, Rizo! Hi, Reveils! See you! Oh, my gosh!  And you know what? So Rizo and Reils haven't driven these cars until just now. So this is like full blown first impressions from them. Addy and I have only driven these cars for probably 20 minutes prior. Because we were slapping these physics and everything together. And this is just our first rendering of these physics, but they feel so good already. Just a second, I'm driving one-handed. I mean, I could do it. Second gear. Wait. I'm going one-handed right now too. And you can actually see it. One-handed. Oh, hit the brakes! Nope. You know the problem? Well, actually not the problem the driver one-handed. I can't grab. Okay, I can't do that. I can't grab handbrake. No, you can't. I can't grab handbrake. Oh, you don't really need to just clutch. Rizo's been pretty quiet this entire time. Now I got to get his impression. What do you think, Rizo? No, they feel really good. I just said that! They're breezy! Okay, coming from somebody who owns an S550, Rizo. Oh, wait. Can we do it? It feels really good. I think he's just getting lost in the sauce right now. Yep. I'm able to just keep on driving behind him. It doesn't even like... Keep up the good work! Oh, Mustang going to do Mustang things! We stacked up there a little bit. Okay, I'm feeling great. And then I'll go back to one-handed. Okay, I got a question. Do you think these cars are going to be better than gravy car cars? Whoa! Controversy! Whoa! Rizo died. I'll grab the grass there. I mean... We'll see. See, a lot of people drift those cars. They drift those cars, like, a lot. It's just nice to have something other than an S-Chassis street car. Well, and that's the thing. There's absolutely, I can tell you guys, spoiler, if you guys were looking for an S-Chassis, there ain't going to be one. There's going to be no S-Chassis for releases. I'm sorry. It's not going to happen.  For the S-Chassis lovers. What about the R34? Well, see, the thing is, the cars that I have in my mind are, obviously, the Stingray. Not a car that many people drive. Oh, that's smooth. Mustangs people do. It's always a competition car. Yeah, it's not a street car. These cars are kind of just taking off the showroom floor, mild bolt-ons. They're going to have, obviously, different wheels, bucket seats, steering wheels, chains to wrap the sponsor energy. Thank you guys for being a supporter of the channel. Appreciate you guys all the time. What basically off showroom floor, because we haven't changed the engines, these engines are how they kind of would be. Now, we did give the BMW a little turbo boost. We did give it a little, like, stage up for power. But all the cars are going to be probably around 350 to 450 hp, which is very standard in a lot of typical cars. Yeah, that is true. Especially V8s. The fact that we could just, like, man, I should have had a white car. I don't know what you can talk about. I could have been in America. There's a white movie going on right now. You know what? I'm going to 360. Oh, Eddie. Oh, no. Oh, that's not a 360. I don't know what the heck I just did.  To walk in a game gets so boring, because you see the same car over and over. I mean, in a competition aspect, it's dominated by S chassis. That's really all it is. That's why bringing out my M4 is a huge step for me, because that car is something else. It's the first of its kind, really. Yeah, but these cars are so nice to just flow and chill and just... I mean, we've been driving for almost 10 minutes in tandem, and it doesn't even... It's just, you know, you can get super close tandems like this. So if you guys liked my 2.5 cars when they were out, I mean, you guys would definitely love these even better. But these are going to be more catered to realism. Oh, I did. Oh, my God. Oh, my. More catered to realism, where the engines are correct for the cars, for the factory. They're not going to be like the same engine platform. So every car is going to have different, you know, torque release, different power bands, but they're all going to be on a similar power setup so that you can do tandems like this. And that's what's crucial in, you know, a public server aspect of the car is to be able to have fun where you're not getting left by, you know, a thousand horsepower pro car and you're in, like, a 300 horsepower Corolla, like. You see... I'm like, these cars are freaking perfect for a beginner drifter. Like, if you just now plan to settle. Yeah, you know, I would recommend these cars. I'm not going to lie, because they are very fun to drift in. For real. So anticipation and excitement is definitely building with these cars now that the process for what I've been doing has started now. Hopefully these won't take as long as the other ones when I promised them and they took, like, six months. These will not take that long at all. So keep on the channel for more updates with these cars as well as my pro car and some creations of some other cars and some other... How do I put this? Some other companionships and cars and stuff that's going to be happening here very shortly to increase the community that I've slowly started to build. So make sure you guys follow me on all social media. I'll just follow the script. But below, big thank you to Addy, Rizzo, and Reveils for having a little fun because, you know, throwing down with some people that I used to drive with back in fours of days is always fun and kind of brings back a reminisce of fun times and tandems because there's good times to be had in fours of lobbies. Sometimes. Sometimes. So... Like I said, big thank you guys for coming out, watching another episode. I hope you guys enjoyed this and I hope you guys are excited about these cars as much as I am and everybody that's going to be helping me work with these cars. So as always, thank you guys for coming back. I'll be a rabbit. I'm going to get Santa for two months. Thanks to you guys on the track.


The name Governor's Island Accompanied by the president of the Republic of France and Madame Mitterrand Ladies and gentlemen, would you please remain standing for the presentation of the colors of the Republic of France and the United States of America? Thank you, and good morning, President Reagan President Mitterrand Director General of Posts, Michel Roulet and distinguished guests from around the world I'm truly honored to join with you and our French friends today as our country's issue postage stamps commemorating that Lady Liberty's centennial birthday Today these stamps are available only in the New York metropolitan area, but tomorrow they'll go on sale in post offices throughout the country Then all Americans will be able to see and collect these miniature masterpieces Which so aptly commemorate the world's most enduring symbol of freedom hope and opportunity the Statue of Liberty Hers is a legacy We shall cherish it not only today on this historic day But for many many years to come Thank you very much and now in company with Mr. Roulet We shall present President Reagan and Mitterrand with souvenirs stamp albums. Thank you And now it is my pleasure to present a great entertainer and a great American Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Andy Ladies and gentlemen the man who accepted the challenge and made today possible The chairman of the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation Mr. Lee Iacocca President Reagan, Mrs. Reagan, President Mitterrand, Madame Mitterrand Good morning Wow, what a glorious 4th of July You know one thing America knows how to do a throw a party and Our friends are here our friends are here from all over the world all dressed up and ready to parade their colors in honor of Lady Liberty We Americans thank you Lee and thank you all It's been said that we Americans count our blessings to seldom but not this weekend We this weekend we celebrate my friends. We cut loose The procession that we're about to witness will be as colorful as fireworks as majestic as Lady Liberty yourself. I Hear you It'll speak to us of the past of the days when great ships like these dropped anchor in our harbors to unload tea from China Whale oil from open seas and yes immigrants from around the world It'll speak to us of present and future amity between our nation and the many nations that have sent ships here today To lend their beauty the curve of their hulls the lines of their mast and rigging as they stand out against the sea the sky to our rejoicing Passing in review today. We see more than 20 of the 30 or so tall ships that are left in the world the US Coast Guard bark eagle will Lead the procession schooners barks Brigantines and catches from more than 30 countries are entering the harbor Somehow men have always found moving the sight of these Vessels of moon wood and metal and canvas indeed some centuries ago one writer of proverbs Described as wonderful the way of a ship in the midst of the sea Perhaps it has something to do with the knowledge that nothing binds Sailing ships nothing holds them back that they can travel anywhere across the vast and trackless sea Perhaps indeed these vessels embody our conception of liberty itself To have before one no impediments only open spaces to chart one's own course To take the adventure of life as it comes to be free as the wind as free as the tall ships themselves It's fitting then that this procession should take place in honor of Lady Liberty And as the wind swells the sails so too may our hearts swell with pride at all that liberty sons and daughters have accomplished in this The land of the free This spectacle has been literally years in the planning on behalf of the American people I want to thank Ambassador bus Mosbacher and his entire operation sales staff For making this international celebration this stately salute to Liberty And now bus where are you? Come forward President Mitterrand matter Mitterrand distinguished guests Ladies and gentlemen So much has been said that there's very little I can add except perhaps to thank the president because without his Very warm and enthusiastic support From day one and day one was about three years ago The group this dedicated group who presented off sale in 1964 And in 1976 each time vowing never to do it again Decided that the centennial of the Statue of Liberty and a salute to Liberty was very much in order But no matter how hard they work and how expert they are and they are It could not have been done without the president So as a small token mr president From our board of directors and of all of the volunteers and they are all volunteers may we present to you, sir this token Of our thanks and esteem Thank you And now sir with your permission may we present Your eagle and elizabeth doles eagle and op sale 86 Ladies and gentlemen We invite you now to enjoy the tall ships from around the world Paying tribute to the Statue of Liberty on this 210th anniversary of independence Flamed by the allies as a prize of the board Since then she has been the training ship of the united states coast guard academy And she celebrates her 50th anniversary this year The scouting the auxiliary scooter representing the country of Denmark She was built in 1932 in the danish merchant marine But was in florida when Denmark was invaded by germany in 1940 And served as a training ship with the u.s coast guard She sailed in op sale 64 and once again in op sale 76 Next vessel the christian product sales under the flag of norway She was sunk during the war and completely rebuilt Her first atlantic crossing was to visit the 1938 world's fair in new york She also starred in the movie windjammer And participated in previous op sales The Atlantic speed record in 1966 Carries on the tradition of the argentinian naval academy She was also a participant in previous op sale Sail training crews and her sister ship the bella squad