From Ashley McGuire:
What the church’s critics, especially those now giddily wondering if Pope Benedict’s successor will shake things up, just don’t seem to understand, is that church teachings on these issues are unchangeable.
Even if we entertain the human possibility of a rogue pope, the reality is such a thing is currently sociologically impossible. About half of the current College of Cardinals (the men who will select the next pope) were appointed by Blessed Pope John Paul II. The other half were put there by Pope Benedict XVI. As you can imagine, they are all orthodox, or faithful to church teaching. On everything.
While most editorial pages have spent the last eight years harping on Catholic social teaching and running hit pieces on bishops and the pope, Benedict has been filling the ranks with shepherds who will continue the church’s 2,000-plus year tradition of holding firm on the most important social issues.
And not only will the church remain orthodox with Pope Benedict’s successor, it should.
Our call to live counter-culturally is as old as the church itself. We believe in a God who lived among us, died for us, and showed us the way to live lives of courage and conviction–whatever our culture. Catholics are called, yes, to engage with the society around them, but not to adapt ourselves to the popular sentiments of our time. Instead, Catholics are called to live in radical service to our God. This includes loving our neighbor as ourselves. This also includes letting go of pleasure as the path to happiness (spoiler: it’s not). There’s nothing modern –or moderate –about that.
Beautifully said. The Church teaches eternal truth, not the tyrannical fads of modernity. The Church is the foundation of Western culture-- the best of it-- and at the same time it is profoundly counter-cultural, a redoubt of resistance.
"[O]n this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
ReplyDelete"And not only will the church remain orthodox with Pope Benedict’s successor, it should."
ReplyDeleteOh, noes! However will the leftists/secularists – who despise the Gospel – cope with the disinclination of the leadership of the Roman denomination to get on board with supplanting the Gospel with the latest PC fads?
Life is just so unfair!
M.E. "The Church teaches eternal truth, not the tyrannical fads of modernity. The Church is the foundation of Western culture-- the best of it-- and at the same time it is profoundly counter-cultural, a redoubt of resistance."
That said, the Roman denomination is *not* "The Church", nor is any other human bureaucracy.
You all (i.e. all y'all Catholics) would be better off to just fill in the Tiber and join the Reformation. But, if (and since) you're not going to do that, at least continue to be true to the Gospel.
Some Catholics like to smirkingly point to the obvious apostasy within so many Protestant denominations, and use that as an indictment against the Reformation, and as “proof” that the Roman denomination is “The One True Church”. This smirk overlooks the fact that the rot of modernity and rebellion against God’s Law is even deeper (*) amongst the Catholic laity … and amongst the bureaucracy of the Roman denomination. That the two recent Popes have cleared out much of the rot amongst the highest levels of the bureaucracy is obviously a good thing, and ought to work a cleansing effect “downstream” over time.
(*) This is because Catholicism focuses on praxis, whereas Protestantism focuses on fides. So, for instance, a Catholic man or woman who is a slut, and promotes sluttish behavior in others, yet performs the rituals, is able to tell himself “I’m a good Catholic”.
Also, it has to do with the fact that, even today, the game-plan of Catholic evangelism focuses on “rope in the rulers and leaders, and the ruled and lead will follow” -- thus, and despite the millions of Americans murdered since 1973, the Catholic bureaucracy does not take even the simple step of refusing communion to the Kennedys and Pelosis and Bidens and Baldwins and Colberts and Moores (Michael) and Springsteens of American politics and mass-culture.
So, for instance, a Catholic man or woman who is a slut, and promotes sluttish behavior in others, yet performs the rituals, is able to tell himself “I’m a good Catholic”.
DeleteWho told you that?
--Francisca S.
For most American Catholics, their Catholicism is more about tribalism than about Christ ... and so, of course, Francisca S. simply must react tribally, rather than rationally.
DeleteMeanwhile, anyone who is willing to see what is in front of his face can see the truth of what I said.
I didn't say that these people *are* good Christians, or even that they *are* good Catholics, I said they are ablt to *tell themselves* that they are good Catholics. And I said that the American Catholic bureaucracy fully cooperates with this self-deception.
No matter how "offensive" you want to pointlessly rail these claims are, they are true. That you are "offended" by my statement of them does not make them untrue.
Ilion:
DeleteI share your exasperation with many Catholics and with some in the Catholic leadership.
I am a Catholic because I believe that the institutional Church is the Church founded by the Lord on the rock of Peter. I believe passionately in the Real Presence (when I was converting to Christianity I felt His presence in my local Catholic church even before I understood what Real Presence meant).
I concur with Catholic teaching that the Church Universal includes many holy brothers and sisters who are protestants, etc. The Catholic Church is the fullest manifestation of His Church, but many Christians who are part of His body are not part of the institutional Church.
I also try to dampen Christian fratricide, because we are brothers and sisters in the Lord, and we have enough enemies outside.
"I also try to dampen Christian fratricide, because we are brothers and sisters in the Lord, and we have enough enemies outside."
DeleteJust one more area in which you and I agree.
Here's proof he won't: http://www.kolbecenter.org/the-traditional-catholic-doctrine-of-creation/
ReplyDelete