Tag Archives: ecclesiology

Point of View

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There's an interesting post on The Dawn Patrol about counterproductive evangelization. Specifically, several Catholics clumsily tried to convert her from Protestantism. I understand the reasoning, but the approach left a lot to be desired. I have a news flash for self-righteous catechism thumpers. Protestants aren't the spawn of Satan. Nor are they doomed to Hell. They are Christians like us, with whom we should work to make the world a better place, rather than treating them like heathens or pagans.

As an ex-Protestant who cares deeply about reuniting the Body of Christ, I cringe at preachy attempts to, as one friend puts it, "upgrade" Protestants. I wasn't so much won over by argument as I was by Christ-like example.

There is a flip side to this, though. Each time a Protestant tries to "free" me from my "bondage" as a Catholic, I get a step closer to beating one with a clue-by-four. The Catholic Church is not the whore of Babylon. We do not worship Mary or the saints. We do not believe works save us. We are Christians just like you. Jack Chick is a moron who spreads hateful lies.

Ya got that?!? Now…The next one of you primates…even touches me…HYA!!! *BANG*

Spiritual Snobbery

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The next time I’m tempted to turn my nose up at mass that contradicts Redemptionis
Sacramentum, I’ll try to think of this quote. (Thanks, Being! Or Nothingness)

I can recommend this as an exercise: make your Communion in circumstances
that affront your taste. Choose a snuffling or gabbling priest or a proud and vulgar
friar; and a church full of the usual bourgeois crowd, ill-behaved children — from
those who yell to those products of Catholic schools who the moment the tabernacle
is opened sit back and yawn — open necked and dirty youths, women in trousers and
often with hair both unkempt and uncovered. Go to Communion with them (and pray
for them). It will be just the same as a Mass said beautifully by a visibly holy
man, and shared by a few devout and decorous people. (It could not be worse than
the mess of the feeding of the Five Thousand — after which our Lord propounded
the feeding that was to come.) – J.R.R. Tolkien in a letter to Michael Tolkien, November 1,
1963

Some Good News

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Scandals abound, heterodoxy is rampant, and secularism looms menacingly, but there
is hope left in the Church. There are scores of people converting every year and
they’re not deterred by the bad press the Church often gets. Let’s pray the “immigration”
never stops.

New Catholics
not detracted by abuse crisis, say their faith is holding strong

“The Church has problems that it needs to address, but that didn’t detract me at all from joining…It was a sin committed on the part of a few priests, so we should blame the sinners but not the Church. The Church is a gift to keep us together. We need to look past this and see this as Jesus’ Church.”

[…]

“The Church isn’t the priest or the nuns, the Church is the people…It’s time to get rid of the evil and take control. It’s the people who make the Church, and there is no Church with out them.”

[…]

“Abandoning the Church is like abandoning Jesus, and He would never abandon us as much as we might sin.”

[…]

“Certainly it’s a serious issue and one that need be addressed, but you can get hung up on one issue…For me, the bigger picture is our faith and the Church itself.”

The Papacy, Chapter 1

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A friend of mine is (slowly) working on a book about the papacy. Here’s a sneak peak at the first chapter. The copyrights to this abstract and rough draft belong to Jordan Joseph Wales.

Abstract:

When considering the nature of the charism of the Bishop of Rome within the Church, it is imperative to give proper attention to the role he historically played and the way this role was interpreted by the fathers of the Church. Fundamental to the matter is the question of his authority: does or does not the Bishop of Rome have a special jurisdictional authority over other Churches? This chapter details the first of a series of historical illustrations of the universal "care for the churches" exercised by the occupant of the See of Peter. This particular illustration, that of St Clement of Rome in A.D. 96, is especially important in any discussion of the papacy because it is so often put forth by proponents of almost any view of the Roman bishop’s role in the universal church. Herein, we attempt an ordered and clear exposition of the events with special attention given to the role of Pope St Clement’s letter as it was understood by the early church fathers. Their views must take precedence over those of any later theologians and apologists, for the fathers wrote from within the tradition received from the apostles.

St Clement I

I Say Potato

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You say potahto. Either way, it’s spin. I take back the nice things I said about the Bishops’ response to Communiongate. Like so many Church documents, it has too much wiggle room to have any real force or meaning (for any side).

Communion: more feedback

In a further indication that the leadership of the Church is endeavouring to take the heat out of communion being used as a political battering ram, the respected CNS news agency is reporting that the American Bishops are trying "to move abortion politics away from the Communion rail and into the hearts of individual Catholics".