Taylor Marshall is a zealous convert to Catholicism. A founding member of Called to Communion. He's highly educated. And he's having a crisis of faith in Catholicism. The tensions between traditional Catholicism and the Francis pontificate have reached a breaking point. Watch 45-50 min:
He's practically in tears. It's like the disillusionment of a devoted teenage son who worships the ground his father walks on until he covers that his dad has been cheating on mom for years. Consider some of the questions he directs at Francis:
Do you believe every verse of the Bible as coming from the Holy Ghost? When the Bible recounts miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ, do you believe those are historical miracles?
Problem is, when was the last pope who believed all that? I think you might have to go all the way back to Pius X.
In another respect, Taylor is like parents who can't bring themselves to believe that their child is lying to them about a drug habit, despite unmistakable evidence. "No, not our child!"
Marshall has been in denial about Catholicism for years. He closed his eyes to all the evidence that the Catholicism he fell in love with isn't the same Catholicism as post-Vatican II Catholicism.
A classic example of wanting too much for something to be true. You keep making excuses until you finally get tired of making excuses. You were loyal to something or someone that didn't reciprocate your loyalty.
He feels betrayed. I'm sorry, but if you've been a willful sucker, then you're not entitled to feel betrayed. I assume he used to be Anglo-Catholic, and it comes as no surprise when Anglo-Catholics convert to Roman Catholicism. Anglo-Catholics are like a shivering beggar peering through the window of the palace at the dinner hall, with the roaring fire and tables piled with food.
I'd hasten to add that something like this can happen to anyone. It takes different forms.
I've been publicly defending Christianity for 15 years. I've been defending inerrancy for 15 years. Someone might accuse me of trying too hard to make it work.
But there's a major difference. On the one hand, there's abundant evidence for Christianity–with nothing remotely comparable for Catholicism in particular.
On the other hand, there is no feasible alternative to Christianity. Christianity is necessary to ground morality, modality, reason, and meaning. If you don't have that, you don't have anything. There's nothing to work with.
At the moment Taylor seems to be on the brink of sedevacantism. But where does that road end? Consider the cautionary tale of Gerry Matatics. When was the last time he attended Mass? To have valid sacraments, you must have validly ordained priests, and once sedevacantism starts tugging at the loose strand of yarn, the whole fabric begins to unravel.
As I've often said, you can't keep patching up a fatally flawed paradigm. You have to admit to yourself that it can't be fixed, and scrap it for a different paradigm.
It's like the disillusionment of a devoted teenage son who worships the ground his father walks on until he covers that his dad has been cheating on mom for years.
ReplyDelete"Death of a salesman" seam to be a rather appropriate analogy.
But Taylor is not alone in being on the brink of sedevacantism,. On another forum (Freerepublic.com) so many RCs rejected Francis ("Bergoglio" to them) as even being a Catholic that the mod said he would not let them use the Catholic caucus label is the thread was about him.
Of course, while they argue against us subjecting the veracity of church teaching to the test of the only wholly inspired substantive authoritative record of what the NT church believed, they essentially are doing the same. Except for us, it is Scripture, versus the selective teachings of so-called "church fathers" and pre-modern popes and V2.
I thought he was on the verge of calling the pope the antichrist! :)
ReplyDeleteMany converts to Rome were led by the desire for certainty. Now dealing with the certainty that Rome has never been certain. Now know what it's like to live under Honorius, or three popes, or an infallible pope, or a pope considering justification by faith alone as before Trent.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I feel so sorry for him is that no matter how vacuous Rome becomes, taylor will hold on...to that sinking ship.
ReplyDeleteCatholic NT scholar John P. Meier has a forthcoming commentary on Matthew in the Anchor Bible series. Have no idea when it will be published. He's a premier Catholic Bible scholar who may well challenge traditional Catholic prooftexts in Matthew.
DeleteThat's in answer to your question that found it's way into the moderation box.
DeleteThank you steve! I use my phone ans sometimes my responses go places I dont know. Sorry for any inconvenience!
ReplyDeleteI noticed that to with Taylor but also with Voris and the Return to Tradition guy and Michael J. Matt who all want to their church to return to the good ol days before vat2. I don't feel sorry for these guys. They attack Protestants and yet want to hold onto a church that has been apostate for centuries. They come across as being informed catholics yet they are still false teachers leading so many astray.
ReplyDelete