Friday, January 25, 2019

Compartmentalized Catholicism


How often have we read indignant statements about what the hierarchy "must" do, then nothing ever happens–because there's nothing the hierarchy must do, which is why it does nothing. It has the faithful in its pocket. 

Remember all the outcry when the Cardinal McCarrick story broke last summer? But that came and went. Nothing changes.

In the blowup over the Covington Catholic students, it was Catholic clergy condemning the students while lay Catholics were defending the students. Notice how often the Catholic clergy are on one side of an issue while the faithful are on the other side. How can you be in submission to people you regard as your religious superiors when you constantly oppose their policies? Don't Catholic apologists suffer whiplash as they chronically alternate between defending and opposing institutional Catholicism? If you can't look up to your leaders, if you can't follow their lead, what makes them your leaders? You entrust your salvation to fools. You put your immortal soul in the hands of men you think are fools. How long can that conflicted attitude last? 

5 comments:

  1. Looks like you beat me to the punch, Steve.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/42627/catholics-want-cuomo-excommunicated-church-after-amanda-prestigiacomo

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  2. The more I think about it, the more it seems that these converts may not be attracted to “Roman Catholicism” per se, but to something like “Christendom”, in which the known world then was uniformly Christian, understood that God existed, was creator, and there was a kind of order to it. The universities taught actual knowledge, rather than victimhood.

    I’m not saying that’s the case for all of them, but there is a certain utopian attractiveness to that. But now, as you point out, the foundation of that order (“the Church”) is shaken to the core. I think the messaging, “you entrust your salvation to fools” is an appropriate one. Although, again, there will be some die-hard Thomism types who hold that “the Church” has some kind of “substance” that renders it “pure and holy” in spite of the leaders who are part of that one-and-the-same hierarchy.

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  3. "Thr Church is perfect!" - except when it isn't.

    "The Papacy is infallible!" - except when it isn't.

    What really gets to me is that the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church in my opinion, abuses it's followers. Look at how it defines dogmas for example. The Pope infallibly defines dogmas but doesn't give infallible explanations or reasons to believe said dogmas. The laity is the group that is required to find anything resembling a decent argument to support any dogma.

    It's so sad to see the abuse that the Roman Catholic Church inflicts on it's faithful.

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  4. "You put your immortal soul in the hands of men you think are fools." And not only that, these men apparently think conservative Catholics are fools. Obviously they have no problem rushing to judgment over some presumably conservative catholic you. They must be racists and bigots. They have the discernment of the secular and anti-religious mainstream media.

    Has the diocese and the two bishops who attacked the children apologized? I hope these kids sue the bishops for all they are worth.

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  5. Well apparently this bishops apologized, although I don't know how attacking your own faithful w/o accurate information can be considered acting in "goodwill."

    http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/covington-bishop-apologizes-to-covington-catholic-students

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