Europe doomed if conscience isn’t rediscovered, Pope says

CNA ^ | Zagreb, Croatia, Jun 4, 2011

[GonzoII]

www.catholicnewsagency.com

Europe doomed if conscience isn’t rediscovered, Pope says

By David Kerr

Zagreb, Croatia, Jun 4, 2011 / 02:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Europe is doomed if it doesn’t rediscover the true meaning of conscience, warned Pope Benedict XVI on the first day of his visit to Croatia.

“If, in keeping with the prevailing modern idea, conscience is reduced to the subjective field to which religion and morality have been banished, then the crisis of the West has no remedy and Europe is destined to collapse in on itself,” the Pope told a gathering of members from Croatia’s civil society in the capital of Zagreb on June 4.

“If, on the other hand, conscience is rediscovered as the place in which to listen to truth and good, the place of responsibility before God and before fellow human beings – in other words, the bulwark against all forms of tyranny – then there is hope for the future.”

Several hundred key figures from the world of Croatian politics, academia, culture, arts and sport gathered at the country’s national theatre to hear the Pope. His speech echoed his prior warnings against the “dictatorship of relativism.”

He told the assembled dignitaries that many of the “great achievements of the modern age” such as “the recognition and guarantee of freedom of conscience, of human rights, of the freedom of science and hence of a free society” would be undone unless “reason and freedom” were kept rooted in “their transcendent foundation” of God.

To make his point, the Pope drew upon the life and work of Father Ruder Josip Boskovic, an early 18th century Croatian Jesuit, who was a great theologian, physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher and poet. 

Boskovic, said the Pope, was a clear example of “the happy symbiosis of faith and scholarship” in which “there is study of multiple branches of knowledge, but there is also a passion for unity,” and where learning is both “diversified and capable of synthesis.”

This forming of consciences rooted in faith and reason is where “the Church makes her most specific and valuable contribution to society,” said the Pope, stressing that this formation should begin in the home, the parish and the school.

In this way children “learn what it means for a community to be built upon gift, not upon economic interests or ideology, but upon love,” and so society is transformed for the better.

Pope Benedict explained that the impact of living in this selfless way, when “learnt in infancy and adolescence, is then lived out in every area of life, in games, in sport, in interpersonal relations, in art, in voluntary service to the poor and the suffering.”

And once this way of life has taken root, "it can be applied to the most complex areas of political and economic life so as to build up a polis that is welcoming and hospitable, but at the same time not empty, not falsely neutral, but rich in humanity, with a strongly ethical dimension.”

The Pope is visiting Croatia to celebrate the local church’s annual family day on June 5. Over 300,000 are expected to attend the Mass at a local Zagreb racetrack. The visit will last only two days, concluding tomorrow.

Copyright © CNA
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com)

[GonzoII]

There's always Islam. /S.

[GonzoII]

Ping.

[americanophile]

If Catholicism can't or won't do the job, then with all due respect to His Holiness, there's good old fashioned American protestant evangelism. Something has got to turn Europe around or it will fall to Islam. Preachers head east...deus vult!

[Mr. Mojo]

Europe doomed if conscience isn’t rediscovered

Rediscovering their sanity should be the first order of business. And it's best demonstrated by stopping the Islamization of their continent.

[loveliberty2]

“If, on the other hand, conscience is rediscovered as the place in which to listen to truth and good, the place of responsibility before God and before fellow human beings – in other words, the bulwark against all forms of tyranny – then there is hope for the future.”

The Pope's words are true--not only for Europe, but for America as well.

After all, the very foundation of the U. S. Constitution's protections for individuals from intrusion on their liberties by their representatives in government is the conviction that each individual is "endowed by the Creator" with unalienable rights to life and liberty.

The electorate must become wise to these things and to America's Founding princples, which can enable them to recognize which are true ideas of liberty, and which are counterfeit ideas of tyranny. That is not easy.

In 2008, Michael Ledeen, on another subject altogether, wrote of the degree to which Americans have been "dumbed down" on some basic ideas underlying our freedom:

Ledeen said, "Our educational system has long since banished religion from its texts, and an amazing number of Americans are intellectually unprepared for a discussion in which religion is the central organizing principle."

In the Pope's speech in Germany a few years ago, he observed:

"A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures."

Ledeen put his finger on a problem that stifles meaningful dialogue and debate in America. Censors [disguised as "protectors" (the Radical Left's ACLU, NEA, education bureaucracies, etc., etc.)] have imposed their limited understanding of liberty upon generations of school children.

From America's founding to the 1950's, ideas derived from religious literature were included in textbooks, through the poetry and prose used to teach children to read and to identify with their world and their country.

Suddenly, those ideas began to disappear from textbooks, until now, faceless, mindless copy editors sit in cubicles in the nation's textbook publishing companies, instructed by their supervisors to remove mere words that refer to family, to the Divine, and to any of the ancient ideas that have sustained intelligent discourse for centuries.

Now, it is the ACLU which accuses middle Americans of "censorship" if they object to books, films, etc., that offend their sensibilities and undermine the character training of their young. Sadly, many of those books and films are themselves products of the minds that have been robbed of exposure to wisdom literaturein the nation's schools and universities.

The Democrats (Progressives) ARE WHO THEY ARE. Democratic candidates' "distancing" themselves (whatever that might mean) from Pelosi/Reid/Obama won't change that.

The Party stands for the right of women to determine who is born and who dies in the womb;

- the Party stands for liberalizing the definition of marriage;

- the Party stands for redistribution of wealth from those who produce it to those who don't (no matter how they label it);

- the Party stands for a belief that the U. S. Constitution is a "living," or as I heard one describe it, a "fluid" Constitution [meaning it can be changed by activist judges (instead of by the ONLY method prescribed within the Constitution itself)];

- the Party leadership at all levels is in "lock-step" on these matters, revealing a totalitarian mindset that does not allow for those of differing ideas to become leaders.

As a result, the Progressives' agendas will be adhered to by elected officials, no matter how much the PR officials of the Party may use semantic trickery to "redefine" it to the citizens described as "red staters."

When it comes down to it, even the Joe Liebermans will fall back to "lock-step" when push comes to shove. Only those like Zell Miller, who are willing to be castigated and ignored, dare speak out.

The same can be said for the "Progressives" within the Republican Party.

That's why voters need to be grounded in enduring ideas in order to recognize tyranny camouflaged in "hope" and "change" and to be able to appropriately enter into what the Pope described as "the dialogue of cultures."

[is_is]

the pope nails it......

[stboz]

Allah, fubar.

[WashingtonSource]

bump

[jobim]

Peculiar response.

The leader of the Catholic Church proclaims with certainty that if faith and reason cannot be merged, then Humanistic secularism will be the undoing of Western civilization. He proclaims it here in Eastern Europe, as he proclaimed it in Regensburg, Germany in that famous speech that drove a sword into the heart of Islamism. And he has been writing about it all his adult life.

Where is the Protestant leader of comparable weight saying such things?

[mas cerveza por favor]

Europe doomed if conscience isn’t rediscovered

What the heck is that supposed to mean? Europe doomed if the popes do not go back to naming names and kicking rear ends.

[mas cerveza por favor]

The anti-Catholic European elites brought in the Muslims as surrogates in their struggle against Christianity. Neither this Pope, nor his immediate predecessors have ever taken European elites to task for their betrayal, unlike the great popes of old.

[bboop]

Well, then, by all means — Good old fashioned American Protestantism should step up to the plate. We all must work together, for what the Pope says is true. Cannot wait in line to see ‘if Catholicism can do the job’ — the time is now.

[Wuli]

The Roman Catholic Church needs to examine its own role and the role of its own intellectuals in the spread of the moral malaise that plagues Marxist/Leftist/Social Justice centered Europe.

[americanophile]

There's no singular person of 'comparable weight' in protestant Christianity, and with all due respect to writings, his actions are puzzling:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2729527/posts

In any event, given the moribund state of Christianity in western Europe, the Vatican can hardly rest on its laurels. One prominent American protestant who has been robustly expressing the concerns over the rise of Islam and the state of Christianity however is Franklin Graham: http://focusuk.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/usa-franklin-graham-warns-that-the-worlds-christians-are-in-grave-danger/

[Petrosius]

… there's good old fashioned American protestant evangelism.

"Good old fashioned American protestant evangelism" is just a branch of old fashion European Protestantism which is already dominant in half of Western Europe. Indeed the moral relativism that we see today has its roots in Protestantism's drift toward Liberalism. This drift was inevitable because Protestantism, built on the foundation of individual interpretation of Scripture (N.B.: I said individual interpretation of Scripture, not Scripture alone), has no solid core to which to refer. This is clear in the fragmentation of Protestantism that occurred from its very inception. Thus each generation becomes bolder and bolder as they interpret Scripture to justify their own particular sins. Whence came the justifications for divorce, birth-control, and now homosexuality: Protestantism. It is no accident that those countries with the reputation for being most liberal are the Netherlands and Scandinavia: strongholds of Calvinism and Lutheranism respectfully. Who is the one person most responsible for the moral morass of the West: MARTIN LUTHER!

[NYer]

Catholic ping!

[NYer]

If Catholicism can't or won't do the job, then with all due respect to His Holiness, there's good old fashioned American protestant evangelism. Something has got to turn Europe around or it will fall to Islam.

A most interesting observation! As Islam continues to send its messengers across the US, I truly believe that the Evangelicals will form the roadblock that inhibits a success commensurate with that of Europe. This is indeed a time to join forces.

[theBuckwheat]

Islam is waging spiritual warfare to conquer Europe and the only effective defense must be spiritual in nature.

[Rashputin]

"This drift was inevitable because Protestantism, built on the foundation of individual interpretation of Scripture (N.B.: I said individual interpretation of Scripture, not Scripture alone), has no solid core to which to refer"

You're exactly right, Protestantism is built on "Sola Yourselfa" and nothing else. Even reference to Scriptures is only an application of The Lego Block Method of Scripture Interpretation where the individual picks verses from here and there to weave whatever they want out of them rather than reading them in context.

It’s not hard to see the humanist reality embedded in non-Catholic denominations if you just look at things as they are rather than as they’re described by those immersed in their own understanding, understanding that is in reality a series of individual self justifications and broad rationalizations. Non-Catholic "Christians" today accept the individual as the center of their faith exactly the same way Secular Humanists do. The only difference between the two groups being that the Protestants claim individual personal contact with God to salve their conscience while the Secular Humanists claim to have no need for either God or conscience. Non-Catholics are not, with rare exceptions, Christians at all no matter what they call themselves. They may want to be, or think they are, or be working very hard at being Christian as they understand Christian, but the very beliefs they enshrine make being Christian impossible for them.

Those who say they’re Christian but then claim inerrant indwelling interpretive oneness with the Holy Spirit are in reality shoving Christ out of the Trinity and taking His place to worship themselves and their own understanding. Such folks have no need or desire to follow Christ since for them the individual attains oneness with the Spirit, and therefore the Father, simply by declaring that they believe and reciting the magic words. Once they think they're indwelt by the Spirit they feel free to set their own course rather than following anyone or anything other than their own understanding. Each one can claim their own truth exactly like the Secular Humanists do. In fact, Secular Humanists could have never become the force they are in both the US and Europe were it not for Protestants preparing the ground and giving the blessing of God to the idea of each person being their own final authority in all matters. Add to that Luther saying we should sin boldly and you have modern Secular Humanists.

[Porterville]

Islam will take over if Western Europe continues its path.