Posted on 04/20/2012 6:49:23 AM PDT by marshmallow
While 84 percent of Irish people self-identify as Catholics, support for key Church teachings is at an all-time low.
During a meeting at the Vatican in 1946, Msgr. Giovanni Battista Montini—the future Pope Paul VI—told Ireland’s ambassador to the Holy See, “You are the most Catholic country in the world!” The latest figures from the country’s census show that, in some respects at least, Ireland remains an overwhelmingly Catholic country.
Bucking a trend all across Western Europe, the census recorded that the Catholic population in Ireland rose by around 5 percent from 2006-2011. Eighty-four percent of Irish people now describe themselves as Catholic.
That headline figure, however, masks a Church in deep trouble, with many of her priests appearing to no longer hold the Catholic faith. This fact was noted in the report of the recent Apostolic Visitation to Ireland, which mentioned a “certain tendency, not dominant but nevertheless fairly widespread among priests, religious, and laity, to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the Magisterium.”
“This serious situation requires particular attention, directed principally towards improved theological formation,” the visitation report said, going on to point out that “it must be stressed that dissent from the fundamental teachings of the Church is not the authentic path towards renewal.”
Underlining the problem, a recent survey of Irish priests found that 60 percent of respondents wanted the Church to change its teaching to permit women priests. Just 30 percent of priests surveyed supported the Church’s teaching on this crucial issue.
One priest insisted that “women priests would have a lot to offer in many ways. They are good listeners, more understanding, and very sensitive to peoples’ needs.”
“Women priests are doing a great job in other Christian churches,” he insisted.
In the same survey, 78 percent of surveyed priests said they..........
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicworldreport.com ...
Just proves it is possible to profess, be committed to, and actually believing something, without truly knowing and understanding what you are professing, committing to or believing.
Faith in God (including profession, commitment, and belief) is not a “leap”. Just like anything, it should based on knowledge. Peter said in 2 Peter 1: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through KNOWLEDGE of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
The problem is, if you don’t truly know (have tangible, factual, experiental evidence of) what you believe, what you really do believe, profess and commit to will eventually come out.
Would anyone hire a mechanic that believes, professes and commits to being able to fix your car without actually knowing what he is doing?
Faith in God (including profession, commitment, and belief) is not a “leap”. Just like anything, it should based on knowledge. Peter said in 2 Peter 1: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through KNOWLEDGE of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
The problem is, if you don’t truly know (have tangible, factual, experiental evidence of) what you believe, what you really do believe, profess and commit to will eventually come out.
Would anyone hire a mechanic that believes, professes and commits to being able to fix your car without actually knowing what he is doing?
Terrific post in its entirety!
Are women priests better listeners than men? Lol. I am TRYING to think of the women I know who are good listeners. I think that generally men are better listeners than women, especially if they are many women in their life. As least, men are better at pretending to listen, if they are not. Women pretend to listen -- on the first few dates. :o)
Why wouldn't women priests in other Christian churches be doing a great job? They wouldn't be mentioned if they were failures.
I think that those priests are saying what they think people want to hear. I don't think that they buy into the women priests nonsense.
The Biblical Messiah was a man, a king. It MIGHT have been a woman, a queen, but God chose a man to come. Jesus therefore came as a man, a son of a perfect (sinless) woman. Jesus chose 12 MEN as His apostles. Again, He could have chosen 12 women, six and six, or ANY other combination. But, He didn't. The Church took that as a clear sign that priests were to be men.
so they have been given years of catholic bashing in the press and now have a couple of hundred “abuse” cases presented as if they were a large percentage of those tens of thousands who were cared for, and you wonder why they have lost their faith?
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