Posted on 04/08/2005 7:23:59 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Catholic League president William Donohue remarked as follows:
The storm is about to hit. For the most part, anti-Catholic bigots and the disaffected dissidents within the Church have been quiet. What they have been waiting for is about to happen: the week between the end of the mourning and the beginning of the conclave is upon us. And that means the Left is ready to explode.
Consider what weve heard already. Amidst the mostly favorable coverage by the media of Pope John Paul II, he has been branded as follows: an authoritarian who seeks to silence dissent; the enemy of homosexuals; a misogynist; a polarizing figure; a man who is out of touch with the modern world; a contributor to death due to AIDS in Africa; responsible for the sexual abuse scandal; and so on.
And weve heard a CBS newsperson blast the pope for ruling the Church with an iron fist (this was said between the final four basketball games on Saturday); the Jewish Forward said whatever good he did may be undermined by his battles around the world for sexual repressiveness and against reproductive freedom; the Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis posted a sign on its property saying, ALL WELCOME, CHRIST IS ALIVE, THE POPE IS DEAD; the president of the J. Paul Getty Trust commented on the spectacle of grotesquerie and human ruin that has lately filled the balcony above St. Peters Square; Christopher Hitchens said he was part of the coverup and obstruction of justice attendant to the homosexual scandal; Sister Helen Prejean, who is soft on abortion, took him to task for not changing his mind soon enough on capital punishment (and in doing so managed to misrepresent his pronouncements on the subjectthe pope never said it was an intrinsic evil like abortion); and a website called HillaryNow, operated by Robert Kunst, said that when the pope went to Israel, he ordered an ambulance to follow him so that in the event he needed a transfusion, he would not have to access Jewish blood.
But this is nothing. Many have been waiting for this moment for more than a quarter century. When they lose again, watch out.
>> This is why I hate the whole structure of the Catholic church. Way too much power that will be dangerous if the left ever got control of it. Luckily it was in good hands with John Paul II. <<
As a Catholic, I do not fear that. "Upon the rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not withstand it."
We have to worry about heretic priests and apostates, but John Paul II has authority because he represents the Infallible Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, and not the other way around. Those who lack faith will cling to whatever heretic makes them feel comfortable with their sins. Those of the Catholic Church who have faith will always look to Saints and their Traditional teachings about Scripture to know what is right. And even a heretic Pope will not mislead them.
>> This is why I hate the whole structure of the Catholic church. Way too much power that will be dangerous if the left ever got control of it. Luckily it was in good hands with John Paul II. <<
As a Catholic, I do not fear that. "Upon the rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not withstand it."
We have to worry about heretic priests and apostates, but John Paul II has authority because he represents the Infallible Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, and not the other way around. Those who lack faith will cling to whatever heretic makes them feel comfortable with their sins. Those of the Catholic Church who have faith will always look to Saints and their Traditional teachings about Scripture to know what is right. And even a heretic Pope will not mislead them.
EDIT:
To choose my words very carefully, I should state, "even a heretic Anti-pope will not mislead him." By church doctrine, a heretic elected to be Pope, were that possible, would be an anti-Pope. The belief that that could even happen is called sedevacantism, and is very controversial among theologians.
As a Southern Baptist, I had nothing but respect and admiration for this man. I pray that the next Pope is as good as John Paul II.
Maybe it's just me, but for a long time I always thought of this verse meaning that the Church will successfully fend off attacks by Satan. But at last I have a firm grasp the obvious -- that this verse actually means it is the Church that is going on on the offensive.
Apparently the church in question had nothing to do with that sign -- it was vandalized by someone who changed the message to the one that's been posted here.
Well, it was less than a week before they started in on Reagan, so this is no surprise...
Ping. Check out the depths these 'dissenters' deign to sink to.
As a protestant, I'm not convinced that passage has anything to do with the Roman Catholic Church. And as far as Infallible Traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, Peter was married so why can't the pope? I liked John Paul II but I'm fearful for what's coming up ahead.
Why not? He's delivering the whine before the 'explosion'.
And yet the church is made of men and men are fallible. The Pope spoke out against the war with Iraq and Catholics ignored him when his position differed from their own. He spoke out against capitol punishment and Catholics ignored him, choosing their own wisdom over that of the church he represents. But Catholics carry the Church and the Pope like a banner before them on matters where they agree.
I can not imagine Jesus, as head of the church, tolerating and covering up sexual abusing priests for even an instant.
Jesus confounded the religious leaders of His day and I have no doubt that when He returns, our religious leaders will oppose Him, focusing again on the letter of the Law at the expense of love.
http://www.clchurch.org/who.htm
The church sign had been vandalized.
Hell is hot, bring water. Idiots.
I heard somebody the other day, it might have been Donohue, talk about how the left has this idea that the College of Cardinals and the Papacy is something like a Roman Catholic Supreme Court that can be pressured, lobbied, massaged, manipulated, twisted, and tortured until eventually somebody comes along who will give them what they want.
What they fail to understand is that these are matters of decided church doctrine and are not subject to revision or revisitation, overturning or overthrowing. They are what they are and the Pope has no power to change what has been decided in times past.
I hope that's true. If this Conclave produces another strong conservative it will be the strongest impetus for me yet to dump the Episcopal and be received into the Roman church. That Rome is where I need to be to defend the Principles of Truth against the whimsical self-referential "truth" of secular princes.
HE is only feared by those who saw him as a politician. Was there ever a sweeter man on this earth, but Our Lord Himself. His like we shall never see again in this life, but only in heaven. Amen.
Santo Subito!
That sums it up. In spite of the failings of the "Peters", Jesus knew our failings and still selected men to transmit His teachings. I'll accept the guarantee of Jesus that He is with the Church to teach His truths in spite of our weaknesses in following them.
I seem to recall this "controversy", but at the time no one would call it the inverted blood libel that it was.
Look at photos of Karl Votilya. The man obviously had a healthy measure of Ashkenazi blood in him to begin with. He never had an ounce of malice toward Judah. The whole thing is an ugly fabrication.
So sick that they would try to dredge it up again. Especially after this man did so much to put the Roman Catholic Church and the Judaic Religion firmly on the same side.
We need a Savior here in the United States before we really do become a mini-Soviet Union. (I started to say with better music, TV, and cars, but then realized our music sucks, so does our TV, and we may be soon priced out of our cars so I had to edit the sentence.)
Thanks for the Ping!
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