The Bible and prayer for guidance.
If so, then you are setting yourself up as the sole, infallible authority on matters of faith. You have become your own Pope -- the Head of the "Church of AlbionGirl".
No I'm not. I do not pretend to be infallible. I too call on the Holy Spirit for guidance. And I have not established a Church.
Thanks. However, I must point out that I have no "faith" in the Pope. The pope is a human being. My faith is in the Holy Spirit, who through His Divine power prevents the Pope from teaching error as truth.
I don't believe in the Pope's infallibilty by means of the Holy Spirit. While the Holy Spirit is infallible, the Pope can still get it wrong because he is human. We will have to agree to disagree on this.
The Pope is a man, nothing more, nothing less. That's true. He is a sinner like the rest of us. The only difference is the charism of infallibility -- which is God working through the pope, not an aspect of the Bishop of Rome's own existence.
Was it this same charism of infallibility which taught that if one were to accidentally touch the Host, it was a sin? That the host was to be touched only by 'consecrated hands'? Was this the same charism of infallibility which enjoined Church and myriad principalities during the Middle Ages? Did Borgia possess this charism of infallibility too?
I'm sorry but I can't believe that.
The now defunct sins of old tell me that.
See above note on the doctrine of consecrated hands. And by the way is not going to Mass on Sundays still considered a Sin?
"Ease"?
Yes, ease. All it takes is time and money. There are many people who have received annullments for 'irreconcilable differences', and not just for reasons accepted by Pastors and Priests as Scripturally based.
Unlike the Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and other sects, however, Our Lord Himself founded the Catholic Church and charged it with the forgiveness of sin, the propagation of the Faith and with the power to make the once-for-all Sacrifice of Our Lord at Calvary eternally present by the priestly transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord.
I believe Christ established his Church with Peter and his disciples, but I don't believe that what descended from that has the same imprimatur. I just don't. Too much corruption, too much murder, too much rapacity ensued for me to be able to believe Christ resided there.
Do you know what "vicar" means? It means an official in whom the Sovereign vests the unlimited power to speak and act as his own agent. In other words, a vicar is one whose words and deeds are to be taken as being the words and deeds of he Sovereign he represents. With this in mind, it's easy to see that since the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, he speaks for the King in matters of faith and morals.
I misused the word Vicar then, and won't make that mistake again.
This Pope is a good man and has showed he can be courageous, but his response to the pederasty problem has been weak, very, very weak. And his idea that only the UN can decide whether war is necessary or not is intellectually bankrupt in the extreme. His audience with Aziz a disgrace.
Having said all that, I must confess that if my life were to be put on display I would not measure up in goodness to the Pope and would far outpace him in the bad. But the Shepherd has a greater responsibility because he has his flock.
I will close as you did in saying thanks for your thoughtful reply.
Yours also in Christian fraternity.
As a Caatholic I use a strange admixture of available means to help on the journey. Somethimes I say the rosary and after I am finished I ask the Holy Ghost to lead me to some scripture that will enlighten me or that I should think about or in other ways help. About four or five weeks ago,I used that means and I found myself in the Apocolypse,chapters 2 and 3,(the letters to the churches).. It was especially helpful,as I was chatting about something tangential to that on Free Republic.
Anyway the words that especially jumped out were:"they say they are Apostles but are not;they lie"and in two other letters;"those who say they are Jews,but are not;they lie".
Anyway it seemed to me that there was a warning to the churches to be especially careful of those people who claimed to be what they were not.
Reflecting on that in the context of the Catholic Church in America,it struck me that the church is full of people who claim to be Catholic and are not;they lie. This seems to me to be at the heart of so many of the problems in the church and society at this time. It creates confusion and chaos. It is from that perspective that I took your post to heart,understanding why you felt the way you did,yet unwilling to not take the time to point out to you that for all concerned,yourself as well as the Church,you might consider another place to be. Or at the least ask that you not call yourself Catholic while denying what the Church teaches. I hope that helps.
Or,best of all,you could rethink your position and recognize that our leadership is riddled with imposters and as a layperson come back with your New Catholic Catechism and fight them,join us in the battle,we need bright,holy,faithful Catholics.
I also think if you read what the Pope has said in view of where his charism applies,you will be in agreement with those tenets that are necessary and can disagree with his opinions that are his personal ones. Although I find myself in agreement with practically everything he says,once I understand it.