ANSWERING THE CALL: Catholic priests in Jerusalem's Old City mourn the death of Pope John Paul II. Nearly 17,000 men were ordained in the US during his tenure.
Another legacy of John Paul the Great!
God be Praised.
I think we are already witnessing some wonderful effects from the recent focus on the Holy Father. I went to two different churches the past two Sundays, and heard two wonderful homilies. I think some of our priests are finding their courage by meditating on the example of John Paul II.
Key fact bump.
A stat to be filed away and used against the whiners whenever the subject of celibacy and married priests arises.
It should also be said, that within America, the numbers vary widely. In the neighboring diocese of Atlanta and in this one (Savannah), priestly ordinations and seminary enrollments are doing very well (although Gregory's arrival in Atlanta may soon put that in reverse), while in other dioceses, the numbers of priestly ordinations is a figure not unadjacent to zero.
Amchurch, amongst its many other achievements such as homo priests and liturgical and doctrinal heterodoxy, has also managed to dry up the vocation well.
Great job, guys!
I thought this was a media label. I've never heard a "JPII" priest refer to himself as such.
"In this era, Pope John Paul II was taking aim at what he saw as deadly consequences of widespread moral bankruptcy: abortion, assisted suicide, the death penalty, preemptive war."
Ah, yes, the old liberal false-moral-equivalence bait-and-switcheroo.
The Holy Father's opposition to the death penalty, as I understand it, was predicated on the notion that we now have the means to protect society from criminals through incarceration. Many are not satisfied with that, but that's okay, because it's not a matter of Catholic dogma. The Holy Father never made an ex cathedra statement on the death penalty.
I'm sure someone will correct me (probably with both feet) if I am mistaken, but I think the question of pre-emptive war has only arisen recently. The article "lets on," in the Mark Twainian sense, that the Holy Father spoke out against pre-emptive war throughout his reign, in the same way that he spoke out against abortion and assisted suicide. I don't think that's correct.
And neither is this issue a question of dogma, or the subject of an ex cathedra statement by the Holy Father. It was a prudential judgment, not within the scope of infallibility, and frankly I'm not sure his position was as represented in the media. I have a hard time imagining that the Holy Father would deny that there are times when it is better to strike evil as evil is preparing to strike us, than to wait for evil to take the first shot.
I think it is deceptive to mention these four issues together as though they were of equal moral weight. Abortion and assisted suicide are moral absolutes. Non-negotiable. "Thou shalt not do murder" is a tenet not just of Catholicism, but of all Christendom and the Judaic faith as well.
The very new and wrongheaded notion that the death penalty is somehow wrongful has no such standing. God did not give us a commandment, "Thou shalt not execute murderers." As a matter of fact, the Holy Scriptures would seem to convey exactly the opposite message.
Again, correct me if I am wrong, but I don't recall God telling the Israelites to engage in protracted negotiations with the Caananites before they attacked. IIRC, it was more in the nature of, "Go down and clean out that viper's nest of baby-killers."
I don't know anything about the author of this article, but attempts to finesse acceptance of liberal poofaninny by invalidly associating it with valid dogma are common. If you can get people thinking of new concepts as belonging in the same "set" with familiar and accepted concepts, you're home free.
Ya gotta be watching all the time. Liberals never miss a chance to try and slide one past us.