Pope Benedict and the American Catholic Revolution

Conservative News.US ^ | 4-21-2005 | E.F. Winslow

[francke]

Pope Benedict XVI and the American Catholic Revolution By E.F. Winlsow 4-22-2005

The elevation of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to the office of Pope has been hailed by conservatives as a guarantor that the Roman Catholic Church will not sway to the unpredictable and frequently fickle winds of cultural change. As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he has a reputation for holding unwaveringly to the foundational tenets of his faith, and rooting out movements and philosophies that fall outside of the pale of orthodoxy.

As important as this is during the time in which we live, when Postmodernism has enveloped all objective thinking in a thick film of suspicion and doubt, there is ample reason to believe that the rise of this papacy may mark the largest seismic shift in American Catholicism since Vatican II in the mid sixties.

On the one hand, for the first time in many years, the Roman Church is headed by a task-oriented theologian, whose missives promoting the faith are laser-like in their focus and efficacy. On the other hand, the new Pontiff comes across as a strong disciplinarian on top of a rigid hierarchy, just when the American church is still struggling with the abuse of authority in that hierarchy, as exemplified by the pedophile scandals of the last few years. The very zeitgeist of America is to resist abusive power constructs; particularly heavy-handed ones from Europe.

Consequently, this papacy is seeing the American church draw one step closer to Rome’s worst nightmare: A schismatic American “catholic” church. ...

[AlbionGirl]

Bump for tomorrow.

[sinkspur]

This article is full of hysterics. The truth is that most American Catholics are just going to keep doing what they've been doing for the past 26 years: go to Church, raise their kids in the Church, ignore the teaching on contraception, and use their own consciences as guides. That's not a good thing, but that's fact.

A parish or two might break loose, but 95% of American Catholics are simply not plugged into what comes out of Rome on a daily basis, and never will be.

[Piers-the-Ploughman]

I don't know that it's 95% but it would be hard to argue that a majority follow Vatican pronouncements closely, at least from my vantage point. Still, for those fewer who open more of their hearts to Benedict's leadership, much good can be accomplished. Even revolutions do not need a majority to be successful.

[Cannonball Bill]

never happen. period. these are not matters upon which religions are formed upon. plus, who cares? and who will follow any malignant bishop who is excommunicated? this is folly.

[NeoCaveman]

Consequently, this papacy is seeing the American church draw one step closer to Rome’s worst nightmare: A schismatic American “catholic” church. ...

We're going to make it official?

[JohnnyZ]

While most of the article is ..... markedly ignorant .... I would not be surprised if some of the VOTF/Call to Action/We Are Church folks decided it was time to hit the road (at long last). I'm CERTAIN the Boston Globe is rooting for that. I don't think much would come of it though, in the end, except in the minds of the dissidents and elements of the MSM.

[francke]

JohnnyZ Writes: "While most of the article is ..... markedly ignorant .... I would not be surprised if some of the VOTF/Call to Action/We Are Church folks decided it was time to hit the road (at long last)."

There is an fairly significant number out there who are indeed separatists with Respect to Rome.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

So what's stopping them?

[onyx]

One would hope. :)

[murphE]

The truth is that most American Catholics are just going to keep doing what they've been doing for the past 26 years: go to Church, raise their kids in the Church, ignore the teaching on contraception, and use their own consciences as guides. That's not a good thing, but that's fact.

So you're saying that most of the American Catholics are apostate.

[sinkspur]

So you're saying that most of the American Catholics are apostate.

That's your description, not mine.

[murphE]

That's your description, not mine.

I'm sorry the correct term is heresy. It's not a description, but an objective observation of the situation you describe. These are your sheep deacon, aren't you concerned?

[sinkspur]

These are your sheep deacon, aren't you concerned?

They're the people of God. Not sheep.

[Piers-the-Ploughman]

"Feed my lambs, feed my sheep"

Surely that sounds familiar, especially after what we've just been through

[murphE]

They're the people of God. Not sheep.

What makes you think so when they reject him?

[WriteOn]

amchurch code words... They're the people of God. Not sheep. Every time I hear that phrase come out of an AmChurcher I cringe. Even though it is mentioned in Vat II documents, it has been coopted for abuse.

"This original synthesis of event and interpretation can be dissolved and reformed continually: the community "interprets" the events on the basis of its "experience" and thus discovers what its "praxis" should be. The same idea appears in a somewhat modified form in connection with the concept of the people" where the conciliar emphasis on the "People of God" is transformed into a marxist myth. The experiences of the 'people" elucidate Scripture. Here "people" is the antithesis of the hierarchy, the antithesis of all institutions, which are seen as oppressive power. Ultimately anyone who participates in the class struggle is a member of the "people" the "Church of the people" becomes the antagonist of the hierarchical Church." --Ratzinger

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own." John 10:14

[gbcdoj]

They're the people of God. Not sheep.

In the same way the inner nature of the Church is now made known to us in different images taken either from tending sheep or cultivating the land, from building or even from family life and betrothals, the images receive preparatory shaping in the books of the Prophets.

The Church is a sheepfold whose one and indispensable door is Christ. It is a flock of which God Himself foretold He would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, although ruled by human shepherds; are nevertheless continuously led and nourished by Christ Himself, the Good Shepherd and the Prince of the shepherds, who gave His life for the sheep. (Lumen Gentium 6)

What do you preach on when John 10:1-16 comes up?

[murphE]

Maybe you should teach them a short Act of Faith, sinkspur, if they don't know it already:

O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; I believe that Thy divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because Thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.