Posted on 05/27/2007 7:17:23 PM PDT by Gamecock
Good point Father. It wasn’t unusual for families to have 8 or 10 kids and see several of them become priests or nuns just 50 years ago.
God Bless and Keep you!
Vatican stats: Catholic Church growing, especially in Asia, Africa
Romans 9:14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Romans 9:15For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Romans 9:16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Romans 9:17For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Romans 9:18Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Romans 9:19Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Romans 9:20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Romans 9:21Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Romans 9:22What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Romans 9:23And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory
Matthew 13:37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Matthew 13:38The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Matthew 13:39The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
As a pastor, I’m a realist.
The only number I’m interested in is how many have planted their butts in the seats on any given Sunday.
There might be 250 million movie goers in America, but the only ones Spiderman 3 producers are interested in are those who actually watch their show. All the rest are just a curious statistic.
I would be careful with Calvinism, it reminds me too much of Fred Phelps and his God Hates Fags idea.
22 posted on 05/27/2007 10:15:39 PM MDT by Truth_will_rule_eventually
Perhaps you define your god in your own image. Only if you believe that the same Elohim
b'shem Yah'shua
who created the universe is not omniscient.
Do you worship God or are creating a god in the image you find worthy of your worship? Whether or not God's plan is "fair" or not is not ours to determine, because we are not God.
I would be careful with Calvinism, it reminds me too much of Fred Phelps and his God Hates Fags idea.
If you see Calvinism in Phelps actions, you don't seem to have a clue about Calvinism.
That thing is to teach the power of God, Jesus as God and the facts about the supernatural power of the sacraments of the Church. It would be difficult for one who knows in the depths of his/her being about the Real Presence in the Eucharist to leave the only church which offers it.
A side issue is to teach people about the fact that all bishops, all priests and even the pope may be flawed, is that which requires submission of mind. We do not worship or idolize them as people. We just respect the offices.
A
great post! God bless you with your vocation.
So then it is nothing “special” to be chosen?
Poor God, he sits at the mercy of men.
BTW didn’t the scripture say FEW are chosen?
It might sound contradictory if I accepted the Osteen/Warren "butts on seats" model of Church health. Unfortunately, it's not a numbers game.
Look what just twelve apostles accomplished. Look at what just one man, St. Paul, accomplished in terms of evangelization. A small fervent nucleus of believers is extremely powerful.
If the church is getting smaller, then the evangelism is failing.
Falling numbers is due to the apostasy of those who formerly professed the faith, not failing evangelization. Furthermore, it's localized to specific regions of the world. In particular, the secular, materialistic West. Other regions are experiencing growth and a boom in evangelization. Watch China.
Throughout history, numbers have waxed and waned. It will be that way until the end of time. Scripture itself tells us that a significant number of Jesus' own followers quit due to difficulties in accepting some of His teachings.
Waiting for the Catholic Church to disappear and die is the very definition of a fool's errand.
"T"b'shem Yah'shuaGood to see you again.
Aaronic Blessing:
May the Lord bless you and keep you:
The Lord make his Face shine upon you:
and be gracious to you:
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
and give you peace.
Not to mention that in 2003, the Pope was very frail and unable to be as involved as he once was. Benedict is being incredibly forceful and that is uniting the Church.
“Bad bishops are being replaced - finally!”
This is the root of the problem and my biggest concern. We can count the number of good bishops in the USA on about one hand, so I’m curious how you see the situation improving? Do you mean that Pope Benedict is appointing orthodox bishops to replace the liberal and homosexual ones who are gradually reaching retirement age?
And how can we recover from disasters like Mahony, Brown, Skylstad, etc, who have possibly sent millions of people on the path of ignorance or heresy, who will now be rearing their children with these same errors?
Thanks, M.
“...and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.”
You wrote:
“This is the root of the problem and my biggest concern. We can count the number of good bishops in the USA on about one hand, so Im curious how you see the situation improving?”
There are MORE orthodox bishops now then ten years ago an dthey are much younger than the orthodox bishops of ten years ago as well. They will be around for many years. Archbishop Burke will be an active bishop (baring some unexpected death or illness) for many years.
“Do you mean that Pope Benedict is appointing orthodox bishops to replace the liberal and homosexual ones who are gradually reaching retirement age?”
It is more than that. The actual pool of priests to draw bishops from is more solidly orthodox than what existed just a few years ago. In many diocese, you’ll discover that the young priests are more traditional and orthodox than their aged bishops.
“And how can we recover from disasters like Mahony, Brown, Skylstad, etc, who have possibly sent millions of people on the path of ignorance or heresy, who will now be rearing their children with these same errors?”
Simple. We will let them die, be replaced, and begin anew. We’ve done it before. We can do it again because God is our support. Think of 16th century Vienna, Austria. For 20 years there was not a single ordination to the priesthood. Not one. Sounds like a bad diocese to me. That situation changed. Mahoney is a disgrace - but only a temporary one. He will die or be removed. His replacement or even his replacement’s replacement will be better. It is the way of things.
Yes, of course. The posting of this 4 year old story to a current FR thread by freeper Gamecock, is nothing more than wishful and delusional thinking. In reality, just the opposite is true, as evidenced by the recent migrations of several notable Protestant theologians. And that does not include the flood of ECUSA members into the Catholic Church, post ordination of an openly gay bishop.
I have seen some evidence of what you say, you have given me some confidence that the pieces fit together. We certainly have a way to go, but if the seminaries get cleaned up, and young, good, devout men are allowed again to enter the priesthood, it will certainly change. Thanks, you have cheered me up a bit!
My feeling is that if the Protestants have great Catholic theologians who have become Protestants, let them tell us who they are. The problem is that they don’t have any. They have only weirdos who at least are honest enough to leave the Church.
On the other hand, we are stuck with heretics who won’t leave because they know (a) the Church is their best publicity platform and (b) it’s where the Xerox machines are (as the odious Rosemary Reuther of Boston College once said - or maybe it was some other flaming heretic, I don’t recall).
Let them go to the Protestants. It would be much more honest on their part, and then the Protestants would have to pay their salaries.
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