“also insists on consistency in political life”
That’s part of the problem, Alex. Confusion of the institutional Church with politics is always trouble.
“We are by definition, core and not margin.”
I agree, but you will be marginalized and eventually in de jure schism if the both the conservative laity and the right wing hierarchs continue down the secular path they have chosen over one obsessive issue, no matter how important it is. Great, great damage has been done, Alex. You know, the East had confidence in your more conservative hierarchs. Trust me when I say that from the Synod in Constantinople on down, that’s completely gone. There is only one way for Rome to restore that confidence and it will take a long time, namely quietly punish the hierarchial ringleaders. At least then the East could trust the Pope, if not the liberal American hierarchy.
You don’t understand, Alex.
The East has had 2000 years of dealing with heretics. Do you think that Origen was any less well meaning than some of the bishops we have seen?
***I agree, but you will be marginalized and eventually in de jure schism if the both the conservative laity and the right wing hierarchs continue down the secular path they have chosen over one obsessive issue, no matter how important it is.***
I doubt that the right wing will head on out, at least not most of them, but the thing that the Latins do not understand is that the METHOD of going about this is wrong, not the thing itself.
***You know, the East had confidence in your more conservative hierarchs. Trust me when I say that from the Synod in Constantinople on down, that’s completely gone.***
And from my sources, I have to agree. The USCCB totally mishandled this and did not manage their outraged bishops. The problem is that the American Catholic Community does not have clue one as to the responsibility or the duties of the bishop. They just think that he is the boss of the diocese and so on. The orthodox bishops needed to speak out; that is what should have been and did not happen. But the responsibility lies with the superior of the formerly Catholic Holy Cross Order and the formerly Catholic Jesuits and that goes right to the top. I see the chess game that BXVI is playing with the rancid USCCB right now and the time is against him. I’d be tempted to sack the whole useless lot of the Jesuits right now, but the Pope has other ideas.
***There is only one way for Rome to restore that confidence and it will take a long time, namely quietly punish the hierarchial ringleaders. At least then the East could trust the Pope, if not the liberal American hierarchy.***
I think that this will happen. The liberals are still being weeded out. We just cannot replace the conservatives with liberals. We must replace them with Catholics who are Faithful. Do you understand? Faithful.
Then (ostensibly) Catholic universities shouldn't be inviting politicians to address their graduates and receive honorary degrees.
It seems to me that you are using this scandal to denigrate the Catholic Church, brandishing this unfortunate matter about as proof that the Catholic Church is too corrupt to be saved and comparing it unfavorably to the Orthodox Church. Somehow the Pope is at fault because he hasn’t done “enough” to prevent or punish those responsible for the scandal. Yes, better for the East to remain aloof and apart from the Catholic Church, lest it be sullied by our many sins, which, apparently includes our “obsessiveness” over the issue of abortion.
I guess the sanctity of human life is not something that Orthodox “hierarchs” are willing to take too public a position on.
Any confusion is trouble. However, to the extent that abortion is a moral issue -- and it is, -- and to the extent that the American system allows voting on moral issues -- and it does, -- the Church will continue to form the politicial conscience of the flock. If the East somehow is not comfortable with that, the East should examine itself, critically.