Archbishop Chaput Responds to Cardinal Cottier on the Notre Dame Controversy

Catholic News Agency ^ | 10/6/09

[marshmallow]

I'm picking up mixed messages here, Kolo.

1. He's a lightweight and nobody listens to him.

2. He's making trouble for the entire Church.

Help me out here.

[Pyro7480]

Should the Church not be involved with the abortion issue at all, in your view?

[Kolokotronis]

“Should the Church not be involved with the abortion issue at all, in your view?”

Politically? No. Should The Church properly catechize its people on what The Faith says about abortion? Yes.

[Pyro7480]

So no Catholic involvement in the March for Life?

[Antoninus]

Based on the status of Catholicism in most European countries, one would think that their prelates would be the *last* ones anyone would listen to on such issues. When it comes to moral gravitas, they are almost completely exhausted. Rome will have to bring in the SSPX eventually because no one else will even claim to be Catholic by the time the liberal European bishops are done.

[Antoninus]

Archbishop Charles is well known for his political positions and his attempts to justify his own brand of secular politics with what he presents as Latin Church theology.

Thus says the Dukakis voter... Sigh.

[Kolokotronis]

“I’m picking up mixed messages here, Kolo.

1. He’s a lightweight and nobody listens to him.

2. He’s making trouble for the entire Church.

Help me out here.”

1. He is a theological lightweight, a joke frankly, among theologians. That’s simply a fact, though he may be an effective shill for American rightist politics.

2. He is listened to by American Catholics, mostly lay people but also a handful of equally politicized hierarchs, who measure the orthodoxy of theology by a secular, American political standard. That causes trouble for the whole Church.

[Kolokotronis]

“So no Catholic involvement in the March for Life?”

Of your hierarchs, or ours for that matter? No, despite what the Metropolitan of the OCA might think, but I say that only because the pro life movement has been highjacked by the political right.

[Antoninus]

2. He is listened to by American Catholics, mostly lay people but also a handful of equally politicized hierarchs, who measure the orthodoxy of theology by a secular, American political standard. That causes trouble for the whole Church.

Sorry, brother. But I'm afraid your opinions have lost almost all of their authority with me. And they used to have a lot.

[Kolokotronis]

“Thus says the Dukakis voter... Sigh.”

Exactly...and my vote for Dukakis was motivated by ethnic interests, not religious. Had I measured Dukakis by an Orthodox standard, I wouldn’t have voted for him. Similarly, I didn’t measure the “orthodoxy” of my Orthodoxy by what a person like Dukakis stood for.

[Kolokotronis]

“Sorry, brother. But I’m afraid your opinions have lost almost all of their authority with me. And they used to have a lot.”

I’m sure we will both survive. The next time you hear someone trumpeting a reunion with the Orthodox Church, remember this discussion and what it says about an Orthodox mindset.

[Antoninus]

I’m sure we will both survive. The next time you hear someone trumpeting a reunion with the Orthodox Church, remember this discussion and what it says about an Orthodox mindset.

I have learned a lot about the so-called Orthodox mindset, both from you and from others I have known who call themselves such. And it greatly saddens me.

No doubt Our Lord weeps as well. National pride. Ethnic pride. Cultural pride. Over Christian love, forgiveness, and unity. Pathetic.

[Antoninus]

Exactly...and my vote for Dukakis was motivated by ethnic interests, not religious. Had I measured Dukakis by an Orthodox standard, I wouldn’t have voted for him. Similarly, I didn’t measure the “orthodoxy” of my Orthodoxy by what a person like Dukakis stood for.

I pray that the insanity of that position is someday made manifest to you.

[NYer]

Archbishop Charles is well known for his political positions and his attempts to justify his own brand of secular politics with what he presents as Latin Church theology. Sadly for the American Latin Church, this very high profile prelate, whose opinions are surprisingly parochial for a hierarch of a universal particular church, is considered a true theological lightweight.

Considered by whom?

[Kolokotronis]

“I pray that the insanity of that position is someday made manifest to you.”

There were family reasons too, having to do with his mother mostly, but I doubt that will make any difference to you.

[Kolokotronis]

“No doubt Our Lord weeps as well. National pride. Ethnic pride. Cultural pride. Over Christian love, forgiveness, and unity. Pathetic.”

Please do us all a favor and tell every Latin you know, hierarch, clergy or laity, what truly awful people we are. That, if you can influence enough people, might actually make a difference and Rome will stop lusting after the Orthodox Church. We’ll make it alone, we always have. Let’s face it, A, Rome needs us a lot more than we need Rome.

[NYer]

by whom? may I ask.” Real theologians, both Latin and Eastern.

You know this, of course, because _________________ (fill in the blank). The real theologians, Latin and Eastern, who have made this comment are: ______________, ___________, _______________, (feel free to add more lines).

[Antoninus]

Please do us all a favor and tell every Latin you know, hierarch, clergy or laity, what truly awful people we are.

No. The sad fact is that we love you, despite your flaws. I only wish you all could return the favor. But apparently, that is not to be for now. All in God's time.

[EDINVA]

Thank you!!! My thought exactly.

[Campion]

Rome needs us a lot more than we need Rome

Rome doesn't "need" you at all.

What both Rome and Constantinople "need" is to obey the Lord's clear command in John 17:20-23. No amount of pride can justify doing otherwise.