Archbishop Chaput Responds to Cardinal Cottier on the Notre Dame Controversy

Catholic News Agency ^ | 10/6/09

[frogjerk]

Keep fighting the good fight Archbishop Chaput!

[uncbob]

Cardinal Cottier’s essay gives witness to his own generous spirit. I was struck in particular by his praise for President Obama’s “humble realism.”

Talk about DELUSIONAL --Anybody that thinks Obama is humble needs a brain transplant

[NYer]

Ping!

[Kolokotronis]

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 lightwieght.

[Kolokotronis]

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.

[Campion]

But defense of the unborn child is a demand of social justice. There is no “social justice” if the youngest and weakest among us can be legally killed. Good programs for the poor are vital, but they can never excuse this fundamental violation of human rights.

Needs to be repeated, daily if not more often.

[bboop]

‘considered a lightweight’?? by whom? may I ask. I think he is one of the Great Thinkers in the (American) Catholic church today.

[ELS]

Il Foglio article:
L’ascia del vescovo pellerossa

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Chaput:"Regrettably and unintentionally, Cardinal Cottier’s articulate essay undervalues the gravity of what happened at Notre Dame. Thus, the fierce debate in American Catholic circles this spring over the Notre Dame honor for Mr. Obama was not finally about partisan politics. It was about serious issues of Catholic belief, identity and witness – triggered by Mr. Obama’s views -- which Cardinal Cottier, writing from outside the American context, may have misunderstood."

Nice. European modernists sometimes miss the nuances of American politics and culture. Perhaps not being a native English speaker and not being familiar with South Chicago and Harvard affirmative action con artists who follow Sual Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, the cardinal may not have picked up on when Obama was smirking and being insincere in his Notre Dame address. But surely he should have noticed the banality of using a Notre Dame commencement to promote abortion and embryonic stem cell research on consecrated ground. They might want to give Cardinal Cottier an MRI just to check and be sure everything is working OK between the ears.

[marshmallow]

‘considered a lightweight’?? by whom? may I ask.

LOL........let's play charades!!

Two words......first word......rhymes with "meek"..........sqeak........no.......beak.....no........Greek.....yes, yes!!!..........Greek, Greek.........second word.........begins with "O"........Obama......Greek Obama.........no, no............Greek Orthodox!!

Yes, that's it! Greek Orthodox!

Chaput is a theological lightweight to the Greek Orthodox!

[Dominick]

Unfortunately, the President also added the curious remark that “. . . the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt . . . This doubt should not push us away from our faith. But it should humble us.” In a sense, of course, this is true: On this side of eternity, doubt is part of the human predicament. But doubt is the absence of something; it is not a positive value. Insofar as it inoculates believers from acting on the demands of faith, doubt is a fatal weakness.

Awesome, defeats the lie that doubt is a justification for not banning infanticide, "we don't really know for sure, so we have to allow it"

This is stated so clearly!

[Kolokotronis]

“considered a lightweight’?? by whom? may I ask.”

Real theologians, both Latin and Eastern.

“I think he is one of the Great Thinkers in the (American) Catholic church today.”

Your comment speaks volumes about the level of thought in the American Catholic Church. What do you think about Archbishop Burke and that former Martino fellow?

[Kolokotronis]

“Chaput is a theological lightweight to the Greek Orthodox!”

Indeed he is. Such a lightweight in fact that some of the EP’s theologians actually snicker when his name is mentioned, which in theological discussions with the likes of Cardinal Kaspar or the Pope is virtually never, I assure you.

Chaput’s problems are greater with the Vaticanistas, though, who allegedly feel that his sort needs slapping down, like they did with Martino.

[Kolokotronis]

“Two words......first word......rhymes with “meek”..........sqeak........no.......beak.....no........Greek.....yes, yes!!!..........Greek, Greek.........second word.........begins with “O”........Obama......Greek Obama.........no, no............Greek Orthodox!!”

One of the great concerns of Orthodox Christians from all over the world regarding a reunion with Rome is the extent to which politics has infected the (at least to our eyes) very powerful American Church. Your comment reinforces the notion that the American Church really is more about secular politics, whether of the left or the right, than about Christian theosis.

[marshmallow]

Indeed he is. Such a lightweight in fact that some of the EP’s theologians actually snicker when his name is mentioned, which in theological discussions with the likes of Cardinal Kaspar or the Pope is virtually never, I assure you. Chaput’s problems are greater with the Vaticanistas, though, who allegedly feel that his sort needs slapping down, like they did with Martino.

Well thanks for that insight into Vatican politics, Kolo. Please keep us in the loop.

Only one thing I don't get. If he's such a lightweight and nobody takes him seriously, there's no need for any of us to get bent out of shape at anything he says for it's unlikely to influence church policy, be it Orthodox or Catholic, in any way, right?

So why does he need "slapping down"?

Surely a waste of time and energy for somebody whom the heavy hitters completely ignore?

[marshmallow]

One of the great concerns of Orthodox Christians from all over the world regarding a reunion with Rome is the extent to which politics has infected the (at least to our eyes) very powerful American Church. Your comment reinforces the notion that the American Church really is more about secular politics, whether of the left or the right, than about Christian theosis.

LOL.............the American Church which cut Teddy Kennedy and his fellow travelers so much slack and let them get away with ....*cough, gasp*.....murder for so long without so much as a murmur?

Is.......*splutter*.........too involved in secular politics??

That American Church???

What an absolute knee-slapping, side-splitting statement!!

If only it were true!

[Salvation]

for later

[Kolokotronis]

“...there’s no need for any of us to get bent out of shape at anything he says for it’s unlikely to influence church policy, be it Orthodox or Catholic, in any way, right?”

Wrong, the embrace of political Catholicism in America hurts the entire Church. It speaks volumes, as do the comments on this thread and, to be fair, the same sort of comments on left wing sites, that so may of you Latins measure the “orthodoxy” of the teachings of your hierarchs by their political pronouncements. We have to assume that what really motivates the movers and shakers in the American Latin Church are either right wing loudmouths like Chaput and formerly Martino, or nuns in pantsuits demonstrating for abortion rights or doing a pathetic imitation of vestal virgins in LA. People like Chaput won’t influence Latin Church policy on the transnational level, like I said, he’s considered a joke, but his actions do make trouble for the Vatican at a number of levels, among them in relation to the Orthodox precisely because he, like the nuns in pantsuits, gives voice to a mindset which is foreign, indeed antithetical to what we see as a Christian phronema. We won’t have anything to do with that.

[Kolokotronis]

” Is.......*splutter*.........too involved in secular politics??

That American Church???

What an absolute knee-slapping, side-splitting statement!!

If only it were true!”

Indeed.