!HALLELUJAH!
!HALLELUJAH!
Posted on 06/30/2011 1:10:26 AM PDT by Cronos
New York’s state’s Catholic bishops continue to blast the state’s passage of homosexual marriage this week, with one bishop calling on Catholic schools and other institutions to shun lawmakers in protest of the vote.
In an op-ed Sunday in the New York Daily News, Nicholas DiMarzio, bishop of Brooklyn, called on members of his diocese to “not to bestow or accept honors, nor to extend a platform of any kind to any state elected official, in all our parishes and churches for the foreseeable future,” a statement that may signal a new era in church-state relations in the Empire State.
Catholic bishops have previously fought high-profile battles with public officials who endorse policy positions contrary to official church teaching. The previous battleground was mostly limited to debates over the right to life, which is seen within Catholicism as a primary, inviolable value. (Catholics, the church teaches, may not vote for pro-choice politicians except for ‘grave reasons.’) But it is new that church leaders such as DiMarzio would include legislation on gay rights as sufficient cause to ostracize politicians.
Are yours? Explain.
“”In which We the People constrain the government from interfering with, abridging, or annulling the free exercise of our God-given liberties.””
“We the people” will eventually agree(and has) that being gay,having an abortion, saying that pornography is constitutional is freedom.
We the people is satanic once morality has failed in our system in the US.
We the people is chaos and a failure!
Explain why abortion and pornography,etc...is a Divine system protected under laws of the US?
Michael Novak’s Portrait of Democratic Capitalism
Novak has done a great deal with respect to delineating the theoretical foundation of democratic capitalism. He has devoted much of his life to explaining democratic capitalism’s fundamental principles and will long be remembered for his innovative work, especially for his influence on Pope John Paul II and Centesimus Annus.
[...]
Novak explains that many Catholic social teachings were formed in the pre-capitalist static world of medieval society, which prized stability in economics, politics, and religion. Papal teachings were thus more concerned with the just distribution of available goods than with the morality of systems that produce new wealth and sustain economic growth. The New Testament favors the poor. The spirit of socialism (including self-denial, cooperation, and human solidarity) thus initially appears to many as being closer to the Gospel vision of a redemptive community than the competitive spirit of capitalism. Catholicism has emphasized community and tradition while capitalism has emphasized individualism and innovation. As a result, North American theologians have generally been critical of the nation’s economic system.
[...]
Democratic capitalism assumes pluralism, recognizes that individuals have differing opinions and interests, and allows them to associate in order to further those interests. Pluralism assumes the reality of sin. Pluralism’s multiple groups provide a balance of power. The chief purpose of pluralism is to fragment and check power–not to repress sin.
[...]
Novak emphasizes the primacy of morals–if our moral and cultural institutions fail, all the rest of ordered liberty is lost. He goes on to say that if the primary flaw lies not in the political system or the economic system but in our moral-cultural system, then the prognosis is hopeful. If the fatal flaw lies in our ideals and morals (i.e., in ourselves) then we have a chance to mend our ways. According to Novak, the hardest part of the moral task we now face is the power of the adversary culture with its emphasis on equality of results and moral relativism.
[...]
Michael Novak, the preeminent Roman Catholic social theorist of our time, is the prolific author of numerous monographs, articles, and reviews, and has written over twenty-five influential books in philosophy, theology, political economy, and culture. He holds the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., where he also serves as Director of Social and Political Studies. He has lectured all over the world and has taught at Harvard, Stanford, Syracuse, and Notre Dame. During 1981 and 1982 he served as Chief of the United States delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva as a Reagan appointee with the rank of Ambassador. His writings have appeared in more than a dozen languages. In 1994, he received the prestigious Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion for his service in defense of freedom and for his incredibly influential work in Christian social teaching on economics.
He once studied for the priesthood and for years was an espoused democratic socialist. Novak at one time believed in socialism because its ostensible ethical system seemed so superior. The son of Eastern European immigrants, he once thought that the communitarian religious ethic of his heritage was being attacked by the individualistic ethic of commerce. However, he was persuaded through observation of human affairs and intense reflection that he was mistaken. He now fervently believes that capitalism is superior to socialism both in practice and in theory and that Judeo-Christian virtues not only survive but flourish under democratic capitalism.
Well maybe you can pull off that sort of thing in a monastery. But I doubt it can be done in a pluralistic society — a society in which religious liberty is guaranteed by the federal Constitution.
WELL SAID.
GREAT POINTS.
THX THX.
And thus the New Testament, imagined under the aegis of this age (or at least of this writer), pertains to a "zero-sum game."
But Novak is a Roman Catholic. He understands that "in God, all things are made anew." That is, Novak testifies that there is no zero-sum game in God's Creation.
And thus I take issue with dear stfassisi's claim that "We the people is chaos and failure!"
Does he have inside information that the rest of us do not have, to the effect that God is "finished" with His Creation now??? Has withdrawn from the scene of the carnage, the scene of the "chaos?" That some smart-aleck sooner or later will blame God for???
Please.
I HAVE SIMILAR FEELINGS ABOUT IRON SHARPENING IRON AMONGST A DIVERSITY OF BELIEVERS.
Of course . . . IN-GROUP prissiness is hostile to all manner of good things.
DiMarzio is an excellent bishop and a true shepherd. You’ll not see similar statements coming out of Albany or Rochester, unfortunately.
QUITE SO.
QUITE SO.
However, the PRISSY PAROCHIAL MIND-SET AND SPIRIT
PERSISTENTLY INSISTS ON TRYING TO CRAM ALL REALITY INTO PRETEND TIDY-LITTLE BOXES AND
DEMAND ADHERENCE THERETO.
Dreary way to live . . . and rather UNBiblical, in my experience and observations of such.
The word "God" does not appear in the Constitution. Nor technically does that word appear in the DoI — the source of moral foundation of our country, of our nation: The Godhead is therein referred to as the Creator Who is Lawgiver of Nature as well....
Who is the Source and Ruler of the World, now and forevermore, Alpha to Omega....
Who knows His own all along the way....
The Framers of the Constitution to a man believed that the Constitution they crafted could only be enlivened, nurtured, and defended by men who were formed in the laws of God.
That is what makes the American historical "experience" so very "exceptional," even unique....
Again, the Constitution does not provide any particular prescription about how a man ought to conduct his life.
The Framers, however, again to a man thought the American citizen would (or at least ought to) get all his spiritual and moral ballast from his meditations of Holy Scripture. And as long as he did this, the Framers expected that there would be less for the secular courts of law to do. :^)
Nowadays, that hardly appears to be a testable proposition, so helplessly sunk we seem to be in "Lotus Land"....
"Lotus Land" is my shorthand for any constructor of a second reality who happens to live in first reality, which fact he has chosen to deny....
"Lotus Land" doesn't look particularly appealing to me, dear brother In Christ.
Are you suggesting by them using the word Creator that it could mean something other than God and that's why they used the word?
That would explain a lot. Either way, nothing is defined when they use the words liberty,freedom and pursuit of happiness. Eventually, it becomes a license to do whatever one pleases within what a society deems morally OK within a system,thus we have legal pornography ,abortion etc..all protected by what they call freedom and liberty.
It only took under 250 years for this inward rot to show up
My whole point here is that the US was never a Divine Country ,nor is the constitution or the DOI.
The problems can only be fixed by recognizing the flaws from the beginning,but I fear it may be too late and think only prayer and fasting is the last chance to perhaps change hearts of a nation that gave itself to satan in 1973 with granting the human sacrifice of abortion as a freedom
“”Michael Novak, the preeminent Roman Catholic social theorist of our time””
I believe Michael Novak is a shallow thinker and worships the political conservative
I suggest reading these 2 well thought out articles
http://www.catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/americanism/myth.htm
excerpt...
This group comprises men like George Weigel, Michael Novak and Richard John Neuhaus. Their passionate reaction to Craycraft merely proves how wedded the dominant Catholic bloc is to an ideology which seeks to reconcile the irreconcilables of Americanist dogma and Church doctrine.
And from Catholic Culture
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7630
For dissident Catholic priests and theologians, this high-sounding phrase became the reason to reject centuries of Church teachings, particularly those pertaining to sexual morality. Charles Curran, Daniel McGuire, Michael Novak, and other celebrity dissenters promoted artificial contraception to an all too easily manipulated faithful. Divorce and abortion followed. Today, not a few Catholic politicians defend abortion and think that cohabiting homosexuals should have the right to get married.
Americanism, doubtless more virulent in our day than it was in Leo’s, combines a collective sense of Christian exceptionalism (America as the “Shining City on a Hill”) with the hubristic conviction that America can draw up her own moral code—or, rather, a limitless number of moral codes, arising from each individual’s conscience. Acknowledging the heresy and its internal contradictions helps us understand why Americans today can insist that we are a Christian nation while indulging in all manner of public and private behavior that is decidedly not Christian, from delighting in degenerate diversions, to sanctioning the murder of children, to supporting and prosecuting an unjust war. Although the heresy began as a Catholic controversy, it is hardly less manifest in American Protestant denominations where far too many are eager to cooperate with the “spirit of the age,” using “freedom of conscience” as an excuse to relax some of their own severity.
BB-””I take issue with dear stfassisi’s claim that “We the people is chaos and failure!”””
Perhaps try looking at it this way,dear Sister
Go and ask the 20 something generation if gay marriage is acceptable and I guarantee that the vast majority will say yes.
This is just one example(of many) of the future of “WE THE PEOPLE”
Will you call this a moral success? I don’t believe you will!
Here is more from Pope Leo’s encyclical Libertas
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_20061888_libertas_en.html
The end of all this it is not difficult to foresee, especially when society is in question. For, when once man is firmly persuaded that he is subject to no one, it follows that the efficient cause of the unity of civil society is not to be sought in any principle external to man, or superior to him, but simply in the free will of individuals; that the authority in the State comes from the people only; and that, just as every man’s individual reason is his only rule of life, so the collective reason of the community should be the supreme guide in the management of all public affairs. Hence the doctrine of the supremacy of the greater number, and that all right and all duty reside in the majority. But, from what has been said, it is clear that all this is in contradiction to reason. .....
Moreover, besides this, a doctrine of such character is most hurtful both to individuals and to the State. For, once ascribe to human reason the only authority to decide what is true and what is good, and the real distinction between good and evil is destroyed; honor and dishonor differ not in their nature, but in the opinion and judgment of each one; pleasure is the measure of what is lawful; and, given a code of morality which can have little or no power to restrain or quiet the unruly propensities of man, a way is naturally opened to universal corruption. With reference also to public affairs: authority is severed from the true and natural principle whence it derives all its efficacy for the common good; and the law determining what it is right to do and avoid doing is at the mercy of a majority. Now, this is simply a road leading straight to tyranny.
Oh, I'm sure you're right about that.
"WE THE PEOPLE" have been under attack from the Progressive Left for the past century. My problem is that the Progressive Left has been successfully undermining the churches themselves, from inside:
Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."Perhaps it's because of where I live ("progressive" Massachusetts), but I cannot find a church, including a Roman Catholic Church, that is not preaching "Social Justice," a/k/a "Liberation Theology," which makes a travesty of Christ's sacrifice....
When even the churches are "crooked," is anyone surprised that the social pathologies we find so deplorable exist?
Like Adam and Eve, many professed Christians and others, whose CHOSEN priortities are "surfaces", have CHOSEN the lie that "this is Satan's world", inferring that they (and God, Himself) are "helpless" in the face of it.
The CENTRAL ("whole") Truth is that this is God's world, and the forces of evil can go no further than God allows. God endowed man with free-will and honors our decisions. He allows us to suffer the consequences of our own "choices" for good or for evil. The choice for "surfaces", and thus the "fall from innocence", goes all the way back to Eden...." ~ Gagdad Bob
Though I've found on average that, in terms of congregations of Bible believing Christians . . .
--Vineyard--authentic ones trained under John Wimber;
--Calvary Chapels--authentic ones trained under Chuck Smith
--Four Square--healthy ones trained under Jack Hayford or the younger fellow now deceased--can't think of his name--used to be in Eugene Oregon and planted a lot of churches in the Pacific Northwest.
--many Assembly of God--healthy ones that have often gone to a non-denominational name . . .
are much more inclined to preach the unflinching, unvarnished Word of God as well as do a reasonably tolerable job of loving each other, holding one another accountable, loving the lost and practically loving the poor.
Many of the nondenominational Charismatic congregations also do a good job on such scores.
And, I hear the Charismatic RC Pecos, NM retreat center/monestary does a reasonably good job of such.
New Living Translation (©2007) English Standard Version (©2001) New American Standard Bible (©1995) International Standard Version (©2008) GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995) King James Bible American King James Version American Standard Version Bible in Basic English Douay-Rheims Bible Darby Bible Translation English Revised Version Webster's Bible Translation Weymouth New Testament World English Bible Young's Literal Translation
New International Version (©1984)
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Pure, unstained religion, according to God our Father, is to take care of orphans and widows when they suffer and to remain uncorrupted by this world.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.
Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
The religious service which is pure and stainless in the sight of our God and Father is to visit fatherless children and widowed women in their time of trouble, and to keep one's own self unspotted from the world.
Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
religion pure and undefiled with the God and Father is this, to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation -- unspotted to keep himself from the world.
The true church is moving underground.
Jeepers, dear marbren — that may well be true indeed!
Thank you so much for that bracing thought....
Or maybe it's moving to my dearest sister in Christ's "bakery shop." :^)
Thank you so much for writing!
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