Pope: Half-hearted Catholics aren't really Catholics at all

cns ^ | June 5, 2014 | Cindy Wooden

[NYer]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Those who insist others pray and believe exactly like they do, those who have alternatives to every church teaching and benefactors who use the church as a cover for business connections may call themselves Catholics, but they have one foot out the door, Pope Francis said.

"Many people say they belong to the church," but in reality have "only one foot inside," the pope said June 5 at the morning Mass in the chapel of his residence.

(CNS/Paul Haring)

"For these people, the church is not home," but is a place they use as a rental property, he said, according to Vatican Radio.

Pope Francis reflected on the day's Gospel reading, John 17:20-26, and Jesus' prayer that there would be unity, not divisions and conflict, among his disciples. There are three groups of people who call themselves Catholic, but are not really, the pope said. Apologizing for making up words, he labeled the three groups: "uniformists," "alternativists" and "businessists."

The first group, he said, believe that everyone in the church should be just like them. "They are rigid! They do not have that freedom the Holy Spirit gives," and they confuse what Jesus preached with their "own doctrine of uniformity."

"Jesus never wanted the church to be so rigid," Pope Francis said. Such people "call themselves Catholics, but their rigid attitude distances them from the church."

The second group, those with alternative teachings and doctrines, "has a partial belonging to the church. These, too, have one foot outside the church," he said. "They rent the church," not recognizing that its teaching is based on the preaching of Jesus and the apostolic tradition.

Members of the third group "call themselves Christians but don't enter into the heart of the church," they use the church "for personal profit," the pope said. "We have all seen them in parish or diocesan communities and religious congregations; they are some of the benefactors of the church."

"They strut around proud of being benefactors, but in the end, under the table, make their deals," he said.

Pope Francis said the church is made up of people with a variety of differences and gifts, and if one wants to belong to it, he or she must be motivated by love and enter with "your whole heart."

Being open to the Spirit, who fosters harmony in diversity, he said, brings "docility," which is "the virtue that saves us" from entering the church half-heartedly.

[xzins]

The pope is right on this one. The ‘businessists’ are humorous in a way, deadly in another. I had one lady once describing herself to others as ‘the church Mary Kay representative.’ (I didn't know we had one, lol, and I'm the pastor. Maddeningly, these people are so bold as to pass sales catalogues even during worship.) She just up and left one day for a bigger church — more customers, I imagine, for their newly self-appointed ‘Mary Kay Representative.’ She was not a Christian she was a proclaiming “Mary Kayist”.

The ‘alternativists’ are the ones always arguing the angles, the self-appointed ‘theological lawyers’ looking for loopholes in teaching. Catholics probably have it in spades with their distinctions between types of sin, ex cathedra statements, and the like, but we Methodists also have it. Our Constitution, Discipline, and Social Principles are enticing targets for the theological lawyerly. So we have bishops playing that game who refuse to bring charges or bring to trial those who clearly (not just arguably) violate our standards. Nancy Pelosi might have some lawyerly, mental dodge she uses to ignore killing babies and still receiving the eucharist, but she is only eating judgment to herself and her unchristian beliefs. She is no Christian.

The uniformists or rigid really remind me of the Church of Ephesus in Revelation 2. They know all the rules, they can lock your heels with the rules, but they ‘have lost their first love’. That was the only church threatened with the loss of their candlestick of the 7 listed in Revelation 2-3. And some of the others sounded pretty vile, especially Pergamum and Thyatira. The Spirit's lesson is that a loveless church, no matter how rightly they can enunciate their doctrine, is not a church that even needs a candlestick. Candlesticks are used to lift up the light to spread more light. If there is no light, then what's the use of the candlestick? Moreover, if there's no light possible there, then it is as the pope says, not really Christian at all.

[MHGinTN]

"... the Church of Ephesus in Revelation 2. They know all the rules, they can lock your heels with the rules, but they ‘have lost their first love’. That was the only church threatened with the loss of their candlestick of the 7 listed in Revelation 2-3." And therein, Pastor, is a lesson so powerful and confounding that it needs to be revisited over and over again, each year, to the flock. What Jesus did for us in His crucifixion, death, and resurrection made eradication of a multitude of sins (the sin nature, after all) in the life of any who will confess with their mouth that God has raised Him from the dead ... and in love, the spirit of a man knows the judgment is in God's hands not the legalists.

I live with me. I know that I cannot make it through a single day without violating the two commandments wherein lay all the law and the prophets. I live, but only by His Grace and tender Mercies. His love still envelopes me even as I confess my failings and I am His so I can love others, regardless. But I still despise the mouthers like Pelosi, and Harkin, and Kerry, and Dorgan, and, well, perhaps you get the picture etc. As you say, they eat and drink to their own damnation.

[xzins]

I live, but only by His Grace

Amen. Except for His grace, I have no hope.

[The Iceman Cometh]

When will protestants start telling pro-homo “marriage” and baby killer Obummer to quit calling himself a protestant?

Because he's a muslim using whatever church he doesn't attend as cover. Duh, everyone knows that.

The Catholic church needs to excommunicate some of these fools. As for me, my church removes members from their roles when it is clear they have fallen away.

[betty boop]

The Spirit's lesson is that a loveless church, no matter how rightly they can enunciate their doctrine, is not a church that even needs a candlestick. Candlesticks are used to lift up the light to spread more light. If there is no light, then what's the use of the candlestick? Moreover, if there's no light possible there, then it is as the pope says, not really Christian at all.

LOLOL re: the "church's Mary Kay Representative!" (Or maybe I should weep instead. Sigh....)

I am reminded of Eric Voegelin's characterization of the German Church in the run-up to Hitler's near total co-optation of it: The churches had become "social clubs for like-minded families." Read: Utterly abandoned by the Holy Spirit, by the Light and Grace of God.

Dear brother in Christ, what a marvelous essay/post you have written here! So beautiful, so just!

Thank you!

[YHAOS]

“All christians are NOT christians...”

I think I will phrase that prop differently: All Christians do not agree on what makes up a Christian (without exploring the motives for the differences in opinion).

[YHAOS]

Thanks for the comeback.

[YHAOS]

I agree. I think the Pope has this one right (in truth, from what the Pope has said, I think he has most things right).

[xzins]

And for your kindness, dear Sister in Christ

[CodeToad]

So, he just outed himself? He seems to be a half-hearted Catholic.

[mdmathis6]

Docility!? Or is he confusing docility for humility?

[YHAOS]

I believe (sadly) Eric Voegelin’s characterization of the German Church of the Thirties fits, “to a T,” many of today’s American Churches.

[Salvation]

Source, please.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I'm a fallen Catholic. I've never been able to come home even though the church from my youth brought me comfort."

I've wrestled with much of this myself. In the end, I'm grateful the Church is not perfect, for if it were, I would not be accepted as a member. Christ is perfect, but he calls on the imperfect to seek and find Him and sets lofty goals for us humans to aspire to.

Imagine a small, corrupt town with one stop light at its only intersection. The local cop is part of the good ole boy network, and if he likes you or you are one of the town bigwigs, you can run the stoplight with impunity. If you're an out-of-towner, or on the cop's s-list, you're going to get a ticket no matter how closely you adhere to the law.

Those persons in charge of administering this particular red light may be flawed, or even corrupt. This does not, however, invalidate the greater notion that controlling traffic at intersections is a good idea. Similarly, I believe what the Church teaches and holds true, even if those administering its teachings may be at times flawed, or even corrupt.

[hosepipe]

All Christians do not agree on what makes up a Christian (without exploring the motives for the differences in opinion).

---

“christian” is what non believers call members of the Kingdom..
You know... “Kings and Priests”.. sheep of a different pasture..

Some are Kings and Priests others are merely “groupies”.. in group therapy..
There are indeed sheep on an earthly pasture.. and sheep in a heavenly pasture..

Its not about what you believe, it’s about Who you Are!..
What you DO and do Not do.. not what you “think”..
An earthly sheep doing good works is still alas an earthly sheep..

It may be.... I’m not a christian.. but a King and Priest of the most high God..
What I believe moment to moment is nebulous..

Finding out who you ARE!... is tantamount to finding out you Aren’t..
Taking or proclaiming an OATH changes nothing..

Otherwise rebirth has no meaning.. it is just an “Act”..
People posturing.. and RAPing..

[ansel12]

The source was mentioned in the post, William F. Buckley’s “National Review”.

“Put another way, the Catholic swing vote has more than any other decided the winner, just because it is of such significant numbers. No Democrat since 1952 (except for Clinton in 1992) has ever won the White House without a majority of the Catholic vote.”

“In some states, as noted above, Republicans do not have to win a majority of the Catholic vote to carry the state; they need only hold down the Democratic Catholic majority by two or three percentage points.”

Did you do a search for “national review Percentage of Catholic Vote for Presidential Winners”?

[Dick Vomer]

Stated perfectly.

[Iscool]

Because neither Hebrew nor Aramaic (the language spoken by Christ and his disciples) had a special word meaning "cousin," speakers of those languages could use either the word for "brother" or a circumlocution, such as "the son of my uncle." But circumlocutions are clumsy, so the Jews often used "brother." These “brothers” are never once called the children of Mary, although Jesus himself is (John 2:1; Acts 1:14).

Mary was and remained a virgin. See the Protoevangelium of James.

HaHaHa...How about we see the bible instead...You know, the words of God???

God had the NT written in Greek where there is a word for cousin so we would be able to distinguish who was a brother and who was a cousin...And whether Mary was a perpetual virgin...

Thank God for the bible...

It's interesting to note that the Catholic Jerome used the word 'cousin' in his official Catholic bible which WAS the Catholic bible for a thousand years...

[Iscool]

Too bad the Pope doesn’t specifically denounce American phony pols who claim to be Catholic yet support abortion (over 40 million since Roe V Wade) and homo marriages. Yet they’ll come and kiss his ring for publicity and receive the Holy Eucharist.

And the pope kisses the Koran...What a strange religion...

[Iscool]

Do you think Popes make things up when they proclaim dogmas of the Catholic Church?

Of course they do...If you can't find it in the scriptures and there is no evidence of divine revelation, somebody made it up...