Let’s see....thousands of self-declared “popes”, each with their own Heresy.
Peter decided Christians didnt need to be circumcised, not Paul. The dissolution of the Church of England says it all.
So glad Obama was honored with a degree from Notre Dame Indiana....collegiality.
A church decentralized is no church. The body of Christ must hold Christ central. He is the head of the church.
Baptists are totally decentralized. Have always been.
What could possibly go wrong? The world is full of examples of that. It is our duty, yours and mine to try to not contribute to those things.
At times some of this is hard to understand, Satan is an artist at twisting the truth.
Just ask the Anglicans, right?
we already have it.
American Bishops declared themselves independent decades ago.
Vatican III building on Vatican II, piling on heresy upon heresy.
No way! The Pope will want us all to convert as a group!
Our "journey" is with Christ, and the Church's job is to facilitate that. Somehow, I don't think Jesus has "something to learn" from us.
What is sad is that many Catholics miss the obvious. Yes, I am ultramontane in my views, but each bishop is supposed to control his diocese as his particular Church. The Church was made to be somewhat decentralized. Those Catholics who have the (appropriate) knee jerk reaction that this would lead to disaster are just admitting what we all know is true:
1) We have many heretics to deal with today and sadly many wear miters and Roman collars.
2) The real reason the Church cannot decentralize is not because there is something inherently wrong or unChristian or anti-traditional about decentralization but because we all know the heretics would have a field day without the centralized power of the Vatican to barely hold a lid on the cesspool of heresy from overflowing in many dioceses.
3) The real reason this is a problem is that the laity themselves have - in far too great numbers - embraced modernism and liberalism and no longer uphold the sensus fidei as they once did. If they did so, orthodox clergy would be bolstered to clean house in rapid fashion.
4) You don’t need a very centralized Church, if everybody in the Church is a) orthodox, b) humble before Church authority, and c) always open to sanctification and the need for charity. We have a centralized Church because far-too-often that is NOT what we have had.
5) The Eastern Orthodox have all sorts of issues, but heresy isn’t that much of an issue (yes, I am discounting any issue that separates Catholics and EOs in this instance). How can their Churches be so apparently decentralized and yet heresy is not such a big issue? Now, I think they are not as decentralized as they seem, but they are far more decentralized than the Catholic Church.
6) As the Church has become more centralized (to combat heresy) we have become less able on the ground level to combat heresy. That’s a natural consequence.
The usual numbnuts who hear only what THEY want to hear will start mis-spouting. Same ole, same ole.
What else is new?