Cardinal Michael Czerny S.J., prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human DevelopmentMichael Haynes/LifeSiteNews
Posted on 12/12/2022 7:56:12 PM PST by ebb tide
Cardinal Michael Czerny S.J., prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human DevelopmentMichael Haynes/LifeSiteNews
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — A cardinal of the Roman Curia has praised a new book by a fellow Jesuit that proposes “a new Christianity” that cannot be centered in Europe or Rome.
Canadian Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny spoke at a December 2 book launch at the John Paul II Institute for Family and Marriage for Fr. Tomáš Halík’s The Afternoon of Christianity: The Courage to Change. In his comments, Czerny called for a decentralized Christianity.
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — A cardinal of the Roman Curia has praised a new book by a fellow Jesuit that proposes “a new Christianity” that cannot be centered in Europe or Rome.
Canadian Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny spoke at a December 2 book launch at the John Paul II Institute for Family and Marriage for Fr. Tomáš Halík’s The Afternoon of Christianity: The Courage to Change. In his comments, Czerny called for a decentralized Christianity.
“I have already said that I agree with the central thesis of his text, which is this: It is time for Christianity to overcome itself,” Matteo said. “I refer only to Western Christianity with the widespread image it carries and the related pastoral mentality. It no longer works; insisting on it is simply counterproductive. The age of Christianity is really over.”
“As Christians we have to do something; we have to give a new image to Christianity, a different image,” the priest argued, declaring the Church must employ “a new pastoral mentality.”
The author was present at the gathering at the Lateran University. Claiming that the sexual abuse crises of the past several decades are evidence of the failure of an outdated, overly traditional Christianity, Fr. Tomáš Halík praised Pope Francis and the “synodal process” for seeing the crises as “not a failure of some individuals” but as “just a symptom” of “a sickness in the whole system.” Halík called for a reshaping of the whole system [sic] of Christianity in order to move forward.
“There is something wrong with the whole system; we must change the whole system,” he declared.
Comparing the sexual abuse crises in the Church with the wounds of Christ, the casting off of the old Christianity with the death of Christ, and a new Christianity with His resurrection, Halík said, “We shouldn’t seek the living Christ among the empty tombs of [the] past.”
The future of the Church lies with “seekers” who, he said, combine some degree of faith in God with doubt and questions, which he thought was “not such a bad thing.” In contrast, Halík says simple belief was extreme and fanatical.
“Faith without the difficult questions, without some honest doubt can just be fanaticism, fundamentalism, bigotry,” Halík argued. “But … doubts without this basic trust… could be just cynicism, pragmatism. They need each other.”
RELATED: Cardinal at Vatican presser: Question on women deacons, married priests not resolved
These calls for a new Christianity fail to acknowledge that sexual abuse crises that have plagued the Church for decades are a direct result of the acceptance of homosexuality within the ranks of the clergy and the rejection of the Church’s timeless teachings regarding sexual morality. These issues have stood front and center in the “Synodal Way” of the German bishops, and rejection of the Church’s teachings reached a new level when the Belgian bishops published a “rite of blessing” for same-sex couples. In the United States, the McCarrick scandal was predominantly a series of systematic homosexual rape, and support for LGBT ideology seems to have become a condition for elevation to the College of Cardinals.
All the while, the fact that Traditional Latin Mass communities and parishes are flourishing is often maligned or ignored, or rather, seems to have prompted a desperate attempt to keep the “old Christianity” from rising from the dead.
These calls to end the Christianity of the last two millennia also contradict the reflections of Cardinal Robert Sarah, who recently warned of an “implicit bias against Christianity” in Western secular culture. The cardinal called on Catholics to rediscover the sacraments as “the principal means of grace that Jesus established in his Church.” Sarah also encouraged a more sacred celebration of the Mass, in which silence is given due place, allowing souls “to draw closer to Jesus Christ, to return to his word, and to the simplicity of the faith in his self-revelation.”
READ: Cdl. Sarah: ‘Religious liberty is under threat in the West’
In contrast to the calls for a new Christianity voiced by Halík, Czerny, and Matteo, Sarah declared, “When Christians forget why they are Christian, the community must fall into decline. They forget the Gospel and lose sight of their purpose.”
“We are all at war whether we recognize it or not,” Sarah warned, “It is good that all of us should become aware of that fact and make sure every day that we fight on the side of God.”
Ping
Well, we have the official word. It was good while it lasted. But it's over. Was this predicted in the Bible? Luke 18:8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
One of the hallmarks of the church of Laodicea is that Jesus is outside the church knocking on the door. The western church no longer works because Jesus is not in it. Kinda makes the church, as an organization, sort of pointless.
Maybe Francis is one of the reasons why.
It’s a religion not Tylenol.
When the leaders of the Catholic church refer to Christianity, they are referring to the Catholic church only because they believe that they are THE ONE TRUE CHURCH.
They don’t consider Protestantism as being part of Christianity.
That’s been my current tag line for a week, now. Scary times.
If he’s not part of the solution, he may be part of the problem.
Article sstates....” Jesuit that proposes “a new Christianity” that cannot be centered in Europe or Rome”.......
Christianity is ONLY centered in Jesus Christ - not location.
The Devil made him do it...
‘Christianity is ONLY centered in Jesus Christ - not location’
Oh, you bet it is!! Amen 🙏🏻!!!!
Indeed, "Christianity" avails man nothing. We each need Christ Jesus, not "Christianity." Anyone who's putting their faith in a church, any church, for the forgiveness of sins and their hope for eternal life is doing it wrong.
well, those leaders might want to rethink that. Protestants of all flavors are a lot closer to The Catholic Church in their beliefs and reverence for The Son of God than both 6th century false prophets who claim Jesus was just one of many and Jewish folk who are still waiting for Jesus, having failed to recognize Him the first time.
P4L
“They don’t consider Protestantism as being part of Christianity.”
You’re full of it.
Francis and his ilk … and that of this bishop…are a big part of the reason why.
Christianity works just fine, and somebody should remind them to try it sometime.
Christ said I will make you prosper
Last year the inventions, (globally, of the top 10) , were made by the G7 Nations, with THE USA at the top of the list. Incidental to that list were Taiwan, South Korea and China.
China makes it in there largely due to WTO tech enablement with American hands.
The common thread through the G7 is its Christian heritage. That is what gave us the magna Carta, patent law, Martin Luther, the industrial revolution, the birth of Australia, Canada and the United States of America. France and Germany were a part of christendom.
Through immigration of the turd world into France and Germany, he is quite correct, their identity has been eroded and their future destroyed. Therefore, he’s quite correct Christianitys day is over.
These countries have imported the dirt of the turd world, thereby displacing norms, ideas and politics. They are quickly looking, performing and acting just like the turd world shitoles the immigrants came from.
It’s just Obamanites at work destroying the west with Pope Francis in their ranks.
Its time to end the age of the Jesuits.
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