Posted on 07/10/2023 12:38:23 PM PDT by ebb tide
"Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Known as "the Great Commission," spreading the Gospel and making converts is a basic duty of all Christians, as set forth by Our Lord in sacred scripture. At the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis reiterated this call in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.
But the results of the Church's evangelization efforts during Francis's pontificate have been disappointing, to say the least. In Francis's native South America, Catholicism has been losing members in large numbers to Pentecostalism. Francis's home country of Argentina has seen the biggest decline, with the Catholic share has plummeting from 76% to 49% in the last decade. Germany, which has fulsomely embraced Francis's "synodality" and repudiated core Catholic teachings, has seen a record 500,000 leave the Church just in the last year. And due to the Vatican's financial difficulties and incompetent administration, it can no longer fund missionary activities.
It does not help that Pope Francis's teachings increasingly emphasize religious indifferentism. Yesterday, Francis announced that he was appointing 49-year old Lisbon Auxiliary Bishop Americo Aguiar as a Cardinal, despite the fact that he is still only an auxiliary bishop and the appointment means that Lisbon now has two cardinals at the same time. Bishop Aguiar, who was a Socialist city council member in Portugal in the 1990s, recently set forth a worldview that denies the need for evangelization. Speaking of World Youth Day, which he is helping to organize, Bishop Aguiar denied that the purpose of the event was to convert souls to the Church: "We don't want to convert young people to Christ or to the Catholic Church or anything like that." Instead, he said that the "main message" of the event was, "I think differently, I feel differently, I organize my life differently, but we are brothers and we are going to build the future together." He drove home the point that atheism was part of cultural "richness" that the event promotes. He connected his message to that of Pope Francis and his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, "which the Pope has made a megalomanic effort to make echo in the hearts of all." And indeed, this message strongly echoes Pope Francis's recent "Declaration on Human Fraternity," which exalt 'fraternity' and vague social goals, but contain no mention of Christ or the Gospel-- and give hearty, unqualified praise to religious pluralism. Whatever one might make of this message, it is one that seems to prioritize social harmony over evangelization and conversion-- and thus is not the message of Christ.
Similar theological threads can be found in the writings of Fr. James Martin, whom Francis recently named to the Synod on Synodality. Fr. Martin has said that Christ may even command people to apostatize in the name of serving "the greater good." Fr. Martin again connects these views to Francis, who (Fr. Martin states) "emphasizes discernment for people facing complicated situations, where a black-and-white approach seems inadequate" and the "normal rules seem inadequate to the situation." These heterodox views also find favor with others close to Francis, such as Cardinal Hollerich (relator general of the Synod on Synodality) and soon-to-be-Cardinal Tucho Fernandez (the new head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith).
Thus, a pontificate that began by proclaiming the need for evangelization ends by embracing something that seems disturbingly close to the "dictatorship of relativism" denounced by Cardinal Ratzinger: "Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be 'tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine,' seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires. We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism." It remains to be seen whether Francis's approach will "bear fruit that will endure."
God’s Church. Satan’s Pope.
I was a Catholic and am a Catholic of old. The Church of Rome today is not Catholic. The Church of Rome today is hell bent on destroying the real Church of Rome. Francis is a left wing Marxist pretending to be the Pope. I even suspect his sexuality based on his decisions.
How I miss the days of Father Faucie, in Larose, Louisiana. He was a moral man and a handsome man. He was from Quebec and conducted services in French and English and of course the Latin Mass. If he decided to stray from his vows it would have been easy. He did not! He would give solace when needed, advice when needed, and iron clad rules of behavior even when violated.
Father Faucie is what the “Old Church of Rome was once.” May he rest in peace but I doubt he rests in peace. His beloved church has changed.
Father Fauci would also come to JC’s Bar and occasional restaurant. We had crab boils and Turtle Soup there, most delicious. It was a local hangout for the community and very family oriented. Father Faucie liked to drink an occasional beer. I never saw him inebriated. I never saw him pay for a beer though he tried. His money was no good at JCs.
Typical acrimony. I’d be concerned if there wasn’t any.
Amen!
Without Jesus, these young people have no chance.
Satanists don’t want people to turn towards Christ.
I use a capital "S" because Sodomy is the name of a religion of the ruling class as well as a sexual practice.
Last I checked we only claimed four ever were perfect, one of whom was Divine, one of whom was Immaculately Conceived, and two of whom blew it.
Your parish must have holier people in it than mine. I’ll be sure not to show up, because I’d wreck it.
FWIW—I teach moral theology and have a reasonable understanding of perfection.
Bless you and the LCMS.
Not according to 49-year old Lisbon Auxiliary Bishop Americo Aguiar who was promoted to Cardinal. As one of the highest ranking offices of Catholicism, that doesn’t sound encouraging.
My parish is full of holy people......and the MASSES are Full!
From your moral theological perspective, would you belong to a church whose hierarchy has an unBiblical philosophy with a history of corruptness stretching back centuries but maintains that they are a pure perfect church?
Just spitballin’ here, but maybe-—just hear me out-—this is why so many Protestants identify the Catholic Church as the “Whore of Babylon” in Revelations?
Asking for a friend.
Is anyone who hangs around worshipping our Lord there besides the Blessed Virgin perfect?
Our Masses do ok—daily attendance is 5-10% of the town’s population, and there is a second parish (which doesn’t have Mass every day).
I don’t think anyone here thinks they are perfect though—but the bulk of the people do know how to use the confessional, which is a step in the right direction.
With perfect people, I bet your lines are shorter.
We have all the means of perfection—we just don’t use them all that well most of the time.
It is worth trying to use them.
Did you know that you can get a plenary indulgence for reading the Bible for a half hour under the usual conditions>
FWIW—the walls of hell are said to be lined with Mitres. John Chrysostom thought that the odds of Bishops making it to heaven weren’t real great. It still doesn’t mean that Christ doesn’t write with crooked lines.
It is worth trying to use them."
A decent response but I didn't get a yes or no for an answer. I am well acquainted with churches that have bad characters in the pews. And that's fine. Maybe they will learn to do better. But my question dealt with a leadership problem. One in which a Christian might not want to be associated with for it has the appearance of evil. (1 Thess. 5:22)
How much evidence do people like you need?
Seriously.
I NEVER said PEOPLE were PERFECT,
Not only are you a BIGOT but you are A TAD EVIL in your LYING!
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