Posted on 03/24/2002 6:32:42 PM PST by Longshanks
Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa Fe, whom I have known for 25 years and is, without doubt, one of the finest priests and shepherds in the American Church today, has been slimed by the RCF.
I take everything the RCF says with a grain of salt.
But my Holy Father, there is only one and he is in Heaven.
For whatever reason, the American bishops have tended to be a weak-kneed bunch, and their bureaucracies are full of liberal dissenters who undermine them whenever THEY try to clamp down. The Pope has replaced most of the worst bishops with better ones, but too many of them still lack the will to do what needs to be done. The Church in America was badly hit in the great countercultural revolution of the 1960s and thereafter, like all our other institutions. On the whole, it has done pretty well, considering the grave damage that liberals have done from within. Many of the Protestant denominations were similarly affected, and many of them have had more trouble recovering from the damage than the Catholic Church has shown. They also have homosexual problems, but the media ignores it, or applauds it, because they consider these churches to be too weak to be a threat to their desire for "sexual and reproductive freedom."
Of course, he could have excommunicated a bunch of people, but I'm not sure whether that would have been more productive than the course he has taken. You can't run a Church without the willing cooperation of the hierarchy, the priests, and the laity.
It would shake things up. How could it make things worse? How long should we tolerate active homosexuals in the clergy?
Learn what Ex Cathedra actually means.
Our chancery is way back on private property. Church property. You couldn't demonstrate in front of our chancery. The only thing they understand is money and lots of people showing up. It's a solidarity and pr thing.
Yes. You really should take the time to read all of Scripture.
From amongst many examples:
John 21:25 "But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think would not be able to contain the books that should be written."
2 Thessalonians 2:14 "Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle."
Matthew 14:26 "But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you."
JPII has to walk a tightrope. How does he do his job of reprimanding needed individuals and not stir up events that might lead to an even deeper apostacy? And not scandalize the faithful in the process? I believe he is the very Pope who Bosco saw in his dream guiding the huge ship of state through the tremendous storm to a safe harbor.
Our Lord set the example when he expelled money-changers profaning the temple. Let us KICK THE FAGS OUT!!!
Also remember that St. Paul corrected St. Peter after he backslid from the petrine doctrine on dietary laws defined at the Council of Jerusalem.
On the other hand, Catholics are sort of hamstrung when it comes to dealing with this problem and others involving the Church. The flawed ( and recent) doctrine of "Papal Infallability" is the reason. Even the Medievil Popes didn't claim that virtue.
Literally "from the chair", a theological term which signifies authoritative teaching and is more particularly applied to the definitions given by the Roman pontiff. Originally the name of the seat occupied by a professor or a bishop, cathedra was used later on to denote the magisterium, or teaching authority. The phrase ex cathedra occurs in the writings of the medieval theologians, and more frequently in the discussions which arose after the Reformation in regard to the papal prerogatives. But its present meaning was formally determined by the Vatican Council, Sess. IV, Const. de Ecclesiâ Christi, c. iv: "We teach and define that it is a dogma Divinely revealed that the Roman pontiff when he speaks ex cathedra, that is when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, by the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that his Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith or morals, and that therefore such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves and not from the consent of the Church irreformable." (See INFALLIBILITY; POPE.)
I read that the pope is getting divine revelation and is infallible in matters regarding faith and morals.
And what was your point again?
The demise of JPII has been expected for several years. He could be around for another decade. Meanwhile, our Catholic boys are being buggared as we speak. How long before laymen should begin to take action on there own? If history is any guide, homo-heretics will attempt increase their power in this latest crisis just as they have using AIDS.
Maybe he has something to hide . . .
I can't dispute that, but what should laymen in America do right now in response to the homo-abuse of our Catholic boys? Pay and pray only?
Again, papal infallability is not an issue here because JPII has not refined any church doctine (that I know about). However, perhaps because of the post-Vatican II collapse in catechesis, most Catholics don't understand the doctrine of church, and therefore papal, infallability.
The pope is NOT and was NEVER proclaimed to be infallable in matters of governance, only in his definition of doctrine acting as supreme leader of the church.
Since Vatican II the Catholic Church has been crumbling. It has joined the decaying hulks of the Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Methodist Churches. Christianity in general is in bad shape. Its unfortunate at this time as it is facing a serious threat from both secular humanism on one hand and Islam on the other.
That you obviously cannot comprehend a simple paragraph.
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