Posted on 12/11/2002 4:58:07 AM PST by ninenot
Obviously, she made her choice--and it was NOT her family.
I used the term 'stupid' when I should have said 'uninterested.' Of course, it is STUPID to sit at a 2-hour meeting every month if one is not interested in the proceedings, nor the outcome...
(Early:) a portion of the middle nave was often enclosed with rails and added to the sanctuary, as may be seen today in the San Clemente at Rome
(After 1000 AD) The walls of this sanctuary, which had thus become a formal enclosure,
(Gothic) Gothic architecture, which, in consequence of the improved vaulting, found it easier to conduct the side aisles around the choir, as the Romanesque architects had already done in individual cases. The sanctuary indeed was not thereby essentially altered, but it was now accessible on all sides, and the faithful could attain to the immediate vicinity of the high altar, When it was not separated by a wall, an entirely free view of the sanctuary was offered. For the most part, however, the termination of the sanctuary with walls was retained, while in front was still erected the screen, which enjoyed in the Gothic period its special vogue.
Side by side with this "cathedral type" was retained the old simple type, in which the sanctuary was not accessible on all sides; this was found especially in parish churches and in the churches of the mendicant orders.
(Renaissance) In its preference for bright and airy spaces, the Renaissance also abandoned the method of separating the sanctuary from the rest of the church by means of a screen; at a subsequent period, the latter was replaced by the low Communion bench.
(Conclusion:) In the medieval church the sanctuary was shut off from the congregation and was as inaccessible as the Holy of Holies in the Temple of the Old Testament; the sanctuary of the Renaissance church stands out before us in a brilliance of light like Mount Tabor, but without blinding our gaze. We believe that we are nearer the Deity, our hearts are filled with joyous sentiments, so that we might cry out with the Apostle Peter "It is good for us to be here". In the medieval church, on the other hand, we are penetrated with a mysterious awe and like Moses feel urged to take off our shoes, for this is a holy place.
BEDA KLEINSCHMIDT.
Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV
Copyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition Copyright © 2002 by Kevin Knight
Nihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor
Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Your Ph.D.'s remarks sound similar to the offhand slurs emitted by Rembert the Vandal shortly after he became the Archbishop of Milwaukee. In speaking of pipe organs, Rembert the Vandal stated that 'they were originally found in French whorehouses.'
This typically profane statement (matched by your Ph.D.'s "cowguard" remarks,) betrayed Rembert the Vandal's REAL and utter dis-belief in the nature of the sacred--but it was only several years later that his disbelief became crystal clear to his priests and a growing number of the Faithful.
During his reign, parishes and schools closed, the Diocese became financially unstable, Ordinations dropped to an average of less than 1/year, etc., etc., etc.
Lack of fidelity has a price--and we are paying it here in Milwaukee.
Trent explicitly states that Justice is not possible without Faith.
Chapter 7. What the Justification of the Impious Is, and What Are the Causes Thereof ... Of this justification the causes are these: the final cause indeed is the glory of God and of Jesus Christ, and life everlasting; ... the instrumental cause is the Sacrament of Baptism, which is the sacrament of faith, without which (faith) no man was ever justified (cf. Hebrews 11) ... (Council of Trent, Decree on Justification, Session 6, January 13, 1547)
What you seem to be proposing is the condemned Naturalism of Michael du Bay - that man is promised heaven upon account of good works performed naturally without supernatural faith.
Condemned Error 4. Eternal life was promised to integral man and to the angel in view of good works, and good works in themselves from the law of nature suffice for attaining it.
Condemned Error 6. By the natural law it has been ordained for man that, if he would persevere in obedience, he would attain to that life, in which he could not die. (Pope St. Pius V, Bull Ex omnibus afflictionibus (Errors of Michael du Bay), October 1, 1567)
Is this not what you are saying? That a man can, without supernatural faith, and thus also without supernatural grace (you can't have one without the other), can be saved? This is pure and unadulterated heresy.
And since "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6) and to attain the fellowship of His children, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification: nor will anyone obtain eternal life, unless he shall have persevered in faith unto the end (cf. Matthew 10:22, 24:13). And that we may be able to satisfy the obligation of embracing the true faith and of persevering in it, God has instituted the Church through His only-begotten Son, and has bestowed upon it manifest marks of that institution, that it may be recognized by all men as the guardian and teacher of the revealed word; for to the Catholic Church alone belong all those many and admirable tokens which have been divinely established for the evident credibility of the Catholic Faith ... (Vatican Council I, Dei Fillius (Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith), 1870)
It is impossible to reconcile what you are saying with the revealed truth of the Catholic Faith.
You also wrote: "Baptism of water, baptism of blood, baptism of desire. All are valid. The Sacrifice of Calvary was sufficient for ALL men to be saved. You know that baptism by water (with proper form) is also valid whether administered by Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, etc."
While the Sacrifice of Calvary was sufficient for all men, it was efficacious only for many, because not all men are saved.
As to Baptism outside the Church, it is valid but worthless for adults. The Sacraments do not impart grace outside the Church. Because the Sacraments signify the unity of all Christians among each other in one Church and with God, to receive them apart from that one Church is to destroy that unity. The destruction of unity is schism, and schism is a sin, listed in Galatians 5.22-23 in fact. No man in sin receives grace, and to receive Sacraments while in a state of sin actually compounds the error, since one is heaping up further follies upon one's head, not blessings.
[The holy Roman Church] believes, professes, and preaches that "no one remaining outside the Catholic Church, not just pagans, but also Jews or heretics or schismatics, can become partakers in the eternal life; but they will go down to the 'everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels' (Matthew 25:41)," (St. Fulgence of Ruspe, De Fide ad Petrum, 38), unless before the end of life they are joined to the Church. For union with the body of the Church is of such importance that the sacraments of the Church are helpful to salvation only for those remaining in it; and fasts, almsgivings, other works of piety, and the exercise of Christian warfare bear eternal rewards for them alone. "And no one can be saved, no matter how much alms he has given, even if he sheds his blood for the name of Christ, unless he remains in the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church" (St. Fulgence of Ruspe, op. cit., 39). (Council of Florance, Bull Cantate Domino (Decree for the Jacobites), February 4, 1442)
This is a defined doctrine that all Catholics must accept. Do you?
As Christmas time nears with its frenzy of gift giving, we should ponder the greatest gift we have ever been given - our Catholic Faith. This gift is so precious that we should die to defend it rather than violate it in any way. It is so wonderful because it opens up the gates of heaven that were shut by Adam's sin.
How thankful we ought to be to Jesus Christ for the gift of faith! What would have become of us if we had been born in Asia, Africa, America, or in the midst of heretics and schismatics? He who does not believe is lost. This, then, was the first and greatest grace bestowed upon us: our calling to the true faith. O Savior of the world, what would have become of us if Thou hadst not enlightened us? We would have been like our fathers of old, who adored animals and blocks of stone and wood; and thus we would have all perished. (St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Preparation for Death)
And yet, here we are trampling upon this wonderful gift - the Good News that Christ was born to tell to us - by denying His Word and setting people down the wide road to perdition, telling them that they have no need of the very thing we hold most dear, but that they must merely be good and upright and God will justify them and call them to Himself, though they never knew Him.
Now we examine another prolific cause of evils by which, we lament, the Church is at present afflicted, namely indifferentism, or that base opinion which has become prevalent everywhere through the deceit of wicked men, that eternal salvation of the soul can be acquired by any profession of faith whatsoever, if morals are conformed to the standard of the just and the honest. (Pope Gregory XIV, Encyclical Mirari vos, August 15, 1832)
God is not pleased by the cacophony of men trying to drown out His revealed Truth.
It is impossible for the most true God, who is Truth Itself, the best, the wisest Provider, and rewarder of good men, to approve all sects who profess false teachings which are often inconsistent with one another and contradictory, and to confer eternal rewards on their members. For we have a surer word of the prophet, and in writing to you We speak wisdom among the perfect; not the wisdom of this world but the wisdom of God in a mystery. By it we are taught, and by divine faith we hold, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and that no other name under heaven is given to men except the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in which we must be saved. This is why we profess that there is no salvation outside the Church. (Pope Leo XII, Encyclical Ubi primum, 14)
Your refusal to be taught by the Church is breathtaking.
We should say the Novena of Grace for the Unbelievers, and then get off our butts and do something about it by telling them of the Gospel of Christ.
Eternal God, Creator of all things, remember that the souls of unbelievers have been created by Thee and formed to Thy own image and likeness. / Behold, O Lord, how to Thy dishonor hell is being filled with these very souls. / Remember that Jesus Christ, Thy Son, for their salvation suffered a most cruel death. / Do not permit, O Lord, I beseech Thee, that Thy Divine Son be any longer despised by unbelievers, but rather, being appeased by the prayers of Thy saints and of the Church, the most holy spouse of Thy Son, deign to be mindful of Thy mercy and forgetting their idolatry and unbelief, bring them to Him Whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who is our health, life and resurrection, though Whom we have been redeemed and saved, to Whom be all glory forever. Amen. (Novena of Grace, St. Francis Xavier)
Sorry, Herm. I am not a heretic, and neither will your incomplete reading of Trent make me one.
As Trent states: GRACE is necessary for redemption. That GRACE was won for us by the death of Christ. It was won FOR ALL MEN by the death of Christ. The Catechsim (as quoted above) also states, DE FIDE, that (all other conditions being met) an upright man can be saved by "baptism of desire," which is a result of his striving to lead a good life.
It is heretical, of course, to propose otherwise. Further, some would argue that it is heretical to propose that perfect Justice is NOT available "without Faith."
Is there a different God for some than for others? Is He not the Father of us all??? Or only for some?
In fact, it is perfectly clear from both Trent and V.II documents that those NOT baptized with water can be baptized in blood, or in desire.
Proof-texting doesn't make it, HerCher.
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