The Catholic Church is here to stay

Vivificat! - A Personal Catholic Blog of News, Commentary, Opinion, and Reflections ^ | 1 September 2006 | Teófilo

[Teófilo]

The Church will withstand every challenge from without and from within; for nothing will ever separate us from the love of Christ; because in Christ we have overcome the world, and because the powers of hell and death will not prevail against the Church.

Folks, according to AFP/YahooNews:

Catholic Church will survive all tests: Pope

ROME (AFP) - The Roman Catholic Church will overcome any ordeals encountered, just as it weathered Muslim invasions, Nazism, communism and Enlightenment philosophy,

Pope Benedict XVI has said.

The Church lives and will continue to live, just as it has survived "two thousand years of history ... despite its suffering and its weaknesses," he said at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.

Speaking with priests from the nearby Albano diocese, the pope reached as far back as the first Christian communities in Asia Minor (present-day western Turkey) and North Africa, and talked of "Muslim invasions."

"The Church seemed finished then," the pope said, quoted by the ANSA news agency, adding that numerous saints had revitalised the religion.

The Roman Catholic religion also overcome 18th century philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment, such as Rousseau and Voltaire, and also Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler "who wanted to destroy Catholicism ... and had all the means to do so," the German said.

"Faith is stronger than currents that come and go," the pope stressed. "We must therefore be courageous (as the church) represents never ending hope."

Commentary. Allow me to gloat a little: we're not going anywhere, people. We've survived persecutions by every tyrants from every continent and age. We've survive an onslaught of new ideas, some religious, some philosophical, some secular, keen on burying the Church "soon." Instead, we have buried them, as we will bury those we face today and that we'll face tomorrow.

Why is this so?

First, there is a promise:

Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.(St. Matthew 16:15-19, Douay-Rheims)

Then, there is this certainty:

For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39, ibid.)

Which is also a certainty shared by St. John the Apostle, as he wrote:

You are of God, little children, and have overcome him. Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.(1 John 4:4; ibid)

Sure, we will all be wounded in this process; some of these wounds will be self-inflicted. We will fall, but then, we will rise, like Christ on the way to Golgotha

Yet, with all her faults, the Church is the bride of Christ, and she who is "the assembly of those who have been called"--that's what "church" or ekklesia means in Greek, will be restored.

I draw great comfort from these certainties. That's why very few things faze me any more; for I confident in ultimate victory of the Lamb and of his Bride. In fact, we have already overcome the world.

So, let us glory in the Lord for his infinite love and praise and thank Him for having made us participants of His infinite bounty.

[nickcarraway]

Not only that, he was an American, a jew, a conservative, a big businessman, a tobacco company executive, an SUV, and let's see, what else don't leftists like...

[FJ290]

Not only that, he was an American, a jew, a conservative, a big businessman, a tobacco company executive, an SUV, and let's see, what else don't leftists like...

An SUV! That is historically INACCURATE! Everyone knows that SUVs were not in Germany at that time. Hitler was in fact a Mercedes, his favorite car.

[wea]

Priests did not become molesters, molesters became priests, many encouraged to do so by the Church's enemies. They are well entrenched, but being gotten rid of. check catholicfundamentalism.com for better explanation.

[Conservative til I die]

Nuts! If the Catholic Church cannot even overcome the lust for little children (pedophile preists), how are they going to "overcome the world"?! The Bible says, "come out from her my people that you not partake of her plagues". Any sensible person reading the Bible would do an "about face" from this corrupt organization!

PS: HITLER WAS CATHOLIC!

Good grief...

[darkangel82]

DU trolls aren't too hard to find, see my tagline.

[Iscool]

Appears as tho Hitler was somewhat religious long after he turned 18...

http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm

[wideawake]

Hitler was baptized Catholic, but was excommunicated long before he ever got involved in politics.

Not that I would expect accuracy from an individual who cannot even spell his own screenname.

And, by the way, I have to say it is in extremely poor taste to describe your mother so insultingly in your tag line. She did the best she could, and it's not her fault you turned out to be a harlot. Have some class.

[Petronski]

Don't mess with Catholics, they're a little touchy.

Oh yeah, anyone responding to hate like that is just "a little touchy." The problem isn't that message, it's them touchy papists.

[Petronski]

That creep wouldn't recognize his mother if he saw her. It's not that he doesn't know her, it's just that she looks so different, now that she's shaved her back.

[Campion]

You're citing an atheist website against fellow Christians?!?

[Petronski]

Wow, thanks for the atheist Nazi propaganda. You've outed yourself and your view of the world.

[Campion]

And it's not even a good atheist site. Let's see Hitler would appear to pray in public. Hmmm ... maybe like Bill Clinton carrying a big Bible. Whoopie.

There exist pictures of Hitler with churches in the background. Wow. It's sometimes hard to take a picture in Europe without having a church in the background.

Cardinal Orsini, the Pope's ambassador to Germany is photographed greeting Hitler, the chief of state, at a party. Duh! That's what diplomats do, for heavens' sake!

This is argument on the DU level, Iscool ... Rumsfeld once had dinner with Saddam Hussein, therefore ... Carl Rove controls the weather and George Bush is a fascist dictator and the war is illegal. Or something like that.

Be careful, sir, that in your very obvious hatred of Catholicism and Catholics you do not sin into sin. When you promote an atheists' attempt to slander Catholics and by extension all Christians, you just end up with mud on your face.

[Campion]

Erratum ... "do not sin into sin" should be "do not stray into sin".

[Campion]

Not only that, he was an American, a jew, a conservative, a big businessman, a tobacco company executive, an SUV, and let's see, what else don't leftists like...

He was a pro-life, evangelical, Republican oilman, business tycoon, and televangelist!!!

[Petronski]

Be careful, sir, that in your very obvious hatred of Catholicism and Catholics you do not stray into sin.

I'd say that hatred is, fait accompli, a sin.

[Campion]

Don't mess with Catholics, they're a little touchy.

Yeah, Catholics are strange, all right. Most people love being slanderously associated with Nazis and pedophiles.

[Campion]

Depends on the hatred. Hatred of an evil thing is not a sin.

However, St. John says that anyone who hates his brother is "still in darkness" even though he may say he is "in the light". In context, that means someone who thinks he's infallibly "once saved always saved" but hates his brother is on his way to hell, no matter how "born again" he thinks he is.

Let him who has ears hear ...

[ladyinred]

I did just read a quote from Hitler as an adult and in charge where he stated he was a Catholic and always would be. I will try to find it and post it. Of course, I don't believe he was a believer in God in the least.

[Petronski]

Depends on the hatred.

Perhaps it would have been more clear if I had said "I'd say that that hatred is a sin."

[Campion]

I did just read a quote from Hitler as an adult and in charge where he stated he was a Catholic and always would be.

If its the quotation I'm thinking of, it's reported by Albert Speer in "Inside the Third Reich". Hitler says that he considers himself "a member of the church" and plans to remain that way.

Problems:

1. Speer is not necessarily reliable. Evidence exists that he lied to save his skin, among other things. These are of course recollections he wrote down in prison, years after the fact.
2. "member of the church" doesn't specify what church Hitler's talking about
3. Hitler is not known to have been a Catholic communicant after his mid-to-late teens.
4. He is, OTOH, known to have lied like a rug, both in public and in private.