I have sitting here, open on my lap, my very own well-worn copy of the New American Bible, St. Joseph Edition. It was a gift to me by my priest several years ago.
As I open it, I notice a few things.
The first, right at the front, is a letter, signed "Paulus P P. VI", the Pope himself, hailing this Bible.
And when I look to the left of that, I see two things.
I see "IMPRIMATUR", signed by Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington.
And I see "NIHIL OBSTAT", given by Stephen J. Hartdegen, O.F.M, S.S.L. and Christian P. Ceroke, S.T.D.
Next, is the Vatican II Constitution.
And next is a long instruction manual "How To Read Your Bible" offered up by the Bishop's Committee of the Cofraternity of Christian Doctrine".
And there, on page 27 of my Catholic Bible, under the heading entitled "How Do You Know?" I read this:
"Sometimes, it is secular science which gives Christians the lead to reconsider their Bible understanding. The discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo made Christians aware that Genesis 1 is not a sacred lesson in science but a poem on creation. No well-educated person denies any longer that the human species has developed from prinates. This knowledge helped Christians to understand that Genesis 2 and 3 is not a lesson in anthropology, but an allegory, teaching us the lesson that sin is the root of all evil."
Now, to me, that teaching of the Church there in my Catholic Bible, signed by the Pope, Imprimatured by the Archbishop, with the Nihil Obstat of two ecclesiasts and an essay by the American Bishops, has been a key to my understanding all of these years, which has allowed me to easily fit my rigorously scientific and rational education together with my faith.
For this exercise, which is what I did here, you have called me a heretic. Strong words.
You are not an ordained clergyman.
You are a man determined to assert authority you do not have.
You may continue to do so, of course.
We each represent different strands of Catholic thought, obviously strands which are very far apart.
Your strand has a tone to it which is familiar to students of the history of the Catholic Church. It is the key reason Protestants hate us.
My tone is that of reasoned argumentation.
In response to your accusation of heresy, I merely observe that you are very opinionated.
I have written no heresy here.
Nor will I.
If you think there is heresy, then seek out an ordained official of the church and have him read and impose discipline on one of us.
Everyone ought to be very careful about throwing around the heretic mantle. We're a very exclusive club, and you have not been allowed in... yet!
words mean things. they just can't be explained away. what you wrote was clearly heresy. it reads like marcion has been resurrected. you also state you are the final authority.
that makes your writings heretical and your imagined exercise of authority protestant.
that's nothing new around here - even for putative catholics