Dear, Dear Mad Dawg . . .
as the Ferraro compilation of quotes from the centuries of Mary and Saint adorations make abundantly clear—that’s just NOT TRUE for at least major percentages of RC’s.
Rushing back to hide under the shelter of the formal Catechism while MOST RC’S BELIEVE AND PRACTICE OTHERWISE
IS ABSURD, DISINGENUOUS AND AT SOME POINT, INTELLECTUALLY DISHONEST—to Proddys observing such things so relentlessly.
I don’t see how anybody knows what most Catholics think.
My “dirty picturees” chestnut was to sugest that if you come to, say, de Montfort expecting to find evidence of mariolatry, you will succeed. But if you are confident that de Montfort holds to the creeds and councils, it will never enter your mind that he thinks that Mary could be anything like the mother of the Father.
Even if it’s true that most Catholics are heretics or in astounding error, look: If I manufacture and market and effective toothpaste and it sells and some people insist on rubbing it on their elbows, is that my fault? It’s labelled toothpaste. I offer classes on its proper use, I can only do so much. I’m not going to quit making it because some people are weird.
And, sometimes people grow. It’s the whole Church as hospital thing again. If we had detailed theological exams one had to pass before receiving the sacraments, that might be a little like insisting people were healthy before admitting them for treatment.
Happy Penetcost!