Liturgical Symbolism – “The venerable tradition of celebrating the liturgy toward the east (ad orientem) is symbolically and theologically more in keeping with the nature of the liturgy as a cosmic and eschatological sacrifice of Christ the high priest.” People, Look East (Crisis)
Midwife of Science – “[I]t is altogether inappropriate for the Church to judge the scientific merit of theories and hypotheses. . . . the Church should not incorporate the results of science (which can change) into Catholic teaching.” Catholic Guidelines for Science Part I (Catholic Exchange)
Postwar Tyranny – “As early as 1970, the Italian Catholic philosopher Augusto Del Noce warned of a new kind of tyranny developing in the postwar culture of Western nations.” How to Resist the New Totalitarianism (First Things)
Four Types of Theology – “By no lesser authority than Thomas Aquinas, theology has been called the queen of the sciences. Why did the angelic doctor think this to be the case, and what exactly is theology?” On Theology (Patheos – Summa Catholic)
Political Bullies – “The so-called Respect for Marriage Act has pushed the issue of gay marriage back into the spotlight and, with it, the slogan ‘The right side of history.'” The Lord of History (The Catholic Thing)
Evidence for Agnostics – “What is the meaning of life? Or, to frame it in a more skeptical and agnostic fashion: Is there any meaning to life?” Meaning and Moral Matters (Catholic Exchange)
Follow-Up Letter – “Survey after survey shows that the attitude of Catholics on this topic is very like that of the American mainstream, i.e. a majority is in favor of legal abortion, at least in most cases.” On Catholics and abortion (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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CNA Staff, Nov 5, 2020 / 04:10 am (CNA).- The apostolic nunciature in Poland announced Wednesday that the diocesan phase of an investigation into an archbishop accused of negligence has ended.
A Nov. 4 statement, posted on the Twitter account of the o… […]
Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 5, 2016. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2023 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis as the 265th successor of St. Peter. Here is a timeline of key events during his papacy:
2013
March 13 — About two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI steps down from the papacy, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is elected pope. He takes the papal name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi and proclaims from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: “Let us begin this journey, the bishop and people, this journey of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity over all the Churches, a journey of brotherhood in love, of mutual trust. Let us always pray for one another.”
March 14 — The day after he begins his pontificate, Pope Francis returns to his hotel to personally pay his hotel bill and collect his luggage.
July 8 — Pope Francis visits Italy’s island of Lampedusa and meets with a group of 50 migrants, most of whom are young men from Somalia and Eritrea. The island, which is about 200 miles off the coast of Tunisia, is a common entry point for migrants who flee parts of Africa and the Middle East to enter Europe. This is the pope’s first pastoral visit outside of Rome and sets the stage for making reaching out to the peripheries a significant focus.
Pope Francis gives the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 2, 2013. . Elise Harris/CNA.
July 23–28 — Pope Francis visits Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to participate in World Youth Day 2013. More than 3 million people from around the world attend the event.
July 29 — On the return flight from Brazil, Pope Francis gives his first papal news conference and sparks controversy by saying “if a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” The phrase is prompted by a reporter asking the pope a question about priests who have homosexual attraction.
Nov. 24 — Pope Francis publishes his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). The document illustrates the pope’s vision for how to approach evangelization in the modern world.
2014
Feb. 22 — Pope Francis holds his first papal consistory to appoint 19 new cardinals, including ones from countries in the developing world that have never previously been represented in the College of Cardinals, such as Haiti.
March 22 — Pope Francis creates the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The commission works to protect the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, such as the victims of sexual abuse.
Pope Francis greets pilgrims during his general audience on Nov. 29, 2014. Bohumil Petrik/CNA.
Oct. 5 — The Synod on the Family begins. The bishops discuss a variety of concerns, including single-parent homes, cohabitation, homosexual adoption of children, and interreligious marriages.
Dec. 6 — After facing some pushback for his efforts to reform the Roman Curia, Pope Francis discusses his opinion in an interview with La Nacion, an Argentine news outlet: “Resistance is now evident. And that is a good sign for me, getting the resistance out into the open, no stealthy mumbling when there is disagreement. It’s healthy to get things out into the open, it’s very healthy.”
2015
Jan. 18 — To conclude a trip to Asia, Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Manila, Philippines. Approximately 6 million to 7 million people attend the record-setting Mass, despite heavy rain.
March 23 — Pope Francis visits Naples, Italy, to show the Church’s commitment to helping the fight against corruption and organized crime in the city.
May 24 — To emphasize the Church’s mission to combat global warming and care for the environment, Pope Francis publishes the encyclical Laudato si’, which urges people to take care of the environment and encourages political action to address climate problems.
Pope Francis at a Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 17, 2015. Bohumil Petrik.
Sept. 19–22 — Pope Francis visits Cuba and meets with Fidel Castro in the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II in 1998. During his homily, Francis discusses the dignity of the human person: “Being a Christian entails promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for it.”
Sept. 22–27 — After departing from Cuba, Pope Francis makes his first papal visit to the United States. In Washington, D.C., he speaks to a joint session of Congress, in which he urges lawmakers to work toward promoting the common good, and canonizes the Franciscan missionary St. Junípero Serra. He also attends the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which focuses on celebrating the gift of the family.
Oct. 4 — Pope Francis begins the second Synod on the Family to address issues within the modern family, such as single-parent homes, cohabitation, poverty, and abuse.
Oct. 18 — The pope canonizes St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azélie “Zelie” Guérin. The married couple were parents to five nuns, including St. Therese of Lisieux. They are the first married couple to be canonized together.
Dec. 8 — Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy begins. The year focuses on God’s mercy and forgiveness and people’s redemption from sin. The pope delegates certain priests in each diocese to be Missionaries of Mercy who have the authority to forgive sins that are usually reserved for the Holy See.
2016
March 19 — Pope Francis publishes the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, which discusses a wide variety of issues facing the modern family based on discussions from the two synods on the family. The pope garners significant controversy from within the Church for comments he makes in Chapter 8 about Communion for the divorced and remarried.
April 16 — After visiting refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis allows three Muslim refugee families to join him on his flight back to Rome. He says the move was not a political statement.
Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Feb. 24, 2016. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
July 26–31 — Pope Francis visits Krakow, Poland, as part of the World Youth Day festivities. About 3 million young Catholic pilgrims from around the world attend.
Sept. 4 — The pope canonizes St. Teresa of Calcutta, who is also known as Mother Teresa. The saint, a nun from Albania, dedicated her life to missionary and charity work, primarily in India.
Sept. 30–Oct. 2 — Pope Francis visits Georgia and Azerbaijan on his 16th trip outside of Rome since the start of his papacy. His trip focuses on Catholic relations with Orthodox Christians and Muslims.
Oct. 4 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to Amatrice, Italy, to pray for the victims of an earthquake in central Italy that killed nearly 300 people.
2017
May 12–13 — In another papal trip, Francis travels to Fatima, Portugal, to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. May 13 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Marian apparition to three children in the city.
July 11 — Pope Francis adds another category of Christian life suitable for the consideration of sainthood: “offering of life.” The category is distinct from martyrdom, which only applies to someone who is killed for his or her faith. The new category applies to those who died prematurely through an offering of their life to God and neighbor.
Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017. L’Osservatore Romano.
Nov. 19 — On the first-ever World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis eats lunch with 4,000 poor and people in need in Rome.
Nov. 27–Dec. 2 — In another trip to Asia, Pope Francis travels to Myanmar and Bangladesh. He visits landmarks and meets with government officials, Catholic clergy, and Buddhist monks. He also preaches the Gospel and promotes peace in the region.
2018
Jan. 15–21 — The pope takes another trip to Latin America, this time visiting Chile and Peru. The pontiff meets with government officials and members of the clergy while urging the faithful to remain close to the clergy and reject secularism. The Chilean visit leads to controversy over Chilean clergy sex abuse scandals.
Aug. 2 — The Vatican formally revises No. 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which concerns the death penalty. The previous text suggested the death penalty could be permissible in certain circumstances, but the revision states that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”
Aug. 25 — Archbishop Carlo Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, publishes an 11-page letter calling for the resignation of Pope Francis and accusing him and other Vatican officials of covering up sexual abuse including allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The pope initially does not directly respond to the letter, but nine months after its publication he denies having prior knowledge about McCarrick’s conduct.
Aug. 25–26 — Pope Francis visits Dublin, Ireland, to attend the World Meeting of Families. The theme is “the Gospel of family, joy for the world.”
Pope Francis at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Ireland. . Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Oct. 3–28 — The Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment takes place. The synod focuses on best practices to teach the faith to young people and to help them discern God’s will.
2019
Jan. 22–27 — The third World Youth Day during Pope Francis’ pontificate takes place during these six days in Panama City, Panama. Young Catholics from around the world gather for the event, with approximately 3 million people in attendance.
Feb. 4 — Pope Francis signs a joint document in with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, titled the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.” The document focuses on people of different faiths uniting together to live peacefully and advance a culture of mutual respect.
Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, signed a joint declaration on human fraternity during an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Feb. 4, 2019. Vatican Media.
Feb. 21–24 — The Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, which is labeled the Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit, takes place. The meeting focuses on sexual abuse scandals in the Church and emphasizes responsibility, accountability, and transparency.
Oct. 6–27 — The Church holds the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which is also known as the Amazon Synod. The synod is meant to present ways in which the Church can better evangelize the Amazon region but leads to controversy when carved images of a pregnant Amazonian woman, referred to by the pope as Pachamama, are used in several events and displayed in a basilica near the Vatican.
Oct. 13 — St. John Henry Newman, an Anglican convert to Catholicism and a cardinal, is canonized by Pope Francis. Newman’s writings inspired Catholic student associations at nonreligious colleges and universities in the United States and other countries.
2020
March 15 — Pope Francis takes a walking pilgrimage in Rome to the chapel of the crucifix and prays for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crucifix was carried through Rome during the plague of 1522.
March 27 — Pope Francis gives an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing in an empty and rain-covered St. Peter’s Square, praying for the world during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pope Francis venerates the miraculous crucifix of San Marcello al Corso in St. Peter’s Square during his Urbi et Orbi blessing, March 27, 2020. Vatican Media.
2021
March 5–8 — In his first papal trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis becomes the first pope to visit Iraq. On his trip, he signs a joint statement with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemning extremism and promoting peace.
July 3 — Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis, is indicted in a Vatican court for embezzlement, money laundering, and other crimes. The pope gives approval for the indictment.
July 4 — Pope Francis undergoes colon surgery for diverticulitis, a common condition in older people. The Vatican releases a statement that assures the pope “reacted well” to the surgery. Francis is released from the hospital after 10 days.
July 16 — Pope Francis issues a motu proprio titled Traditionis custodes. The document imposes heavy restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.
Dec. 2–6 — The pope travels to Cyprus and Greece. The trip includes another visit to the Greek island of Lesbos to meet with migrants.
Pope Francis greets His Beatitude Ieronymos II in Athens, Greece on Dec. 5, 2021. Vatican Media
2022
Jan. 11 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to a record store in Rome called StereoSound. The pope, who has an affinity for classical music, blesses the newly renovated store.
March 19 — The pope promulgates Praedicate evangelium, which reforms the Roman Curia. The reforms emphasize evangelization and establish more opportunities for the laity to be in leadership positions.
May 5 — Pope Francis is seen in a wheelchair for the first time in public and begins to use one more frequently. The pope has been suffering from knee problems for months.
Pope Francis greeted the crowd in a wheelchair at the end of his general audience on Aug. 3, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
July 24–30 — In his first papal visit to Canada, Pope Francis apologizes for the harsh treatment of the indigenous Canadians, saying many Christians and members of the Catholic Church were complicit.
2023
Jan. 31–Feb. 5 — Pope Francis travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. During his visit, the pope condemns political violence in the countries and promotes peace. He also participates in an ecumenical prayer service with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields.
@Letter to the Gazette
“Catholics do not oppose abortion for religious reasons” (Fr Ryan Sliwa). That is correct in context of natural law and discovery [discovery of natural law principles in Thomistic terms is the inherent apprehension of the intellect]. Natural law principles are not just religious principles, they are also the basis for justice and civil law.
“Catholics on this topic is very like that of the American mainstream, i.e. a majority is in favor of legal abortion, at least in most cases. The natural law tradition to which Fr. Sliwa refers is honorable and interesting, but by no means philosophically mandatory” (follow-up letter by John M. Connolly).
From a Catholic perspective Connolly ignores the fact that natural law is the basis of most juridical findings of right and wrong. Nor does the former professor acknowledge that natural law is the basis for moral law and religious doctrine. That most Catholics reject Church teaching [perhaps wrongly dismissed by Fr Sliwa] doesn’t remove the efficacy of Church doctrine based on natural law [the principles of natural law are apprehended through reasoned observation] as well as revelation.
For Catholics, Connolly’s unfortunate but correct view that most Catholics are not opposed to abortion – based on their refusal to obey the Church, their reliance on their own concepts of scientific knowledge, an indiscriminate libertarian idea of the common good is an apostasy from the truth that begs chastisement. If Sodom was destroyed for homosexuality by fire from heaven, how greater the wrath of God for those who sacrifice their own infants in their idolatry to material goods, that is, to the prince of this world? Unless our bishops take a necessary, courageous stand, Catholics [seemingly a majority] are destined for retribution.
The Continental Stage (#2 re Synodality)…Hurray, we have 26 “experts! We are all saved!
But, what’s the difference, if any, between these experts “compiling, aggregating, and now synthesizing” the synodal Plebiscite and, say, a low-cost kitchen blender? Of the synodal flip charts, no questions asked?
Who needs Successors of the Apostles when we can have—all kiss their ring now, or whatever–“experts!” But the article is dated Nov. 22, so we must ask and even hope that the more recent and striking remarks from Cardinal Quelette and even Pope Francis (below) might signal some kind of redirection? Or not?
A jaundiced eye might notice that Quelette (and Cardinal Ladaria Ferrer) are both over the age of retirement, and now fear that upstarts Grech and Hollerich are now positioned/ postured to replace even their dicastery offices and the Deposit of Faith with the new dispensation of 2023/24—that the ambulatory synodal process itself IS the message?
Lemming pie, anyone?
In the resurgent and anti-Christian, syncretic and natural religion of Islam, such a “paradigm shift” is well entrenched and called “abrogation.” The totally inscrutable God is simply incoherent. So, now, within the collapsing/relapsing walls of the Vatican, are the good guys winning, or not? Consult the “facilitator” bishops, subservient now to anointed/ascendant “experts”!
Liberalism and Religion (#1: symposium on Liberalism, Religion and Constitutionalism): I am reminded of a presentation and discussion yours truly delivered at a Newman Center, after which I sat with an Islamic barrister from Pakistan, a graduate student on scholarship studying western Constitutionalism (!)…
In the medical world an MRI image is sharpened by first adding high-contrast dye to the patient. In retrospect, and at the risk of preening, I propose that I added dye to the triangular theme of the Notre Dame Conference. The title of my subject book was/is: “Beyond Secularism and Jihad: A Triangular Inquiry into the Mosque [religion], the Manger [religion, but very different] & Modernity” [Liberalism and Constitutionalism, both very different] (University Press of America, 2012).
What do the distinction between Church and State, and then Catholic Social Teaching, have to say to both the rationalism of radical Secularism and the fideism of radical Sharia Law? Better than monologue or even dialogue is the three-way approach again open to the historical fact of the Incarnation. The 2017 CWR author-interview gives a peek. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/04/29/the-mosque-the-manger-and-modernity/
Ultimately, the local is managing the Synod. The “Continental Phase” helps to add things to his bucket.
My bishop said this past week that it’s not the numbers that count so much in the responses to the recent parish survey; rather, he is noticing that “when the ‘ parish synthesis ‘ is read back to the parishoners” or “to the parish” it is being absorbed and accepted enthusiastically, everywhere.
He said that it’s a choice that has to be made between maturing into inclusivity and dialoguing or excluding yourself through “egotism and wilfulness”; and that his experience is that the Synod is progressing with very positive development according to this mode. People are understanding it for what it is.
“None of the surveys returned complained that what is going on is questionable. All submissions were along the lines of people acknowledging this or that; and adding, but this also.”
I have to relate some background, though. Over the past 15 years the Life in the Spirit Seminar has taken over the forefront in many if not all parishes. It has a central control of which the bishop was a part before he became bishop. To them all this is not merely normal, it is the Holy Spirit in every instant; and in every instant, extraordinary and miraculous. It’s not “inclusivity” or “dialogue”.
Liberalism
Has everyone watched the EWTN video on the ‘Liberal’ ‘Progressive’ ‘Democrats’?
EWTN’s ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’ video will show you how the, ‘Liberal’ ‘Progressive’ ‘Democrats’ infiltrated the Catholic Church to destroy the Catholic Church. The Progressives started after WWI and have grown to become 800 covert organizations world wide, with the goal to destroy Christ’s Church. The Progressives have many operatives at top positions of power in our Catholic Church today.
@ At Four Types of Theology.
David Schloss’ introductory premise is that the existence of God is virtually self evident knowledge according to Aristotle’s first principles. We simply need to contemplate existence to realize this. No need to prove, that came later with skepticism.
Either something is self evident or it’s not. Contemplation of existence can mean anything, here, most likely reasoned enquiry. God is known through reason exactly as the Apostle argues in Rm 1. That is why God gave us an intellect. Whereas the revelation of God in Jesus of Nazareth is not arrived at by reason, rather by faith. Faith that is the gift of grace. A supreme truth to which all other principles or truths are peripheral. Self evident as revealed to the intellect, lesser or subsidiary principles support this supreme truth as the measure of reason. The truth of Christ’s revelation of the Father, God is the rule to which reason acquiesces. That is why Catholicism teaches it is only in and through Christ that we know God.
All theology including the four ‘types’ of theology Systematic, Biblical, Historical, Practical are better served with the appreciation that all theology has its root and anchor in Christ’s singular revelation of God the Father.
@Letter to the Gazette
“Catholics do not oppose abortion for religious reasons” (Fr Ryan Sliwa). That is correct in context of natural law and discovery [discovery of natural law principles in Thomistic terms is the inherent apprehension of the intellect]. Natural law principles are not just religious principles, they are also the basis for justice and civil law.
“Catholics on this topic is very like that of the American mainstream, i.e. a majority is in favor of legal abortion, at least in most cases. The natural law tradition to which Fr. Sliwa refers is honorable and interesting, but by no means philosophically mandatory” (follow-up letter by John M. Connolly).
From a Catholic perspective Connolly ignores the fact that natural law is the basis of most juridical findings of right and wrong. Nor does the former professor acknowledge that natural law is the basis for moral law and religious doctrine. That most Catholics reject Church teaching [perhaps wrongly dismissed by Fr Sliwa] doesn’t remove the efficacy of Church doctrine based on natural law [the principles of natural law are apprehended through reasoned observation] as well as revelation.
For Catholics, Connolly’s unfortunate but correct view that most Catholics are not opposed to abortion – based on their refusal to obey the Church, their reliance on their own concepts of scientific knowledge, an indiscriminate libertarian idea of the common good is an apostasy from the truth that begs chastisement. If Sodom was destroyed for homosexuality by fire from heaven, how greater the wrath of God for those who sacrifice their own infants in their idolatry to material goods, that is, to the prince of this world? Unless our bishops take a necessary, courageous stand, Catholics [seemingly a majority] are destined for retribution.
The Continental Stage (#2 re Synodality)…Hurray, we have 26 “experts! We are all saved!
But, what’s the difference, if any, between these experts “compiling, aggregating, and now synthesizing” the synodal Plebiscite and, say, a low-cost kitchen blender? Of the synodal flip charts, no questions asked?
Who needs Successors of the Apostles when we can have—all kiss their ring now, or whatever–“experts!” But the article is dated Nov. 22, so we must ask and even hope that the more recent and striking remarks from Cardinal Quelette and even Pope Francis (below) might signal some kind of redirection? Or not?
A jaundiced eye might notice that Quelette (and Cardinal Ladaria Ferrer) are both over the age of retirement, and now fear that upstarts Grech and Hollerich are now positioned/ postured to replace even their dicastery offices and the Deposit of Faith with the new dispensation of 2023/24—that the ambulatory synodal process itself IS the message?
Lemming pie, anyone?
In the resurgent and anti-Christian, syncretic and natural religion of Islam, such a “paradigm shift” is well entrenched and called “abrogation.” The totally inscrutable God is simply incoherent. So, now, within the collapsing/relapsing walls of the Vatican, are the good guys winning, or not? Consult the “facilitator” bishops, subservient now to anointed/ascendant “experts”!
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/11/28/return-to-the-spirit-of-the-acts-of-the-apostles/
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/11/28/pope-francis-explains-to-america-magazine-why-women-cannot-be-ordained-priests/
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/11/28/pope-francis-jesus-did-not-create-bishops-conferences/
Liberalism and Religion (#1: symposium on Liberalism, Religion and Constitutionalism): I am reminded of a presentation and discussion yours truly delivered at a Newman Center, after which I sat with an Islamic barrister from Pakistan, a graduate student on scholarship studying western Constitutionalism (!)…
In the medical world an MRI image is sharpened by first adding high-contrast dye to the patient. In retrospect, and at the risk of preening, I propose that I added dye to the triangular theme of the Notre Dame Conference. The title of my subject book was/is: “Beyond Secularism and Jihad: A Triangular Inquiry into the Mosque [religion], the Manger [religion, but very different] & Modernity” [Liberalism and Constitutionalism, both very different] (University Press of America, 2012).
What do the distinction between Church and State, and then Catholic Social Teaching, have to say to both the rationalism of radical Secularism and the fideism of radical Sharia Law? Better than monologue or even dialogue is the three-way approach again open to the historical fact of the Incarnation. The 2017 CWR author-interview gives a peek. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/04/29/the-mosque-the-manger-and-modernity/
But there are – can be – circumstances when a Catholic must resist abortion on grounds of religion.
Bringing it to your attention. This would apply to all Natural Law issues and it demands vigilance.
Ultimately, the local is managing the Synod. The “Continental Phase” helps to add things to his bucket.
My bishop said this past week that it’s not the numbers that count so much in the responses to the recent parish survey; rather, he is noticing that “when the ‘ parish synthesis ‘ is read back to the parishoners” or “to the parish” it is being absorbed and accepted enthusiastically, everywhere.
He said that it’s a choice that has to be made between maturing into inclusivity and dialoguing or excluding yourself through “egotism and wilfulness”; and that his experience is that the Synod is progressing with very positive development according to this mode. People are understanding it for what it is.
“None of the surveys returned complained that what is going on is questionable. All submissions were along the lines of people acknowledging this or that; and adding, but this also.”
I have to relate some background, though. Over the past 15 years the Life in the Spirit Seminar has taken over the forefront in many if not all parishes. It has a central control of which the bishop was a part before he became bishop. To them all this is not merely normal, it is the Holy Spirit in every instant; and in every instant, extraordinary and miraculous. It’s not “inclusivity” or “dialogue”.
Liberalism
Has everyone watched the EWTN video on the ‘Liberal’ ‘Progressive’ ‘Democrats’?
EWTN’s ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’ video will show you how the, ‘Liberal’ ‘Progressive’ ‘Democrats’ infiltrated the Catholic Church to destroy the Catholic Church. The Progressives started after WWI and have grown to become 800 covert organizations world wide, with the goal to destroy Christ’s Church. The Progressives have many operatives at top positions of power in our Catholic Church today.
https://youtu.be/ZnKB9NzgD4k
@ At Four Types of Theology.
David Schloss’ introductory premise is that the existence of God is virtually self evident knowledge according to Aristotle’s first principles. We simply need to contemplate existence to realize this. No need to prove, that came later with skepticism.
Either something is self evident or it’s not. Contemplation of existence can mean anything, here, most likely reasoned enquiry. God is known through reason exactly as the Apostle argues in Rm 1. That is why God gave us an intellect. Whereas the revelation of God in Jesus of Nazareth is not arrived at by reason, rather by faith. Faith that is the gift of grace. A supreme truth to which all other principles or truths are peripheral. Self evident as revealed to the intellect, lesser or subsidiary principles support this supreme truth as the measure of reason. The truth of Christ’s revelation of the Father, God is the rule to which reason acquiesces. That is why Catholicism teaches it is only in and through Christ that we know God.
All theology including the four ‘types’ of theology Systematic, Biblical, Historical, Practical are better served with the appreciation that all theology has its root and anchor in Christ’s singular revelation of God the Father.
Thank you, Father, for your response. I greatly appreciate your criticism and feedback.
God Bless.