First steps, Next steps...
Wednesday April 23, 2008
Two refrains often lost amid the accolades for the papal visit is that the trip itself was, as Pope Benedict said, a chance for a new beginning, a first step, not the end of a process. The second refrain was...
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About Benedictions: The Pope in America
The last update to the Benedictions blog was in April 2008. We welcome your comments about the Pope and Catholicism in general in our http://community.beliefnet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=140”>Catholic forums.
David Gibson is an award-winning religion writer who specializes in writing about the Catholic Church, which he joined as a convert at the age of 30. He is the author The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World. He also wrote The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful are Shaping a New American Catholicism. He has written about Catholicism for leading newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, Boston magazine, Fortune, Commonweal, and America. Gibson worked in Rome for Vatican Radio for several years and traveled frequently with Pope John Paul II. He later covered religion for The Star-Ledger of New Jersey. He has co-written several recent documentaries on Christianity for CNN. For further information check out his website at dgibson.com.
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I can only support the first two VOTF solutions. Trying to democratize the Church by allowing everyone to participate in the decision making would be the same mistake made by the Reformation that has proliferated human errors and made a mockery of the promise of Jesus that His Church would be without error. The answer for that is to hold firmly to the infallible Magisterium and the deposit of faith that comes from the Apostles. Had this been followed along with the ban on homosexuals from the priesthood directed by Pope John XXIII, the scandal could have been avoided. The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church per se has no blame for those who do not honor its discipline or doctrines whatever the level. The blame falls on Human sin, and that is where the problem needs to be addressed. VOTF should try to change humanity's propensity for sin, if they want to correct the scandal and abuse. Leave the Catholic Church structure built by Jesus alone. Church accountability to a human committee is unconscionable.
Participation of the laity in decision-making does not mean a "vote" on every item. It means that competent lay people, with expertise in -- for example -- the financial area, are expected to lend their talents to making decisions within dioceses and parishes about financial issues. It means that parishioners are involved in selection of parish and diocesan pastoral councils. It means that parishioners are engaged in finding solutions for dropoffs in attendance, inadequate evangelization of the young, or other problems within their parishes. The "structure" modeled by the early Church (1st and 2nd century) is not the hierarchical, clergy-centric structure we have today. Remodeling the structure to utilize the many gifts the laity bring to the Church IS following the path Jesus set for us.
These people are not protected from error. The Magisterium is.
The Roman faithful joined together are changing the Roman Catholic Church and so make the Holy Spirit redundant.
Sacrilege detroys even the ashes in the fireplace.
I wonder if the infallible magisterium has decided which financial accountability model is best, how to reverse declining attendance, etc.
Oh my, the laity should return to pray, pay and obey. Sorry, too late. Catholics deserve to be treated as adults for a change with minds and consciences and talents they have a right and obligation to use by virtue of their baptism.
Ordination does NOT automatically confer infallibility on every utterance and action of a cleric. If so, the Holy Spirit has been AWOL for centuries.