Tony Blair has been Catholic for less than two years, and now takes it upon himself to tell the Pope that the old man is out of step with the times. I take it for granted that Blair is a very intelligent man, but his reasoning hardly rises to the level of freshman intro to philosophy class.
Anyway, I can understand -- though strongly disagree with -- people who were born into Catholicism and remain Catholic for cultural reasons, though rejecting the authoritative teaching of the Catholic Magisterium. I think they're wrong and that they're deluding themselves, but I understand the emotional reasons why they stay in the Catholic Church. But it takes a lot of chutzpah to embrace Catholicism with the full intent of picking and choosing which dogmatic beliefs you'll accept, and not only that but to give a public statement telling the Pope that he's wrong about something that the Catholic Church has taught since forever.
Nevertheless, you have to concede this point to the cheeky Blair:
"Look, there are many good and great things the Catholic Church does, and there are many fantastic things this pope stands for," Blair said."But I think what is interesting is that if you went into any Catholic church, particularly a well-attended one, on any Sunday here and did a poll of the congregation, you'd be surprised at how liberal-minded people were."
He's talking about UK Catholics, of course, but it's true of US Catholics too. Moralistic Therapeutic Deism triumphs.
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Well Fitz and Your Name of 10:34 AM, we'll just have to disagree - I don't see it as our genitals, legs, stomachs, etc have specific purposes and all other uses of them are disordered - I see it as we have genitals, legs, stomachs, etc and we do things with them.
If you convert to Catholicism and don't periodically cause some level of discomfort or surprise to old friends and colleagues, I gently suggest that your conversion is incomplete. There's nothing Mr. Blair says in this interview that would give a British lefty a moment's pause.
That, and newly-minted converts probably shouldn't get into the habit of public pissing matches with the Pope.
Well Fitz and Your Name of 10:34 AM, we'll just have to disagree
Yup. Well, there you go. I have my life and philosophy, you have yours, and there's no chance we'll ever achieve any kind of harmony. Might as well just go and buy a bigscreen. See you at Best Buy!
Your first hint that Tony Blair was missing some DNA gene that otherwise reveals common sense was his unqualified support for President Bush and the Iraq War, then or now.
Out of step with vatican II? First of all, I wonder what you see him undoing "on a whim". Secondly, while I certainly believe that a Pontiff has to show some respect for and consistency with the acts of previous pontiffs and councils, it is rather rich to complain of such things now after the past forty years disregarded so many of their predecessors so blatantly, and I would never say that he has to be "in step with" the council. He is the Pope, after all, not a drummer in an army band.
But most importantly, the objection is totally specious. Nobody who says that the Pope is "out of step" is using the term to indicate that he is violating the spirit of the council. They are saying he's out of step with the times. They more or less openly regard conformity to the popular culture as more important than fidelity to the Church's doctrines.
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