The title of my piece in Sunday's "Outlook" section of the Washington Post is "Who Is a Real Catholic?" and it is already garnering some tough comments in reaction. That may be because in pointing to the assimilation/engagement trend in American Catholicism, I point to the Catholic right as having substituted right-wing political strategies as the baseline threshold for being a good Catholic, where once a true Catholic culture and understanding of faith served that role.
My lede:
All you need to know to diagnose the state of the Catholic Church in America today is that Pope Benedict XVI -- who has a knack for ticking off Muslims and Jews -- spent the past week wandering the Middle East, yet Catholics here barely noticed. They were too busy fighting over Barack Obama's appearance as commencement speaker at Notre Dame or arguing about the fate of a popular Miami priest known as "Father Oprah," who was caught on camera sharing a seaside embrace with his girlfriend.
Check it out here. Let me know what you think. I'll also be having a live web Q&A at 11am ET Monday on the story and the Obama at Notre Dame aftermath.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Do you wanna see a real catholic???
See the video of father Norman,arrested today.
His crime?
Fighting peacefully against abortion at a catholic university.
Orthodox Catholics have every right to express their opinions even in forceful and argumentative ways. What they do not have the right to do is decide who is a Catholic and who is not. The best quote in your piece was "There is no need of adding any qualifying terms to the profession of Catholicism," Benedict XV concluded. "It is quite enough for each one to proclaim 'Christian is my name and Catholic my surname.'" The Church dogmas and doctrines are clear and unwavering, but the question of who is and is not Catholic must be answered individually.
I REMEMBER THAT WHEN I FILLED OUT ONE OF MY RESUME FEW YEARS BACK
TO A JOB EMPLOYMENT CAN'T REMEMBER WHEN AND WHERE,I HAVE BEEN CONFUSED
WHAT TO WRITE DOWN WHEN THE PAPER ASKING WHAT IS YOUR RELIGION,AND AT
THAT TIME I WAS IN THE COURSE OF MY LIFE TO THINK ABOUT GROWING MORE
INTO FAITH SO ORIGINALLY,I WAS A CATHOLIC,I WROTE IN THE PAPER CATHOLIC,THEN I RETHINK AGAIN KNOWING I AM ATTENDING OR LEARNING BIBLE
STUDIES AND I PUT IT BESIDE IT CHRISTIAN.THAT IS A FIT ANSWER TO THE COMMENTS ABOVE AS IT HAPPENED TO ME TRUE TO LIFE.SOMETIMES,IN LIFE,WHILE YOU WERE BABY,IT IS NEVER A CHOICE TO BE BAPTIZED IN A CHURCH YOUR PARENTS HAVE BAPTIZED YOU,OBVIOUSLY,WE WERE BABIES AND OUR
FOLKS WERE OUR ROLE MODEL.WHEN WE GROW OLDER,IT IS OUR CHOICE OR NO TO HOLD ON TO THE WAY OUR PARENTS HAVE RAISED US IN CERTAIN AREA OF OUR LIVES,BUT WHEN I HAVE READ ANOTHER PASSAGE IN THE BIBLE SAYING THAT JESUS CAME NOT TO BRING PEACE IN THE WORLD BUT HE BROUGHT SWORD,AND THAT FATHERS WILL FIGHT AGAINST THEIR OWN SON,MOTHERS AGAINST DAUGHTERS,DAUGHTERS AGAINST MOTHER IN LAWS...THESE WORDS ARE THE VERY WORDS OF JESUS AS HIS WAY TO BRING OUT THE TRUTH IN THE
DECLARATION OF INDIVIDUAL'S FAITH.THIS IS MY COMMENT TO THIS POST.
"Luther-like dignity"
Are you joking? Cutie made a promise to God and to the Church that he broke. He's a coward and a hypocrite who got caught. If he really fell in love, then he should have left the priesthood.
While I disagree with nearly every conclusion you reach, I do think that you accurately point to the main problem- our bishops have lost all credibility. They have massively failed us through their lack of orthodox catechesis and their evil acts during the abuse scandals. Collegiality has failed, what we need is not more rebellion from confused Catholics, we need action from Rome that is long overdue.
When did the Catholic Church become a division of Fox News? Is that what we want?
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006)
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.