Comments for Sin and the Synod at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 26 out of 20 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Sun, 19 May 2013 11:29:05 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14145 Jeremy, have you ever read any of Paul VI's writings? I've always found his to be the easiest to understand among the writings of modern popes. - Louise Wed, 31 Oct 2012 21:48:42 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14137 I have yet to find an announcement from the Vatican or a Bishop that was short, clear, and phrased in the sort of language that the average man in the street understands. - Jeremy Cox Wed, 31 Oct 2012 07:42:20 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14132 @Ernest, The road to hell would be broader even if the hell was to be empty. - Gian Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:32:21 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14127 Mr. Royal is right. I can think of no more difficult job than to be a successor to the Apostles -- except possibly a parish priest. And when an individual bishops speaks we often here devoutness and courage. But when bishops speak en bank one can't help but taste a watered brew. One hears a diplomat rather than a shepherd. I guess I do like my Catholicism neat. As a convert I have often thought about my RCIA experience. The instructor was well educated, accomplished (a successful auto executive), and as it happens, a seminary graduate. Yet on reflection I noted two omissions. One: not a single session focussed exclusively on the Mass, both its meaning and its liturgical expressions. Two: there are some hard teachings that cascade from the Magisterium not the least being that abortion is a grave moral evil. Yet as I sat in RCIA one Sunday morning in the fall of 2008 a fellow catechist came up to me to say how happy she was to be "working for the Obama campaign." I didn't know what say to that. And one more quibble. I would like just one Catholic writer, thinker, member of Holy Orders, Religious, or professor to define in concrete, specific, emphatic terms just what he or she means by "individualism." Is it an encryption for "conservatism?" - Graham Combs Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:31:19 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14124 @Gian But Gian, the results appear to be the same, that is, the results reflect the will, no? - Ernest Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:38:52 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14123 WHEN THE BISHOPS OF BIG CHRISTIAN CHURCHES BECOME TRUE APOSTLES AND START PROCLAIMING GOD'S WORD THE WORLD WILL BE SAVED OR ELSE THE CHURCH, THE OFFICIAL ONE AND ITS ADHERENTS OF COURSE WILL KEEP ON FALLING AWAY LIKE RUST. LOOK AT EUROPE! - Fr. Thomas Poovathinkal Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:28:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14117 One way the bishops can better advance evangelization efforts is to not take sides on issues that allow divergent views amongst Catholics like capital punishment and immigration to name a couple. Their taking sides, coupled with the misinformation they often labor under often does much to undermine the New Evangelization - Greg Mockeridge Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:11:34 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14115 "the broad way is to hell, the narrow way to heaven." CS Lewis remarks that the Dominical sayings are directed to the conscience and the will and not to the intellect, primarily. Thus, the broad way to hell is NOT a quantitative information about the relative population of heaven and hell but the exhortion to the will to make effort necessary for salvation. - Gian Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:37:42 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14114 I hope the bishops were able to listen to Ralph Martin, who attended and has been an evangelist his entire adult life. He has recently written a book concerning the idea that it may be only "few" that are saved. He reminds readers that scriptures tell us the broad way is to hell, the narrow way to heaven. And somehow that's gotten reversed. This is a basic reason for evangelization today. - Austin Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:48:44 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14111 For me the jury is still out in terms of the Synod. What seem to be mundane and somewhat materialistic propositions issued by the Synod Fathers might be transformed into something closer to the Gospel in the hands of Pope Benedict, when he issues the Apostolic Exhortation. - Jessica Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:02:50 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14109 Many propositions such as THEOLOGY OF CREDIBILITY, COURTYARD OF THE GENTILES, ECUMENICAL DIALOGUE and URBAN SCENARIOS give us the goal. The Synod appears at worst to subordinate (or at least equate) the reality of the our last judgement outside the "Catholic" Church with the earthly reality of various social justice issues. The paper focuses on collaboration with - rather than conversion of - those outside the Catholic Church to address those needs. The program is not Evangelical and perhaps is better described as a Red Cross recruiting drive. The Synod's strategy to re-introduce the modern world to the documents of VII via the yet more obscure hermeneutics interpretation will be counter-productive, for these documents helped remove Catholic identity and purpose from our Catholic institutions. The synod did not emphasize the requirement to return to the Catholic faith nor select the correct tool to buttress our efforts. - Matthew Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:09:20 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14107 In the daily exercise of Our pastoral office, it sometimes happens that We hear certain opinions which disturb Us—opinions expressed by people who, though fired with a commendable zeal for religion, are lacking in sufficient prudence and judgment in their evaluation of events. They can see nothing but calamity and disaster in the present state of the world. They say over and over that this modern age of ours, in comparison with past ages, is definitely deteriorating. One would think from their attitude that history, that great teacher of life, had taught them nothing. They seem to imagine that in the days of the earlier councils everything was as it should be so far as doctrine and morality and the Church's rightful liberty were concerned. We feel that We must disagree with these prophets of doom, who are always forecasting worse disasters, as though the end of the world were at hand. A Basis For Optimism Present indications are that the human family is on the threshold of a new era. We must recognize here the hand of God, who, as the years roll by, is ever directing men's efforts, whether they realize it or not, towards the fulfillment of the inscrutable designs of His providence, wisely arranging everything, even adverse human fortune, for the Church's good. - Angelo Roncalli, aka Pope John XXIII Mon, 29 Oct 2012 10:10:47 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14106 Well written. Of course, I doubt even Martin Luther King, Jr., could have expressed “the fierce urgency of now” through a powerpoint presentation or through a document written by a committee. (Please note that when the Holy Spirit worked through human authors to create the Bible, it was through one author at a time. This is even true of books like Psalms and Proverbs, where different authors contributed different parts.) - Howard Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:24:44 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14105 Mr Royal: Great piece!. The bottom line is that the Church no longer has a clear and credible message. In the past the basic idea was simple, man by himself is mortal and sinful, we ultimately if left to our own devices will end up in hell after we spend a relatively brief time in this veil of tears. For the atheistic the ultimate fate is not hell but oblivion. Not too appealing a thought either way. The "Good News" is that by uniting ourselves with Christ in his passion and resurrection, ( that is by an active faith that participates in the sacraments, repents of sin, we can have enter heaven) This is a pretty simple message. One can perhaps reject it or believe it, but it is certainly understandable. Most of what is pout out know by the hierarchy is too vague event to reject. The bottom line the Bishops need to answer, do they still believe it makes any difference to your ultimate fate after you are dead whether or not you are a Christian, and more specifically if you are a Catholic. ? - MRD Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:32:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14103 I agree with Manfred and Bishop Richard Williamson. Time to bail out of this Church of the Anti-Christ! - Douai Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:17:14 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14102 Mr. Royal’s comments are incisive. What I perceive during the last few years when efforts have been made to counter ‘the spirit of Vatican II’, the advice has been too theoretical, and at times inconsistent. (E.g., see Randall Smith’s summary of the Bishops’ guidelines for Voting on The Catholic Thing on 10/25/12) What we need, in my opinion, are some precise moral rules (a la the 10 Commandments) brief and direct, followed by explanations of what each of these rules mean and require in daily living. This will give evangelists the message to use in their efforts to evangelize on the personal level. - senex Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:12:06 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14101 Bob's comment about not criticizing our bishops is right on the money. A priest friend of mine commented yesterday that the modern Church is something like the thirteenth-century Church. God raised up a St. Dominic and a St. Francis and the world has never been the same. God can do the same here and now, if only he finds a soul earnestly searching for him. A recently canonized saint wrote in one of his foundational texts, "A secret, an open secret: these world crises are crises of saints. God wants a handful of men 'of his own' in every human activity. And then... 'pax Christi in regno Christi — the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ'." (To allay any concerns, "men" can and should be read in its traditionally inclusive sense to include men and women.) It's always easy to say that the bishops aren't doing enough. It's probably good to recall, especially as we head into November, that at each of our particular judgements the good and just Lord will ask each one of us, "But what did YOU do?" We need to be men and women of prayer, men and women who know the teaching of the Church -- beginning with Holy Scripture --, men and women who frequent the sacraments and bring others to them, especially the Sacrament of Penance, men and women whose homes reflect the peace and power of the Gospel. The temptation to blame them for not making it easier for us to do so is all too easy, but look at it in this light: when did you last speak to your pastor about making Confession times longer, or restoring some of the Church's best-loved music to Mass, or celebrating Exposition and Adoration. The New Evangelization will be successful only if we laity let ourselves be re-evangelized and bring our relatives and friends to meet the Lord in Word and Sacrament, in prayer and in apostolate. The onus, I suggest, is on us. - Dave Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:03:09 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14100 Robert Royal, I was for you before I was against you. I was for you when you quoted Yeats and built your argument. I am against you post that the faithful are "too quick to condemn..." The faithful follow Jesus and He was quick to condemn the Pharisees. - Ernest Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:01:08 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14099 Let me caution commenters here not to be too sure of their own insight and courage. The typical bishop in the modern world has a daunting set of responsibilities and critics on every side. Catholics who claim to be faithful but who are too quick to condemn don't help the cause. By all means, let's encourage the bishops to be even bolder in their witness, but let's do so in a spirit of full support. - Robert Royal Mon, 29 Oct 2012 06:06:05 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/sin-and-the-synod.html#comment-14097 The new evangelization seem so to be more of the same, and just as lame. - John Sobieski Mon, 29 Oct 2012 04:12:33 +0100