Comments for Be Not Afraid – Be VERY Not Afraid at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 14 out of 14 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Mon, 20 May 2013 15:50:35 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-16034 Quote: "Throughout the Western world. . .we can no longer sit back and assume that decent lives lived in conformity with the prevailing cultural norms will somehow convey the faith to our children and grandchildren and invite others to consider entering the Church." There's nothing bold about that at all. It's never been the case through the long history of the Church that you could let the prevailing culture teach your religion for you; it's never been the case that you could be fully Christian and not lift a finger 6 1/2 days a week to prove it. The fact that Catholics ever believed it was true is the reason we are where we are. Catholics dumbed up, sold out, gave up, caved in. - midwestlady Tue, 05 Mar 2013 09:13:19 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15784 Looking back, I realize i phrased my question poorly. I understand that conscience is not infallible even if one experiences certainty of conscience. What i was thinking about was this particular decision of the pope. What does certainty of conscience mean in this regard? Is he saying he has certainty of conscience as a pope or as a man who has prayed over this decision and come to a conclusion that he is as sure as man can be that it is the right decision? There is a lot to think about. - Louise Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:26:24 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15782 May God bless Benedict for his service to the Church. I think Mr. Miner's title might have been inspired by the Holy Spirit as a tribute to Benedict. His resignation follows a pattern of faithful and very unafraid innovation that makes the label "conservative" incomplete, at best: the outreach to SSPX, overtures to the Orthodox, Anglicanorum Coetibus, the liturgical innovation of two regular Roman Mass rites, honest and substantive intellectual engagement with Muslims...the list goes on. I do wonder what impact his action will have on the Petrine office. Until today, the Petrine ministry was indelibly linked to the personhood of the living Pope, even though a resignation was always theoretically possible. Benedict has consciously de-coupled these two, and there will undoubtedly be an impact on how future Popes govern the Church, collaborate with their brother bishops and are perceived by the faithful, other Christians and the outside world. - DS Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:13:54 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15781 @Brad, I wouldn't think certainty of conscience equals infallibility, even in a pope. Would you? If he were reelected I would be really surprised if he would say no. However, I don't know to what he is referring re his recent weaknesses. Maybe he is starting to see problems in memory that go beyond the normal aging or something. I's sure the cardinals will get the full story. He's never looked like someone who could get much sleep...if that is the case, it can be very debilitating especially as one ages, but that is just speculation on my part. - Louise Mon, 11 Feb 2013 07:54:57 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15780 @Louise: Gosh, that never crossed my mind. Re-elect the pope! But I think Benedict would say simply: No. I'm sure he's happy that he won't be participating in the conclave, since he's disqualified by age. - Brad Miner Mon, 11 Feb 2013 07:43:38 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15779 Poor Holy Father. He has never wanted to be pope. I remember reading his description of his feelings as it became clearer that he would probably be elected. His statement of conscience aside, it did occur to me that the cardinals could reelect him. Wonder what would happen then? - Louise Mon, 11 Feb 2013 07:21:33 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15778 Let us trust in God, and pray to the Holy Spirit that He guide the conclave as they elect the next pope. Having read much of what John Paul II and Benedict XVI have written, I think history will show them to have both been truly great and enlightened leaders. Even with today's technology, it will take time for the Church to really digest these writings. Yes, we live in difficult times for the Church. But the light of Christ still burns in hearts, even if people don't recognize it explicitly. We who do must pray, act, but above all TRUST in God's providence. - athanasius Mon, 11 Feb 2013 07:16:30 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15775 Manfred - I am not grouping you with voices talking about turning inward. That's a separate topic. - Chris in Maryland Mon, 11 Feb 2013 05:51:09 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15774 I am concerned with those in the Church who seek to turn inward...that seems just another form of "comfortable Catholicism." Manfred - I share your zeal for the truth, and admire the tenacity of your faith. But I don't share your critique of Pope Benedict. Pope Benedict does not have an uncritical view of Vatican II. For instance, he has criticized the defects of the Vatican II document "Gaudium et Spes." He showed courage of Catholic conviction with his document "Dominus Jesus" for which he was excoriated by "progressive Catholics.". It was Pope Benedict who took the bull by the horns and ordered the resignation of Fr. Maciel and the resignation of the Irish Bishops. I am not aware of any part of the Nicene Creed that Pope Benedict (nor JP2) has not advanced and defended. I am neither aware of any doctrines of the faith that Pope Benedict (or JP2) have (had) abandoned. I do agree with you that The Church is not dealing as effectively as it might with Modernism - i.e., the heresy of Modernism. Indeed - most Catholics don't even know what is meant by the "heresy of Modernism" - they think that "Modernism" vaguely has to do with technology and not knowing Latin. The Church is coming to grips with corrosiveness of Modernism, which crept in and spread from within. The Church will stay on the march...not to the corrupting beat of the Hans Kungs, Martinis and Soldanos inside the Church...but to the call of Christ, and his Apostles and martyrs. - Chris in Maryland Mon, 11 Feb 2013 04:45:44 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15773 We live in stunning times. It could well be that Mr. Weigel's new book is a blueprint for the future; I can't comment upon it because I haven't read it, but he has been accurate in a lot of what he has written. Right now the most important thing is to pray for the upcoming Conclave, and to pray for our current Holy Father who has to be resigning for only the gravest of reasons. We need, too, to pray for the unity of the Church -- the unity that is based in Truth, in Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. A faithful priest recently preached that right at the outset of Mark's Gospel, division and decision is presented as a basic premise of the Christian life. These times are marked by those who accept that premise and live by it and by those whose Catholicism really is the kind of Anglicanism depicted by Msgr. Knox (and thanks to Mr. Paterson-Seymour). It's entrance by the narrow gate that wins salvation -- a way that is hard, because it entails hardship, the endurance of ridicule, slander, gossip. So yes, we need to pray that the Lord raise up a great Pope to steer the barque through these troubled waters. But we also need to pray for ourselves, our loved ones, and all the faithful, that we be able to withstand all that appears set to be unleashed, and win to Christ and His Church all who may yet be won. - Dave Mon, 11 Feb 2013 03:58:16 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15771 Well, after Pope Benedict's announcement today that he's resigning, we all need to pray very, very hard that the next pope will likewise be a shining witness to the love of Christ. Considering the times we're in and the state of the Church in much of the world, we really need a faithful leader in Rome. - Randall Mon, 11 Feb 2013 02:27:33 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15770 Thank you for this candid review, Brad. I think the entire Church ought to brace Itself for a shock: That the so-called spirit of Vatican II has not been the problem, but rather the Vatican Council itself. Take these comments from Fr. Divo Barsotti, a mystic and spiritual master who was called to preach the Lenten exercises to the Pope and to the Roman Curia in 1971 "The Council is the supreme exercise of the magisterium, and is justified only by a supreme necessity. Could not the fearful gravity of the present situation of the Church stem precisely from the foolishness of having wanted to provoke and tempt the Lord? Was there the desire, perhaps, to constrain God to speak when there was not this supreme necessity?" Let us be blunt-Vatican II was a Modernist victory. All that St. Pius X accomplished and Pius XII attempted to hold on to, was swept away at the Council. JP II and Bebedict are not the Popes many think they were/are. Brilliant Catholic writers are insisting that the errors of the last fifty years will only be overcome when the Pope and the Church return to the Creed, Dogmas and Doctrines which have always defined It. - Manfred Mon, 11 Feb 2013 02:27:05 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15768 I fear that, f or many, their Catholicism resembles the sort of Anglicanism, so beautifully satirised by Mgr Ronald Knox, "reserved in its self-expression, calculated to reinforce morality, chivalry, and the sense of truth, providing comfort in times of distress and a glow of contentment in declining years; supernatural in its nominal doctrines, yet on the whole rationalistic in its mode of approaching God: tolerant of other people's tenets, yet sincere about its own, regular in church-going, generous to charities, ready to put up with the defects of the local clergyman." In other words, a religion quite different to "the faith once delivered to the saints." - Michael Paterson-Seymour Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:16:20 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/be-not-afraid-be-very-not-afraid.html#comment-15767 I have not read the book. Some remarks of the author that appeared in an interview recently really baffled me. His depiction Pope Leo XIII as a transistional figure opening up to the modern world overlooks the fact that it was precisely Leo who required all priests to take the anti-Modernist Oath. Pope Leo also denounced the sttempts of Americans Catholics to adjust to life amongs Protestants as "Americanism," and issued an Apostolic Instruction On the Nullity of Anglican Orders. I don't think that there is any evidence that any of the pre-conciliar popes thought it was time to end the Counter-reformation. After all, did any of them think that the errors of Luther and Calvin had ceased to be errors? Promotion of that idea was in fact the aim of those who wished to destroy the Bride of Christ. I am afraid that David Warren's column of Saturday was closer to the truth, even if it was less consoling. - Thomas C. Coleman, Jr. Sun, 10 Feb 2013 20:50:40 +0100