Comments for Burning Flax at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 6 out of 6 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:49:09 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/burning-flax.html#comment-15960 Michael, but we also, in those years, saw the rise and fall of many a nation and empire, and we did not suffer a single bad man to sit upon the chair of Peter. We saw the proliferation of all kinds of orders of priests and nuns, and the energetic evangelization of the New World. Perhaps the Holy Spirit had determined to give us mainly quiet Popes. After all, Jansenism was quashed, and I don't know that there was anything the Pope might have done to stop the Thirty Years' War. That said, I dearly hope for the next Pope, Leo XIV, to be a fighter, as was his leonine predecessor. Not every task can be done by one man; I'm not going to fault John Paul II for not being superhuman. But we need a fighter now, one who will make people look upon the gentle scholar Benedict and say, "He wasn't really a Rottweiler, then, was he?" Nor has he been. - Tony Esolen Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:24:58 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/burning-flax.html#comment-15958 Susan's comments point to some larger issues: (1) As Fr. Bramwell has pointed out - the Bishops of the US (and presumably in many places throughout the world) never read any communication from the Pope, no matter what written format it takes. I can tell you, I have repeatedly been offended (usually at Mass, in various parishes) by clerics quoting Pope Benedict when they want to contradict him...Bishops do this in different ways as well. In 8 years of faithful attendance at Mass, I have heard only one comment positively quoting Pope Benedict. This says something about us as Catholics, and it's not good. (2) Perhaps many times the fault lies not with the writers (i.e., Popes), but the intended audience (The Church - Bishops; clergy; institutional voices at colleges, etc; and laity), who for various faults "do not have ears to hear." (3) No written format, or other media format, will ever reach a Catholic ear if that Catholic is unwilling to take time to listen, and/or will not assume the attitiude of desiring to listen...out of Faith, Hope and Love for the person trying to speak to them. As a final thought - I venture to say that many of us regularly attending Mass made sure they watched the Academy Awards, yet have made no time whatsoever to listen to the very important things Pope Benedcit has been telling us these last 2 weeks. - Chris in Maryland Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:19:50 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/burning-flax.html#comment-15957 I am with you, Brad. What is the point of Popes collecting Frequent Flyer miles if, when they die, it is noted that TWO GENERATIONS of Catholics were not catechized? If from 1968 through 2012 Moral Theology was not taught? Of course, that is the whole point of the Divine Punishment, isn't it? Millions of Catholic souls are allowed to be led astray by their "shepherds" who were/are nothing more than "hirelings". We receive the shepherds we deserve. - Manfred Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:46:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/burning-flax.html#comment-15956 Encyclical vs. book: I have read a few of Benedict XVI's book but have not read an encyclical unless it had been assigned reading. If many RCs are like me (old lady, product of Catholic schooling through BA) books are a better avenue to us. SRG - Susan R Gerard Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:14:57 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/burning-flax.html#comment-15954 Mr. Paterson-Seymour: I'm a little familiar with the writings of Pope Leo XIII, such as "Rerum Novarum," and also, his "Sapientiae Christianae," of which I learned here at Catholic Thing. The words of "Sapientiae Christianae" are stirring, not mediocre, for instance "Christians are born for combat." So in at least one case, this is not mediocrity. Which is not to say that a Pope cannot be mediocre, or worse, malicious. But only to say that your premise seems to be mistaken. It seems you may be asserting that certain candidates for Pope today are unaccepatable, regardless of their virtue, but because of their pedigree? - Chris in Maryland Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:15:32 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/burning-flax.html#comment-15952 From Sixtus V, who died in 1590, to Leo XIII, who was elected in 1878, we had a virtually unbroken succession of popes, thirty of them, who had risen through the ranks of the Vatican bureaucracy and who were, by habit, taste and training, administrators. Even Benedict XIV, better remembered today as Prospero Lambertini, the great canon lawyer, fits this mould. It is not unfair to describe the result as one of assiduous mediocrity. Even in Catholic countries, they had the same impact and the same popular appeal, as the average Secretary-General of the United Nations or President of the World Bank. Pio Nono was popular because he was pitied. Meanwhile, we had the Church riven by the Thirty Years War, the Quietist controversy, the Jansenist heresy, the Gallican controversy, Josephism, the suppression of the Jesuits, the French Revolution and its aftermath, and the Risorgimento, in none of which can the Holy See be said to have distinguished itself. - Michael Paterson-Seymour Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:25:29 +0100