A Moderate Voice
Now the quotes:
“Pope Francis doesn’t want cultural warriors, he doesn’t want ideologues."
Aren't we called the "Church Militant?" Isn't putting on the armor of God and defending the culture of life against her enemies exactly what we SHOULD be doing? What exactly is WRONG about being a "cultural warrior" if you are fighting a culture of death? And what exactly does it mean to be an "idealogue" if the ideal you are fighting for is one that is an absolute value? I find this disparaging to those who hold moral absolutes (like the Ten Commandments) and it is anything but pastoral since it implies condemnation of orthodox Catholics like pro-lifers who others label "idealogues." Would Bishop Cupich agree?
"[Bishop Cupich] chastised those church leaders who threatened to shutter social services rather than comply with the mandate.
'These kinds of scare tactics and worse-case scenario predictions are uncalled for and only unnecessarily disturb the hardworking and dedicated people who are employed by the Church,” he told diocesan employees earlier this year."
Oh my goodness, the bishop is criticizing his brother bishops who see exactly where the Obama administration is taking us. Some dioceses have already closed their adoption services rather than place children in same-sex homes. So there is already evidence of "worst case scenarios." I haven't seen any of the Catholic bloggers who regularly take other bloggers to task for being too critical, say a word about Bishop Cupich "chastising" his brother bishops. I guess he gets a pass.
But then again....maybe he was misquoted. As for me, I will continue to be a "cultural warrior" until Armageddon. When your culture is under the Prince of this World, you sure ought to be a "cultural warrior."
We seem to be in a remarkable era of Church history....the full, open and proud embrace of cultural modernism. A Church of Fools. In NY in recent weeks, the message is out of the diocesan closet. It is in diocesan blogs and in CatholicNY: We are not to judge. We are to show mercy. We are to cooperate with the culture. When you completely disapprove of the culture, you cannot win its approval and therefore you cannot bring Christ to it.
ReplyDeleteImagine our dear Savior dying for us only to have us die for the culture of evil.
This is an interesting situation. If a social service administrator determines that he or she is cooperating with evil by staying open, I would think that trumps anything any cleric requires to the contrary. We don't need to be obedient to anyone who tempts us to sin, so, I'd be intrigued if someone calls him on that.
ReplyDeleteDo I agree? Yes, I agree with the bishop's quotes. I understand the point he is making.
ReplyDeleteAnon of 1:22pm, just what point do you think he was making?
ReplyDeleteRegarding the second quote, I think Bishop Cupich goes on to explain himself.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the first quote about Pope Francis not wanting ideologues, I believe Bishop Cupich was echoing what Pope Francis has public said. Here's one such quote from Pope Francis..
“The faith passes, so to speak, through a distiller and becomes ideology. And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid. And when a Christian becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought… For this reason Jesus said to them: ‘You have taken away the key of knowledge.’ The knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge, because these close the door with many requirements.”
Go-along-to-get-along bishops are in for a surprise. The Roman Catholic Church eventually will be joining the Lutherans, Episcopalians and Methodists as irrelevant mainline institutions. Remember what a disaster the 1970s were before JPII. Looks like we'll have to learn that lesson all over again.
ReplyDeleteSome of the bishops may join the protestants. Fr. John Hardon, S.J. predicted that entire dioceses in the U.S. would disappear since Jesus did not promise that the Church would prevail in a particular location. But, thank God, satan will never prevail against the Church herself and as long as faithful prelates and laity preach the truth we will resist the move to become "irrelevant." The answer is for each of us to be "transformed in Christ."
ReplyDeleteThe world will NEVER approve of the Church...the quicker the Bishops' (and the Pope in Rome) get this, the better...trying to get along was tried in the 70's,...it failed.
ReplyDelete