Sunday 28 March 2010

Progressivism, Polemics and the Papacy

When stripped of its rather polemical tone, this article by Gerard Warner in The Scotsman makes some telling points about the background to the present crisis and suggests a possible (if rather extreme) solution.
Somehow, though, I don't see Pope Benedict taking this advice, though unquestionably the time has come for some serious house-cleaning.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read the article from your link, Father. There are some good points as you say. I can't really comment furthur on the proposed solution - I have to think of my own immortal soul! Thank you for pointing out the article though.

GOR said...

Yes Father, some good points by Gerald Warner. It may be a stretch to lay all of this at the feet of Vat II. Sin has been around since The Fall - both inside and outside the Church. But certainly some things changed after 1965 and the end of the Council. It amazed me some years ago to hear of priests seeking to justify their homosexual acts on the basis that women were not involved and there was no danger of illegitimate births!

I found it hard to believe that men who had studied Moral Theology for four years could have such a warped sense of right and wrong. But then I read of what had happened in some seminaries and some of the teachers they had there. This was the ‘morality’ being taught by some. It beggared belief! It was a tragedy - and a loss to the Church - that so many good men left the seminaries because of the depravity they found there. An environment intended to teach orthodoxy and foster spiritual life had been corrupted and was promoting the opposite. Small wonder that the Liturgy suffered in like manner. Satan had been busy.

But expecting Pope Benedict to wage a ‘Civil War’ in secular terms, is a misreading of our Holy Father. He is not shy about condemning and deploring depravity and misplaced concern for protection of reputations. Like Our Lord, he first calls all to repentance and reparation - condemning the sin and not the sinner. This is misunderstood by many as being ‘soft on crime’ as it were. The world frequently wants revenge and retribution – and it wants it now!

I found it touching and indicative that at the beginning of his pontificate the Holy Father asked for prayers that he would have the strength “not to flee from the wolves”. He has not – and with God’s help he won’t. But like the Good Shepherd whom he seeks to emulate, he will continue to look for the salvation of all - good and bad alike. Rather than our advice, he needs our prayers.