The excellent Protect the Pope blog today has two stories that are eye-catching. We have The Tablet suggesting that the pontificates of Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI constituted a deep winter in the life of the Catholic Church. Springtime, happily, has arrived for the Church now that the new nice Pope Francis has assumed the Throne of St Peter.
Except...except...for the disobedient, it still appears to be winter. Today, Pope Francis has publicly made it clear that the religious, like the LCWR, who think and behave outside of the Church - that is - who do not think 'with the Church' are not behaving or thinking as religious ought.
This just in from Fr Z:
'Finally, the ecclesial aspect (ecclesialità) as one of the constitutive dimensions of the consecrated life, a dimension which must be constantly recovered and deepened in life. Your vocation is a fundamental charism through the journey of the Church, and it is not possible that a consecrated woman or man do not “think” with the Church, which gave birth to us in Baptism; a “thinking” with the Church which finds its filial expression in fidelity to the Magisterium, in communion with the Shepherds and the Successor of Peter, Bishop of Rome, visible sign of unity.'
Note to The Tablet's editorial team: Perhaps it is time to ask yourselves the question: When was the last time we published an edition of The Tablet which was, from its beginning to its end manifestly 'thinking with the Church which finds its filial expression in fidelity to the Magisterium, in communion with the Shepherds and the Successor of St Peter, Bishop of Rome, visible sing of unity'?
Funny, isn't it, that some Catholics can see the work and fruits of the Holy Spirit in the pontificates of all three Popes, yet others can only see this in the current Pontiff, but only when they wear special glasses that distort reality in order to see things that are not actually there? Pope Francis asked religious today, and, by implication, all Catholics, to think 'with the Church' and to be obedient to the Magisterium. The Tablet are going to need to hire Mandelson himself to spin this one into a piece that reflects 'their way of thinking'. May I make the tentative suggestion that while you perhaps thought you had 'your man' on the Throne of St Peter, that Pope Francis is, in fact, more and more becoming discernibly continuous with the teaching of his beloved and esteemed predecessors. Let's send a crate of tissues to The Tablet's HQ. One of these days, they're going to realise the Pope is still the Pope.
Sadly, however, while the Pope is still Catholic, Bishops will be Bishops, with notorious bad boy and perennial dissenter, Terence Weldon, claiming that the Archbishop of Westminster and the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton are both backing his initiative to spread his homosexual liberation front from Westminster to Sodom-by-Sea. Much as I hope and pray that His Grace and His Lordship will tell Terence politely where to go, recent history suggests that while in Rome, for the disobedient it remains winter, here in England and Wales, the birds are singing, the flowers are blossoming and green leaves adorn the once bare trees. Yes, here in England and Wales, for the disobedient and for the heretics, we are experiencing a near perpetual Spring. Pray for our Bishops and write to the Papal Nuncio. The last person a homosexual needs for pastoral advice or spiritual guidance is an audience with Terence Weldon.
8 comments:
Shock horror! The Tablet says something 'liberal' in an editorial I can't believe it!
Is "thinking with the Church" simply equivalent to obeying the magisterium? Only if the magisterium constitutes the whole of the Church. I imagine that Pope Francis for one knows that is not so. It remains to be seen whether traditionalist Catholics will find it possible to be obedient to him in all things. Could be interesting times ahead. It has been a long winter, spring is overdue.
The Magisterium constitutes the whole of the Church's teaching.
Liberals should get over it - its not going to change in accordance with their wishes.
Who does Catherine Pepinster think she's kidding? The only winter has been the nuclear winter of liberalism which has virtually wiped out the Western church these past 40 years. Thanks to the likes of her, Pope Clifford and Cardinal Tina there's practically nothing left.
And do know what I'm sick of Catherine? The "I'm the boss" attitude of liberals like yourself who take over seminaries, episcopates, catechetics, parish councils, religious orders and so-called 'Catholic' magazines like the Tablet.
CP's editorials are beyond parody. They are like some Catholic version of Spinal Tap.
The magisterium constitutes the whole of the magisterium's teaching. The Church is a wider entity, as Pope Francis seems to indicate in many things he has already said and done. I can't speak for Liberals, but I have no desire to change the Church in accordance with my wishes, unlike traditionalists who want to take the Church back to a state that they prefer. Like the Pope I only want it to be truly the Church.
Ma Popehater has some chilly nights ahead of her
'The Magisterium constitutes the whole of the Church's teaching'. In what sense were many of the Fathers of the Church part of the Magisterium? Arguable. Many had a hit and miss record, even those declared saints. 'The Magisterium is...etc...' sounds like a clever, orthodox thing to say but it's not clear to me that this is what the church teaches.
"In what sense were many of the Fathers of the Church part of the Magisterium? [I]t's not clear to me that this is what the church teaches."
The Encyclical On the Doctrine of the Modernists by Pope Pius X, 1907, makes it quite clear that 'the Fathers' are part of the Church's Magisterium:
"But for Catholics nothing will remove the authority of the second Council of Nicea, where it condemns those "who dare, after the impious fashion of heretics, to deride the ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties of some kind...or endeavor by malice or craft to overthrow any one of the legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church"; nor that of the declaration of the fourth Council of Constantinople: "We therefore profess to preserve and guard the rules bequeathed to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, by the Holy and most illustrious Apostles, by the orthodox Councils, both general and local, and by everyone of those divine interpreters, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church."
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