Wednesday, December 11, 2013

"Paul VI: A Pope of Contradictions"

Peter Kwasniewski, "Paul VI: A Pope of Contradictions" (New Liturgical Movement, December 10, 2013), offers a thoughtful synopsis of the legacy of Pope Paul VI.

A reader, addressing the related subject of why Catholic leaders seem so (unnecessarily) beholden to the judgement of the secular world, writes:
The big thing is this: people want so much the faith to seem utterly reasonable to non-believers. The challenge of rationalism apparently intimidates like nobody's business. And Popes are afraid to do anything but apologize or hedge...

Hence, these assumption, while not approved, still functionally reign despite official pronouncements insinuating otherwise:

SURELY God would not condemn people to Hell
SURELY Adam and Eve were not real people
SURELY God wants to save every soul not matter what
SURELY Scripture is conditioned linguistically so much so we have to be very careful
SURELY Homosexuality is an orientation and not a sin
SURELY Latin is totally non-accessible today
SURELY you can't expect priests not to marry
SURELY woman have to have the same opportunities as men
[Hat tip to G.N.]

1 comment:

Scott W. said...

It's the devastation of good intentions. The jokey homilies as the pastor paces back and forth, the sappy music, the platoon-strength EMHC's in blue jeans. I can believe they are sincere in wanting to make the Almighty less scary and more accessible, but the material effect of these good intentions is sell Him as trivial and not to be taken very seriously.