27 Comments
deletedJan 5, 2022Liked by JD Flynn
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Ad Multos Annos!!!!

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Jan 4, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

Happy Birthday! A "see" change? I think your source needs to be corrected. It should be a "sea" change.

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Please stop sending these emails - I never asked, nor signed up for them. THANKS>

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Jan 4, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

Thank you for balanced reporting! I greatly appreciate your sobering assessment of the growing division among Catholics in the competing realities section. I am a new Catholic and know very little, but I hate to see/feel this division in the Church. The universal reality of the Church is an important aspect that fueled my conversion. I pray that unity/resolution and peace can come to the Church through the intercession of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph , so we can lead the world in the Truth. The church is the beacon of truth.

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Jan 4, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

I share your concern about the fractionalizing of the Catholic community in the US. Much of that, I feel, is fueled by secular political differences becoming more starkly expressed and bitter. Emphasizing the "big tent" unifying commonality of our self-identification as Catholic and celebrating the eucharist together despite our differences, political and with regard to church teaching, might help us and the society as a whole weather this storm.

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Jan 4, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

So glad to start the new year with you! Thank you for all that you do and are. Praying with you for healing and unity.

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Thanks for your kind and speedy reply.

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Jan 4, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

The Pillar has been the best addition to my daily lineup in the last year. The work you are doing is so, so valuable. I'm looking forward to being in a place where I can give more than the $5/month, because you're worth far more than that!

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Jan 4, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

Happy Anniversary!! Your reflections about the division and dissension in the US Church is spot on, and one of the reasons the Pillar has become so dear to me. Hearing faithful Catholics who are really trying to find truth in charity, even though that doesn’t stick to a neat (and crowd pleasing) “left” or “right” narrative is a true blessing. Pleased and proud to support your work.

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Jan 4, 2022·edited Jan 4, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

I'm with JD on concern for factionalization within the Church. It's not a good thing. I also have no idea how to get out of the situation we find ourselves in. The reality is that much of it is rooted in real divisions in how Catholics (and Americans in general) see the faith and the world. It's easy to blame a YouTube celebrity for it all, but that's a cheap short cut. Those YouTube celebrities are zeroing in on REAL divisions that exist (it's also a cheap short cut to assume they're doing it all for money or clicks or whatever...perhaps they really believe what they're saying?).

One thing that won't solve the problem is to ignore it - to just sweep our differences under the rug and focus on the slowly diminishing things we do agree on. This is what the Church has been doing for many decades now, and it's a contributing factor in getting us to the point we find ourselves in.

Two things at least are a prerequisite to even to talk to each other. 1) Stop assuming the person you disagree with has bad motivations. Assuming motivations is the quickest way for those who don't already agree with you to completely tune you out. And remember, nobody has perfectly pure motivations. Focus on ideas and actions. 2) Get more comfortable with disagreement. Everybody (including me and you) is wrong about something. Someone's view on masks or the TLM or whatever shouldn't be the lens through which you see the totality of a person.

I look forward to seeing how the Pillar can thread this needle of not ignoring our differences yet not let them dominate every discussion.

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I wonder how much of this is connected to the hermeneutic of continuity. While Benedict's line was to address the Church in time such that the Pre Vatican 2 church must be in communion with the post V2 church, we might also see this applied spatially The church of today in the US, left, right, otherwise needs to be in communion with the church of today in Germany, etc. However, Pope Francis' more open embrace of the Bologna school's hermeneutic of rupture (temporally) connects to a hermeneutic of fracture (spatially). To a certain extent, the fault lines that have emerged have been at the Pope's behest. To what extent this rupture/fracture can be put back together is a difficult problem.

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Thank you as always for the balanced perspective on things. I would offer one this thought: Cardinal Ratzinger noted 17 years ago there was a dictatorship of relativism that "does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires." I would argue that this relativism has spilled over from the metaphysical to the physical, largely through our own self imposed (and social media enabled) isolation into distinct echo chambers.

The siloing of ourselves means a MTG fan hears Trump say he won a "landslide victory", that it was "stolen", and there was fraud sufficient to change the election. Never mind none of this is objectively true, and has been denied by both Democratic and Republican elections officials, as well as federal and state judges of all political stripes, elected and appointed, after hearings on the evidence. The audience hearing these lies on Jan 6 was egged on to "trial by combat". No wonder what occurred.

Conversely, the AOC devotee will probably never read anything about how people with Downs syndrome still live a happy fulfilled lives, and may go on to kill (or at least support the taking of) a life with that condition. They simply will not see "real and enduring meaning of our humanity" because they have walled themselves off from that experience.

So perhaps the remedy here starts with to tempering our own egos and being open to being wrong. But of course that means also hearing contrary opinions. One thing I enjoy about the Pillar comments is people seem (mostly) to be open to that and there is a diversity of opinions. So kudos on cultivating that. B

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Jan 4, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

My heart breaks for your friends, and their family. I will keep them and Michael Patrick in my prayers.

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Jan 4, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

The Pillar has given me such renewed hope this last year. Thank you for being willing to dig into these tough stories. Healing has to start with admitting that we have all wronged each other with our stubbornness and pride.

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I would like to send you a check, however I do not know your mailing address. Please email it to me at gdoylejr5@gmail.com Thanks, G. Doyle

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