JD, I am always humbled when I read your words on suffering and hope. You are a good man and it sounds like you speak from experience. Thank you for the valuable work of the Pillar and for seeking lasting reform in the Church that I love.
It's amazing to me that some people take the position that a person can discern in conscience to violate the moral law, but even a bishop can't discern in conscience to allow his flock to pray the ancient Mass.
Some advice, please. Larry, my pet lobster, likes to come to the empty Church with me to meditate, but the last few days have been punishing with all the heat. I’ve reverted to plonking him in the baptismal font to keep him cool. No one else is around so he’s harmless but now I’m worried I’ve contravened some important liturgical rubric and both Larry and I will boil in Hell.
As I read it, the instruction from the USCCB does not explicitly mention crustaceans, and, as it concerns a restrictive norm, ought to be interpreted strictly.
I would nevertheless check with your local bishop if I were you. :-)
Totally off subject, but thanks for the wintery you tubes. It is a real nice way to keep cool on what will be a hot humid day with heat indexes of 106-110 F.
JD Flynn: If I remember correctly from a year ago. You had data mined more than just the Monsignor’s cell phone. Please refresh our memories for as I recall, you had a number of hits from the Vatican too. What ever happened to them? Please don’t be bought out, expose it all!
Thank you for reposting the original story and in re-reading it, it is all so depressing but left so unresolved with a meeting with the Vatican whose detail are to be kept private. Hmmmm. Did the private accord forbid revealing the hits cell codes themselves? (If that is the correct term.). Meaning, do you have access to the cell numbers so that others may pick up the trail? Or is that information to be kept confidential.
P.S. In a reference that is totally unrelated, I am reminded of something Archbishop Vigano referenced viz. the use of Papal Secrets. You readers should be made aware that the Pope places certain bits of information under a Papal Seal; the disclosure of which opens one to excommunication. You can neither confirm or deny certain bits of information. Vigano said such use with immoral or illegal topics is void of Papal power. Hmmmm. Any Canon Lawyers out there?
JD, Catholics and people of good will are blessed to have you teaching us that even in the darkest of times, there is hope. Your article on Columbine is but one example//. God bless you!
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Unless people, including priests, are afraid of hell, whether the eternal fire or the hell of having an article about their sins, there will not be a beginning of wisdom. It sounds so profound to say that we should not be motivated by hell, but that is the proper beginning of wisdom.
(Edit: if anyone is not in the mood for the wrathful hellfire God of the Old Testament and would prefer to hear from the kinder gentler God of the New Testament who urges little children to come to him, constantly tells us "fear not", and whose mercy is more enduring than the rickroll song if we are willing to accept it: Matthew 10:28. "You know the rules and so do I: a full commitment's what I'm thinking of")
Recently someone, a Catholic, began taking instructions at an Orthodox Church. He said the Faith was being "chipped away" by Rome, theologians and weak bishops. I completely agree.
As much as I prefer Orthodox worship, discipline and practice, they have their own big problems; jurisdictionalism, phyletism, inconsistency in applying the canons and the list goes on. The Greeks are soft on abortion, most jurisdictions are soft on artificial contraception, They are busy trying to snatch sheep from other jurisdictions, (the so called Slavic Vicariate) against the canons. The Russian Church is trying to destroy the Ukrainian Churches and the Patriarch of Moscow, that puppet of Putin is blessing it all. The Georgians and others are rebaptizing converts.
I see going to Orthodoxy as trading one particular set of problems for other ones.
Please do not suggest the Eastern Catholic Churches; these Churches are slaves of Rome and an attempt as a "third way" between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The Unia has failed
If the Orthodox Churches are right and the Catholic Church is wrong, then they were also right when a Pope he liked was at the helm. Which one is right and which one is wrong, necessarily, does not and cannot depend on whether I personally think that one Pope or another is a saint or is a scandal, or on whether the Orthodox Churches are doing stupider things in one decade than they were in another; it has to be based on something that does not vary from year to year and is not a subjective feeling of discomfort in one person's head (though a mounting pile of unchanging objective evidence could certainly contribute to an overwhelming feeling of subjective discomfort as we probably see in St John Henry Newman, or in the recent memoirs of highly educated converts from Protestantism.)
Quite true. I once had an Orthodox priest's wife tell me that they loved JPII but what would happen if a "bad" pope was elected next. I told her, in reality most of the RCC would follow him, ignoring the "bad" things he did. I explained that if a validly elected pope did crazy things most Catholics didn't know about it or ignored it. To many Catholics the only relevant member of the clergy are priests in the parish. Don't get me wrong, regarding ecclesiology, liturgy and ministry, I think the Orthodox are spot on.
The earthly head of the Church is a bishop (Catholics, Coptics)
The earthly head of the Church is politics (Orthodox, Anglicans, Liberal Protestants and Liberal Catholics)
The earthly head of the Church is the Bible (Protestants)
It is nice to unite political power with the Church, but the political power always takes over the Church e.g. Russian Orthodox and liberal western Christians. It is nice to have a perfect book in charge of the Church instead of imperfect men, but the book has to be interpreted and that ends up giving power to scholars and popular preachers like Joel Osteen who can make the Bible say anything. The Catholic position is the Christian one: authority that is checked by a complete lack of power. The weaker the pope is politically, the more powerful he is spiritually.
If the Eastern Church had been as weak as the Western Church during 400-700, they would have converted the Arabs as the Westerners converted the Norse.
THank you all for your faithfulness and reporting.
I'm always inspired by that line in the Gospels: Go and try sincerely to pursue a line of conduct in keeping with the given directives.
JD, I am always humbled when I read your words on suffering and hope. You are a good man and it sounds like you speak from experience. Thank you for the valuable work of the Pillar and for seeking lasting reform in the Church that I love.
thanks!
It's amazing to me that some people take the position that a person can discern in conscience to violate the moral law, but even a bishop can't discern in conscience to allow his flock to pray the ancient Mass.
Some advice, please. Larry, my pet lobster, likes to come to the empty Church with me to meditate, but the last few days have been punishing with all the heat. I’ve reverted to plonking him in the baptismal font to keep him cool. No one else is around so he’s harmless but now I’m worried I’ve contravened some important liturgical rubric and both Larry and I will boil in Hell.
As I read it, the instruction from the USCCB does not explicitly mention crustaceans, and, as it concerns a restrictive norm, ought to be interpreted strictly.
I would nevertheless check with your local bishop if I were you. :-)
Totally off subject, but thanks for the wintery you tubes. It is a real nice way to keep cool on what will be a hot humid day with heat indexes of 106-110 F.
JD Flynn: If I remember correctly from a year ago. You had data mined more than just the Monsignor’s cell phone. Please refresh our memories for as I recall, you had a number of hits from the Vatican too. What ever happened to them? Please don’t be bought out, expose it all!
Thanks, Father.
Can you explain what "please don't be bought out" means?
in either case, here's our report on app usage at the Holy See:
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/location-based-apps-pose-security
I suppose it depends if my memory is correct. Did you not have multiply hits from the Vatican in your original story?
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/location-based-apps-pose-security
Thank you for reposting the original story and in re-reading it, it is all so depressing but left so unresolved with a meeting with the Vatican whose detail are to be kept private. Hmmmm. Did the private accord forbid revealing the hits cell codes themselves? (If that is the correct term.). Meaning, do you have access to the cell numbers so that others may pick up the trail? Or is that information to be kept confidential.
P.S. In a reference that is totally unrelated, I am reminded of something Archbishop Vigano referenced viz. the use of Papal Secrets. You readers should be made aware that the Pope places certain bits of information under a Papal Seal; the disclosure of which opens one to excommunication. You can neither confirm or deny certain bits of information. Vigano said such use with immoral or illegal topics is void of Papal power. Hmmmm. Any Canon Lawyers out there?
JD, Catholics and people of good will are blessed to have you teaching us that even in the darkest of times, there is hope. Your article on Columbine is but one example//. God bless you!
Judie
The discussion of the Winnipeg statement reminds me of the quote that Catholicism has not been tried and found wanting; it is hard, and not tried.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Unless people, including priests, are afraid of hell, whether the eternal fire or the hell of having an article about their sins, there will not be a beginning of wisdom. It sounds so profound to say that we should not be motivated by hell, but that is the proper beginning of wisdom.
Fear is the beginning of wisdom? Really Father?
Yes, really. :-) It's in Proverbs 9:10.
Proverbs 1:7 might also be relevant, not sure.
(Edit: if anyone is not in the mood for the wrathful hellfire God of the Old Testament and would prefer to hear from the kinder gentler God of the New Testament who urges little children to come to him, constantly tells us "fear not", and whose mercy is more enduring than the rickroll song if we are willing to accept it: Matthew 10:28. "You know the rules and so do I: a full commitment's what I'm thinking of")
Also Psalm 111. And I love the Matthew 10 reference.
Recently someone, a Catholic, began taking instructions at an Orthodox Church. He said the Faith was being "chipped away" by Rome, theologians and weak bishops. I completely agree.
As much as I prefer Orthodox worship, discipline and practice, they have their own big problems; jurisdictionalism, phyletism, inconsistency in applying the canons and the list goes on. The Greeks are soft on abortion, most jurisdictions are soft on artificial contraception, They are busy trying to snatch sheep from other jurisdictions, (the so called Slavic Vicariate) against the canons. The Russian Church is trying to destroy the Ukrainian Churches and the Patriarch of Moscow, that puppet of Putin is blessing it all. The Georgians and others are rebaptizing converts.
I see going to Orthodoxy as trading one particular set of problems for other ones.
Please do not suggest the Eastern Catholic Churches; these Churches are slaves of Rome and an attempt as a "third way" between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The Unia has failed
If the Orthodox Churches are right and the Catholic Church is wrong, then they were also right when a Pope he liked was at the helm. Which one is right and which one is wrong, necessarily, does not and cannot depend on whether I personally think that one Pope or another is a saint or is a scandal, or on whether the Orthodox Churches are doing stupider things in one decade than they were in another; it has to be based on something that does not vary from year to year and is not a subjective feeling of discomfort in one person's head (though a mounting pile of unchanging objective evidence could certainly contribute to an overwhelming feeling of subjective discomfort as we probably see in St John Henry Newman, or in the recent memoirs of highly educated converts from Protestantism.)
Quite true. I once had an Orthodox priest's wife tell me that they loved JPII but what would happen if a "bad" pope was elected next. I told her, in reality most of the RCC would follow him, ignoring the "bad" things he did. I explained that if a validly elected pope did crazy things most Catholics didn't know about it or ignored it. To many Catholics the only relevant member of the clergy are priests in the parish. Don't get me wrong, regarding ecclesiology, liturgy and ministry, I think the Orthodox are spot on.
There are three basic ecclesiologies:
The earthly head of the Church is a bishop (Catholics, Coptics)
The earthly head of the Church is politics (Orthodox, Anglicans, Liberal Protestants and Liberal Catholics)
The earthly head of the Church is the Bible (Protestants)
It is nice to unite political power with the Church, but the political power always takes over the Church e.g. Russian Orthodox and liberal western Christians. It is nice to have a perfect book in charge of the Church instead of imperfect men, but the book has to be interpreted and that ends up giving power to scholars and popular preachers like Joel Osteen who can make the Bible say anything. The Catholic position is the Christian one: authority that is checked by a complete lack of power. The weaker the pope is politically, the more powerful he is spiritually.
If the Eastern Church had been as weak as the Western Church during 400-700, they would have converted the Arabs as the Westerners converted the Norse.
Someone was pulling the USCCB’s collective leg.