tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post8070425724668215539..comments2023-08-21T03:51:17.425-06:00Comments on Enlightened Catholicism: A Bishop For All Seasonscolkochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03432916690101599393noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-45299346408353043262011-10-30T08:26:05.319-06:002011-10-30T08:26:05.319-06:00Hi Dennis,
That is a fascinating story, deep with...Hi Dennis,<br /><br />That is a fascinating story, deep with meaning.<br /><br /><b><i>"Primitive mental feelings are some of the more serious personal saboteurs."</i></b> Organizations can adopt the mental set of their leaders. What are all Catholics to make of the tone of voice of the church? Bishop Morris makes some observations about the future of his diocese saying the church will not be able to serve all the parishioners in a decade's time. He is smacked down worse than other bishops who harbor pedophile priests. What's the message? Fright, indifference, love, fear etc.?<br /><br />I love to visit many varied parts of the internet because I have some eclectic interests and a fascination with the unusual. I read hundreds of comments on dozens of blogs each day. The "Catholic" blogs, with a few exceptions, are the least civil, the most judgmental, and contain the nastiest ad hominems. (A few political blogs come close.) The average nasty commenter seems seriously angry at the world, has a thin veneer covering a hateful heart, doesn't cope well with independent thought and is almost desperate to surrender to church authority. We are all imperfect human beings but it makes me wonder if some of that behavior is pathological?<br /><br />I mentioned McLuhan because he and Fr. Pierre Babin, French media scholar discussed the implications of religion in a new media age. They believed we were moving from a "left brain" oriented age to one that would be dominated by the "right brain" In other words "Passion over Reason" in our global village. McLuhan did not think that was a very good thing.<br /><br />You might be interested in "Inside McLuhan's head" which discusses his brain tumor, TIA's and strokes. How ironic a man of words lost the ability to speak at the end of his life. <br /><br />http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/17/inside-mcluhan%E2%80%99s-head/2/ <br /><br />p2pAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-78463962330369382932011-10-30T08:16:21.558-06:002011-10-30T08:16:21.558-06:00Really great post Dennis. "Primitive mental f...Really great post Dennis. "Primitive mental feelings are some of the more serious personal saboteurs." I see this all the time in working with Borderline Personality Disorder. In fact, if I listen very carefully to the tonality of their voices I can predict when the catastrophic events happened which fractured the integrity of their development--and very frequently what those events were.<br /><br />All of this is leading me to postulate a different understanding of what Jesus meant by conversion. We tend to view this phenomenon as 'religious' conversion, but I don't think that's what He was after. I think He was after exactly what your Navy Intel guy experienced: a breakthrough in understanding which forced him to reorganize his world view around a higher, more mature and compassionate, understanding of himself and his world. Or to put it differently, it's like finding out you can put Humpty Dumpty back together again, but you have to start with a different corner piece and you wind up with a very different Humpty Dumpty.colkochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03432916690101599393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-4793040576666751202011-10-30T08:16:06.657-06:002011-10-30T08:16:06.657-06:00@Rdp
The scary part of the implosion is that it le...@Rdp<br />The scary part of the implosion is that it leaves a right wing cabal in possession of a tremendously powerful religious apparatus. Allied with evangelical Protestants, this motivated 25-30% is quite capable of keeping long-term control of the majority.<br /><br />BronxirishcatholicPatrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00930563727941355838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-50222817128546412142011-10-30T01:35:16.456-06:002011-10-30T01:35:16.456-06:00p2p,
Very interesting references, but about the r...p2p,<br /><br />Very interesting references, but about the right and left brain we might also keep in mind that there may be as much lack of creativity (or even down right evil) in the feeling parts of the brain as there is good just as occurs in the left brain. <br /><br />When I was an anesthesiologist, I ran a cancer pain clinic. There was a fellow with metastatic pancreatic cancer all over the inside of his abdomen. I first tried to help him by inserting a morphine epidural catheter which controlled his pain for a few months. <br /><br />I then gave him a lidocaine coeliac plexus block that blocked most of the pain fibers to the abdomen and since it stopped the pain, I proceeded to give him an alcohol coeliac plexus block that killed those pain fibers. When I saw this man in my clinic a few days latter, he told me that he should thank me for the loss of his physical pain but that he really could not because his emotional pain was far greater and he would have preferred to be sedated so that he did not have to think about things. I asked him why and he was reticent to discuss it, but did mention that he had been a member of a naval intelligence unit for over 30 years and did dreadful things. He said that for many years he actually felt good about what he did, as he felt revengeful toward others. But now that he had time to think about it, he wished he would have been able to leave the service and learn to deal with his feelings in an entirely different way. He mentioned how he used reason to plan his work out but that his feelings of superiority to others and just plain revenge is what kept him going. <br /><br />Out inability to control some of our feelings often causes as much trouble as our attempt as finite men and women to figure everything out. Perhaps if we were able to work on denial of our own frailty, and combine the use of feelings and intellect, we might do some better. I think after so many years of working in psychoanalysis with the child within that there certainly is difficulties as well as strengths in both sides of the brain. Remember that denial is one of the primary defense mechanisms. Intellectualism as important as it is in our defenses and repression of what we really feel and believe is more a part of an advance stage of development. Primitive mental feelings are some of the more serious personal saboteurs. <br /><br />As far as the media pushing things in uncontrollable ways, I very much agree. When young mother speaks to her infant, her tone of voice is so very important even though the baby does not understand language as we do. It is the harmony of her voice that the baby learns to read. He or she feels freight, indifference, love, fear etc just from the tone on mothers voice. dennisUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12522679695624209390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-55293840702613846432011-10-29T09:17:08.983-06:002011-10-29T09:17:08.983-06:00The United Kingdom has reached an agreement with a...The United Kingdom has reached an agreement with all 16 British Commonwealth nations regarding succession to the throne. Female members of the Royal Family may inherit the crown, gaining equality with their brothers. The new laws will also eliminate discrimination against Catholics.<br /><br />http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8854981/Centuries-old-rule-of-succession-in-British-Royal-family-scrapped-by-Commonwealth.html <br /><br />If one of the few remaining monarchies in the world can change, then why not the RC Church?<br /><br />It is indisputable that Mary Magdelene was an early church leader. She was one of several women who remained with Jesus at the time of his passion. It was Mary who was honored and entrusted to be the first witness of the resurrection. She probably had a better understanding of the good news message than the rest of the boys too. <br /><br />p2pAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-81109256256785550392011-10-28T06:27:03.548-06:002011-10-28T06:27:03.548-06:00p2p You didn't beat the trap. Left hemispheric...p2p You didn't beat the trap. Left hemispheric logic failed the test. McCluhan was prescient with his observation that this is a dangerous time for religions. The messengers have become the message and they are killing the Good News.<br /><br />The one state from NCR's opus on American Catholicism is the one which shows less than 25% of American Catholics, including the same ratio for Hispanics, think the celibate priesthood is important. That's pretty mind boggling since the Church is set up in such a way that all access to the sacraments go through those messengers. <br /><br />I keep seeing two stats, priests not very important, sacraments very important. Something has got to give and it won't be all the Sacraments, just one Sacrament.colkochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03432916690101599393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-35815342266711696272011-10-27T19:07:50.370-06:002011-10-27T19:07:50.370-06:00Thanks for the quote Tim. Bishop Morris acted to d...Thanks for the quote Tim. Bishop Morris acted to decide for himself what was right, and Papa Ratzinger retired him for it. Joseph Ratzinger's quote is true as far as it goes, but it mentions nothing about the response of authority to a stance of conscience. No question Morris is establishing a principle in opposition to increasing totalitarianism. Too bed his fellow Ausie bishops are uniformly gutless.colkochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03432916690101599393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-69231515879789485152011-10-27T14:57:09.444-06:002011-10-27T14:57:09.444-06:00@Jo: the quote you are looking for is not from His...@Jo: the quote you are looking for is not from His Holiness, but from a humble priest and theologian named Joseph Ratzinger.<br /><br />"Over the pope as expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there stands one’s own conscience which must be obeyed before all else, even if necessary against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority. This emphasis on the individual, whose conscience confronts him with a supreme and ultimate tribunal, and one which in the last resort is beyond the claim of external social groups, even the official church, also establishes a principle in opposition to increasing totalitarianism."<br /><br />Put more succinctly by a Nazarene who never went to seminary "Why don't you decide for yourselves what is right?!" (Luke 12:57)Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04200045196217644013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-31072739981202501182011-10-27T14:23:58.122-06:002011-10-27T14:23:58.122-06:00Yes, what is the fixation on genitalia and marital...Yes, what is the fixation on genitalia and marital status that Rome clings to in its decisions on providing the Eucharist for the laity? <br /><br />Their fixation on the flesh and not in the Spirit of Christ seems the only reason I can think of for their behavior and rotten to the core style of pastoring the faithful into herds of silent sheeple to maintain the Vatican's lifestyle of the rich and famous.<br /><br />ButterflyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-27561194164239801392011-10-27T12:36:37.867-06:002011-10-27T12:36:37.867-06:00@ Eric & Jo Lauer
Who knows? Benedict said in...@ Eric & Jo Lauer<br /><br />Who knows? Benedict said in 2005 he was fallible and would not make any infallible statements.<br /><br />Here's the text of the declaration in 1995:<br /><br />http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19951028_dubium-ordinatio-sac_en.html <br /><br />"Thus, in the present circumstances, the Roman Pontiff, exercising his proper office of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32), has handed on this same teaching by a formal declaration, explicitly stating what is to be held always, everywhere, and by all, as belonging to the deposit of the faith."<br /><br />Canon Lawyers what say ye?<br /><br />p2pAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-85817280694538590802011-10-27T12:20:52.016-06:002011-10-27T12:20:52.016-06:00@rdp42
We are in a time of change greater than th...@rdp42<br /><br />We <b>are</b> in a time of change greater than the first reformation. <br /><br />Sixty years ago Marshall McLuhan started publishing his observations on how technology and media profoundly changed human existence. He anticipated the "Global Village" and observed "the medium is the message". The manner in which one communicates is more important than the content of the communication. (Douglas Coupland has a new book on McLuhan:) <br /><br />http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/marshall-mcluhan-by-douglas-coupland/article1599049/ <br /><br />If you visit the above link you will see the reviewer concludes that "...in our electronic age books cannot continue to be written in the same way they’ve always been written and hope to find a measurable audience."<br /><br />McLuhan was a profoundly religious convert to Catholicism. After his death his son Eric and Jacek Szklarek published a collection of his religious writings in their 1999 book "The Medium and the Light". (Let's see if I can provide a link without getting caught in Colleen's little trap. I am omitting the http.)<br /><br />cgjungpage.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=134&Itemid=40 <br /><br />John Fraim's review concludes "<i><b>In this sense, these speculations serve more as a testament to the potential in each one of us rather than as a road map to a particular destination. Will we ever realize the possibility that "truth" has already arrived on earth and that we don't know this because we keep looking for it with our eyes rather than feeling for it with our hearts?"</b></i><br /><br />That is entirely appropriate because in his final years McLuhan had become fascinated by the different functions of the brain's hemispheres. Perhaps this is a time when the heart will ascend over the mind. <br /><br />(The left brain is associated with logic, language and sequential problem solving. Right brain function is associated with relationships, insight or simultaneous problem solving, music, intuition and feelings.)<br /><br />McLuhan predicted this would be a time of great danger for religion.<br /><br />Hope the Vatican picks up on the vibe.<br /><br />p2pAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-59514222203652692732011-10-27T11:50:47.084-06:002011-10-27T11:50:47.084-06:00There has been much written about JP2's statem...There has been much written about JP2's statement being infallible. Can anyone clarify for me, if, in fact, it is?<br /><br />Am I imagining things, but didn't I read a quote from Benedict somewhere that we have the duty to obey our conscience over any church teaching? As I shared on another blog, I am so disillusioned with Rome that I avoid reading anything that comes from it.Jo Lauerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14347521098048070518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-70738778930809659172011-10-27T11:07:13.617-06:002011-10-27T11:07:13.617-06:00A clarifying PS to the response of Anonymous above...A clarifying PS to the response of Anonymous above : I certainly wasn't criticising Bishop Morris, and I wasn't, either, cheering on Pope JP2 for his judgment on the ordination of women. What drew my attention was the (shall we call it?) remarkable claim that that ruling had been infallible.Ericnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-53142789775042743522011-10-27T09:39:32.125-06:002011-10-27T09:39:32.125-06:00Colleen, thank you for providing this. I haven...Colleen, thank you for providing this. I haven't yet read Bishop Morris's response, but am looking forward to doing so very soon, and I appreciate your making it available.<br /><br />It strikes me that now is a time when we need these discussions of where the boundaries of papal and curial power begin and end in the church, as we grapple with the new statement on economic justice. That statement raises unresolved questions with which many Catholics continue to struggle--about how church authority is exercised and how to receive its teaching, when the practice of church leaders sometimes belies what's taught.<br /><br />And all of this is central to the new study of American Catholics, which shows almost 90% of U.S. Catholics maintaining that one can be a faithful Catholic and disagree with some church teachings.William D. Lindseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07246026074693891965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-83991558200611964112011-10-27T09:26:05.441-06:002011-10-27T09:26:05.441-06:00p2p,
The implosion from inside the leadership con...p2p,<br /><br />The implosion from inside the leadership continues and the end game will be to see how the pieces are reformatted. We are in a time of change even greater than the first reformation and it will be and already is very different. Many people are just giving up on "old religions." This is as true in Protestantism as it is in Catholicism. I recently heard a Lutheran pastor lament that it could be the end of the age of Christianity as we know it. He is right something else always emerges from authoritarianism. What will that be? Initially it could even be worse than we now have. I am however an optimist and believe that once we rid ourselves of the dark side of authoritarian dictate, things will eventually improve, but that will take some time and some suffering to accomplish. dennisrdp46https://www.blogger.com/profile/04427786268228285222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-69491380197065827232011-10-27T06:30:24.961-06:002011-10-27T06:30:24.961-06:00I'm still trying to understand why the marital...I'm still trying to understand why the marital status or genitalia of a priest trumps providing the Eucharist for the laity. Why the opinion of one man, Pope or not, should determine whether Catholics across the globe shall have access to the Sacraments is mind boggling. <br /><br />Bishop Morris did not ordain a woman or a married man or turn a parish over to a Lutheran. He said what a lot of us are thinking: "We may well need to be much more open towards other options for ensuring the Eucharist may be celebrated." Of course this is only true if the major spiritual point of Catholicism is providing the Eucharist for the laity. I personally am beginning to think that as far as the Vatican is concerned the major spiritual point of Catholicism is providing the priesthood for single men.colkochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03432916690101599393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-58455107055829512972011-10-27T05:59:36.458-06:002011-10-27T05:59:36.458-06:00@ Eric,
Did you read the entire original pastoral...@ Eric,<br /><br />Did you read the entire original pastoral letter written by Morris in 2006?<br /><br /><b><i>"Given our deeply held belief in the primacy of Eucharist for the identity, continuity and life of each parish<br />community, we may well need to be much more open towards other options for ensuring that Eucharist may<br />be celebrated. As has been discussed internationally, nationally and locally the ideas of:<br />• ordaining married, single or widowed men who are chosen and endorsed by their local parish<br />community;<br />• welcoming former priests, married or single, back to active ministry;<br />• ordaining women, married or single;<br />• recognising Anglican, Lutheran and Uniting Church Orders.<br />We remain committed to actively promoting vocations to the current celibate male priesthood and open to<br />inviting priests from overseas."</i></b><br /><br />http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/bishop_morris_pastoral_letter_2006.pdf <br /><br />Now about that "infallibly and irrevocably" declaration, was it really? <br /><br />p2pAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-90737698835966742172011-10-27T03:35:04.439-06:002011-10-27T03:35:04.439-06:00Bishop Morris quotes Pope Benedict as writing to h...Bishop Morris quotes Pope Benedict as writing to him that "the late Pope John Paul II has decided infallibly and irrevocably that the Church has not the right to ordain women to the priesthood". We note the first of those two adverbs.Ericnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-25785278372364931832011-10-26T17:47:18.069-06:002011-10-26T17:47:18.069-06:00Bishop Morris was addressing the shortage of pries...Bishop Morris was addressing the shortage of priests. He was not advocating any of the options listed above. <br /><br />I think he commented on an extremely touchy subject. The church is in the final decades of an end game. From a business point of view the organization must renew itself, transform itself, or die. Clerical renewal is out. There are not enough vocations to replace the aging clerics. The pope seems to be ruling out transformation of the institution. I don't like the third option, but there you have it. The Vatican will never be stronger than it is now. Decay does not happen at a slow steady rate. At some point, probably when a significant number of parishes cannot be served, then the faithful will go somewhere else for their spiritual needs. <br /><br />I think the worst aspect of this case is the perception it creates. Make no mistake, perception is reality in our age. The Vatican seems unwilling to accept a bishop listing a discussion point. Contrast that with the rest of the failings of bishops. It makes the Vatican seem more concerned about shutting down an open discussion than some of its bad operators.<br /><br />I mentioned in another discussion that a man of Benedict's age cannot be expected to live much more than 5 years. The Vatican through the succession process have only one chance to change the disasterous course of this church. Perhaps a Vatican 3 is in order. I fear it may be too late.<br /><br />p2pAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-49252222479848187092011-10-26T15:25:38.719-06:002011-10-26T15:25:38.719-06:00I really just do not get the whole juridical vs. p...I really just do not get the whole juridical vs. pastoral vs. fraternal correction thing. It seems to me that here we have a pastoral approach taken by the pope because it is the shortcut to the desired end of ridding the hierarchy of one who it thinks would not toe the desired line. <br /><br />But if it is so simple for the pope to simply remove a bishop from his bishopric, then... Just to look even handed enough, the pope should also remove Finn. Per this:<br />http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/law-expert-us-bishops-should-persuade-finn-resign<br /><br />Not that I think Morris has done anything [or not done something] to merit this unceremonious removal from his post. But at least it would show that the Vatican is just as serious about preventing the actual sexual exploitation of children at the hands of clerics as it is about preventing people from discussing the relative merits of women on the altar. And you are right Colleen. I hope there are certain lawyers that take serious notice of this fact. And judges in the secular courts who do as well.<br />VeronicaT'Pelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14497973041430354008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-17893176831109513552011-10-26T13:58:25.339-06:002011-10-26T13:58:25.339-06:00Apparently there is no room for conscience or any ...Apparently there is no room for conscience or any scruples in the hierarchy. There is only room for careerism and trampling on anyone who doesn't agree or any lay people who fail to roll over and kiss hierarchical toes. The image of Thomas Cromwell is only too appropriate. Hilary Mantel gave Cromwell a whitewash job in her novel "Wolf Hall" but the truth was that Thomas Cromwell was the willing tool of Henry VIII until Henry tired of Cromwell and had Cromwell beheaded like John Fisher, Thomas More, and two of Henry's six wives.khughes1963https://www.blogger.com/profile/16118365554189078448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-51490161047660583832011-10-26T13:36:39.128-06:002011-10-26T13:36:39.128-06:00"If a superior give any order to one who is u..."If a superior give any order to one who is under him which is against that man's conscience, although he do not obey it yet he shall not be dismissed." - St. Francis of Assisi<br /><br />I have read Bishop Morris' statements from the original 'error' up to this and he appears to be operating solely from a position of conscience. <br /><br />That the Vatican would send a Capuchin Franciscan (Chaput) to be the hatchetman speaks volumes and adds an amount of irony which I find nearly surreal.Timhttp://followingthevoicewithin.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383701632927065467.post-29724024289235255592011-10-26T12:03:50.625-06:002011-10-26T12:03:50.625-06:00"Unfortunately without due process it has bee..."Unfortunately without due process it has been impossible to resolve<br />these matters, denying me natural justice without any possibility of appropriate defence and advocacy on my behalf." Bishop Morris<br /><br />A real shame that Pell, Chaput and Benedict would submit Bishop Morris to their "test" of Roman Catholic purity, while denying him justice of which God will not withhold from anyone. <br /><br />I'm glad that Bishop Morris is speaking truth to "power." <br /><br />What a rotten example of leadership from the Pope, Chaput and Pell. They are a disgrace. Bishop Morris was truly being pastoral in dealing with sexual abuse and caring for the victims and their families. To not give him the time he needed to do his work, the work that God had fashioned for him to do, truly just says how spiritually bankrupt the Pope, Chaput and Pell truly and disgustingly are.<br /><br />ButterflyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com