I'll be honest, sometimes I'm quite naive. I like to believe that every Catholic appreciates and accepts the fact that the Catholic Church is guided by the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures are inspired and inerrant, and that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on Earth. However, despite my naiveté, I'm often forced to face the facts not all people who consider themselves Catholic hold these particular views. Case in point, this news article on "Catholics" protesting Pope Benedict XVI and his impending visit to the United States. I've included a link to the article along with quotes that I found particularly "interesting," in addition to my personal commentary.
Yahoo News Article: Papal visit provokes array of protests
A few quality exerpts from the article:
"We cannot welcome this pope until he begins to do away with the church's continuing violence of sexism," said Sister Donna Quinn, coordinator of the National Coalition of American Nuns.
I'm wondering when these women are going to comprehend the fact that there's nothing Pope Benedict can do about the way that Jesus Christ established the priesthood.
"He has issued some of the most hurtful and extreme rhetoric against our community of any religious leader in history, and we want to call him into account for the damage that he's done," said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA.
Oh yeah. Really rough stuff. Particularly when he said this (sarcasm intended): "It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs."- from "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons"
"Catholics wonder why there's this huge disparity between what the hierarchy says we should do in regard to contraception and what Catholics on the ground actually do," said Catholics for Choice president Jon O'Brien. He termed the ban [on contraception] "a great tragedy ... a policy that lacks compassion and understanding."
Let's see. The only disparity I can see is that the hierarchy teaches the divinely revealed truth and Catholics on the ground disagree with it.
The extent to which the pope addresses the varied grievances during his trip remains unknown. But the Vatican's envoy to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, said any dissent that might arise was regrettable. "Even in the Catholic church, nobody has the right to instrumentalize the visit of the pope to serve their personal interests," Sambi told the National Catholic Reporter. "The problem is that there are too many people here who would like to be the pope ... and who attribute to themselves a strong sense of their own infallibility."
I couldn't have said it better myself! :)
These people can say what they want and form as many coalitions as they want. The Catholic Church is a 2,000+ year old divine institution. They are asking for "reforms" that go against the very nature of the Catholic Church. Instead of protesting the Vicar of Christ and criticizing the Body of Christ (the Church), these individuals and groups would be better off studying what the Church actually teaches and why, or face the music and stop calling themselves Catholic.
Yahoo News Article: Papal visit provokes array of protests
A few quality exerpts from the article:
"We cannot welcome this pope until he begins to do away with the church's continuing violence of sexism," said Sister Donna Quinn, coordinator of the National Coalition of American Nuns.
I'm wondering when these women are going to comprehend the fact that there's nothing Pope Benedict can do about the way that Jesus Christ established the priesthood.
"He has issued some of the most hurtful and extreme rhetoric against our community of any religious leader in history, and we want to call him into account for the damage that he's done," said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA.
Oh yeah. Really rough stuff. Particularly when he said this (sarcasm intended): "It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs."- from "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons"
"Catholics wonder why there's this huge disparity between what the hierarchy says we should do in regard to contraception and what Catholics on the ground actually do," said Catholics for Choice president Jon O'Brien. He termed the ban [on contraception] "a great tragedy ... a policy that lacks compassion and understanding."
Let's see. The only disparity I can see is that the hierarchy teaches the divinely revealed truth and Catholics on the ground disagree with it.
The extent to which the pope addresses the varied grievances during his trip remains unknown. But the Vatican's envoy to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, said any dissent that might arise was regrettable. "Even in the Catholic church, nobody has the right to instrumentalize the visit of the pope to serve their personal interests," Sambi told the National Catholic Reporter. "The problem is that there are too many people here who would like to be the pope ... and who attribute to themselves a strong sense of their own infallibility."
I couldn't have said it better myself! :)
These people can say what they want and form as many coalitions as they want. The Catholic Church is a 2,000+ year old divine institution. They are asking for "reforms" that go against the very nature of the Catholic Church. Instead of protesting the Vicar of Christ and criticizing the Body of Christ (the Church), these individuals and groups would be better off studying what the Church actually teaches and why, or face the music and stop calling themselves Catholic.
2 comments:
Ah Jess, once again you take the words right out of my mouth.
It's a deeply tragic reality that I can't speak for all Catholics when I say this, but....I love my Catholic Church....and I love our Holy Father....and I am *not* more concerned with my own agenda of comfort and moral relativity than I am with the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ.
Praise God that you are so devoted to the Truth. We need more Catholics like you. :)
-Kristin
Kristin, you are brilliant. In DC we did see a bunch of protestors and it was really sad, but there's nothing we can do really, because it really is an issue of their personal agendas rather than the revealed truth. I hope that it's ignorance rather than anything else. Anyway, have a fantastic time in NYC!
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