Posted on 05/21/2002 10:07:10 AM PDT by johnqueuepublic
Hey Mr. NWU Army ROTC - Thanks for the interest! Here's what I would do if I were Pope to solve this homosexual molestation problem. - 1) Make a strong and inerrant statement of Catholic (and Christian and scriptural) doctrine regarding homosexuality - that the homosexual inclination is intrinsically disordered, and that homosexual acts are sins against God. Require that that doctrine be actively taught and affirmed by every seminarian and priest in the Church; 2) Throw out any seminarian or priest or bishop or Cardinal who refused to actively affirm and support that doctrine; 3) Throw out any priest or bishop or cardinal who engaged in unrepented and unforgiven homosexual activity, or who engaged in frequent repented and forgiven homosexual activity; 4) Throw out any seminarian or priest who made homosexual advances toward anyone - especially new vocations; 5) Reduce over time the number of homosexual priests in the priesthood to at the very least the same percentage of homosexuals in the population as a whole (about 2,3%) - and require of those remaining that they understand that their desires are disordered and are not to be celebrated or pushed on others; 6) Take control of the selection of new priests out of the hands of secular psychologists; 7) Forbid all priests from being alone with male minors; 8) Make clear that any reasonable accusation of child molestation will be made known to criminal authorities and that the Church will NOT protect from criminal law any priest found guilty of sexual molestation; 9) Seek forgiveness from the laity; 10) Repent before God and seek forgiveness from HIM myself for having allowed thousands of teenage boys to have been molested and raped.
Well, I think that would do for a start.
I can't provide such evidence. But whether that way just recently or in all the past, I still object.
I agree.
Sorry Mr. NWU Army ROTC. I didn't read your question carefully and submitted an answer to a different problem! - I think that there are two things one could do immediately to help return to a more conservative, orthodox traditionalism. First, offer more conservative priests and masses to those who want them. There seems to be a tremendous hunger for such among many in America. At the very least, this would help to counterbalance the more liberal cohorts with the church. Second, with regard to authentic Catholic belief - simply require that cardinals, bishops, priests know and actively affirm authentic Catholic teachings. And provide immediate negative consequences for those who don't. This would take many years of struggle, but needs to be done. Rome has had an almost hands-off approach to the American Catholic Church, with disastrous results.
I've never understood the allowance of debate on settled matters of doctrine within the Church. One can disagree on policies (whether or not to have women priests), and on some fuzzy theological matters. But when you have certain priests in the United States teaching things like: 1) Jesus is not really divine, 2) homosexual acts and premarital sex are fine and dandy, 3) the Eucharist is not really the body and blood of Jesus, etc. etc., you have priests who are not really Catholic. All it takes is a determined authority (the Pope or his deleguees) to root out such un-Catholic elements. Unfortunately, we have not had such an authority. At the end of the day, the Pope himself does not have the power to change matters of scripture- and tradition-based doctrine. But he certainly does have the power to insist on faithfulness to that doctrine.
Hint:Do you know anything about initiations into boys' clubs and fraternities and other men/male/macho bonding societies?You might try to connect dots.
Have any of them been publicly excommunicated? That seems like such a difficult situation, given that so many Bishops are a part of both the CPA and the underground Church.
patent
A good idea but how would it work? Would those masses and priests be openly designated by the Bishops as "conservative" havens? I doubt it. We have to face it. The struggle between liberal and conservative Catholics is here to stay. I see no end to it short of schism or some kind of huge chastisement in the form of a natural or man made disaster.
That passage does illustrate the seriousness with which we should pursue our salvation, and you're right; many of us do not treat it with the utmost seriousness as we should.
I have never had the courage or strength to lead the truly pure and Christian life that Jesus outlined. For instance, I (and most people I know) have not given up their wealth to follow him. At the end of the day, I do take Jesus' words as the words and intent of God - even more than the Catholic Church's interpretation of those words.
The Pope really does have the power to require that bishops toe the line on established Catholic doctrine. He has not used that power, for whatever reason (which I do not understand). The other two alternatives are schism, as you say, or just muddling through with assaults from all sorts of alternative doctrines. I'd definitely vote for the first, but suspect we'll get the third.
What about the Assumption? I know it's a relatively new teaching, but isn't that the Church's official position on what happened to Mary?
The Church takes no position on whether Mary actually experienced death. It seems unlikely though, since natural death is a consequence of sin. Anyway, the Church merely says that "at the end of her earthly life", Mary was assumed body and soul into Heaven.
No town has ever claimed to be where she is buried, as they have with countless other saints.
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