Posted on 04/29/2005 4:04:12 AM PDT by Cincinna
Infallibility has its limits
By MARIO CUOMO
Many of us who cling desperately to our Catholic Church for instruction, inspiration and support prayed that a new Pope would help heal the church's serious wounds and reconnect it more surely to modern realities. Instead, the cardinals have chosen a good and holy man who, we are told, rather than reform the status quo will reaffirm it more insistently than before.
The current challenge of the church is twofold.
First, it must continue proclaiming the unalterable and unchallengeable truths of Christ, instructing us to love one another as we love ourselves and to collaborate in improving the world that God created but did not complete.
That includes the obligation to be generous to those in need, and to avoid unjust and unnecessary wars that kill innocent people.
To deny these eternal and unchangeable truths of Christ is to renounce the Catholic Church.
The second challenge is to reassess the alterable rules made for us by the male descendants of Peter who were and are humanly frail, as he was, and to readjust those rules to better serve the purpose of helping modern Catholics to live fuller and holier lives in this ever-changing world. This would include, among other things, reconsidering celibacy, women's role in the church and other contentious man-made church policies.
The church can do this without abandoning its fundamental commitment to the Gospel of Jesus, and has in fact done it in the past in changing its position on slavery, usury, salvation outside the church and divorce.
The church is extremely hesitant about using or even defining the idea that it is "infallible" in its teaching. None of the currently contentious issues has been so designated. In fact, the church asserts its infallibility only under strictly defined limits, and it has happened very few times in church history. The only formal exercise of papal infallibility in modern times was by Pope Pius XII and dealt with Mary, the mother of Christ.
Despite this history, our new Pope's record and the opinion among Vatican watchers offer little hope for meaningful changes or even for a clear admission that its man-made rules are indeed alterable by the church that made and enforces them.
But then, ours is a church that continues to entertain the possibility of miracles, big and small and is capable of startling and invigorating changes of course like the ascendance of John XXIII, who gave us the Second Vatican Council that brought Catholicism a bright new enlightenment in the 1960s.
Hope springs eternal.
Cuomo, former governor of New York, practices law with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
We know you are smarter than everyone else, and holier, but we must all answer to a higher authority.
"This would include, among other things, reconsidering celibacy, women's role in the church and other contentious man-made church policies."
"other contentious man-made church policies"
Hey Mario, what part of "Thou shalt not kill" dost thou not understandeth?"
Speaking of irrelevance, where's Phil Donahue?
Poor is not only on the outside.
If the Church changes any rules which allow homosexuals to marry it will die a slow death. Women should not be allowed to become Priests.
If a church has to die let it die from being right.
Other Churches allowing an openly Homosexual Bishop to live in openly adulterous relationship are killing themselves by doing wrong.
I dont believe women should be Priests and I dont believe the Pope will allow it , nor should he.Women have a historic role in the Church , There are still some convents left, Join them.
The Pope has to take a strong stand on Homosexuality in the Priesthood, That stand should include allowing the civil authorities to deal with acts of pedophilia and not trying to hide these people. Bernard Law should be sent into retirement, not placed in charge of a parish.
Cuomo:a typical "cafeteria Catholic" who wishes to pick and chose which elements of church doctrine he's "comfortable" with.Memo to Mario: if you're that uncomfortable with the direction of "your church" then do as I did and walk. I left the Episcopal Church 2 1/2 years ago because it became apparent that it no longer accepted scripture as doctrine and merely sought to please as many as possible. I am now, proudly and comfortably, a Catholic.
Mario, the Episcopal Church(if you can call it that)has lots of pews you'd be more comfortable in.
Try searching first.
I could almost agree with the celibacy part because the Bible doesn't call for it, in fact it even claims that a stable, married man is appropriate for a teaching role (Timothy 3:2 and 3:12), but the "womens' role in the church" part is pretty clear - the Bible insists that men are the spiritual leaders and the only time that was not so is when the men failed to do their duty; then there are a couple instances where a woman assumed the lead role.
The catholic church will have my respect, and maybe i might even come back to it when it gets rid of these fools. For years you have these political hacks who are/were catholic, most in good standing who support every liberal cause including abortion.
These are different than the regular joe sitting in the pew who might support all the wrong thing. These are people who use their political office to promote these issues. It is about time the catholic church cleared its ranks of all these type people.
Till now it is symbolic of the great tree in the bible full of every foul spirit and every unclean and hateful bird. I am willing to bet that the catholic church would have a revival of new members and a renewal of old if they would clean up their act.
somewhere I have a 'Rush the TV show' video clip of 'facia brute' Cuomo complaining to an audience that the constituents...."sheep" are now telling the politicians "shepherds" how to run the government. This was right after he lost the governorship and right after a death penalty was voted in, in NY.
He is a worthless POS. and so is his son.
Mario seems to forget that the Catholic church isn't a democratic institution. The people don't elect a Pope with an agenda that will satisfy their whims of the moment based on polling data.
Mario's been in politics so long that he seems to think that everyone, Popes included, should pander to the crowd's flavor of the month religious/political preferences. That kind of thinking may work, short term, in the heart of liberal New York City, but it doesn't stand up to the test of time or the teachings that have been handed down for two thousand years.
People might choose to listen to Mario Cuomo when he talks about politics or legislation, but why would anybody care the least little bit what he has to say about Catholicism?
Praying for instruction, but ignoring the messenger.
MC, "Oh, please Lord, send us a Pope that will justify my personal failings."
"The church can do this without abandoning its fundamental commitment to the Gospel of Jesus, and has in fact done it in the past in changing its position on slavery, usury, salvation outside the church and divorce."
Of these, the Church has only changed its "position" on usury.
Extra ecclesiam nulla salus still remains. How to understand "ecclesiam" has tweaked ever so slightly.
Mario, ascenda me. Tu se propriano Spatchime!!
(Or something like that - spelling uncertain.)
Mario is just upset bc the Catholic Cafeteria has officially closed, with the election of BenedictXVI/
Mario, "The Slippery" Cuomo, friend of the infanticidal zealots of unborn children, master of left-wing jive, and con artist in a Party of con artists speak on the moral issues facing the new Pope.
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