Posted on 02/23/2013 6:26:24 AM PST by Kaslin
The pope has renounced the papal throne. Long live the progressive pope! Such are the rallying cries from establishment voices wanting to see the Catholic Church loosen up now that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to step down. But maybe people should listen to the Church's actual views.
Mary Hasson from the Ethics and Public Policy Center has been doing some unique work looking into what Catholic women know and want from their Church. It's scandalous and yet not entirely surprising that she found only 13 percent of Catholic women who occasionally attend Mass accept Church teaching on contraception.
It's not a shock given that the average Catholic Mass goer is not exactly being taught the theology and even practicality of the Catholic teaching on sexual morality. Catholics all too often see Church teaching as a litany of "No"s when, in fact, it is all about "Yes." Yes to human dignity and happiness. Yes to the respect for one another that comes from truly believing you are made in the image and likeness of God.
"On the one hand, the number is small, no question," Hasson acknowledges. "That 13 percent includes not only weekly churchgoers but also women who attend less regularly, perhaps a few times a year. However, if we look only at women who attend Mass weekly, the percentage accepting the Church's teaching on contraception goes up, doubling (to 27 percent) among young women ages 18-34. That's a sign of hope -- in spite of decades of dissenting theologians, silence from the parish pulpit and distorted cultural messages about sex, these women have heard the Church's teaching and embraced it. These women form a solid core of faithful Catholics who can attest to the personal benefits of following the Church's teaching on sexuality and family planning."
And despite the current conversation about women, contraception and religious liberty that's overtaken the government's federal health-care push, the media coverage has been such that most Americans still don't quite know what all the fuss is about. Some Catholic women have a similar relationship to Church teachings on contraception: 37 percent, in Hasson's findings, were unsure about the specifics.
"The 37 percent seems to confirm the stories that abound of Catholic women who went to Mass every week for years and to confession regularly, but never heard that contraception is wrong. Similarly, how many Catholics have gone through (extensive marriage prep in the Church) by never heard word one about the Church's teaching on sexuality or family planning," she said. "Or perhaps (they) heard some general teachings, and then, with a wink, were told to follow their consciences, with no further guidance about forming their consciences."
A cover story in glossy New York magazine recently dared to question the good of the birth-control pill based on the damage it had wrought on women's lives and bodies. The one institution that proposes a radically different way might just have something to offer the world -- if it only taught it and lived it.
Pope Benedict has been a teacher, first and foremost, reintroducing a proposal that Christ himself offered. Men and women living in service for love of God are good to have around. Enough with the campaign for less Catholicism in the Catholic Church. How about a welcome mat for a good and faithful shepherd who, with confidence and humility, speaks with clarity about the teachings of the Catholic Church, "proposing the good news of Jesus Christ to a disenchanted world," as George Weigel puts it in his book "Evangelical Catholicism."
The disenchanted are everywhere, even in the pews. And they want to be fed, they want to be engaged, they want to be transformed. They don't want more of the same misery omnipresent in the secular world. The world doesn't need a Gospel of misery but of hope. The Church has it, and we should expect the next pope to teach on, infused with a generous and contagious spirit of engagement.
Elephant? What elephant? I see no elephant in this room.
Since the pope is quitting because the clergy has been taken over by homosexuals I don’t see how a progressive pope will make a difference. They’re already in the forefront of the progressive movement.
Is anyone inside Islam calling for reform?
Is the media calling for reform of Islam?
Every element and aspect of life ... modern life ... is pressured to change, reform and re-new ... except the sand monkey muzzies.
Yo PEOPLE ... how frikkin' blind ARE you ??!!??
Each person is responsible to God for relationship with Christ, matters not what your particular organized religion says to you.
It`s your responsibility to make sure you have asked Jesus into your life, to turn from sins, and to ask Jesus forgiveness if/when we do sin.
If a particular Church tells you at some point that it`s OK to start aborting God`s unborn children etc, that is not going to give you a pass because the hierarchy said it was OK
Speaking as someone who has left organized religion, but has a daily personal walk with Jesus, I can only encourage others to do the same.
There is no gray areas, when it comes to social issues, under no circumstances can we approve of taking any unborn child’s life, Jesus and the Bible covered all this, homosexuality is a abomination etc
Giving mere mortals improper titles such as Reverend,Your eminence, The Holy Father etc etc
There is only 1 Holy Father and that is The Lord Jesus Christ
Wouldn't the correct terminology be that he "resigned" the papal throne?
Wouldn’t the correct terminology be “was pushed from it after it came out that he personally covered up decades of child abuse when he was the man responsible for investigating those crimes and then used the insider knowledge he had of the criminals to blackmail them into election him pope”
I have been in such a quandry over whether the Catholic Church = the Vatican. That is, should I consider all the failings of the Pope and the Vatican as a reason to reject the Catholic church due to its imperfect leadership? Similarly, I come to the same question about my country: America = America’s Govt. All the failings, improprieties and illegalities perpetrated by my Govt. means my country sucks, too??? What do we do to bring it back to where it’s supposed to be? Walk away like you did because there is no way to change the Church from within? Walk away from my country because of the same reason?
When you have Catholics openly voting for pro abortion politicians/presidents etc, Catholics etc openly saying they support gay marriage abortion etc
When you have other so called Christian denominations, marrying homosexuals, ordaining Homosexuals etc
We have to choose at some point, are you with The Lord or not, people will have to ask themselves these questions, especially when they start to talk of moderation because of the times we live in etc.
There are many many Christian Churches, non denominational,many Pentecostal Churches the list is long, one does not have to continue with Churches that are not 150% Bible based.
If you walk in to a truly Christian Church,you will find ZERO pro choice members, you will find ZERO members that support any type of anti Christian non Biblical views.
You will find zero members that would even consider to vote Democrat
People will need to shake the dust off their boots and say...I AM WITH THE LORD JESUS
The selection for the next Pope will be the same as a political party picking a leader, no different
Compare with a CEO who had lost sight in one eye, hearing in one ear, had his clothes altered multiple times because he had lost so much weight.
Please get the facts before you slander the Pope and the Catholic Church. He is ill.
The Reason Benedict Resigned [Catholic Caucus]
At B16's Window, A Big "Thank You"... While Behind the Walls, The "Showcase" Begins
Prayers for Our Holy Father Benedict XVI and the Papal Conclave
Pope still extremely Catholic (A look at how media cover Catholicism [and the Pope])
Conclave to silence at least nine tweeting cardinals
Pope Benedict's resignation and the mystery of the missing encyclical
Benedict, Dawkins, and the Fullness of Reason
Benedict XVI: Vatican II as I saw it
Benedict’s renunciation and the wolves within the church
The Left Lobbies for a Liberal Successor to Benedict (and here is why)
Pope Benedict's Future Residence
SCOTT HAHN: Pope Benedict had a profound effect on this former Presbyterian minister
Is the Next Pope the One From John Bosco’s Dream? (Patrick Madrid offers an intriguing twist)
"Re-Elect Pope Benedict" - “Eight more years!”
Who can be elected pope?
The Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI: A commentary by Fr. Barron
More details on papal resignation, conclave (Vatican Press Office)
Church doesn't bend, but endures
Who Will Take Up the Keys of Peter (This is a MUST READ!)
Conclave & The Media: The Silly Season
Cardinal Bertone's Farewell Address to the Holy Father
"Thank You – Let Us Return to Prayer": For the Last Time, The Pope Leaves the Altar
"Today, We Begin A New Journey" – Liturgically Speaking, B16's Last Word
Vatican releases schedule for Pope's final days
Benedict XVI: Reason’s Revolutionary
Some Interesting Tidbits From Today’s Vatican press conference
Pope Decided to Resign After Cuba Trip, Vatican Advisor Says
Pope Says He's Resigning for the 'Good of Church'
Watch for the Anti-Catholics To Weigh in on the Papal Succession
The challenge Pope Benedict has left for his successor—and for ordinary Catholics
Historian Notes Precedents for Papal Resignation
US Will Have Unprecedented Voice In Electing New Pope
Pope Benedict’s Resignation and St. Corbinian’s Bear
Pope Benedict XVI’s Musical Legacy
Benedict announces resignation and lightning strikes
DHS's curiosity piqued over Pope Benedict XVI's retirement and Catholic Prophecy
Prayers for Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict's Devotion to Saint Celestine Signaled His Resignation from the Papacy
Cardinal Sodano to Pope Benedict: “We have heard you with a sense of loss and almost disbelief”
Pope's resignation invokes sadness, gratitude from US bishops
Pope cites waning strength as reason for resignation
Report: Brother Says Pope Was Considering Resignation for Months
Some Notes About the Upcoming Conclave
An Evangelical Looks at Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict’s Resignation in Historical Context
Virtually unprecedented: papal resignation throughout history
Pope Benedict XVI:a papal timeline
"I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome" [Full Text]
Pope Benedict's Address on Resignation of the See of Rome
POPE BENEDICT XVI WILL RESIGN AT THE END OF THIS MONTH, VATICAN PRESS OFFICE TELLS FOX NEWS
The actual terminology in the letter in one of those links is required.
You are confusing impeccability with infallibility. Popes are humans and can sin — they are not impeccable.
But when they decree a dogma/or the magesterium does in matters of faith and morals — the decisions are always guided by the Holy Spiriit and become infalliable.
Infallible Infallibility
Docility (on Catholic dogma and infallibility)
Beginning Catholic: Infallibility: Keeping the Faith [Ecumenical]
Papal Infallibility [Ecumenical]
Peter & Succession (Understanding the Church Today)
Pope: may all Christians recognize true meaning of Peter’s primacy
THE PRIMACY OF THE SUCCESSOR OF PETER IN THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH
Pope St. Leo the Great and the Petrine Primacy
The Epiphany of the Roman Primacy
THE PRIMACY OF THE SUCCESSOR OF PETER IN THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH [Ratzinger]
“If you walk in to a truly Christian Church,you will find ZERO pro choice members, you will find ZERO members that support any type of anti Christian non Biblical views”
I would add - and No one would have voted for Obama in that church - agree with you 100% on the above statement and everything else you wrote. If you want to go somewhere where liberal points of view prevail, be a Unitarian or an Episcopalian- they don’t believe in anything — this is War and that’s how we need to look at it -For both Christianity and our country.
**ZERO**
The word ‘zero’ is like the word ‘never’. It makes you a liar because it makes that statement unbelievable.
We are all sinners. Repenet and believe in the Gospel.
A liar, huh - that’s a bit harsh, don’t you think. The more I read your words, it sounds like you either misunderstood me or I am sure misunderstanding you.
The original commenter was talking about what a Bible-believing church would look like - there would be no one there in support of Abortion and they wouldn’t be cherry-picking the Bible for what works today and what should be scrapped. Such churches used to be the norm.
Peace be with you.
He is in fact quitting because of the report he received on the homosexual takeover of the priesthood. Anything else you hear is a smokescreen.
Good grief!! Didn’t you read any of those links I posted about Pope Benedict XVI?
Or do you just hate Catholics and the Catholic Church?
Or do you have some insider information here? Care to share it?
Pope Benedict is ill. I suspect that he may die within six months. Then what will you say?
Oops.
Repent and believe in the Gospel.
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