Posted on 09/25/2013 10:54:54 AM PDT by NYer
I would venture to say that the reason the word “orthodox” is used instead of “conservative” (or—adversely— “progressive” rather than “liberal”) is because at one time Bl. John Paul II asked us not to use political terms to describe ecclesial ones.
Or reflect the truth.
Trying to look but did not find anything in that regard.
Tend to use the terms “conservative”, “moderate”, and “liberal” myself in the area of the ecclesial.
Plus also the term “orthodox” is still being used by the Eastern Christians.
That would be helpful, especially when one considers that Free Republic is primarily a political message board, and the Catholic bishops' position on any number of political issues (Obamacare, immigration, taxes, etc) rarely the conservative one.
The Pope may or may not have had noticeable influence on this growth. God works in ways beyond human understanding and such growth in vocations may easily be the answer from God to all the many groups and people and clergy who have been praying for that growth—of whom Pope Francis very likely was included. I have been part of groups who have been doing this for a long time.
“I have given him the benefit of the doubt”. That’s generous of you, but it may be more reasonable to give him more than a few months in his incredibly difficult calling before offering your highly personalized opinion. He isn’t there to garner your approval. He is there as the servant of the servants, as head of the Church, not needing benefit of a doubt, but the support of prayer and the support of the people of God who believe more in what God has ordained at this time than in what their personal assessment is of things that are clearly under God’s purview, permission and protection.
“I will continue to remind my brothers of this...”(lightning strikes and earthquakes). I’m not sure who your “brothers” are. However, we haven’t yet had an explanation or revelation of God as to the meaning of the lightning strike and the earthquake. No angel has come to tell us what it means. How can we be sure of what it means if no one from heaven has come to tell us. All that is being asked of us is to be faithful..faithful to all that God has commanded us and written on our hearts.
Before He ascended into heaven, Our Lord told his assembled Apostles and disciples to “go out and preach the Gospel to all the world, and teach them to obey all I have commanded you.” One of his commandments was to cease judging others. In a number of memorable instances He clarified what He meant by this.
“We may have a real problem on our hands, and I mention this to goad myself and others to more prayer and sacrifice for this Pope and for the Church.”
The Church has had a problem on her hands since the beginning and will have more so to the end. How true it is that all that is really needed is more prayers and sacrifices.
Seminary directors cite more encouragement from bishops and parishes, the draw of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and the social-justice-minded Pope Francis,....
He has been Pope for 6 months and they are crediting him and "social justice" for graduate level enrollments??? Sigh. The reason the seminaries are doing better is because many of the Pink Palaces have been overhauled. Many liberal dinosaurs quietly resigned or were forced to sign loyalty oaths. The tide turned because the Church FINALLY dealt with issues that were festering for years. To see the code word "Social Justice" get the credit is a whitewash of history. The "Social Justice" types caused these problems. What next, will "desire for more communism" be credited with bringing down the Berlin Wall?
You noticed that too, huh?
NYER my parish recently welcome new Priest at my church he is orginally from Vietnam
**Do you think the expansion of candidates to include women, and now also the gay community is turning off the straight men?**
Yes.
The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest. (Matthew 9:37-38)
Hello again ROE!
I’m sorry for not replying to your previous post awhile back. I was prevented from doing so because my account is ‘too new’ to respond to a personal reply.
To cover one point you made, Christ admonished us to read the signs of the times. It is my belief that one would have to be purblind as to ignore these extremely significant signs, ie, the lightnings and the earthquake. However, it has been done before. Recall the miracle of the sun at Fatima, which has all but been swept under a rug.
Evidence aside, the Pope’s pattern of these very few months have been some extremely mixed messages creating controversy and confusion — even without the help of the MSM. Perhaps not to you, but taken together with these other signs, I have begun to sense a real problem. I certainly did not have these feelings at the beginning of his pontificate.
Finally back to the main point, you seem to contradict yourself in saying on the one hand that he was “likely” part of a group praying for vocations. Using your standard here, and mine as well, there is no proof of this, AND no angelic seconding of your statement. At this point, it is bare speculation.
Now, back to the BOTD (benefit of the doubt). (Here I go being generous AGAIN. Shame on me.) If PROOF could be provided that his own archdiocese had some marked improvement in vocations, then shut my mouth.
The final part of this contradiction is that you aver to the fact that he has been on the job for only a few months. This would, of itself and I would think rather obviously, negate the effect he has had on vocations. More to the point, I have read some of his speeches from World Youth Day, and they are pretty mealy-mouthed. Nothing really controversial, but just ... nothing.
Certainly nothing to rouse a young person’s soul to a consecrated life.
“He isn’t there to garner your approval.”
Wait a minute ... I thought that that was SOMEWHERE in the mission statement. Durn. Oh wait, here it is, I just KNEW it was in there somewhere ... Try this 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
“I’m not sure who your “brothers” are.”
Ahem. MATTHEW 12:48 Now there’s some angelic info for YOU, brother! :)
Thank you very much Alex
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