Posted on 05/06/2014 2:53:42 PM PDT by BlatherNaut
Cardinal Rodriguez-Maradiaga, “head” of the group of 8 cardinals hand-picked to advice Pope Francis, had this to say recently, regarding the direction of Francis’ papacy (I add some highlights to the statement):
The Honduran archbishop, who chairs the Council of Cardinals (C8) that advises the Pope, said Francis “feels called to construct” a Church that is, among other things: “At the service of this world by being faithful to Christ and his Gospel; free from all mundane spirituality; free from the risk of being concerned about itself, of becoming middle-class, of closing in on self, of being a clerical Church; able to offer itself as an open space in which all can meet and recognise each other because there is space for dialogue, diversity and welcome in it.”
This is straight out of the progressive zeitgeist. The bit about being “middle-class,” or bourgeoisie, I think tips the hand too much. It’s not just “Church of the poor” boilerplate, it is something more significant.
But the last part…..”able to offer itself as an open space in which all can meet and recognise each other because there is space for dialogue, diversity and welcome in it“……that’s what the Church is for? And I thought it was to save souls!
This is yet another disturbing, strongly left-wing statement from Cardinal Maradiaga. There is nothing here about holiness of eternal salvation, just worldly do-goodery, which is certainly important, but not the primary raison de etre for the Church. This is in fact a radical re-definition of how the Church has always viewed Herself. It reveals yet again the degree to which the progressive elements in the Church feel empowered and liberated today after a few years of being stymied by the previous pope(s?).
I would argue that being “at the service of the world” and the Church serving as “an open space in which all can meet and recognize each other (what does that even MEAN?!?) because…….dialogue, diversity!” is a veritable definition of mundane spirituality. Was there ever a time when spirituality was more mundane than the 70s and 80s? And is this not a program to not just return to that tragic time, but to go beyond it in terms of banality and spiritual Barron-ness? Heh.
And isn’t an effort to construct a new Church a sign of the Church, in the form of a few of its leaders, being obsessively “concerned about itself.” Irony, anyone? In fact, progressives have long claimed that the Church must cease being so concerned about itself, all the while keeping their gaze steadily locked on their own ideological navels. This is not a fresh idea, this is the same progressive klaptrap that’s been pushed for over 50 years.
What kind of hubris drives someone, even a pope, to think he is called to “construct” or, put another way, radically reshape and “improve” what he received from a patrimony of 2000 years? I pray this is just a badly misguided cardinal spouting off, and that he is not reliably reporting Pope Francis’ intentions. If he is…….yikes. And yet, this is not the first time Cardinal Maradiaga has said some disconcerting things, and there has not been even a slight rebuke of his advocating for further revolution in the Church.
Is the rhetoric about being an open space for “diversity” a sign of further collapse on the defense of moral Dogmas, this time regarding sodomy? Is there to be “dialogue” and understanding for traditional Catholics? How about the FFI?
I find this discourse hardly distinguishable from some of the worst pablum from socialist parties around the world.
I guess the real question is, does any of this matter? How significant is it that it comes from the head of the elite eight cardinals?
Can these people really want to return, and even go beyond, the disastrous practices that served as the direct cause of millions leaving the Faith over the past several decades?
Is there anyone as blind as an ideologue?
ping
When did my fellow traditionalists lose their ability to reason?
Care to elaborate?
And people wonder why millions upon millions do not follow the RCC. Trust only in Christ as your Savior. There is but one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ. Not man.
It's ADVISE, not ADVICE.
“Care to elaborate?”
No, I’ll just let your posting history make my case for me.
“There is but one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ. Not man.”
I trust in Christ. And He sent the Church.
“His concentration on the poor, the poor, almost always the poor, and how we should all lower our living standards, is scary, to say the least.”
You must find Jesus and the Holy Spirit terrifying. http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?search=poor&version=NIV&searchtype=all&spanbegin=47&spanend=73
He is the Foundation of His church. His saved people.
It takes him some time to elaborate on an insult.
Let me take a stab at it.
When a Catholic can not decipher even the language and semantics being used, and when the teaching “fruit”, after more than a year of telegraph, television, tell-a-woman is not even discernable, then for that Catholic, it is quite REASON-able to experience confusion.
You, BN, have increasing company in your bewilderment. I wear that deer-in-Head-lights expression 90% of the time now, when our Pope and his eight elect speak.
There’s a REASON we are bewildered. The timing is eerie. We are feeling like we don’t recognize our own country right now, under this administration, but no one on FR questions our REASON for that.
Now comes a new Pope who is handicapped by limited English and every word is mis-translated to the point of confusion in the Church? I just don’t think so.
I wasn’t aware that being middle-class was something to be ashamed of.
This guy is an idiot.
.
Maybe pronouncements should be in the form of rhyming riddles, so as to be so enigmatic that they can clarify what was said a half a dozen times.
“It takes him some time to elaborate on an insult.”
I made no insult in that post and I’ve never needed to elaborate on an insult.
“He is the Foundation of His church.”
Yes, but He still sent it. That means to ignore it is to ignore what He sent.
He didn’t say being middle-class was something to be ashamed of. He meant the church shouldn’t become a middle-class church; i.e. one that only caters to the minivan driving suburbanite (in American parlance.) He meant the church should be one for all people.
What Pope HASN’T been handicapped by limited English?
The Honduran archbishop, who chairs the Council of Cardinals (C8) that advises the Pope, said Francis “feels called to construct” a Church that is, among other things: “At the service of this world by being faithful to Christ and his Gospel; free from all mundane spirituality; free from the risk of being concerned about itself, of becoming middle-class, of closing in on self, of being a clerical Church; able to offer itself as an open space in which all can meet and recognise each other because there is space for dialogue, diversity and welcome in it.”
Peace love dove, peace bells, incense, light shows, crash pads, and Hare Krishna!
Wait, I thought Francis was sooooooo humble.
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