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UK Bishops Compare Defenders of Catholic Moral Discipline to Ancient Rigorist Heretics
LifeSite News ^ | 12/23/14 | Hilary White

Posted on 12/24/2014 9:27:54 AM PST by marshmallow

At almost the same moment that Cardinal Raymond Burke said in an interview that those defending Catholic moral teaching – and the practice of barring people in irregular sexual unions from receiving Communion – are being marginalized within the Church, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales have issued a document for clergy that all but accuses such Catholics of the ancient Donatist heresy.

In a “Reflection Document for Clergy,” the English bishops appear to follow the line of Cardinal Walter Kasper and his followers, saying, “It is not for us to make rash or premature conclusions” about people living in sexual sin.

“We meet people at many different stages of family life which are often not clearly defined in this way nor do they occur in the ‘traditional’ order in which we used to think,” they said.

The bishops go so far as to issue a thinly veiled accusation of heresy against those, like Cardinal Burke, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Cardinal George Pell and others, who have refused to follow the Kasper line. The document quotes St. Augustine of Hippo, the 4th century Doctor of the Church, who the bishops say “offers us a way of looking at the Church from his age which is still relevant today.”

St. Augustine wrote about the problem faced by the Christian community at the end of a period of persecution under the Emperor Diocletian. The saint recommended clemency and absolution for those who had repented of having publicly denounced their faith in Christ under threat of death. This was in opposition to the Donatist faction who held that repentance was impossible and favoured excommunication.

“The followers of Donatus wanted no contact whatever with Catholics whom they believed were contaminated and could.....

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1 posted on 12/24/2014 9:27:54 AM PST by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow

What idiots those bishops are! There’s a difference between forgiving somebody who committed a grave sin, repented and renounced it, and somebody who is in a sort of extended sinful act that they have no intention of renouncing. They’re the ones who are heretics. But some author once said that “all heresies begin below the belt,” that is, with someone’s attempt t justify their favorite sexual sin, and I’m beginning to think that’s true.


2 posted on 12/24/2014 10:20:32 AM PST by livius
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To: marshmallow

Yes, repent, be forgiven and GO BACK TO YOUR SPOUSE!


3 posted on 12/24/2014 10:24:43 AM PST by Petrosius
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To: marshmallow
What an idiotic conclusion. The Donatists were to be forgiven and reinstated when they repented. Repentance means you intend to sin no more, and to avoid the near occasions of sin.

Nobody gets a license to sin continuously for the rest of their life.

4 posted on 12/24/2014 10:25:09 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Point of accuracy.)
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To: marshmallow

The world woke up and groaned to find itself Arian.


5 posted on 12/24/2014 11:54:04 AM PST by Oratam
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To: livius
But some author once said that “all heresies begin below the belt,” ...

The whole world - with very limited exceptions - has bought into the sex-positive agenda. Genital pleasure is the one unlimited good, against which every other good must give way.

Some try to set limits, but once they've bought the premise, any objections are half-hearted and unpersuasive.

6 posted on 12/24/2014 4:30:49 PM PST by Tax-chick (Remember Malmedy!)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Kasper/Francis Ping

In a “Reflection Document for Clergy,” the English bishops appear to follow the line of Cardinal Walter Kasper and his followers, saying, “It is not for us to make rash or premature conclusions” about people living in sexual sin.

So now the English have joined the Germans in heresy.

7 posted on 12/24/2014 5:18:45 PM PST by ebb tide
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Donatist? Really? I fear the Church is heading for a big gaping schism.


8 posted on 12/24/2014 5:29:38 PM PST by virgil (The evil that men do lives after them)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Nobody gets a license to sin continuously for the rest of their life.

Tell that to Francis and his henchman, Kasper.

9 posted on 12/24/2014 8:21:52 PM PST by ebb tide
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