Scupoli, you say you can run a truck through some of the holes in the document. Well, ABC News reports: It is not considered to be the Vatican's final word on the New Age issue. A definitive document will be issued once the Vatican receives feedback from diocese to the provisional one issued Monday, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.
If you think you can run a truck through the holes, why don't you point out all, or at least the biggest, holes and submit what you think to the Congregation. Perhaps the final document will be better off for your having done so. I will certainly be writing to urge that Kuhn be taken off the book list.
Also, let us remember that the aims of the Congregation in producing the document are not always the aims that the reader has. The Congregation is trying to give a general guideline for discernment to Bishops, not produce a treatise on New Age thinking that gives academically precise refutations in all of the technical details. That job is up to experts among the faithful...
The criticisms that both of you raised remind me of the criticisms that were raised against Pascendi when it first came out. Pascendi was roundly criticized for not accurately representing the views of the modernists. But really, Pius X was not trying to give an academic treatise. He was out to summarize a movement, in a general way for the faithful, and resist the basic thrust. When it comes to Modernism and the New Age movement, the devil is not in the details.
As for the idea that the Church has no credibility right now because of all the scandals, I am not sure what to say. Do you think that the Vatican should stop issuing documents because the American Bishops are messed up? To say that the Church lacks credibility and therefore should not issue any documents is a view that, if acted upon, would ensure that the Church remains stuck without credibility. If they do nothing until the world first decides the Church is credible, then credibility will never be recovered, for people who do nothing lack credibility.
Then they should have mailed it to them personally. The fact that they held a news conference and released it publicly says it is intended for the general public. It also tells me they are putting a canary down to test the mine.
That job is up to experts among the faithful
That's the troubling part. Leaders should lead, and if they can't then they shouldn't be leading or issuing documents. By their positions it behooves them to be educated on this subject. If people are wondering and looking for guidance, this provides none but reasserts that "yes, you should wonder and look for guidance." That doesn't help.
No, I don't think the Church should stop issuing documents or writing encyclicals. I do think they need to better educate themselves and clean up the House before throwing condemnations around. The world doesn't have to decree the Church credible again, but looking inside the glass house it is awful dirty. It doesn't inspire anyone to put their own house in order nor does it offer any guidance as to what a clean and orderly home should look like.