ATHEIST PHILOSOPHER RIPS FRANCIS’ VANDALISM

Church Militant ^ | July 21, 2021 | Jules Gomes

[Marchmain]

Cultured liberals attack pope's brutish iconoclasm against Latin Mass

France's leading philosopher is excoriating Pope Francis for his cultural vandalism of the "liturgical patrimony" of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).

"I am an atheist, as is known, but the life of the Catholic Church interests me because it sets the heartbeat of our Judeo-Christian civilization, which is in bad shape," writes Michel Onfray, public intellectual and author of over 60 books, in Monday's edition of Le Figaro.

Onfray... concedes that his "world is one that was made possible by the God of Christians."

"Christianity has shaped a civilization that is my own, and which I believe I can love and defend, without guilt, without apologizing for its errors, without waiting for a redemption after confession, contrition, and kneeling," Onfray admits.

The philosopher, also known for his hedonist and epicurean worldviews, lauds the TLM as "a patrimony of the genealogical age of our civilization," that crystallizes "a long sacred lineage of rituals, of celebrations, of prayers" in a form "that offers a total performance."

Sensibilities: Benedict vs. Francis

Onfray uses the category of "Gesamtkunstwerk" (total artwork), popularized by the composer Richard Wagner, in understanding the TLM as a "synthesis of the arts." German Romantic aesthetics aspired to create the supreme form of the Gesamtkunstwerk where different art forms are combined to create a single cohesive whole.

In an essay reeking with contempt for Francis, Onfray compares what he considers the refined and finely honed cultural and theological sensibilities of Benedict XVI with Francis' unsophisticated and boorish lack of artistic finesse — compensated only by his Machiavellian Jesuit cunning.

Literature scholar Dr. John Zmirak agrees that Francis' anti-TLM motu proprio Traditionis Custodes abrogating Benedict's pro-TLM Summorum Pontificum, stems from the pontiff's philistinism...

[Marchmain]

Reminiscent of the famous letter to Pope Paul VI from cultural and intellectual leaders of Europe asking him not to stop the traditional mass.

[PGR88]

There are many paths to find Faith - one is by “backing into it” through experiencing and believing the fruits of Christian beliefs and culture.

I am surprised this man has not got there yet.

[daniel1212]

Both the atheist and the lost Catholic and liberal Protestant need to avoid the eternal damnation that the disobedient "disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water" (1 Peter 3:20) are suffering. And yet the prevailing Catholic scholarship and the present leader of them to whom Catholics are to look, denies the literal nature of the Flood, and make Climate Change the object of fear:

New American Bible on Genesis Chapter 6:1-4: “This is apparently a fragment of an old legend that had borrowed much from ancient mythology.”

Pope Francis: The flood is the result of God's wrath , the Bible says. He is a figure of God's wrath, who according to the Bible has seen too many bad things and decides to obliterate humanity. The biblical one, according to experts, is a mythical tale. (Now I hope someone doesn't argue that the Pope said the Bible is a myth!) But myth is a form of knowledge. The flood is a historical tale, archaeologists say, because they found traces of a flood in their excavations.

A great deluge, perhaps due to a rise in temperature and the melting of glaciers: what will happen now if we continue on the same path. God unleashed his wrath, but he saw a righteous one, took him and saved him. The story of Noah demonstrates that God's wrath is also a savior. ( Corriere della Sera: https://www.corriere.it/cronache/21_febbraio_28/papa-francesco-libro-verra-nuovo-diluvio-se-non-cambiamo-strada-clima-ghiacciai-40967eb8-7959-11eb-bd61-f38514671054.shtml Bing translation./

[katana]

Even for a Protestant, the Latin Mass is part of our historic religious heritage. As with the Divine Liturgies and Icons of the Orthodox Church, the mysteries of the Latin Mass can draw one into a profound feeling of sacredness.

I don't wish to offend any Roman Catholic friends by commenting on something that is their business, but it is hard to imagine why the Vatican is actually forbidding its practice. Such an imperious attitude by a Pope has precedence before in the Great Schism, the Norman reforms of the Irish Monastic Church, and the Protestant Reformation. Unfortunately, when you're told it's this way or the highway you can feel there's no choice but to hit the road.

[left that other site]

Even for a Protestant, the Latin Mass is part of our historic religious heritage. As with the Divine Liturgies and Icons of the Orthodox Church, the mysteries of the Latin Mass can draw one into a profound feeling of sacredness.

Thank you for posting this. While I am not really "invested" in the Latin Mass, it is most certainly part of Christian Heritage. I feel the same way about this vandalism as I did when I saw Notre Dame de Paris in Flames. It made me so upset! FTR, I am a bass player in a Contemporary Christian Band that ministers in a Pentecostal Church, but I also love the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostem.

We are all impoverished by this left-wing pope's behavior. I can't even IMAGINE how bereft our Traditional Catholic Friends feel over this.

[KC_Lion]

For your interest.

[fortes fortuna juvat]

Onfray has confirmed here what I’ve been telling people ever since the Satan Council closed up shop in 1965, which is that much of the disintegration of civilized culture around the world can be attributed to what that Council did to destroy the Church.

[Vaquero]

I left Catholic HS in 1964. That summer we Moved to the burbs and I went to public school for my 11th and 12th grade. Also became a lapsed Catholic for a number of years. In the early 70s i went to a Mass and was shocked and disappointed into what the church had become.

[MurphsLaw]

Wow- Very interesting post here..
I think this is as honest of an Atheist as you are gonna get...He freely sees and admits the VALUE of the Judeo-Christian world, in which he lives, participates and enjoys in (vs. communist China or Iran per se)- even though he must convince himself (wrongly) that this Culture is of NO making of the God of Abraham, The Christian God. - just that of God's "adherents" and their mythical belief or "literary device".

I really think what he is seeing though, is a realization that his "religion" is so inherently dependent on Christianity for it's existence, that his Atheist "logos" ceases to exist in a world WITHOUT Christianity- and impending dehumaniztaion - and with it the world any human will be free to enjoy. What is left then for him is "nonethingness" - (no Faith- No Anti-Faith- just nothing) and even an honest Atheist realizes that proposition is equally an unnatural situation for the human race.

My opinion... but again though- the atheist begs the question unknowingly.... which is -

"How can we determine if a line is really crooked- if we don't have one straight line to compare it to"??
(C.S.L.)

[fortes fortuna juvat]

I left Catholic HS in 1964. That summer we Moved to the burbs and I went to public school for my 11th and 12th grade. Also became a lapsed Catholic for a number of years. In the early 70s i went to a Mass and was shocked and disappointed into what the church had become.
............................................
I graduated Catholic HS in ‘59, lapsed for about 20 years. When I returned I too was shocked and disappointed by the Novus Ordo. Fortunately someone suggested I try the traditional Tridentine Mass at one of the churches in D.C. It was exactly the same as the Mass I grew up attending, so I’ve remained a Traditionalist to this day.

[Elsie]

"I am an atheist, as is known, but the life of the Catholic Church interests me because it sets the heartbeat of our Judeo-Christian civilization, which is in bad shape," writes Michel Onfray...

Mike: why do you care?

[HarleyD]

The least little thing goes wrong and many Protestants today also question God’s wrath. The real question is “Why is God so loving, gracious, and patience with willfully sinning people who absolutely hate what He stands for?”