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Tuesday, April 19, 2005

We will get used to this, eventually.


Benedict XVI presented to the crowd at St. Peter's Square.

2 comments:

Therese Z said...

Is it shocking to claim the obvious, that men and women are equal but that they have different roles in life? Modern scholars who want to change Luke's gender (a new one on me! where's their proof?) and get all bent out of shape over Junia, who may or may not have been female, will have to contend with two thousand years of scholarship that says differently. They so rarely have any scholarly proof (ancient texts, for example, or somebody with "St." as their first name who wrote about it 1000 years ago) to bear out their theories, which would help them be more convincing.

It's history viewed through today's opinions, isn't it? Sort of a theological Darwinism: yesterday's opinions are so simple, so unevolved, today's ideas are ALWAYS better, dontcha know. Which the Church does not agree with, and, for the record, neither do I. That doesn't make me "conservative," it makes me "faithful to Church teachings and Scripture!"

We want a unified Church, a unified Body ("Father, that they may all be one as I am one with You"). There are Catholics all over the map because there are so damn many Catholics. But they don't always want to leave, so it's a struggle among the laity, not between the laity and the truth.

Another American trend: in Protestant Christianity, small, sometimes single-church independent denominations can all agree, because when someone doesn't agree, they just leave and go elsewhere. Debbie, are you in the same church you grew up in? How many times have you switched? Doesn't that make you a little uneasy? That THIS truth is somehow truer than THAT truth, because it agrees with YOUR truth?

I can't tell you what a joy it has been for me to finally recognize that there is one Truth. It is intellectually the most challenging thing I've ever undertaken, to learn God's Will as expressed by thousands of saints, theologians, philosophers and martyrs. And being a part of this ancient and modern Church is the greatest way to be close to Jesus Christ!

Therese Z said...

Thank you for your reply. It's good that you've been in the same denom all your life. So many have not, I'm sure you'll agree. I get weirded out by people who say "well, I was brought up Lutheran, but then I went to the Presbyterian Church for awhile, but we didn't like the pastor, so now we're......" Sigh.

You made an extremely important statement: "I realize I have no standing in the RC church..." Oh, yes you do! We believe that there is only one Church, that Jesus did not say "Upon this rock I will build my churchES." With that in mind, we understand that all Christians should be united and that the RCC understands that under the umbrella of the Church there are "separated brethren" with whom we share the glory of the Lord, but are missing out on the full joy of communion with the Lord.

That is not condescension; it's sorrow at the separation. I wish I could share with every Christian the joy of the Eucharist. They'd fall so head over heels in love they wouldn't know what to do with themselves!

Differing opinions kept in separate heads, silently, are not good. Please continue to offer (with charity and as much scholarship as you can get together) why your different opinion still fits within the teaching of Scripture and the historical Church. I sense you're not a whiner - thank God - so I want to hear what you have to say.

 

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