This is a great place for thinking out loud - There are few people in my life that I can talk to as freely as the way I post here - seems like we are doomed to be misunderstood by family and friends for really believing in heaven, hell and purgatory in other words - salvation of souls. In the real world I am a quiet person and quite reflective - I find it hard to share the faith (could be the Irish in me) as I get tongue tied - I find it easier to write about the faith than talk about it for some reason.
They are great defenders of Pope Francis. I fear they are too optimistic about Germany - they are already in schism in my opinion because of their support for novel and heretical teachings.
Bobby I could have written this. You are describing my own situation perfectly. I get tongue tied too when trying to share the faith. And I am 80%Irish so now I know why. But seriously I feel exactly the same way. I am so grateful for this forum.
I am in the same dilemma. I chicken out when I should speak up. I used to be bolder but now.....I just don't speak. I pray but I don't speak. However Fr Ripperger says that we are at a time where speaking can have the opposite effect. Souls are so hardened that they can actually get harder if we speak. So... I pray. I trust Fr Ripperger so thats the way I operate these days.
And sometimes there is little point in interjecting when the person is not predisposed to listening. Our blessed lord advised not to cast our pearls to swine. But when someone is open I find it a joy to share.
This is really important, and explains a LOT of what is going on here: the smoke of S.... Did Fr Malachi Martin ever mention deChardin's work?
He never said anything negative about him. He met him a few times and had him autograph a book (this is in Hostage to the Devil). I always wondered why he never mentioned him. I never read The Jesuits. Maybe he mentioned him in that book.
I grow weary when the theme of the paragraph below is inserted into what is otherwise an objective article. I realize that the attempt is made to temper the view by means of what I've highlighted below. The rationale is usually based on the idea that we should be pastoral rather than condemning. Francis also recognizes that the Church’s approach to people in various situations of sin and hardship has not always been the most pastoral. Many people associate the message of the Church (unfairly or not) with threats of damnation rather than the Good News. To shut down the German Synod without addressing its concerns — and the people raising these concerns — directly would be seen as yet another condemnation. It seems he thinks it’s time for a fair hearing. And perhaps there are positive things we can learn from the Germans in the process. So I decided to look up the definition of pastoral: concerning or appropriate to the giving of spiritual guidance. In our day and age condemnation is seen as a ungodly affair, anathema to the very idea of compassion, and certainly not pastoral. But if you assume that posture, then the God of Scripture is very ungodly! It is obvious to me that in speaking of the threat of hell, the Lord is providing spiritual guidance; therefore citing the threat of hell is very pastoral! We need to recall some of the warnings of Christ: Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Matthew 10: 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 18:8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. The fact that Matthew reveals that Jesus taught this on at least three occasions shows it was a regular part of His preaching! And Peter doesn't hold back when speaking of the destination of the ungodly. Therefore, never should there be any sense of gloating ( I have the inside track! ) when speaking of obtaining heaven and avoiding damnation, but rather loving concern for those far from God. It is extremely PASTORAL! 2 Peter 3:7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Those are bold statements, with which few here would agree. Perhaps you might back them up with some examples? When did Pope John, whom I include in my prayers daily, deviate in any way from the Magisterium of the Church; when did he ever rebuke a faithful Catholic for dumping a pagan idol in the Tiber; when did he allow the placement of pagan, symbolic flowers on the altar of Saint Peter's? When did he directly oppose the actual words of Christ Jesus as in the letter of Bergoglio to the Argentinian bishops? Did he ever complain of keyboard warriors who called him out on his errors? There were many bad popes. Pope John XXIII certainly was not one of them. It's difficult for me to imagine another bad pope as bad as the present one.
We've mostly heard on this site of what Catholicism truly consists. It's not that hard to find. The difficulty comes in accepting it and agreeing to the logical consequences of what this implies. We live in a world where information is everywhere, both good and bad. It appears that many only accept the bad, but it seems unlikely they can claim ignorance of the good.
The saying of St Francis that we need to preach, sometimes with words (but obviously mostly through good example) seems intended primarily for these times.
An excellent article. Pope Francis is consistent in regard to abortion. When it comes to capital punishment, he has gone one step further than Pope John Paul II by claiming there should be no capital punishment. The idea is that incarceration eliminates the possibility of an individual repeating an act of murder. However, there are multiple examples over the last decade where escaped convicts in the USA have murdered the innocent. I certainly feel that Genesis 9 comes into play in such cases. To that extent I believe his absolute position is wrong. It should be judged on a case by case basis. Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.
Hugely relevant post. Perhaps, it should be made one of these 'stickies'. Teilhard represents the absolute nadir of mendacious scientism combined with the most egregious freemasonic 'theology'. Its effects can be measured by the current state of the Jesuit order.
On the other hand, there might be many with goodness in their hearts whose principle exposure to the Church, mediated and exaggerated by a mendacious, biased media, is of an institution notorious for abusing young boys and for covering it up. It isn't unreasonable for them to be hostile.
