August 20 2014 -

7 comments
The young Catholics who ‘joyfully embrace’ Church teaching
August 9 2022
Joe O'Leary
Very well said, Sean. Since 2015 the pall of neurosis hanging over the church has been removed, and the CDF's mutterings hold little weight under Pope Francis. Cardinals now say the kinds of thing that Sean Fagan was persecuted for saying. These young people who embrace church teaching are like those who love the Tridentine Mass: their zeal is misdirected, as they act out an archaic script assuring them of true blue Catholic identity. The Catholic tradition is vaster and richer than they realize and provides them elsewhere with what they are looking for. And that tradition is visibly, palpably undergoing transformation in the current opening up to vaster horizons in science and the religions.
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2 comments
Reposting from May 2022: John Wijngaards: We need a more democratic process of electing bishops.
August 12 2022
Joe O'Leary
Hi, Paddy, better late than never! Your take-down of Hebrews is pretty devastating, but it might be equally easy to find nonsensical modes of reasoning in any part of Scripture or in allegorical exegetes in the line of Origen. Paul's treatment of Abraham, Isaac, etc. in Galatians and Romans is hardly less fanciful than Hebrews, and of course Rabbinic lore is full of such wild exegesis. That just seems to have been the way people thought back then. Jesus himself in the Gospels has quite a lot of unexpected readings of Old Testament tales, not to mention Matthew's wild prophecy-fulfilment remarks ('He shall be called a Nazarene,' 'Out of Egypt have I called my son', etc.). As to the Apocalypse.... Basically I think it is unprofitable to carp at the free and easy exegesis used in Scripture at the risk of missing the main point (in which alone the claimed 'inerrancy' of Scripture is located). The alternation between theological argument and impassioned moral exhortation throughout Hebrews gives the text a captivating swing. Some of the theology is just terrific. The divinity of Christ is magnificently evoked at the start despite the argumentation about angels, the Incarnation likewise a little further on, the saving significance of the Cross again emerges beautifully, and the praise of Faith and its heroes has inspired Christians for two thousand years. The oddities that the critics you quote pounce on challenge us to understand the mental world of the author and the community he came from. This is quite fun, and need not be pursued in the condescending matter of exegetes who always 'know better'. But we do not have to worry about such matters straight away. As heard in church, Hebrews does not bother us with these iffy speculations but directs us to the one thing needful. If the sacerdotalism of Christian ministry has been a bad thing, it is hard to see why Hebrews should be blamed. The only priesthood Hebrews recognizes is that of Christ and he never tells us of humans sharing that priesthood. Fitzmyer's denial that Paul taught that Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of the world does not make much sense. How does he account for such declarations as this?: Romans 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
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USA Abortion Debate: Catholic bishops spent big on Kansas abortion vote — and maybe lost bigger
August 12 2022
Joe O'Leary
The church has again 'painted itself into a corner' (as with contraception according to the late Cardinal König) through its refusal of dialogue.
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14 Aug 202 – 20th Sunday (C)
August 14 2022
Thara Benedicta
Readings: 14 Aug 202 – 20th Sunday (C) Key Message: Let us keep our focus on Lord Jesus and move forward!! Homily: God has set a big goal in front of us. We need to meet our goals by going through the difficulties and avoiding distractions. When we work towards our righteous goals also, we will go through sufferings. In the first reading we see that prophet Jeremiah was suffering because He had spoken God's word to the people. But God our Father lifted him from the miry clay. He lifted him from tears to laughter. When Prophet Jeremiah was in the well, his eyes could not have seen any way of getting away from this clay well. In the same way, even when our physical eyes are not able to see any way of getting out from our deep well, God is working out strategies for us to come out of our well. He will send someone, maybe an unexpected person too, to pick us from the clay well. The Prophet Jeremiah was pushed with the intention that he should die. But God pulled Him out and made him continue his ministry. In the midst of opposition, God will take care of us. In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord has given the same promise. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." When we are persecuted for doing the right thing, we will be filled on earth and will inherit heaven. The second reading tells us exactly how we need to respond to our hardships and still follow our goals with the example of our Lord Jesus. Our Lord Jesus had a challenging life, His life was not an easy one. He also persevered towards it. Amidst of His sufferings He did not grow weary or lose heart. Our Lord Jesus suffered, looking at the end goal. His terrible sufferings did not allow Him to lose heart, because He knew this was the path He had to travel, and in the end there would be great victory. In the world we will have a great fight. God has said that we will have to face tribulations. John 16:33 says: "In the world, you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." So then let us not question ourselves, why we are suffering. When we fight with God on our side, our end results will be sheer happiness. When the Israelites were in war, Moses had to lift up his hands. When Moses hands were lifted up high, the Israelites won, but when his hands were down, the Israelites were losing. Our Almighty God gave this instruction to Moses so that we understand the power of prayer during the war. When we war, always our prayer should go in front. In all the Israelites tours, praises always went ahead. Prayer brings solutions to our problems. Whenever our mind tries to worry, let us turn it into worship. Our Lord Jesus did not lose heart on account of any of the terrible sufferings He underwent. The amazing thing is He always knew from His childhood that He had to undergo terrible sufferings. He would have read when He was a child the description about His sufferings in Isaiah - "his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness". "He was familiar with suffering." Assume when a prophet predicts our future with these words we will be suffering even before these things happen. The prediction of the sufferings did not stop our Lord Jesus from enjoying little little joys in His life. Sometimes we even assume things may go wrong and lose our joy. Whether it actually happens or not, we would have suffered enough for it. Let us not worry about the buffalo we do not have. This kind of worry is a great distractor from achieving our goals. As the second reading says there are multiple weights that we need to shed. One more is wondering whether we have spiritually arrived at the place where our God wants us to be. We may even feel bad thinking God will be angry at us since we are committing lots of sins. Our God is a perfect positive thinker. He always thinks positively about our spiritual growth. He has never lost hope on any of us. When we fall into sin and ask for forgiveness, He immediately forgets it. He is always holding us in the palm of His hands and says "Do not worry, you will get better". He is always a good encourager. All His parables were stories of encouragement. When we feel that we are the prodigal son, we can always look at our Almighty Father searching for us. So let us not go backward worrying about our sins. There is always our Almighty Father helping us to march forward. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to hold on to our faith even in the case of severe sufferings. He had always taught us about love, His second commandment is loving one another as thyself. In our Gospel reading today He says "Father will be against his believing son and son will be against his believing father, mother against her believing daughter and daughter against her believing mother..." We see that when a person accepts this new faith from a family who does not know our Lord Jesus Christ, this is what happens. But at the end, the believing family member brings the entire family into the house of God. Whatever it is, let us persevere in our walk towards God.
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The young Catholics who ‘joyfully embrace’ Church teaching

Reposting from May 2022: John Wijngaards: We need a more democratic process of electing bishops.

USA Abortion Debate: Catholic bishops spent big on Kansas abortion vote — and maybe lost bigger

14 Aug 202 – 20th Sunday (C)

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