Yep. Says so right here. One thing that has perplexed me since I became Catholic is the obsession many Catholics have with bashing puritanism and fundamentalism. While I'm sure those exist in some pockets of Catholicism, they are hell and gone from the problems plaguing the majority of modern era Catholicism.
I've quoted before an old - and Catholic - classmate of mine. When it came to chasing girls, he used to quip that it's better to find an atheist girl than a religious girl ... but Catholic girls are a safe bet. Sadly, in my meager contribution to the 1980s social scene, I found little to suggest his appraisal was wrong.
And it's not just historically rooted Catholic moral teachings that the majority of modern Catholics happily flip the bird to. Study after study shows that a growing number, and in some cases majority, of modern Catholics in the dying West no longer believe in a swath of theological doctrines as well.
The Trinity? Virgin Birth? Transubstantiation? Yeah, right. Hell? Where the hell did that go? Universalism, implicitly contemplated if not openly endorsed, is all the rage. I've seen it in multiple Catholic forums as well as our parish, where removing references to hell in traditional prayers has become as Catholic as fish fries during Lent.
Despite all of this, Pope Francis joins the common lament that the problem we have in 1930s Germany is all the damned communists. I'm sure communists in Germany in the 30s were a problem. But were they the problem? Picking on someone or something of little consequence in order to avoid like the plague a real problem is as good as being a major contributor to the real problem.
Catholics - including Pope Francis - are going to have to admit the narrative of the Global Left is wrong, and it isn't those isolated pockets of traditional (though not leftwing) fundamentalists who are the problem, but the growing swaths of post-Christian, Marxist inspired revolutionaries hell-bent on eliminating life, liberty and the pursuit of the Gospel who are the problem. Until they do, expect the Vatican II era Church to continue to be defined by its gushing numbers and impotent stance against the real problems plaguing the world today.
I wonder if the Catholic progs feel Luther was justified in his actions because of the rigidity of the Catholic Church in his time? I guess Vatican II was metaphorically the Spirit of Luther of our rigid times. We have to accept it unt vee vill enjoy it! For unity of course.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like PF embraces Luther. He praises Luther and installed a statue in his honor in the Vatican.
DeleteHe certainly doesn't seem to be all too worried about non-Catholics becoming Catholic at all. Perhaps it's because he seems to think almost anyone of any tradition is preferable to those who hold to the tradition of historical Catholicism.
DeleteWell... there was kind of a problem with communism in 30s Germany...
ReplyDeleteBut I'll leave that to Don to clarify. Your general meaning remains nonetheless. "Worrying about fires on the titanic" as the saying goes. I think of this too whenever I hear people complaining about libertarians in the USA.
I know. But I like the popular image, since I know many get the point. But yeah, it's always puzzled me why so many Catholics spend so much time on something that as far as I know has never been a problem with Catholics as a whole.
DeleteNeither puritanism nor fundamentalism are a problem in the Catholic Church, nor have they ever been. "Jansenism" might have been a problem at one time, but it's been a while. You could in the early 20th century find people whose scrupulosity was excessive, but that's rare as hen's teeth nowadays.
ReplyDeleteThat's been my experience, and long before I became Catholic. There is nothing from current surveys of Catholics in the 21st Century to suggest it's the big problem Pope Francis suggests.
DeleteUniversealism has always been an issue.
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic hierarchy in America has always seemed more intrested in social issues than evangelism. Obviously evangelization did happen, but the focus was always on disproving the anti-Catholic conspiracy theories, not on converting those who held such theories.
I was reading through my sister's history textbook (the first addition of which was published for Catholic Schools in the 50s or 60s), and there was a whole page about how cool it was that John Carol was the first Catholic Governor of New York.
Only later did I find out that John Carol encouraged the Iriquois to reject Jesuit missionaries, due to his fear of their French influence hurting English trade ties with the Iriquois nation.
The Catholic Church in America seems to have been more interested in proving it could fit into America, rather than trying to convert Americans to the true faith.
My dad, who is pro-life, anti-gay marriage and follows bacicaly every teaching of the Church, is always complaining about "Liberals,"(he dosen't use the term heretic, just liberal), calls himself a "Conservative, " Catholic. I once mentioned that the issue with Islam isn't that it turns people into terrorists (after all, any ideology can do that), but that it prevents people from finding Jesus and the Gospel. His response (I kid you not) was somthing to the effect of "I'm a Christian, so to me Jesus is the source of salvation, but it's Ok if a Muslim has a different source of salvation (this is the same guy that complains when postmodernist philosophers talk about "my truth," and "your truth"), the real problem is that Mohamud was a warrior. "
My dad's attitude seems to be common among those who identify as "conservative," Catholic. It almost seems like Liberal-Conservitive politics is their main focus while the magisterium and salvation from our sins is relevant only as an excuse to complicate about the latest Facebook fight they had with some liberal (not heretic) Catholic.
Not that I expect Pope Francis to understand these nuances. He and the conservative catholic faction may disagree on whether Trump or Islam is the true spawn of satan, but they both agree (on some level) that secular political issues are more important than spiritual ones.
DeleteI think Catholicism - as religious institutions since the Levites has always done - struggles with its role as prophetic movement and religious institution while trying to deal with meat and potatoes issues in the world. In America, it's more noticeable for Catholics (and sometimes less for Protestants) because America was from the beginning not a Catholic nation. Therefore, Catholics were always on the second rail at best, meaning it was easier to see those same struggles that nonetheless happened in Catholic Spain or Catholic Portugal or Catholic Italy or anywhere else.
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