Saturday, June 11, 2022

Today's Target: Word on Fire

The liberal Catholic publication National Catholic Reporter joins the hunt.  

Bishop Barron.  Poor fellow.  For more traditional Catholics, Bishop Barron is too wishy-washy.  He plays with universalism and tends to have a 'let's just get along' approach to enemies of God and man.  

That's why he was beloved of many moderate and even liberal Catholics.  It was through them I was introduced to the works of then Fr. Barron.  Especially enjoyable was his video series on Catholicism.  And critics of Fr. Barron from back then?  Just a bunch of right wingers, so forget about it. 

Now, however, it's those same Catholic liberals and former moderates leading the charge.  The accusation is the unforgivable sin of sexual misconduct.  Far removed from the dreamy, hazy days of rehabilitate and reform, sexual misconduct is one of a growing list of unforgivable sins that should be branded on your forehead for life. Until Jesus forgives you and lets you into heaven that is.  Otherwise, your criminal arse belongs to us - so said Beth Moore in a conference a couple years or so ago. 

As with all such things, it's not the sins or failings of a single person, but guilt of one taints all. Thus it becomes a 'workplace' issue.  You know the terms: hostile workplace environment, toxic workplace environment or, my favorite, hypermasculine boy's club environment.  Heh.  That's because we're setting BLM and Trans athletes aside for the moment and bringing back the old #MeToo narrative of 'the always honest woman against the always sexist man' template.  Oh, and genders are binary in this case.

Why the sudden move to destroy Word on Fire (for that's what this is about), and wreck the reputation of Bishop Barron?  I dunno.  But I've seen posts, articles and Twitter for months now going after him.  A man who was once a darling of moderate Catholics everywhere.  Again, I don't know why.  I can guess, but there's really no telling since people usually don't admit to ulterior motives.

Or at least usually don't.  I'm thinking of the Bill Cosby Pound Cake speech.  I mentioned that some time ago and one of my readers sent me to a link to The Atlantic.  In that piece, the journalist appeared quite honest about the connection between his speech and the subsequent accusations made against him.  That's because Cosby didst blaspheme the liberal gospel.  In that infamous speech that outraged the Left, Cosby said he'd give you racism and American white supremacy, but it's time for black Americans to stop whining about the past and take responsibility for their own actions.  Within months there were accusations of sexual assault and the beginning of the end.  

This has that vibe to be sure.  I know Bishop Barron has outraged Pope Francis fans by agreeing with Pope Francis, but not heaping scorn and loathing on the critics of Pope Francis.  I also know shockwaves went through the Catholic Left when Bishop Barron condemned leftwing intolerance and censorship (euphemistically known as Woke or Cancel Culture).  More to the point, he doesn't filter Catholic moral teaching through leftwing political narratives.  For many today, there appears to be politics to the right that are intruding upon the purity of our faith, and then to the left is Jesus.  Such a view doesn't allow for non-liberal hermeneutical options. 

I'm not saying if there was wrongdoing it shouldn't be addressed.  From what it looks like it was in the fellow's personal life - which is soon to be nonexistence if the Left has its way.  I'm simply noting that this does not appear to be about righting a wrong, but the Left's old favorite of Destruction by Association.  That is, a guy does something wrong, and suddenly all men are misogynists in a sexist environment terrorizing women.  There is a big difference between those two.  

15 comments:

  1. "Liberal Catholic," is a dumb term. The correct term is "Heretic."
    Liberal, Moderate and Conservative are Secular Political Terms and have no place in Theology. By calling them "Liberal," all you're doing is giving their Heretical ideas a veneer of Legitimacy they don't deserve.

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    1. (Tom New Poster)
      The term "liberal" for certain trends in Protestant theology was referenced more than a century ago by writers like G. K. Chesterton, who distinguished those ideas from Liberalism in current British politics. The historic Catholic equivalent is Modernism. "Heresy" is a generic term and without qualification as to what constitutes this specific heresy can become a mere cuss word.
      Chesterton would agree with you that it is often unfortunate that the same word can mean different things in different contexts.

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    2. They work as far as they go. Like Tom points out, there can be many meanings, and we don't want to hammer folks too hard under such labels. I am using the terms in the colloquial sense of those Catholics far more comfortable with political or social liberal narratives and who define themselves against 'trads' or 'the Right' or other 'conservatives.' Since many who pointed me to Fr. Barron at the time were more than happy to distinguish themselves from such 'right wing' or 'rad trad' types, I'm more than happy to maintain their distinctives.

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    3. That all kinda depends. Are we talking about openly pro-choice or pro-gayness Catholics? Or are we discusing Catholics who officially follow Church teaching (at least on paper) and have left-leaning views on purly political questions? Those in the first group are heretics while those in the second aren't necessarily heretics, though they could be.

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    4. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the National Catholic Reporter is openly pro-LGBTIQA+-&@#$202S%*-+/=7, And pro-choice, right?
      If so, they are a Heretical paper, not Liberal.

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  2. He's not a universalist. He merely argues in favor of the POSSIBILITY that all of God's children will one day be saved. And given that God loves even His most wicked and undeserving of subjects, this is an understandable impulse.

    The left hates him because he's critical of wokethink, an ideology that self-flagellating liberal Catholics are desperate to legitimize. For reasons that escape my comprehension, the most pro-life branch of Christianity is the one that's most obsessed with affirming the prevailing cultural framework.

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    1. I know he isn't, but I'm not a big fan of debating something as if plausible when not a few Catholics appear to be implicitly, if not explicitly, the same thing. I always believe there is a time and a place. Secular paganism has long won the battle for our society, and that means an assumption religion is false and irrelevant in any case. If there is anything after this life, none of it matters and we all float into the light. I fear not a few believers have found this appealing. So toying with the thought, no matter how valid, can't help but reinforce the belief in some.

      But I think you're right about why he has suddenly been chastised by Catholics on the left. Like you, I can't guess why they are going the way they are, but Bishop Barron hasn't gone there, and I fear he's paying the price.

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  3. Saw this on my timeline. Definitely think about sharing it. It's wonderful.

    https://twitter.com/LaschMountain/status/1535696362003742720?t=z4K-cHVL5uM3fKWJm_jAMA&s=19

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    1. The problem isn't that so many can see these media collusions with the Dems for what they are. The problem is how many cling to the media narrative like Gospel truth.

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  4. We live in very interesting times when Mark Shea actually agrees with Michael Voris on something.

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    1. I haven't seen if Mark has commented on Bishop Barron or not. Mark was one who turned me to Fr. Barron back in the day. Back when Mark was sliding left, he didn't hold back attacking critics of then Fr. Barron. It would be odd if he now was going after him, especially since one of Mark's favorite mantras was that if two opposing sides are against you, you must be correct.

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    2. Anonymous, if the terms you denigrate are not to be used how to we describe the various "camps" at odds with each other and some at odds with the Church?

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    3. He did on 26 May, "The Disappointment of Word on Fire."

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    4. Ah, he did. Figures. And he was obviously one who pointed me in Fr. Barron's direction back in the day, heaping scorn on his detractors, and lifting him up. Funny how things go around.

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    5. Fr. Khouri, it's simple. An ostensibly Catholic newspaper which endorses Pro-choice and LGBT ideas is Heretical. A Catholic newspaper which supports Church teaching is Orthodox. It's not that complicated

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