Pastoral Solicitude
Thanks to everyone who commented and e.mailed advice... After consultation, it seems my first instinct was right, so the Red Cross got my humble offering. Click to donate.
And now, back to business. Because nothing gets me happier than making blood boil, I present this commentary on my latest SSPX take found on the Free Republic boards:
But, gratefully, there is some sanity to be found on the famously loud Freeper:
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And now, back to business. Because nothing gets me happier than making blood boil, I present this commentary on my latest SSPX take found on the Free Republic boards:
The article you quote is at Word to the Continuing Econians.....To whoever wrote the above text: Princess, you are the pot calling the kettle black. Look in the mirror, sweetheart.Hmmmm... "The Vatican should stop referring to the 'excommunications.'" Schismatics, give me a break.Rocco's so pastoral. He reminds me of people who bring up, years later, mistakes someone made, character defects and wrongs. Friends in AA call this, resentment: re-feeling the anger or other emotion. It ain't healthy, whether someone's an alcoholic or not.
Whatever happened to calling a spade a spade?
Ironic that he quotes 'stop referring to the 'excommunications' and then throws the 'schismatics' term into the discussion. A major reason for the meeting was to heal the division in the Church: how to get to a better place. Rocco? He's mired in the past.
But, gratefully, there is some sanity to be found on the famously loud Freeper:
"My impression right now is that the SSPX is "making demands" a little too stridently. You can't get a rapprochement that way. "Agreed.... Who seeks to quibble?
Agreed. The SSPX, in its usual arrogance, seems to feel it is the Catholic Church which will have to get its house in order and reconcile itself back to the SSPX. Objectively speaking, the SSPX is a disobedient sect who has left the Church.
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posted by Rocco Palmo at 12:26
4 Comments:
I am the commenter. I also left a comment on your post Word to the Continuing Econians.... earlier today. The gist of that comment is that the Pope is looking to the future but you aren't.
Is 'pot, meet kettle' the extent of your response to my saying that you're mired in the past, as evidenced by your keeping the division alive rather than looking to heal it?
The Pope's approach (trying to heal the division) is the better one for a number of reasons.
(The permalink to the Free Republic comment is http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1476110/posts?page=11#11.)
You don't allow trackbacks on Whispers, so I'll say here that I also posted about Allen's interview with a comment on the 'Word to the Continuing Econians....' post at John Allen interviews SSPX Fr Franz Schmidberger.
Heading to work shortly, so I'm away from the keyboard to around midnight EDT.
If Pope Benedict can treat Martin Luther, perhaps the greatest heretic in the history of Christianity, without polemics, and even admire some of what he had to say, surely we can drop the polemics for Archbishop Lefebvre and the SSPX?
This doesn't mean the Church goes accepts everything the SSPX demands. It's just a necessary step in the quest for dialogue and full communion. As John Paul II said in the past, who knows where the ecumenical path will lead? We follow it in faith, and do what we can in the meantime to strengthen Christian unity.
I realize that the SSPX is unique, in that they still profess a Roman Catholic identity. Admittedly, this makes this more difficult, and perhaps urges more caution and maybe even a bit more stern fraternal correction in many cases. But so long as we indulge animosity between the Catholics in full communion with the Holy See, and adherents of the SSPX, we betray the cause of unity. Members of the SSPX can be over-zealous and hard to deal with. But let's not return that same attitude. They will know we are Papists by our love.
:D
Gyrovagus,
No, I haven't heard Pope Benedict treat the SSPX polemically. My comments were about Catholics in general. We have a tendency to kick the SSPX while they're down. I'm not disagreeing that SSPX leadership and its people can be very polemical, and hence tough to deal with. My point is that it doesn't help to return their taunts of "Heretic!" with taunts of "Schismatic!" How can we expect them to embrace the civility of dialogue when we ourselves won't do so?
St. Paul said to return love to our enemies, and in so doing, we will reap burning coals upon their heads. Let's not give SSPXers cause to think they're being persecuted by us. As St. Paul said elsewhere, do no count them as enemies, but warn them as a brother.
Thanks, Fr John, for your pointing out the need for contrition and a firm purpose of amendment.
So, what method or approach is more likely to produce such an interior change? How do we get there from here?
I've not been trained in such matters, so I can only base my opinion on what I know about, for example, family reconciliations. They didn't happen while the folks threw barbed words at each other. Sometimes it took a two-by-four to both of them, sometimes not. I'll trust the Pope's assessment of the situation and the men.
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