A New Leader Confronts Catholics’ Disaffection

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Catholic teaching on the immorality of condom use has not changed, and not even the Pope can change Catholic moral teaching, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York has told The New York Times.

“The Pope didn’t say, ‘Oh good, you should use a condom,’” Archbishop Dolan said. “You get the impression that the Holy See or the Pope is like Congress and every once in a while says, ‘Oh, let’s change this law,’” he said. “We can’t.”

During the interview, Archbishop Dolan also lamented the decline of Sunday Mass attendance and said that 2011 would be commemorated as the Year of the Mass in the archdiocese. Praising the forthcoming revised English translation of the Roman Missal, he said, “I think there’s a renewed awe, a sense of reverence, a greater fidelity to the ancient texts.”

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.
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* [A New Leader Confronts Catholics’ Disaffection (New York Times)](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/us/23dolan.html?_r=2)
catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=8376
 
Abyssinia said:
Catholic teaching on the immorality of condom use has not changed, and not even the Pope can change Catholic moral teaching, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York has told The New York Times.

“The Pope didn’t say, ‘Oh good, you should use a condom,’” Archbishop Dolan said. “You get the impression that the Holy See or the Pope is like Congress and every once in a while says, ‘Oh, let’s change this law,’” he said. “We can’t.”

During the interview, Archbishop Dolan also lamented the decline of Sunday Mass attendance and said that 2011 would be commemorated as the Year of the Mass in the archdiocese. Praising the forthcoming revised English translation of the Roman Missal, he said, “I think there’s a renewed awe, a sense of reverence, a greater fidelity to the ancient texts.”

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.
Code: 
* [A New Leader Confronts Catholics’ Disaffection (New York Times)](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/us/23dolan.html?_r=2)
catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=8376
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Does anyone else see the possible link between the second paragraph and the third paragraph? :hmmm:
 
Hello,
I thank the Archbishop for clarification. Catholic all over the world should watchout for misinterpretations on the Pope’s message. Obviously, most common people who have little knowledge on scientific testing can testify the limitations associated with condoms. We should all remember that apart from the matter of FAITH we are also dealing with the matter of SAFETY.
Asamoah Boadi Eric, (Ghana).
 
Rich_Olszewski said:
Does anyone else see the possible link between the second paragraph and the third paragraph? :hmmm:
Click to expand...
You mean the fact that people have left the Church because the Church does not accept condoms for married couples others? Odd reason to leave.
 
People are leaving the Church because they think it has abdicated its moral teaching authority. Smash the high altars with sledgehammers, throw the statues of the saints in the trash, turn the Mass into a Protestant prayer supper, claim that the Bible is made up, that prophesies are hoaxes and that miracles are just allegories for people being nice to each other… and all the sudden people don’t come to church any more. Weird, huh?

Don’t feel bad, comrades. New Coke didn’t fly, either.
 
Abyssinia said:
You mean the fact that people have left the Church because the Church does not accept condoms for married couples others? Odd reason to leave.
Click to expand...
Not so odd. Lots do it for that very reason.
 
Abyssinia said:
You mean the fact that people have left the Church because the Church does not accept condoms for married couples others? Odd reason to leave.
Click to expand...
You’ll be surprised but many people do leave because they cannot accept Church teaching on artificial birth control, or divorce, or same-sex marriage, or premarital sex, etc.
 
ConstantineTG said:
You’ll be surprised but many people do leave because they cannot accept Church teaching on artificial birth control, or divorce, or same-sex marriage, or premarital sex, etc.
Click to expand...
And this is any different from people doing the exact same thing in the Gospel accounts of Our Lord’s ministry ?

Jesus always clarified His teachings so people would understand. If a teaching is not clear, it is the responsibility of the Church to clarify that teaching ; however. once and if clarified, then the onus is on the individual to either accept or reject the Truth of that teaching. Ideally, you want people to be able to say, “I understand that teaching,” or “I understand why the Church teaches that,” but you do not want to be changing teachings because people reject them in order to accomodate them. Someone protesting “I will not worship you unless you stop preaching/teaching this or that,” probably would not have been warmly received by Our Lord - we can imagine how He would have reacted to such a protest. Jesus never compromised His teachings even though it cost him disciples, e.g., when speaking about the Eucharist, the one teaching that vividly lost him the most followers/disciples in the Gospel accounts.

Pax,
Tim
 
I don’t think many leave the church over birth control issues. Catholics practice birth control as much as other groups do. That isn’t any reason to leave.
 
Catholics don’t leave the church because of her teaching on sexuality. Catholics leave the church when they haven’t been hearing the clear, joyful and resounding truth of the gospel preached to them.

I mean seriously. You telling me that people would be willing to be eaten by lions for the gospel, but are NOT willing to give up sex divorced from babies? Seriously?

I think not. Nominal catholics today that leave mostly have no idea what they are leaving. THAT is the problem.
 
manualman said:
Catholics don’t leave the church because of her teaching on sexuality. Catholics leave the church when they haven’t been hearing the clear, joyful and resounding truth of the gospel preached to them.

I mean seriously. You telling me that people would be willing to be eaten by lions for the gospel, but are NOT willing to give up sex divorced from babies? Seriously?

I think not. Nominal catholics today that leave mostly have no idea what they are leaving. THAT is the problem.
Click to expand...
Good point. An atheist coworker the other day insisted that, as from his Jesuit theology instructor in high school, the Eucharist (in which he doesn’t believe) can be validly confected from Pepsi and potato chips.

No wonder he’s an atheist.
 
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