What doesn’t the Remnant understand about the Archbishop’s own words?
Do you really think he would have been appointed to his current position by the Pope if his views were heretical?!!! His views seem O.K. to me. Although I’m not at all sure the remnant writer understands the true meaning of these defined Dogmas. Its all in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
He is speaking as a theologian who understands the difference between physical presence and real presence, between matter and substance. His mistake might have been doing so in a public forum where it might confuse the laity, but what he says makes sense to theologians who understand the technical terms used and what they mean.
Unfortunately, that style seems to be par for the course for pretty much every document that comes out of the Vatican… They don’t write with a general, lay audience in mind, and they seem to assume that everyone reading them will be as educated in Catholic theology as they are.
There is no such thing as a German theologian who speaks in muddled fashion.
They mostly don’t have a general, lay audience in mind, so it makes sense that what they write isn’t always accessible to lay people. The fact that it is easy to get a hold of Vatican documents doesn’t mean they are always meant for us to read directly and understand without any additional training or “translation”.
Isn’t it ironic, that we can read every document and statement from the Vatican in near real time and complain that they are not understandable, but then we complain that our Priests and Deacons have boring and simplistic homiliesThey mostly don’t have a general, lay audience in mind, so it makes sense that what they write isn’t always accessible to lay people. The fact that it is easy to get a hold of Vatican documents doesn’t mean they are always meant for us to read directly and understand without any additional training or “translation”.
To assume so is like saying we expect everything written by NASA to be understandable.
Our trusted “translators” are our bishops and priests. I know we all would like to be armchair theologians, but we simply aren’t. Often our attempts at understanding and discussion just become stumbling blocks as we misconstrue what is written, and become scandalized at ideas that are really our own mistaken opinions.
I usually have enough to worry about with my family, my job, and the crazy antics of the other PTA members to be too concerned about theologians debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
I am with you on this one - and post examples from time to time. Vaticanese is marked by circumlocution, obfuscation, and latinate affectations, such as the habit of replacing ‘a’ with ‘a certain’. To see how clear Catholic technical English language can be, I recommend the Catechism. I don’t agree with it in great part of course, but at least I understand what it is I don’t agree with. Whoever did the writing/translation of the CCC should be put in charge of the Vatican scriptorium and given a very big red pen!
Well, perhaps he is ( like me ) one of those people who get flustered when they have to express their thoughts publically on the spur of the moment. I think we can trust him, the Pope does and he far from being a fool.
Many laypeople here in Germany have studied Theology and still do not understand(many of them also though that Müller says that he would not believe in Transubstantiation) Müller.They mostly don’t have a general, lay audience in mind, so it makes sense that what they write isn’t always accessible to lay people. The fact that it is easy to get a hold of Vatican documents doesn’t mean they are always meant for us to read directly and understand without any additional training or “translation”.
To assume so is like saying we expect everything written by NASA to be understandable.
Our trusted “translators” are our bishops and priests. I know we all would like to be armchair theologians, but we simply aren’t. Often our attempts at understanding and discussion just become stumbling blocks as we misconstrue what is written, and become scandalized at ideas that are really our own mistaken opinions.
I usually have enough to worry about with my family, my job, and the crazy antics of the other PTA members to be too concerned about theologians debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
People also have a hard time understanding Aquinas.
Sounds like y’all should stop with the “half-studying” and pick a topic
Well put. Too many people regarless of the subject jump to conclusions and simply decry something they don’t understand. Be informed, read, learn and ask questions; an argument from ignorance is no argument at all.Sounds like y’all should stop with the “half-studying” and pick a topic
I am not trying to impugn anyone’s mental capacity or education; however, studying a bit of something in college is very different from being a specialist in a subject who has studied and taught for many years.
I just don’t get the reaction that says that if I don’t understand something written by an Archbishop who is a scholar that was not intended for me, that therefore the man must be bonkers and going off into heretical territory and so I need to alert the world.
Why not say instead, I don’t understand this, let me go privately to my priest or bishop for an explanation. Or I don’t understand this, but it isn’t really relevant to my life so I’ll set it aside.
