CAF charitability improving?

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It gets fairly confrontational in the Catholic News and World news forums, largely because of the subject matter. The Spirituality forum seems rather mild in tone.
 
It amazes me how much I agree with about everything you post. :eek:

😛 😉
Ditto 😉
But no, I’m not talking about the non-Catholics section; I’ve only looked there once or twice. I was thinking of the Traditional Catholicism section.
I can totally see where you are coming on that section as well
I would so much like to see real interfaith dialog, on a very large scale.
Have you ever read De Pacei Fidei by the 15th century cardinal and mystic Nicholas of Cusa? It is essentially the same as what you are saying above. Pope emeritus Benedict XVI wrote quite extensively on Cusa.

Pope Eugene proclaimed the dogma that there is no salvation outside the church, that has always been taught by the church. He proclaimed it so vigorously, that he encountered some opposition. His chief defender was Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. He was like the Ratzinger of his time, when Pope emeritus Benedict XVI was Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Because of this Pope Eugene IV wanted to make him a Cardinal but Cusa declined. Later on the dying Pope Eugene IV basically told his close friend and defender to accept this honour, and so obediently did, upon which he became the Papacy’s right hand man - the highest ranking Cardinal in the entire Church at this time, to the extent that when the subsequent Pope Pius II wasn’t in Rome Cardinal Cusa ruled in his stead as de facto leader of the Church there. He was a Titan of the medieval church.

Yet Cusa did not see the dogma as meaning something “exclusive”. He saw it inclusively. The church was the universal sacrament of salvation but all who were not with her in body yet lived sincere lives were part of her in spirit and so saved in Christ. He embodied the characteristic Catholic both/and attitude ie Jesus is both human and divine.
“…Nicholas of Cusa was known in his time as one of the great defenders of Pope Eugene IV…He agreed with Pope Eugene IV (and that includes the role the Church has in salvation). He was also able to look beyond the Christian faith, and to see other religious traditions as being representations of the same basic religious truth, with each religion pointing in various ways to the one truth known and possessed by Christians. This is not to say each religion is of equal value or worth; he believed that the founders of world religions were inspired by God, but the human equation got in the way, and led to various imperfections which need to be purified in order for the members of those religions to see how their faith and tradition ultimately points…He could be said to be an inclusivist…”
***- Henry Karlson ***
. Here’s some words of Cardinal Cusa himself, his writings had the full patronage of Pope Eugene IV, Pope Nicholas and Pope Pius II:
“…With many groanings I beseeched the Creator of all, because of His kindness, to restrain the persecution that was raging more fiercely than usual on account of the difference of faith between the religions…For all men have the desire and the hope only for eternal life in their own human nature…The goal and intent of the book of the Qur’an, is not only not to detract from God the creator or from Christ or from God’s prophets and envoys or from the divine books of the Testament, the Psalter, and the Gospel, but also to give glory to God the Creator, to praise and bear witness to Christ (the son of the Virgin Mary) above all prophets, and to confirm and approve of the Testament and the Gospel. When one reads the Qur’an with this understanding, assuredly some fruit can be elicited from it…We find passages in the Qur’an that are useful for us…Moses had described a path to God, but this path was neither taken up by everyone nor was it understood by everyone. Jesus illuminated and perfected this path; nevertheless, many even now remain unbelievers. Muhammad tried to make the same path easier, so that it might be accepted by all, even idolaters. These are the most famous of the said paths to God, although many others were presented by the wise and the prophets…”
- Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401 –1464), German mystic
“…Therefore, come to our aid you who alone are able. For this rivalry [among religions] exists for sake of you, whom alone they revere in everything that all seem to worship. For each one desires in all that he seems to desire only the good which you are; no one is seeking with all his intellectual searching for anything else than the truth which you are. For what does the living seek except to live? What does the existing seek except to exist? Therefore, it is you, the giver of life and being, who is being sought in different religions in different ways, and who are named with different names, because as you are you remain unknown and ineffable to all…Therefore, do not hide (occultare) Yourself any longer, O Lord. Be propitious, and manifest Your face; and all peoples will be saved, who no longer will be able to desert the Source of life and its sweetness, once having foretasted even a little thereof. For no one departs from You except because He is ignorant of You. Diversity in creation and cultures is the language of God the radical unity of the opposites In God absolute unity is absolute multiplicity. **It is you O God who is being sought in various religions in various ways and named with various names. For you remain as you are to all incomprehensible and inexpressible. When you will graciously grant it then sword jealous hatred and evil will cease and all will come to know that there is but one religion in the variety of religious faiths (rites) ** …”
- Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401 –1464), German mystic
 
And again:
"Mystic, theologian and cardinal, Nicholas found that the insane war between Christians and Muslim was caused by prejudices and misconceptions about each other and the tendencies to assert one’s own religion as the absolute norm for all others. He took the risk of journeying to Constantinople in order to meet Muslims and get first-hand information about their religion with an open mind. He procured a copy of the Holy Quran, studied it carefully and wrote a treatise on it: Cribratio Al Corani (Shifting the Quran) in 1461 in order to help Christians understand the concerns of the Quran. For Nicholas, the Divine is “absolute mystery, incomprehensibly intelligible and named without names.” Hence, no religion is absolute in the sense that it could claim to have comprehended the Divine fully; every religion contains elements of revelation and hence each religion has to be understood in relation with the others. Each is in everything. As finite beings we have access to the Divine not through “proud pursuit of the reason” but in humility and intuitive perception in which a “learned ignorance (docta ignorantia) enlightens our mind. “One is more learned the more one has become aware that one is ignorant.” Then we realise that we cannot comprehend God in our logical categories, but we can only become aware of God’s all pervasive presence through a mystical insight into the deep “harmony of all things”: the entire creation is the “mirror of God” (speculum Dei). Diversity in creation and cultures is the language of God. (explicatio Dei). God is therefore “the radical unity of the opposites” (coincidentia oppositorum). “In God, absolute unity is absolute multiplicity, absolute identity is absolute diversity; absolute actuality is absolute potentiality” (Docta Ignorantia, 1932, pp. 1,5,21,50,74). With this mystical vision Nicholas wanted to open the perspectives of Christian theology to the universality of God’s plan of salvation and help the Christians be more tolerant of the believers of other religions. He prayed: “It is you, O God, who is being sought in various religions in various ways, and named with various names. For you remain as you are, to all incomprehensible and inexpressible. When you will graciously grant it, then sword, jealous hatred and evil will cease and all will come to know that there is but one religion in the variety of religious rites.” (De Pace, 1956, p. 15)
Thus while Christ is the only Incarnation of God and the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth, we as believers are no different to believers of other faiths as far as our comprehension of God goes. We all have not comprehended, individually nor as a corporate religious body, nor ever could comprehend, the truth fully. And therefore we are all united in our awesome unknowing before the majesty of the inexpressible God and can recognise elements of truth in all religions pointing towards that fullness of truth revealed in Christ yet which is the patrimony of no person or sole group.
 
There was a post in the Water Cooler section that I was especially grateful for. A Catholic wanted to find out from Episcopalians more about the Episcopal Church. Although I have only attended that church a few times, and am not a member, I gave him some references and he thanked me. That was nice.
 
littlenothing…totally agree

Word to the wise, stay out of the political forum if you are liberal, just left of center or a moderate. You will be lambasted (good word) for sure. 😃
 
littlenothing…totally agree

Word to the wise, stay out of the political forum if you are liberal, just left of center or a moderate. You will be lambasted (good word) for sure. 😃
If that leaning involves support for public figures who endorse abortion, gay marriage, and the violation of Catholic conscience, and on a Catholic forum, why would your opinion go unchallenged?

Because people are uncharitable? 🤷
 
If that leaning involves support for public figures who endorse abortion, gay marriage, and the violation of Catholic conscience, and on a Catholic forum, why would your opinion go unchallenged?

Because people are uncharitable? 🤷
well, because it’s an “opinion”…everyone has one, everyone has the right to have one and each has the right to say so.

In case you are curious, I am an independent/moderate. I dare to think for myself.

But in this case, I take queue from an old Kenny Rogers song. “know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away…” however, I never run. The Good Lord knows all, hears all. I know I don’t take a breath or walk a step unless he wills it so. He knows my heart and loves me just the same. 😃
 
well, because it’s an “opinion”…everyone has one, everyone has the right to have one and each has the right to say so.
And yet no one has the “right” to question the opinion, on a Catholic forum, and in relation to Catholic teaching?
In case you are curious, I am an independent/moderate. I dare to think for myself.
I think most people do (think for themselves).
 
I think most people do (think for themselves).
Heh, I’m always amused when I see people who think that somehow being an R or D means that you’re a brainless robot, and being an Independent somehow is the magic “I’m intelligent” pass.
 
If that leaning involves support for public figures who endorse abortion, gay marriage, and the violation of Catholic conscience, and on a Catholic forum, why would your opinion go unchallenged?

Because people are uncharitable? 🤷
I agree that such positions should not go unchallenged. However, challenge is not the same as confrontation and combativeness since the former can be done in a charitable way. That’s the one forum in which sparks often fly, not only against liberal policies–which is fine–but (not so fine) against liberal posters who support them.
 
littlenothing…totally agree

Word to the wise, stay out of the political forum if you are liberal, just left of center or a moderate. You will be lambasted (good word) for sure. 😃
I guess we are about to prove Alan right…I don’t have a liberal bone in my body. And I really like you, Julianna. Thanks for the warning. I think folks in politics like to argue sometimes and I just don’t get into that kind of thing.
 
Heh, I’m always amused when I see people who think that somehow being an R or D means that you’re a brainless robot, and being an Independent somehow is the magic “I’m intelligent” pass.
Ah the beauty of being an independent/moderate is the ability not only to think for yourself, but also to avoid the folly of bandwagons. (speaking of politics) Never said I was looking for an “I’m intelligent” pass. I do not need someone to tell me what to do, how to think every waking moment in order to be in a special club. Each side D and R bring something valuable to the table. Once the shouting stops, maybe the two sides can sit and have a discussion. It is the extreme of anything that gets people into chaos.

In the realm of politics the discussion is not about what is best for our country (referring to America), it is now a select group of extremists who want to be “right”.
 
General Patton said “If everbodys thinking alike, somebody isn’t thinking”. Love that quote. I don’t get bandwagon thinking either. I hope that didn’t sound superior. I am nothing if not an ignoramus, but maybe this helps me stay away from groupthink.
 
I used to be staunch, vocal, Rush Limbaugh-Reagan conservative R. But I knew that listening to what filters through to the public media was smoke and mirrors, so to learn what was going on and get involved, my wife and I jumped in with both feet and got endorsed by the conservative pro-life KRA (Kansas Republican Assembly) and won the election for precinct committeeman and committeewoman positions, twice.

So I got to rub elbows, mostly with conservative and very conservative politicians at the local, county and state level – not so much federal but we did go to Todd Tiahrt’s first victory party so we got to see him and his family.

We found there are a very few really good people, a few OK people, and a lot who were not even close to somebody you’d want as a leader. And let me tell you, Dems do not have a corner on the immorality market. One so-called conservative R that we met (Roger Grund) was so slimy that I voted for his D opponent. Luckily for the voting public, he died soon after losing that election.

So I’m still registered as a Republican, but I’m wiser now and I know that many if not most politicians on both sides are scum, or just plain bunglers. That’s why they need the party line because they don’t know what the hell they’re doing so they all act as lemmings and follow in their party. Or the within-the-party faction leaders, more like. (We were in the KRA, conservative faction Kansas Republican Assembly. The Kansas moderates are members of the “GOP Club,” also based in Topeka.) And the national leaders of the parties are so out of touch and owned it’s ridiculous. I still vote, but it’s based on the smell test. I hated McCain so much and thought he would be so dangerous for foreign relations because he said stupid things practically every time he opened his mouth, and of course I couldn’t vote for Barry, so I voted Church Norris in 2012. Of course, in Kansas that means it was a vote for McCain, but it made me feel better.

Lately I’ve learned a little bit about why things are the way they are with party leaders, especially at the federal level. The top positions in both R and D parties are basically sock puppets. The puppeteers like it because all the sheeple watch the R-D show like a prize fight, whereas none of them would ever become candidates for president in either party if the likes of David Rockefeller didn’t want them to be. About 200 years ago, Mater Amschel Rothschild, founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty, said, “give me control of a nations money supply, and I care not who makes it’s laws.” Nice. A few generations later, his descendants would be one of the families to own the Fed, a private bank to control the U.S. money supply. The Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and at least one other family convinced the politicians this was all a Good Thing, so in 1913 we gave up our right to make our own money and gave it to the bankers so now we ask them to make up some imaginary money and then lend it to us. It’s insane. Sure we print money but it only represents the imaginary money we borrowed from the Fed. Or China. Or whomever. I didn’t even realize the Fed was privately owned until only recently. This may cause eyes to roll, but I only found out about this by following up on some “conspiracy theory” people’s claims. Turns out there is a reason there are conspiracy theories; some of them are true.

Oh well I guess I ranted enough but yeah, the simplistic, dualistic, mentality that is R v D is exactly how the ultra-rich bankers such as Rockefellers and Rotschilds want Joe Six-Pack (to borrow a term from Bill Clinton) to spend time and energy watching, cheering, supporting, and basically keeping them busy so they don’t know they’re just pawns. It’s all a big show, intended for our consumption.

Take a look at the reaction of David Rockefeller, when he heard there was an R presidential candidate (Ron Paul) that was trying to get rid of the Fed. Let me assure you that once Rockefeller heard that, no way would Paul ever get on the presidential ballot no matter what party he was with. This is not an endorsement of Paul, because I know little about him other than this.

So yeah. I see the R v D show like one big prize fight, with audience participation. Engaging in that kind of debate is about as useful as playing video games all day. I feel absolutely nothing for either party, although I am still a registered Republican. If we want to see anything change, we need to quit watching the puppet show and start looking up toward the puppeteers. Honestly, I believe it may be too late to avoid some sort of major malfunction that everybody except the Big Bankers will hate. They just have too much power, and they are connected to other like-minded counterparts in other countries, across the globe. They are untouchable, almost like gods of this world. They have an organization called the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations).

Extra credit: Early Feminism was successfully promoted and financed by the Rockefeller family. Can you name the top reasons the Rockefellers had for doing so? Those who saw this on another thread of mine, don’t give it away. Hint: it was not about equal opportunity or equal pay.

Alan
 
Egad! :eek:

I just realized how much of a grip politics still has on me, going off-topic with a long post, to bash the R’s and D’s. :rolleyes:

Alan
 
Was it so we’d all have to bring home the bacon and leave our kids to the government to raise and educate? Or to have fewer children overall? Fill us in, Alan! I didn’t see your other post!
 
Was it so we’d all have to bring home the bacon and leave our kids to the government to raise and educate? Or to have fewer children overall? Fill us in, Alan! I didn’t see your other post!
Yes, you are very close. 👍

1.) before feminism, only half the population was being taxed so they wanted to fix that.

2.) they wanted to break children out of families and get them into the hands of the government.

So you can see why I smell something fishy when I hear of liberals in the government deporting homeschoolers as a priority over others who might be more expensive to keep around. Homeschooling is a threat to government indoctrination, which of course is why so many are doing it now.

If you have some time, here is a 1 1/2 hour interview video with the late producer Aaron Russo. Russo tells of what he learned, including the real reasons for feminism, from his friend Nicholas Rockefeller – the one who tried to get Russo to join the CFR. I’m still grappling with the 9/11 thing – it’s hard for me to believe we did it on purpose, but it was amazing how the USA Patriot Act was right there ready to be signed – by 98-1 in the senate. That one vote alone ought to scare everyone into looking for conspiracies.

That said, Russo was told-- prior to 9/11-- of plans to stage terror attacks, invade foreign nations, and kickstart a high-tech police state control grid that would track the populations’ every move with implantable RFID microchips. So far I’m willing to admit they were at least ready to pounce on the opportunity when it happened.

Alan
 
Yes, you are very close. 👍

1.) before feminism, only half the population was being taxed so** they** wanted to fix that.

2.) they wanted to break children out of families and get them into the hands of the government.

So you can see why I smell something fishy when I hear of liberals in the government deporting homeschoolers as a priority over others who might be more expensive to keep around. Homeschooling is a threat to government indoctrination, which of course is why so many are doing it now.

If you have some time, here is a 1 1/2 hour interview video with the late producer Aaron Russo. Russo tells of what he learned, including the real reasons for feminism, from his friend Nicholas Rockefeller – the one who tried to get Russo to join the CFR. I’m still grappling with the 9/11 thing – it’s hard for me to believe we did it on purpose, but it was amazing how the USA Patriot Act was right there ready to be signed – by 98-1 in the senate. That one vote alone ought to scare everyone into looking for conspiracies.

That said, Russo was told-- prior to 9/11-- of plans to stage terror attacks, invade foreign nations, and kickstart a high-tech police state control grid that would track the populations’ every move with implantable RFID microchips. So far I’m willing to admit they were at least ready to pounce on the opportunity when it happened.

Alan
Who are “they”? At what time (year) did feminism start?
 
Who are “they”? At what time (year) did feminism start?
Although I understand there were many others and several organizations involved, by “they” I was referring specifically to the Rockefeller family who heavily funded early feminism, as explained by Nicholas Rockefeller and described in the video of Aaron Russo I linked.

I don’t know much history about it, but here’s a quote from Wikipedia:

French philosopher Charles Fourier is credited with having originated the word “feminism” in 1837.[3] The words “feminism” and “feminist” first appeared in France and the Netherlands in 1872,[4] Great Britain in the 1890s, and the United States in 1910.,[5][6] and the Oxford English Dictionary lists 1894 as the year of the first appearance of “feminist” and 1895 for “feminism”.[7] Today the Oxford English Dictionary defines a feminist as “an advocate or supporter of the rights and equality of women”.[8]

I can’t tell you when and how the Rockefellers got tied up in it or when it got big in America, without doing more research. Like I say, this is all pretty new territory for me. Two years ago (I’m 53 now) I’d never heard of any of this stuff except a few “wacko” references I heard back when I was heavily involved in conservative politics.

Alan
 
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