Cardinal Tobin warns against temptation to shrink Catholic community to pure members

[FollowChrist34]

I am confused. Are we talking about purging the purists? Are the real purists those that engage?

 

[Feanor2]

This whole concept of wanting a smaller purer church is really more of an Orthodox stance. I don’t believe it is consistent with Catholic spirituality.

 

[HarryStotle]

But what I don’t understand is why you would agree with Rod Dreher, who wants to circle the wagons and keep all those awesome riches inside an ever shrinking Catholic bubble?

The phrase cast not your pearls before swine comes to mind. Also, the word dissipation.

As a Catholic, it only makes sense to go out into the world when you are not of the world. It isn’t to bring the world into the Church, so much as to bring the authentic life of the Church into the world. However, if one has lost complete sight of what it is that is to be brought to the world, that would be the time to withdraw, recoup and reconnect with the core of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit and the Life of Jesus. You certainly haven’t displayed the kind of clarity on that that would provide any reassurance. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, not so he could find some kind of rapprochement or harmony with them all – and he was God.

I am not sure I buy into Dreher’s Benedict Option, because it isn’t clear that the situation we are in is closer to that of Benedict of Nursa or that of the Apostles called to evangelize pagans. That would depend upon how barbarian the barbarians at the gate really are, I suppose.

 

[Annie]

I really don’t understand the either/or dichotomy presented here. All along, Catholics have been called to different expressions of their Faith. That is why we have had hermits and preachers, missionaries and cloistered nuns, religious and married…

As a practical convert, I would have loved to be able to raised my children in a “pure” Catholic community, since I was learning about living the Faith at the same time as I was trying to teach my children. OTOH, I have heard about Catholic parents who were able to bring their children up Catholic immersed in the world by using to use the challenges of that lifestyle to strengthen their children’s faith.

To me, part of Catholic culture is that we are called to different things; we have different needs, and so we should have a variety of options. To say one group tends towards indifferentism and the other towards isolationism is weirdly not at all Catholic.