Catholic loyalists take to their blogs to defend teachings

[markomalley]

AP writer Rachel Zoll says:

Pressure is on to change the Roman Catholic Church in America, but it’s not coming from the usual liberal suspects. A new breed of theological conservatives has taken to blogs and YouTube to say the church isn’t Catholic enough.
Enraged by dissent that they believe has gone unchecked for decades, and unafraid to say so in the starkest language, these activists are naming names and unsettling the church.
Your thoughts?

(btw, there are numerous links embedded within the news story)

 

[Dale_M]

Of course, conservative Catholic bloggers are nothing new. The article claims there is a new “breed” of snarky, vitriolic blogging which is different past conservative blogs about Catholicism.

My sense is that this is simply part of the the wider culture. In the US, we’ve become more given to extreme, uncharitable rhetoric in our public discourse.

 

[didymus]

n In the Archdiocese of Boston, parishioners are dissecting the work of a top adviser to the cardinal for any hint of Marxist influence.

  	  		n Bloggers are combing through campaign finance records to expose staff of Catholic agencies who donate to politicians who support elective abortion.

  	  		n [RealCatholicTV.com](http://realcatholictv.com/), working from studios in suburban Detroit, is hunting for "traitorous" nuns, priests or bishops throughout the American church.

I subscribe a bunch of Catholic blogs but never heard of anything like that. Can’t say I’m thrilled with the idea of people doing their own investigations – they better be careful.

 

[curlycool89]

I used to watch Real Catholic TV on youtube once and a while, but in the past year (largely during the health care debate), it really started to turn from theology into politics. And if there’s one thing I can no longer stand, it’s Americans arguing about politics. Either it’s the Conservative’s accusing the other side of trying to turn the government into some marxist establishment or the Liberals accusing the other side of wanting to usher in a theocracy. Apparently, moderates are extinct in America.

It also seems that these bloggers have abandoned basic Christian charity. The whole idea of trying to “out” people is not charitable in the slightest; it honestly makes me think more of Perez Hilton. And there’s simply no point to it! We the laity do not get to vote on anything, and stopping going to Church is simply not an option on the table. What do they want, for people to stop supporting the Church? “That’ll show them when we have no access to the sacraments”? Like it or not, the Church is a top-down organization and that is the way it will likely stay.

Everyone likes to say that the Church does not bend to society. What they forget is that includes all of society. The Pope has the final say on the appointment of bishops, not the locals. All bishop’s are still successors to the apostles, that cannot be denied. The Holy See also does not micromanage the sees of the world; that is why they have a bishop in the first place.

 

[didymus]

Here’s a commentary on the story from Fr Z’s blog, “What Does the Prayer Really Say?”

The more I think on it, the less I have a problem with these bloggers shining a light on what is being done in their parishes and dioceses.

 

[FAB]

The issue I have with Catholic blogs, including this one and Catholic TV is that they are often promoting doctrine and teaching in opposition to the Magisterim and the Catholic Bishops. Not only does this create decention, false hope, even the possibility leading people away from the church, it is against cannon law as id applies to the layity and is oppisite of the very things they promote, obediance to the the authorty of the Church.

 

[Rich_Olszewski]

My sense is that this is simply part of the the wider culture. In the US, we’ve become more given to extreme, uncharitable rhetoric in our public discourse.

Quite right. The sad thing is that, of all people, Catholics should be the charitable ones, not the venomous ones. Oddly, those few extremists aim their vitriol, not at Protestants, but at their own fellow Catholics and, most scandalously, at our hierarchy.

 

[rlg94086]

Quite right. The sad thing is that, of all people, Catholics should be the charitable ones, not the venomous ones. Oddly, those few extremists aim their vitriol, not at Protestants, but at their own fellow Catholics and, most scandalously, at our hierarchy.

I agree, somewhat. I haven’t read a lot of the blogs. I don’t care for Voris, but I do like Fr Z. In fairness, though, I would note that heterodox Catholics have been aiming their vitriol at their own fellow Catholics for years…including, most scandalously, the hierarchy. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but I don’t think condemnation should be limited to the orthodox bloggers.