The same way that Westerners think Eastern means anything not Western? Rather than knowing in the Catholic Church itself, there are 5 Eastern Rites and not just one rite in the West?
I don’t know what any of that has to do with the fact that he’s misrepresenting the teaching of Western Catholicism.
Yeah, unfortunately these holy people live their lives the right way and don’t waste their time on the internet. And those who are inquiring about the faith meet those who are living their faith the wrong way, through the internet. Therefore, guess who is growing in numbers more?
And if we know otherwise, we should not give to that same internet culture, but represent the Faith and the Church as it is lived by the common people, not internet savants.
Those who complain are the “converts” who lived that legalistic Western life anyway.
Actually, the Western life was most likely not really legalistic to begin with, until someone inspired these “converts” to believe so. There are just as many rules in Orthodoxy, and there are just as many instances of comparable
oikonomia in the West (indulgences, dispensations, invincible ignorance, etc., etc.). But these people have been led to believe that the rules of Orthodoxy are holy if you follow them, but the rules in Catholicsm are legalism if you follow them. Another problem is that Protestants who convert to Orthodoxy bring with them their liberalism and misrepresent Orthodoxy according to a Protestant standard (e.g., the notion of “no formal authority”, contraception and second marriages are the norm, a false dichotomy between holy obligation and the love of Christ that compels, etc.,etc.)
Almost all real-life Eastern Catholics I know have no issues with the OF.
Fair enough.
They do, but people don’t overly concern themselves with them. I never said the East never have rules and laws, I’m saying Western Christians today are too concerned about them.
I would disagree with the underlined portion above. Protestants are definitely not overly concerned with rules and laws, and I’ve already intimated my views about the perception of Western Catholicism above.
But in a body, the bad bacteria or the virus doesn’t have to be 50% + 1 of the entire body before the body gets sick.
I propose that as it applies to the Church, it is merely the
appearance of sickliness. The disease that is being spread is actually the false perception of such sickliness perpetrated by loud and misinformed anti-Catholic pundits (though that misperception can be perpetrated by anyone in regards to any Church)
I know Fr. Stephen is being provocative in how he presents his teachings…And Fr. Stephen does admit that he intentionally writes in a provocative manner to get people to read and to think. And if you truly read and truly think about what he writes, you’ll understand he’s not really trying to pick a fight, but rather try to give a teaching from what is an authentic Eastern viewpoint.
You don’t need to bear false witness or misrepresent another group in order to present the Truth.
but so is someone like Michael Voris.
Whatever his faults, they have nothing to do with the fact that Fr. Stephen is bearing false witness against Western Catholicism.
And we know that intentionally or not, the members always represent the Church, so outsiders looking in can easily mistake the Church’s position based on what the members do.
Fr. Stephen did not indicate in his article that he was basing his position on what member
do. He was explicitly analyzing the TEACHING of “Western Christendom” and misrepresenting Western Catholicism in the process.
And to call the article simply anti-Western misses the point of the article.
The point of his article was to dichotomize “Eastern” and “Western” teaching.
The article does have a lot of merit on how right and wrong is understood in the Eastern sense.
And I already said that earlier. It doesn’t excuse the fact that he misrepresented Western Catholicism in the process.
You let his tirades get in the way of realizing his brilliance in explaining Eastern understanding of morality.
He could have explained the Eastern phrenoma without mispresenting Western Catholicism.
The same way many Catholics simply dismiss people like Mark of Ephesus because he called the hierarchy of the Roman Church a bunch of heretics. But if one reads what he has to say about purgatory (or his rebuttal on purgatory) one can see that what he tried to say doesn’t even conflict with what the Roman Church teaches about purgatory. But people just can’t get past the “he called us heretics” and therefore assume that everything that comes out of his mouth is false.
You don’t need to misrepresent a group (intentionally or not) in order to present the Truth.
Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite share the same essential faith with the Eastern Orthodox. This discernment you are talking about should be about looking past the issues they have and seeing how wonderful they teach the Eastern faith is.
You appreciate what you share. You rebuke when that sharing comes at the cost of bearing false witness against another party.
Not just because they err as humans means nothing they say is worth listening to.
Did I say nothing he said was worth listening to? Reread my posts please. My criticism is that he is bearing false witness about another group in the process.
Blessings
