So you believe that Catholicism is “a vehicle for damnation”? And worthy of hatred?If by anti-catholicism, you mean being against the administration of the Catholic Church, then pretty much all Orthodox are “anti-catholic”, and most Catholics are rather “anti-orthodox” (look at all of the Moscow bashing that goes on here at CAF)
Just who is honouring him ?I fear many don’t know him - and his quote exposes him for what he is. Yes, we need to pray for him. But, he is not what many here say he is. He publicly says Catholicism is a vehicle for damnation - and you want us to pretend he’s all sweetness and light? He needs our prayers as all anti-Catholics do.
But, we don’t need to honor him!
No, I do not believe that the Catholic Church is a vehicle of damnation. I doubt that Fr. Ambrose does either. In context his statement was a reference to how the Catholic Church has changed its teaching about whether failing to abstain from meat on fridays is a mortal sin or not. It was a statement rhetorical in nature, which you are taking out of context.So you believe that Catholicism is “a vehicle for damnation”? And worthy of hatred?
So does Jack Chick - and his ilk would not be tolerated, let alone honored, here.
It’s not rhetorical and it’s completely in context - and consistent with his postings in general.No, I do not believe that the Catholic Church is a vehicle of damnation. I doubt that Fr. Ambrose does either. In context his statement was a reference to how the Catholic Church has changed its teaching about whether failing to abstain from meat on fridays is a mortal sin or not. It was a statement rhetorical in nature, which you are taking out of context.
The article Never the Twain? was quoted and discussed in the Why do the Orthodox need Catholics? thread. I just mention it here for the sake of anyone who missed it before:If by anti-catholicism, you mean being against the administration of the Catholic Church, then pretty much all Orthodox are “anti-catholic”, and most Catholics are rather “anti-orthodox” (look at all of the Moscow bashing that goes on here at CAF)
Conservative Roman Catholics, looking sympathetically at the Orthodox, seem to feel that a great deal of the foregoing hopes might be soon fulfilled, perhaps even in our generation. They share Pope John Paul’s grand vision of a Christendom reunited for the third millennium. It is natural, I suppose, that they should imagine that the Orthodox partake of these hopes.
But then something terrible happens. They stumble across the latest Christian Activist, for example, or Epiphany, or Again, or maybe even a diocesan magazine like The Word. They will not read many issues of such journals without running across some severe (and, I am sorry to say, not always just nor invariably accurate) criticisms of either the Roman Catholic Church in general or the Vatican in particular. They are shocked.
Like the recent editorial in This Rock, these conservative Roman Catholics may want to dismiss such negative commentary as atypical, radical, and aberrant. They cannot bring themselves to believe that those nice Eastern Orthodox Christians do not feel so close to Rome as Rome does to them. Surely the Orthodox as a whole are more kindly disposed, they imagine; people like Frank Schaeffer and Father Alexey Young must be fanatics of some sort, not genuinely representative of the Orthodox attitude toward reunion with Rome.
I’ve seen no one here refuse to pray for Fr. Ambrose - I certainly haven’t. Indeed I have prayed for him - and continue to do so.If I refused to pray for those who I disagree with, my prayers would be significantly shorter, consisting only of myself.
As Christ said, even the tax collectors love those who love them, the trick is to love your enemies.
I didn’t know Fr. Ambrose outside of some posts, and I don’t exercise virtue by praying for him, but I ask that posters refrain from vice when they condemn him.
No… I mean saying he “hates” Catholicism and calling it a “vehicle of damnation.” That really takes it a light year past administrative concerns…If by anti-catholicism, you mean being against the administration of the Catholic Church, then pretty much all Orthodox are “anti-catholic”, and most Catholics are rather “anti-orthodox” (look at all of the Moscow bashing that goes on here at CAF)
I don’t think I said that; but I do have my suspicions, in light of your diatribes on this thread.and you think I’m uncharitable…
No diatribe - just an inconvenient truth.I don’t think I said that; but I do have my suspicions, in light of your diatribes on this thread.
I (think) I understand where you’re coming from, but…why is it necessary to know anything beyond the reason we have been asked to pray for them about anyone whom we have been asked to pray for?I’ve seen no one here refuse to pray for Fr. Ambrose - I certainly haven’t. Indeed I have prayed for him - and continue to do so.
However, if someone came here and asked us all to pray for Jack Chick, I do believe it would be appropriate to point out his virulent anti-Catholic stance - and even highlight it for prayer. That I have done for Fr. Ambrose. That I would do for any anti-Catholic. They need additional prayers.
If Jack Chick’s friends came here, and they were long time posters on this forum, I would feel compelled to identify Jack and note his hatred for Catholicism. I would still pray for Jack - and his friends.
I, for one, feel sorry for a sick man who in his self-posted notes proclaims his hatred for Catholicism and his accusation that Catholicism is a “vehicle of damnation.” Dying in hatred and outside the Church is a terrible thing.
Fr. Ambrose certainly needs our prayers. But, everyone here needs to know what and who he is - perhaps God will touch his heart and bring him back before it is too late.
It is not.I (think) I understand where you’re coming from, but…why is it necessary to know anything beyond the reason we have been asked to pray for them about anyone whom we have been asked to pray for?
So that we might pray properly for what is needed - especially for one like Fr. Ambrose who is so desperately in need of it.I (think) I understand where you’re coming from, but…why is it necessary to know anything beyond the reason we have been asked to pray for them about anyone whom we have been asked to pray for?
Au contraire - one might think illness is his primary problem. One might think he’s just a friend of posters here. He needs much more - as do his friends…It is not.
God knows what is needed. If we are asked to pray for someone who is sick and dying, God knows how to use whatever we offer up in the most beneficial manner possible–irregardless of how much or how little we know otherwise about those we are offering our prayers for. Surely a name is quite sufficient, and I’m quite sure God even knows that–even if we do not.So that we might pray properly for what is needed - especially for one like Fr. Ambrose who is so desperately in need of it.
I think everyone here should know what sort of man Fr. Ambrose is – at least enough to know that the comparisons between him and Jack Chick are absurd propaganda.I (think) I understand where you’re coming from, but…why is it necessary to know anything beyond the reason we have been asked to pray for them about anyone whom we have been asked to pray for?