Per pnewton: "If you think my interpretation was silly, then I guess I misunderstood this:
“Our Lord one day will ask many of the clergy and religious why they spent their efforts pursuing material benefits at the expense of the Faith–half or more of the American Catholics in their charge hypocritically retain the name ‘Catholic’ but are more closely allied to Henry the Eighth, Calvin, Luther, Marx and Sanger.”
What it means is that for forty years and counting many of our shepherds concerned themselves with worldly political activities and political correctness while the enemy led astray over half the souls in their charge. Our Lord will demand an accounting from the bishops as to why those souls, while still on earth, looked to Henry the Eighth, Calvin, Luther, Marx and Sanger rather than the Christ of their fathers, but still believed they were Catholic. Those same shepherds watched and often assisted in the virtual and sometimes material destruction of our church interiors, liturgy, Catholic education, seminaries and, finally, even faith and confidence in the Church herself. They embarrassed themselves before the entire world and greatly weakened the Church so that now her enemies in the government and elsewhere are openly attempting to weaken her even more.
Related to our discussion, this month in Germany, PBXVI told us that the Church must rededicate herself to her mission, and it’s not mainly worldly work; it’s preaching her message, the Gospel. Through worldly demands and constraints, however, her message becomes “relativized.” Therefore, to model itself on Christ’s ideal, the Church cannot act and think like the world does (e.g., weighing the relativity of options such as voting for politicians who facilitate abortions and other horrors so long as those politicians are concerned with “social justice”–which reminds me of “adult” entertainment-- and are opposed to the death penalty, strict boarder enforcement, and guns. A “seamless garment” type of relativism.)
He said that history shows that sometimes the Church…"adapts herself to the standards of the world. Not infrequently, she gives greater weight to organization and institutionalization than to her vocation… In order to accomplish her true task adequately, the Church must constantly renew the effort to detach herself from her tendency towards worldliness…In this she follows the words of Jesus: ‘They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.’”
“History has shown that, when the Church becomes less worldly, her missionary witness shines more brightly. Once liberated from material and political burdens and privileges, the Church can reach out more effectively… She can live more freely her vocation to the ministry of divine worship and service of neighbour… seeking total transparency…and stripping away from it anything that only SEEMS [my caps] to belong to faith, but in truth is mere convention or habit… This does not, of course, mean withdrawing from [her innate charitable activity]: quite the contrary… At the same time, though, the Church’s charitable activity also needs to be constantly exposed to the demands of due detachment from worldliness, if it is not to wither away at the roots in the face of increasing erosion of its ecclesial character. Only a profound relationship with God makes it possible to reach out fully towards others,” he said.
pnewton, I interpret the pope’s message to mean that, ironically, by detaching herself from the world and focusing on her spiritual mission, she accomplishes through Christ working within us what she could not accomplish directly by becoming immersed in “material and political burdens.” As you know from my debate with Contarini, there is among very well intentioned people a “heresy of good works.”
