Funny. When I read Ratzinger, I get a sense of great open spaces and mighty winds of freedom and grace. I have never read a theologian who had less of a “small-minded, narrow God,” Based on what theological works of Ratzinger are you making this statement?
Ratzinger has spent his career persecuting theologians with new ideas, banning books, making nasty speeches about dissenters and being an impediment to progress of any kind in the church. Mighty winds of Freedom and Grace? Great Open Spaces? New Ideas? None of these exist for Benedict the 16th. He is a man imprisioned by tradition and unable to come to terms with the modern world or science.
I think the real issue between Liberals and Conservatives revolves around the issue of church organization. In the days of the early church there was none of the hierarchial nonsense we have today.
The original church was celebrated in peoples homes. It was a love feast followed by stories about Jesus and the breaking of bread. In the first few centuries after Christ, there were no jet planes, telephones, faxes or FEDEX deliveries. It took a long time to travel. More often than not, an apostle or evangelist would visit a City, start a Christian Community and leave.It might be years or decades before another came through. All Christians are priests by Baptism. As such, members of the community took turns consecrating hosts (remember this means calling God’s Presence as only Jesus and not men can change bread and wine into the body and blood) preaching the word, and forgiving sins. There was no formal structure to the mass. It was a highly creative form of worship that varied from place to place. Early Christians or Followers of the Way took turns preforming marriages and funerals. The early church was communistic, property was shared and members mutually helped eachother.
In later times, when the Gospels started to be written, the presider (later presbyters or priests) needed to be someone who could read (most ancients didn’t) and a school was established to train presiders, This was the beginning of a formal clergy. Prior to this time all teachers were home trained and often helped set up branch or distributed churches around the founding home in a city. The original Christians ALWAYS elected their priests, bishops, and patriarchs (later called Popes), and sat on ALL Ecumenical Councils. Males and feamles were equals in Christain Communities. Teachers or clergy were normally married with children and had other professions besides being the head of a local group of Christians. House churches had worship in the language of the people, communion tables facing the congregaton. statutes, reliciquaries and tabernacles didn’t exist.
At the time of Constantine the Laity’s Role was given to the Emperor and Nobles. Democracy and a communal sharing of property threatened the Emperor, so all churches were funded by the government via taxation and all clergy became political hacks or appointees. This was the beginning of formal mysterous liturgies, imperial art, superstition, luxurious living for top clergy and corrpution within the Church. Peter the fisherman wouldn’t be caught dead in silk gowns, gold slippers, lace vestments with pearls, rings with golf ball size jewels or pointy hats.The original mass was never meant to be preformed before idols or pagan altars yet this is exactly what happened in places like the Parthenon & Pantheon. Christ would have been scandalized.
At the time of the Council of Nicea, a formal Church Organization was set up with 4 heads of the Church in Alexandria, Rome, Constantinope, and Antioch all under control of the Emperor. There was no Supreme Pontiff. Original gospels & histories were rewritten to justify the establishment of a State Religion and end dissent. All pagan religions were destroyed and competing forms of non approved Christianty eg Ebonites & Gnostics suppressed. The burning of libraries and closing of pagan universities plunged Europe into a dark age that took more than 1000 years to recover from.
As the empire declined the 4 equal heads of the church quarreled and split apart. Pope in Rome became a poliical leader and king who challenged the Emperor. Misinterpretation of scripture,
& forged documents such as the Donation of Constantine or the Iberian Decretals were used to justify creation of the Modern Papacy. This eventually lead to the Great Schism.
Papal Claims of continuing succession from Peter are ingenuous, as there have been many anitpopes, periods without popes, bad popes and even lists of fake popes from Ebusius. There have been many breaks in the line of suceesion in both Roman and Orthodox Churches. Apostolic succession comes from the only continous line of faith in existance: which is Laity. As such, in our Roman Catholic Church the relationship between Laity and Clergy is that of Employer and Employee, not Serf and Fuedal Lord. A Council of Laity, not the Pope or Synod of Bishops is the ultimate governing authority in the Universal Church - this was firmly established by the Council of Constance. Because Laity and not Clergy is the source of Apostolic Succession - ALL Christian denominations have equal stature in the eyes of God and are ALL valid.
Laity has never lost its rights to elect priests, bishops or popes. In times of persecution, women priests in the Greek Catholic Church have been validly ordained clergy by action of Laity when no Bishop was present. Same for communities in India and China. In times of war, when a soldier is dying on the battlefield ordinary christians in the Orthodox Rite can hear confession and grant absolution. This was common practise as well in the Western Church up until around 1000 when the sacrament of penance was invented in monestaries. Confessionals are an invention of Late Gothic Architecture they never existed prior.
All problems within the Catholic or Universal Church stem from self appointed clergy refusing to listen to their superiors ie. laity.
Conservatives embrace the false Monarchial Organization of the Imperial Church. Liberals embrace the true Democratic Organization of the Early Church.
Ratzinger may well be one of the last popes. Infallibility, a questionable innovation of Vatican I (due to lack of quorum) is putting the Western Church in a position where it cannot escape past errors, bad policy or wholesale mismanagement and adapt to modern times. In such a situation, either the papacy is abolished or the church goes. extinct. It is my belief that the Holy Spirit is calling the Universal Church to abolish both the Roman Curia and Tradition, merge with Protestant & Orthodox Faiths, free itself from years of infighting and start anew proclaiming the Message of Christ worldwide. The conservatives need to acknowledge that the center and leader of our faith is Jesus not the Papacy, the Holy See or set of dogma & rules.:bowdown2:
