I don’t think the “new” catechism cancelled out the Catechism of the Council of Trent, for the teachings of the Church do not change. I believe the hesitancy of the pope (Benedict & Francis) to condemn Islam is not because it is now considered a friend, but out of prudence for our Catholic brethren in the middle east who would suffer the repercussions. I remember Benedict had some scathing words about the Muslims, but later apologized, and I believe, on a hunch, this is the reason.
This is incorrect. Vatican II specifically mentions Jews and Muslims in Nostra Aetate as brethren, because they are sons of Abraham as are we. They believe in the God of Abraham, as do we. The Church holds them and the Jewish people in special esteem and does not consider them her enemies.
Christians and Muslims have been enemies for political reasons. This has not changed in many countries. It is unfortunate. We must pray for peace and justice in those countries. The same has to be said of the Jews and Muslims.
The unfortunate situation here is that religions have been used to justify the antagonism from all parties. There has never been a shortage of Christians, Muslims or Jewish instigators who poison the waters with religious bigotry to achieve their distorted goals. The simple man and woman of faith, Jewish Muslim or Christian, tends to believe these so called “leaders, guardians, or protectors.” Those who do not believe and who challenge are usually persecuted by these alleged leaders.
Pope Benedict never made scathing comments about Muslims. This is what was spread around. Pope Benedict was delivering a lecture. At the time, he was pope, but he was speaking a professor, not in the name of the Church. During his lecture he quoted an ancient piece of writing that contained a single, but very ugly comment about Islam and Muslims. The comment stated that they were all criminals. I can’t recall how the sentence goes, because I have not read the book. I only read the sentence in Light of the World. The Holy Father did clarify why he quoted this writer and apologized if he had caused any offense to anyone.
He was being diplomatic in apologizing. This much is true. However, diplomacy should be a part of every Catholic’s behavior. We should not go about making enemies, but meeting people and befriending them. When something goes wrong, which will always happen in any human activity, we should be courageous enough to return to the scene and rectify. This is what Pope Benedict did.
There is another problem. We are the problem. We are duplicitous. Especially Latin Catholics. We claim that we are the faithful sons and daughters of the popes, but we take advantage of every opportunity to stick it to them by contradicting them or by ignoring them.
Taylor Marshal is a very brilliant man in some respects. But he is also a less than faithful son of the Church if he is making statements that contradict what the Council and the Holy See are saying. One cannot be with the Holy See and undermine it, contradict it, and even attempt to teach over it, yet continue to say that one is a faithful Catholic.
I have not read what Taylor Marshall has said about Muslims or Jews or anyone else. I have read some of his books and he contains errors in them. He brings to the table some Protestant notions. This is understandable. He comes from that Anglican Church. It is equally understandable that he is entitled to his opinion.
What is not understandable is for good Catholics to accept the opinion of any individual when that opinion contradicts the opinion of the Holy See.
Yes. yes, yes, you’re all going to tell me that not everything that the popes say is infallible. I’ve heard that before. I’ve been around the block many years. I have seen where that attitude has led us to. One starts tearing off one corner of the paper, because it’s not needed, then another, and another and another, before we know it, we have a papacy that is worthless. Why? Because there are new dogmas and no new moral laws. We no longer need pope with infallibility. We have what we needed in our catechisms. We need popes who are administrators. Let’s elect CEOs to the Chair of Peter. When they make administrative decisions, we can treat them as we do the CEO of Microsoft. We can reduce his sphere of influence according to our wishes. Whatever we don’t wish, we simply ignore, like a product that we leave on a shelf at a department store.
The pope is a CEO and the Church can become Macy’s.
I’m sure that what Saints Benedict, Albert, Augustine, Dominic, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Ignatius of Loyola and Bonaventure all did when they found themselves in a Church where the papacy, hierarchy and institutions were fragile. They picked and chose what they wanted and they left the rest on the shelf. Not to worry, if the Holy See says that Muslims and Jews are not enemies of the Church, but we feel that opinion to be mistaken, we can leave it on a shelf and move on to find a opinion that fits our size, just like a pair of shoes.
