Just Faith

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Those who claim Just Faith is “Marxist” or are dismissive of it utterly distort JustFaith’s purposes. No where has JustFaith denied personal repentance and conversion are important. JustFaith in keeping with Cathoic teaching (see the chapter in the CCC on morality) that sin isn’t ONLY personal but also social. Just as on-going personal conversion is necessary so to must social structures where sin is embedded within them be corrected.

If that were not the case then Catholics should not bother to address abortion as a social issue.

Only those who are unaware of Catholic social doctrine or who are intentionally dismissive of it would post untrue characterizations of JustFaith.
 
Google…" My Catholic Faith" and click on the one that shows the contents of this book. Most of this book can be read online…it’s incredible.
 
Just Faith is not Marxist, I will agree with this. It is Liberation Theology that has been deemed Marxist. From "INSTRUCTION ON CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE
“THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION”
…[L]iberation theology which use, in an insufficiently critical manner, concepts borrowed from various currents of Marxist thought.
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vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19840806_theology-liberation_en.html

Liberation Theology is an erroneously temporal application of the spiritual liberation from sin we have suffered since the fall in the Garden of Eden. This lost for us the help of God’s Grace and it is this Grace we must regain prior to a temporal regeneration.

Just Faith using this Liberation Theology and other varying levels of heterodox doctrine is a human idea of justice only using ideals from their own interpretation of what the Bible and the Church offer. Jesus gave us His doctrine and the Church has expounded on this and this is not what Just Faith is offering. Their use of dissenting Catholic (Catholic in name only) ideology is proof of this separation from authentic Catholic teaching.

From the PRESENTATION OF THE “COMPENDIUM OF THE SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH”
The Church’s social doctrine, which “is an essential part of the Christian message”, must be known, propagated and lived. When, in any way whatsoever, one loses the keen awareness that this social doctrine belongs to the Church’s mission, social doctrine itself is manipulated, falling prey to various forms of ambiguity and partisan application.
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Here I would like to recall the famous expression “Catholic social doctrine is an integral part of the Christian conception of life”, with which Blessed Pope John XXIII, in his encyclical Mater et Magister, paved the way many years earlier for the successive, important and profound statements of John Paul II: “the teaching and spreading of her social doctrine are part of the Church’s evangelizing mission”; an “instrument of evangelization”, social doctrine “proclaims God and his mystery of salvation in Christ to every human being”. The less this doctrine is reduced to discourses of sociology or political science, to moralizing exhortations, to “a pseudo-science of well-being” or to a simple “ethics for difficult situations”, the better it will be able to render its service to men and women in the fabric of society and in the economic sphere. It will be ever better known, taught, lived and incarnated in the fullness of its “vital link with the Gospel of the Lord”
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vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20041025_compendio-dottrina-sociale_en.html

The fact that this book “COMPENDIUM OF THE SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH” wasn’t used when I attended Just Faith in 2008 made me look deeper into the theology presented by this Just Faith organization. These problems are evident and easy to see. If one fails to do their own study of the faith and is lead astray it is their own fault and if anyone truly wishes to do the Will of God humbly and knows that we are devoid of any good in and of ourselves, they will look closely at what is presented to them lest they be lead astray. Test every spirit.
 
I’m curious where you actually find JustFaith diverging from what one would find in the Compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine?

The theology reflects the emerging theological currents of the 20th and 21st centuries which in fact is what the CCC and Compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine reflect.

While Joseph Ratzinger warned of certain problematic features of liberation theology he never condemned the task nor the problems which liberation theologians were attempting to address. His were questions of methodology and the application of doctrine.

Opting for an otherworldly Christianity is not in keeping with the CSD, the CCC or any contemporary church teachings.
 
2 Peter 3:13 But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth.

Apocalypse 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth was gone, and the sea is now no more.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be reformed in the newness of your mind: *that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.

The Gospel is other worldly as God is completely other worldly.

The Church has gone to great lengths and martyrs have suffered torture and death to maintain the least truth of Christ and to avoid the littlest denial of Him. Today it is in large part the Church and Jesus who are expected to conform to us, accepting our sins instead of us working to conform ourselves with His Grace. We can’t change the Church’s authoritatively defined teachings on who Jesus is and what His message is in order to advance social justice. It is because there are few such believers willing to sell all and follow Him that some change the theology to get the results of “social justice”.

What more do we know today that justifies denying Jesus’ divinity as the “Jesus Seminar” does? A book authored by a member of such a group has no business in a Catholic Church group except as an example of heresy. In a world where Catholics (in name only) actively support abortion and homosexuality one needs the “hermeneutic of continuity” Pope Benedict spoke of to keep from following the latest fad in opposition to that which has been handed down by the apostles. This fad, I believe, describes “Just Faith”.
 
Earnest_Bunbury said:
2 Peter 3:13 But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth.

Apocalypse 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth was gone, and the sea is now no more.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be reformed in the newness of your mind: *that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.

The Gospel is other worldly as God is completely other worldly.

The Church has gone to great lengths and martyrs have suffered torture and death to maintain the least truth of Christ and to avoid the littlest denial of Him. Today it is in large part the Church and Jesus who are expected to conform to us, accepting our sins instead of us working to conform ourselves with His Grace. We can’t change the Church’s authoritatively defined teachings on who Jesus is and what His message is in order to advance social justice. It is because there are few such believers willing to sell all and follow Him that some change the theology to get the results of “social justice”.

What more do we know today that justifies denying Jesus’ divinity as the “Jesus Seminar” does? A book authored by a member of such a group has no business in a Catholic Church group except as an example of heresy. In a world where Catholics (in name only) actively support abortion and homosexuality one needs the “hermeneutic of continuity” Pope Benedict spoke of to keep from following the latest fad in opposition to that which has been handed down by the apostles. This fad, I believe, describes “Just Faith”.
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I agree with everything you said and appreciate you taking the time to articulate it so well. If you get the chance…google “My Catholic Faith” and click on the one that shows the contents of this book that was written in 1954. The utter simplicity of this book regarding the “truth” about God and man…is incredible. Check it out.
 
You’re opting for an utterly otherworldly Christianity which is:

a) contrary to the totality of the New Testament teaching
b) completely out of step with the over 100 year old tradition of Catholic social teaching
c) can’t be reconciled with the Catechism of the Catholic Church
d) can’t be reconciled with the Compendium of Catholic social doctrine
e) which even the then Cardinal Ratzinger warned against in his Instruction re: Certain Elements of Liberation Theology in 1984

That the Kingdom of God won’t be completed in anyone’s lifetime is one thing. That we are obligated to participate in God’s creative action of salvation and redemption is another. And that’s where Catholic social teaching and Just Faith are challenging us to do - each in relation to one’s social standing, etc.

All the best
 
The implications of Jesus’ divinity for us and our own on-going interior transformation are not completed in this lifetime is not the question here. This surely is a task for each one of us.

On the other hand we are part of a bigger whole which includes the very way in which society is organized. We therefore have an obligation - in accord with our differing abilities - to participate in the on-going task of social transformation. While it’s true that this will not take place in one’s own lifetime, this doesn’t excuse us from embracing the forms of responsibility proper to us. That’s what Catholic social doctrine is all about.

If this were not the case - then Catholics should simply stop working to change laws re: abortion. And I suspect many on this post won’t do that.

It’s both/and not either/or…

Respectfully,
tpw
 
I am not against social justice nor am I talking utter transcendence, I’m not even mentioning anything you are reading into my posts. I am specific in my points against the way Just Faith wants to inculcate social justice by fashioning a theology that fits in with what they want to accomplish.

Just Faith isn’t wrong as to what justice is: feeding the poor, economic fairness, subsidiarity, and ending all types of discrimination. It is wrong in its view and portrayal of Jesus, Who He was when He walked the earth and what the Church declares about Him past and present.

I have gone far beyond what I wanted to offer to the OP and those seeking an opinion and a starting point for a personal study of what Just Faith presents as Catholic. I retire from this thread. Adieu
 
jewells17 said:
I agree with everything you said and appreciate you taking the time to articulate it so well. If you get the chance…google “My Catholic Faith” and click on the one that shows the contents of this book that was written in 1954. The utter simplicity of this book regarding the “truth” about God and man…is incredible. Check it out.
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Is this the book to which you refer?

catholicbook.com/AgredaCD/MyCatholicFaith/MyCatholicFaith.htm

This one looks interesting, too, though it is not a book:
My Catholic Faith: Sound Insight for Your Daily Life

mycatholicfaith.org/

Mimi
 
Yes…that is the one. I was wrong…I think it was written in 1949. I am really enjoying it. It makes so much sense and is so simple to read.
 
Here is a review from Catholic Culture.org

catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=3568&repos=2&subrepos=0&searchid=642399

Strengths: None Reported.

Weaknesses:
Code: 
* Fidelity: Dissenting views of the founder, Jack Jezreel Example(s)
* Fidelity: The JustFaith program recommends dissenters in its newsletters and book lists. Example(s)
* Fidelity: Program is more concerned with process than with theology and recommended activity is more in line with the politics of Saul Alinksy than with Catholicism. Example(s)
Code: 
If you go to the web site, you will be able to click on Examples and get more detail on each of the Weaknesses cited.

More articles pertaining to the agenda behind many so-called "justice" programs are listed at the end of the article.

Peace,
Mimi
 
Which “Catholic culture” are you referring to? Catholic culture has always been multi-layered and multi-dimensional. To attempt to discredit Just Faith is only saying you refuse to recognize a legitimate part of the broader Catholic culture - big tent, many houses. If you don’t like them - fine.

But don’t slander them…

Peace the world doesn’t recognize,

tpw
 
Mimi said:
catholicbook.com/AgredaCD/MyCatholicFaith/MyCatholicFaith.htm
Mimi
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👋 Hi Mimi - this book is the very one which started me on my conversion to the Catholic Church. Click on Chapter 79/Souls in Purgatory and look at the picture. I was an unbaptized pagan teenager but this little black and white image affected me profoundly. I had no clue what Purgatory was - I only knew that I did not want to “burn” in fire.

I highly recommend this book which is surely a weapon in our hands against the unorthodoxy and heresy we are witnessing in the Church today and the questionable tactics of Jack Jezreel who touts liberation theology, a kind of “collective” salvation and uses a humanistic approach to solve the problem of the poor in the world today.
 
Tigg said:
👋 Hi Mimi - this book is the very one which started me on my conversion to the Catholic Church. Click on Chapter 79/Souls in Purgatory and look at the picture. I was an unbaptized pagan teenager but this little black and white image affected me profoundly. I had no clue what Purgatory was - I only knew that I did not want to “burn” in fire.

I highly recommend this book which is surely a weapon in our hands against the unorthodoxy and heresy we are witnessing in the Church today and the questionable tactics of Jack Jezreel who touts liberation theology, a kind of “collective” salvation and uses a humanistic approach to solve the problem of the poor in the world today.
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What a great posting and I really agree. I just ordered this book from Amazon.com and I got a lightly used copy for a great price. But the content of this book is priceless…I have never read anything like it and it is filled with the spirit of Truth. I wish I could buy one for everyone I know.
 
Mimi said:
Here is a review from Catholic Culture.org

catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=3568&repos=2&subrepos=0&searchid=642399

Strengths: None Reported.

Weaknesses:
Code: 
* Fidelity: Dissenting views of the founder, Jack Jezreel Example(s)
* Fidelity: The JustFaith program recommends dissenters in its newsletters and book lists. Example(s)
* Fidelity: Program is more concerned with process than with theology and recommended activity is more in line with the politics of Saul Alinksy than with Catholicism. Example(s)
Code: 
If you go to the web site, you will be able to click on Examples and get more detail on each of the Weaknesses cited.

More articles pertaining to the agenda behind many so-called "justice" programs are listed at the end of the article.

Peace,
Mimi
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Consider the source.
 
Your Catholic Culture link distorts those who are listed as Just Faith authors or supporteres.

Your link cites Dianne Bergant, OSA, an internationally acclaimed and highly respected biblical scholar who has edited the Collegeville Commentary on the Bible among other works.

You assume that Just Faith authors are somehow suspect because of their work against violence in other areas of the church. Working for abolition of nuclear weapons as Pax Christi USA has, Nevada Desert Experience has is quite in keeping with church teaching if you read the U.S. Catholic bishop’s peace pastoral in 1983 and various sources from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Catholic Social Doctrine. Walter Wink and Walter Bruggeman have written a great deal about violence in scripture and the growing acceptance of non-violence in the Catholic Church.

Even if one is opposed to gay marriage as the Roman Catholic Church is - it’s a whole other thing to approve of violence against gay people. And here it’s not a matter of the more suspect claims of “hate” - it’s actual acts of violence directed against them. No where does the church in any of its documents encourage violence against any group of people.

What Bruggeman and/or Wink believe about homosexuality in the scriptures is a matter for their denominations to address and does not take away from their scholarship and writing on non-violence.
 
One further note: re: the Catholic culture link. They take JustFaith to task because they have not included ending abortion as one of the topics. I wonder if there is anyone in the Catholic Church who does not know what the church’s position on abortion is?

The Catholic culture implies that JustFaith somewhow supports abortion when in fact it doesn’t. The purpose of JustFaith is to introduce the far greater majority of Catholics who have never been exposed to Catholic social doctrine what that teaching exactly is.

If organizations involved in the many social ministries were not so concerned about what isn’t in one group or anothers profile - we’d probably do tremendous things. Rather than mutual support what one finds is antipathy, suspicion, finger-pointing and genuine ill will. I wonder what good this does anyone?
 
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