Kung

[Montie_Claunch]

I was reading in the August 2005 ad. of Catholic Digest, which this dightful lady from R.C.I.A. Class gave me just last tuesday, on Pg. 48 “Ten yours later, Ratzinger, then archbishop of Munich, was instrumental in the Vatican’s censure of Kung, whose positions on papal infalliblilty and Catholic politics were considered too liberal.”
The reason I bring this up is that there is a book on the history of the Catholic Church that he wrote, I think this is the same gentleman, and I was wondering if he had anything that would have kept him from writing an honest essay on the issue or that the “politics” or anything else where tottaly unrelated and wouldn’t and didn’t affect the work? Thanks and God bless.

 

[Pentecost2005]

Though God intends for us to live eternally, the fact remains that our earthly pilgrimage is finite. That means that we have limited time in which to prepare ourselves for life in The Great Beyond. That means we cannot read everything. Therefore it seems imprudent to invest time in authors whose orthodoxy is questionable. I stay away from Küng and would advise you to do likewise.

And don’t fall into the pride trap of thinking, “well, I am secure in my faith, I am sure I can make the proper allowances.” Don’t even think about it.

 

[Montie_Claunch]

O.K. Thanks

 

[dafalax]

Hey Montie:
Not only would i stay away from Hans Kung, i would also stay away from Catholic Digest. They have written some very questionable articles, and i think the fact that they say Kung’s politics were too liberal illustrates just how unorthodox their writers are. It has nothing to do with his politics and everything to do with the fact that he refuses to submit to the authority of the magisterium. You might try The Word Among Us (scripture readings & meditations) or This Rock (apologetics) as an alternative orthodox publication. I just find it confusing sometimes to be reading their articles and all of a sudden have a red flag go up and have to research and see if what i just read is actually consistent with Catholic teaching. There are better, so why waste your time?

 

[Montie_Claunch]

dafalax:

Hey Montie:
Not only would i stay away from Hans Kung, i would also stay away from Catholic Digest. They have written some very questionable articles, and i think the fact that they say Kung’s politics were too liberal illustrates just how unorthodox their writers are. It has nothing to do with his politics and everything to do with the fact that he refuses to submit to the authority of the magisterium. You might try The Word Among Us (scripture readings & meditations) or This Rock (apologetics) as an alternative orthodox publication. I just find it confusing sometimes to be reading their articles and all of a sudden have a red flag go up and have to research and see if what i just read is actually consistent with Catholic teaching. There are better, so why waste your time?

Ohh…O.K. Thanks for telling me. What kind of questionable articles have they writen?

 

[dafalax]

Hmm. Well, i was annoyed at the John Paul II memorial issue when they did a run down of the movies that would be coming out over the summer. Instead of listing the more family friendly G-rated fare, they listed all major ones and gave them blurbs recommending them including the Dukes of Hazzard. I consider just the trailer for that movie to be soft core porn. That may not be objectionable per se, but it is irresponsible and not something you’d expect from a Christian publication. Furthermore, although their articles painted JPII in a positive light, they still used words like “liberal” and “conservative” to define some of his policies, which is just wrong. Morality doesn’t slide from left to right, it slides from up to down. Up as in toward heaven, down as in toward hell. They just seem to have some American Catholics on staff instead of Catholic Americans. American Catholics are under the impression that you can vote things into moral permissibility. Catholic Americans want God’s laws to shape the laws of man, not vice versa. There were also some questionable “feminist” sounding ideas floating around in a couple articles. I can’t really tell you specifically what the sentences were i objected to, since i’ve sent the copies i had to the recycling bin. Catholic Digest isn’t outright bad like America, where they do complete articles opposing Catholic doctrines. They are more insidious in that they write good sounding articles and inject an objectionable sentence here or there so if you’re not quite paying attention, you may even miss it. Then later you find yourself for some inexplicable reason thinking women’s ordination might not be a bad thing, and it’s all over. I’m sorry i can’t be more specific. Our Sunday Visitor is also starting to do some questionable stuff. I guess hunt around for magazine recommendations from people you really respect in the Catholic world and do enough reading of the Catechism and our classic great Catholic thinkers (Fulton Sheen, G.K. Chesterton) that you develop orthodoxy radar that will enable you to detect dissent like a princess and a pea. Hope this helps.

 

[Montie_Claunch]

Thanks Dafalax.