Liberal Catholicism

[rpp]

Hi

I believe aleast around here there are a fair number of people that call themselves catholic.
But do not believe in the teachings of the church or listen to what the Pope says.
Others say “just let the Holy Spirit guide you”
And my favorite “I don’t sin”

What are they are called?

Thanks & God Bless; Kathy

Lapsed Catholics.

 

[rwoehmke]

I phrase it this way because the teaching that I have come to accept (and it was taught to me by Catholic priests - several in fact) is that one can dissent from church teachings, but one can never preach it. In other words, one can follow one’s conscience

Did they also teach you that when your conscience is out of step with what you think the Church is teaching you have an obligation to continue to study the matter in enough depth to maintain your position or to come into line with the Church?

 

[rwoehmke]

You cannot be liberal and be a true Catholic. They are both opposite ends of the spectrum. If you follow liberal dogma you will either fall into heresy or schism(Catholics for a free choice, etc)

The term liberal as used by the Popes of the 19th and early 20th Century, is different than Liberal when applied to British Politics in the 18 th Century onwards, and is I suspect quite different in some of today’s contexts. The liberal the Popes were against were those governments, like that of the revolutionary French government that denied God and made Reason the goddess of France. The British liberals were those who wanted no restrictions by the government on trade and commerce. Today’s liberal in the Church are usually dissenters, or very progressive individuals. Liberal political parties advocate abortion and top down control social programs and interference by the Federal government in local governance and restrictions on business and free markets; sometimes called big government. I am sure there are more definitions as well.

 

[pnewton]

You guys need to quit calling people unorthodox. People who are coming on this forum asking legitimate questions bout the EF are going to get the wrong impression about their legitimate, papally-approved preference and perspective.

AMEN!!! The name-calling does little good. I just commented elsewhere how easy it
to lump all traditionalists together when most are as faithful as they come.

 

[PrayforMallory]

AMEN!!! The name-calling does little good. I just commented elsewhere how easy it
to lump all traditionalists together when most are as faithful as they come.

I’ve been guilty of it, too, trying to paint people with too broad a brush.

The “trads” I know are in complete communion with Rome and are very happy people, not really applicable to the labels.

Not every “Neo-Catholic” is a raging lefty, either.

 

[abucs]

These labels are silly.

What was Jesus in the bible ?

Traditionalist, conservative, liberal, revolutionary ?

In my opinion the answer is simply Yes.

God bless.

 

[elts1956]

You cannot be liberal and be a true Catholic. They are both opposite ends of the spectrum. If you follow liberal dogma you will either fall into heresy or schism(Catholics for a free choice, etc)

Catholics who claim to be liberal frustrate me more than anything./QUOT

Peter, did you read pnewton’s post #35? Read it.

 

[elts1956]

You cannot be liberal and be a true Catholic. They are both opposite ends of the spectrum. If you follow liberal dogma you will either fall into heresy or schism(Catholics for a free choice, etc)

Catholics who claim to be liberal frustrate me more than anything.

These labels are silly.

What was Jesus in the bible ?

Traditionalist, conservative, liberal, revolutionary ?

In my opinion the answer is simply Yes.

God bless.

 

[sbriton]

What an interesting thread! I used to use these labels in the past but have started to describe myself and family in a different way. We have studied the different eras of the Church (initial Church, pre-Nicene Council, Vat. I, Vat. II, etc.). Basically, we describe ourselves as “obedient Catholics”. We’ve grown up with the NO Mass and, as practicing adults, found it lacking terribly in the areas of sacredness and sanctity. Increasingly, we find ourselves uncomfortable with some of the Masses we attend at various parishes in our area because of the full band music (guitars, drums, etc.), priests conducting homilies like a Jay Leno monologue, dancing in the aisles, etc. But, we still go every Sunday and holy days and occasionally weekdays. We wear our Sunday best and pray before Mass despite the noisy chatter. We maintain reverent postures, we bow during the Profession of Faith. We don’t clap during songs and we don’t leave until the priest has exited. We go to confession when necessary. We don’t like girl altar servers but don’t raise heck about it either. I don’t know if we’d want a complete Latin Mass (we haven’t been to one yet) although we do love when the Sanctus and Agnes Dei are used. We try our best to follow all the Church teachings and oppose abortion for any reason, oppose contraception, oppose homosexuality and try to model our lives on Christ our Savior. We loved Pope John Paul II and during his pontificate built up a great admiration for Cardinal Ratzinger who is now Pope Benedict XVI (yay!!!). We have a great hope that Catholics in the U.S. will submit completely to the Magisterium and, thus, to Christ.

So, I guess we’re not fully Traditionalists, nor are we fully Liberal/Progressive. Just simply obedient. Isn’t that what we all should be? Simply obedient?

Simon

 

[VivatJesus]

Read some of Spiller’s posts…that will give you a grasp on how a “liberal Catholic” (non-Catholic, actually) thinks.