B
Blue_Horizon
Guest
ThankYou sir. I haven’t read so much self evident common sense in one place on CAF for a long long time.Addressing someone in this way simply because he happens to be vastly more knowledgeable about the issues than you are isn’t exactly what would be expected in the Traditional Catholicism forum; and it makes very little sense, when you appear to be trying to appeal to the legitimate teachings of the Church, to try and dismiss someone who has a canonical licence to promote those teachings.
The attitude of several of the-sky-is-falling posters on this thread reminds me of people I met in my previous incarnation in the field of medicine, who would express endless opinions upon the nature of their illness and upon what treatments they should receive. The problem was that they conflated their personal views on medicine and their undoubted right to accept or reject a treatment alternative with having expert knowledge of the matter. In fact the extent of their knowledge was usually limited to a few minutes’ research on the internet - often it was possible even to determine which ill-informed site they had visited simply by the wording of their objections - and I would find myself having to state, ‘No, honestly, black is not white, it’s definitely black. With that said, you don’t have to opt for the black treatment plan if you don’t want to, but nevertheless, it really is black, and not white.’
The value of an opinion is directly related to the level of informed judgement that shapes it. But the very people who often decry the ‘modernist’ tendencies of the contemporary Church never seem to understand how thoroughly post-modern is their own desire to have an opinion on everything, irrespective of their actual understanding of the issues involved - which is usually limited to prooftexting an often irrelevant statement that seems to, but typically does not, contradict the Church’s current action.
Once again: it is thoroughly against the tradition of the Church to think that your opinion is to be valued as equal to that of the legitimate hierarchy: this is about as good a definition of Protestantism as one can find. If, on the other hand, you are able to provide expert and informed commentary and have been invited to participate in a process of debate and implementation, you are expected to do so, whether clerical or lay, male or female, Catholic or not. However, no such invitation has been generally given to CAF regarding the ongoing consideration of Amoris Laetitia as far as I am aware. The laity in general’s possible role in that process came some time ago, when the bishops of the world were invited to consult with their flocks in advance of the then-imminent synod.
The continual citation of articles, opinion pieces and interviews with bishops and theologians who are effectively saying ‘I don’t think anything regarding the pastoral approach to irregular marriage needs to change’ is missing the point. These voices are a legitimate, and necessary, part of the ongoing implementation of Amoris Laetitia, and in and of themselves may be a significant aid in the process by which the bishops will implement this document in their own jurisdictions. But they are posted here instead as putative evidence that - as I said above - the sky is falling, and that the moral theology of the Church is being rewritten and abandoned, and that the gates of hell are about to prevail. The mere fact that these opinions are posted as ‘evidence’ of anything other than the fact that the Church’s moral and pastoral theology are simply not reducible to a list of do’s and don’ts, and that there is not a single and monolithic view on these issues, is a clear indicator that the poster involved has an inadequate understanding of the theological disciplines under review.
As I’ve said elsewhere, there is a reason that I don’t post on the Quantum Physics answers forum: it’s because all I could usefully do there is ask questions about the most basic aspects of the discipline, because I know nothing about it; and my opinion that the concept of dark matter seems an unlikely answer to the problems of the matter/energy sum of the known universe would probably be of little interest to the PhD. candidates on those boards.
Anyone who interprets that as saying that I think that I am stupid, ignorant or not entitled to engage with the subject of Quantum Physics is again missing the point - which is that, if I’m going to do so, I need to do so with humility, with respect to the people whose understanding is greater than mine, and by taking the time and energy, and devoting the necessary practical resources, to an ongoing study of the subject that will make my contributions to the overall discussion anything more than baseless opinion. You do not become a medical doctor, a physicist or a theologian by reading a few internet articles, or even by reading a lot of books. You do it through years of study, which unfortunately means that it will be possible only for a few people. That is an inconvenient truth, but a truth nevertheless.
If you want people to listen to you - let’s hope for all the right reasons - then knowing your subject and, dare I say it, simple politeness will probably go a long way towards making yourself heard. On the other hand, if you want your opinion to be equal to that of everyone else, irrespective of your actual expertise, and without prejudice to the level of discourtesy you display - well, come and join CAF as it typically is when discussing Amoris Laetitia, and feel free to tell us how the Pope is ignorant of what you yourself understand so much better than he does. Oh, and by the way, I’ve managed to find a statement from a bishop who also thinks that the current provisions are adequate, so that proves that Amoris Laetitia is heresy.
In Christ,
Withburga
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