Pope & Icon of Kazan

[Fr_Ambrose]

GAssisi:

No thank you, Father. There is nothing the Orthodox can offer that Catholicism cannot. Plus, we have the added doctrinal security of the papacy

The gospel brings freedom to mankind and we can offer you that - freedom from a cultlike system which has given full supreme and universal power to one man.

I suppose, however, given the laxer moral teaching of the Orthodox Church, people who are part of those sad statistics would be more comfortable in your Church.

Send them to us and we will try to do what you [the generic you] with all your harsh rules have not achieved - to teach them the value of a priestly vocation, the beauty of the religious life, of the holiness of marriage, of the evil of abortion. So much is failing in the West and the Holy Father is right that the reviving spiritual strength of Orthodoxy may be the West’s last hope if it can tap into it. We are used to saying to Catholics: We are your past. It now seems that we must be your future also.

 

[Fr_Ambrose]

2) Eastern Catholics have that same discipline.

Psst… Don’t let DominusNoBiscuits know this or he’ll start to get upset again about the restrictions which he has to endure before going to Eastern Catholic communion. Imagine fasting from meat and diary products and chocolate biscuits for one week before he can commune in a Russian Catholic church!! Oh, those dreadful restrictions!!

 

[Sarah_Jane]

Fr Ambrose:

We are used to saying to Catholics: We are
your past. It now seems that we must be your future also.

We are not our past and our future.

“And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

 

[GAssisi]

Dear Father,

I know of no Catholic who came into the Catholic Church with a broken arm. I myself chose it freely after some good amount of soul-searching. You should be careful about the designation “cult-like.” Many Protestants think the Orthodox Church is even more cultish than the Catholic Church. Or maybe you should just consider our Lord’s own exhortation – “by the judgment with which you judge others, you will be judged.”

Orthodox think they can offer the spiritual guidance that the West is lacking, but that is sheer vanity. It is not for lack of spiritual treasures that Catholics in the West have backslidden in holiness. The Orthodox on the whole have not experienced the same pluralistic environment in which Catholics are immersed. As I have said on another thread, once the pluralism (and capitalism) of the West begins to insinuate itself more steadily and completely in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, it is the Orthodox who will begin to appreciate more the centralizing role of the papacy.

God bless,

Greg

 

[Fr_Ambrose]

[You should be careful about the designation “cult-like.” Many Protestants think the Orthodox Church is even more cultish than the Catholic Church. Or maybe you should just consider our Lord’s own exhortation – “by the judgment with which you judge others, you will be judged.”

I am weary of the constant use of appellations such as “retarded,” “ridiculous,” “unapostolic” which Catholic apologists have been throwing at the Orthodox Church over the last few days. It is time for them to shape up and cease the name calling. Your Church is in a perilous state worldwide. While the residual authority of Rome struggles to hold it together, bishops and dioceses and clergy and nuns go their own merry way and thumb their nose at Rome in matters of liturgical requirements, sexual teaching, divorce and annulments, etc., etc.

 

[GAssisi]

Father,

I don’t understand your reply. Are you saying you slung the term “cult-like” at us because you were frustrated at how others have been name-calling?

While I agree with you on the name-calling issue, don’t you think an apology would have been more proper for you instead of trying to justify yourself? What is the more Christian reaction? You should be an example, Father, given your status.

God bless,

Greg

 

[Fr_Ambrose]

GAssisi:

While I agree with you on the name-calling issue, don’t you think an apology would have been more proper for you instead of trying to justify yourself?

I asked for an apology. I was ignored. I asked for the name calling and ad hominems to stop. They continued. So boorish.

What is the more Christian reaction? You should be an example, Father, given your status

I have no status on this Forum. I am told about every other day that I am an heretical, schismatic priest.

 

[WBB]

Fr Ambrose:

I asked for an apology. I was ignored. I asked for the name calling and ad hominems to stop. They continued. So boorish.

I have no status on this Forum. I am told about every other day that I am an heretical, schismatic priest.

Now Father A., you know you are not heretical **AND **schismatic, just schismatic!

I KID! I KID!

Guys, Father A. has a point. Lay off the name calling. Remember, Charity in all things.