Robert Sungenis in the News

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articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-04/news/ct-met-galileo-was-wrong-20110704_1_modern-church-universe-splinter-group

Robert Sungenis made the Chicago Tribune purportedly for arguing as a Catholic that he says the sun revolves around the earth. He apparently frequently has a anti-semetic tone in his apologetics.

I see he has done some work for This Rock. You can’t erase the past, but we can’t run away from a person like this fast enough. Transgressions like this can never be repaired that he should ever be a spokeman for Christianity or Catholocism again.

There are no words to describe the harm this does. An editors note distancing themselves from the views of this guy is necessary.
 
smith500 said:
articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-04/news/ct-met-galileo-was-wrong-20110704_1_modern-church-universe-splinter-group

Robert Sungenis made the Chicago Tribune purportedly for arguing as a Catholic that he says the sun revolves around the earth. He apparently frequently has a anti-semetic tone in his apologetics.

I see he has done some work for This Rock. You can’t erase the past, but we can’t run away from a person like this fast enough. Transgressions like this can never be repaired that he should ever be a spokeman for Christianity or Catholocism again.

There are no words to describe the harm this does. An editors note distancing themselves from the views of this guy is necessary.
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I agree 110% with everything you said.
This man shouldn’t be allowed to use the term “Catholic” to express his views but should simply express them as a individual person without mention of religion.
He/it easily gives the impression that this is a generic Catholic belief,and then this is picked up by the media.The media then believes and prints a headline like for eg:“Catholics believe in Geocentricm”.Then atheists think Catholics have “lost the plot”.Then atheists say negative things about Catholics.Then some Catholics respond with “we’re being persecuted by these secular atheists” etc…
When this all could be avoided by it simply being insisted that people like this must speak according to themselves as an individual,as their own individual opinion,and not using the word Catholic.
Not everyone reading stuff online is able to distinguish the difference between what is a personal opinion vs what is the whole religions belief.
Especially when a person like this is a Catholic apologist.That gives the person added “weight” where people could easily believe more that his views are all Catholics views.
 
In other words, hes claiming that the entire Universe orbits the Earth in 23 hours and 56 minutes! :eek: ... Why cant Fundamentalism be left to the Fundamentalists?
 
Why is he anti-semetic?

A: I use the qualifier “apparently” because I don’t have the time to do the research. Charges that smear get thrown around. However I did see some conservative sites mention the guy seems to be obsessed about bringing whether Jews are involved into discussions of issues that have nothing to do with the issues at hand.
 
smith500 said:
Why is he anti-semetic?

A: I use the qualifier “apparently” because I don’t have the time to do the research. Charges that smear get thrown around. However I did see some conservative sites mention the guy seems to be obsessed about bringing whether Jews are involved into discussions of issues that have nothing to do with the issues at hand.
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sungenisandthejews.blogspot.com/
 
music2 said:
I agree 110% with everything you said.
This man shouldn’t be allowed to use the term “Catholic” to express his views but should simply express them as a individual person without mention of religion.
He/it easily gives the impression that this is a generic Catholic belief,and then this is picked up by the media.The media then believes and prints a headline like for eg:“Catholics believe in Geocentricm”.Then atheists think Catholics have “lost the plot”.Then atheists say negative things about Catholics.Then some Catholics respond with “we’re being persecuted by these secular atheists” etc…
When this all could be avoided by it simply being insisted that people like this must speak according to themselves as an individual,as their own individual opinion,and not using the word Catholic.
Not everyone reading stuff online is able to distinguish the difference between what is a personal opinion vs what is the whole religions belief.
Especially when a person like this is a Catholic apologist.That gives the person added “weight” where people could easily believe more that his views are all Catholics views.
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My understanding is that his bishop has asked him not to use the the term “Catholic” to describe his views, but he persists nonetheless. He has a small but ardent following here on CAF. I am sure we will be seeing a spirited defense of him and his positions soon.
 
music2 said:
This man shouldn’t be allowed to use the term “Catholic” to express his views but should simply express them as a individual person without mention of religion.
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I don’t agree with Sungenis, however his views are based on his religious interpretation of the Catholic faith. Granted, they are not the official views of the Catholic Church, but they are within the history of the Church and I believe he takes pains not to contradict Church teaching.

Out on the fringes are people with unusual beliefs. As TMC has mentioned, Sungenis has a small number of supporters here at CAF.
 
It’s not anti-CAtholic to believe in Geocentrism, it was a historical view of the church and if he wishes to believe in it, let him. It’s not like he’s attacking any of the views of the church in regards to faith and morals.
 
Not_Sure said:
It’s not anti-CAtholic to believe in Geocentrism, it was a historical view of the church and if he wishes to believe in it, let him. It’s not like he’s attacking any of the views of the church in regards to faith and morals.
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Hes damaging the image of the Church in the minds of a lot of Non-Catholics, though. How could he honestly hold that belief? Wouldnt R. Dawkins and C. Hitchens and their disciples love this!
 
Dale_M said:
I don’t agree with Sungenis, however his views are based on his religious interpretation of the Catholic faith. Granted, they are not the official views of the Catholic Church, but they are within the history of the Church and I believe he takes pains not to contradict Church teaching.

Out on the fringes are people with unusual beliefs. As TMC has mentioned, Sungenis has a small number of supporters here at CAF.
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If his Bishop has said for him not to use the “term” Catholic,is he obliged to do as his Bishop called for?

Entitlement to personal opinion,i understand,but what concerns me is how it can reflect on other Catholics/The Catholic religion and also how it could affect some unsuspecting gullible peoples minds.
What can be done to show the general public that this isn’t an opinion that’s representative of Catholicism as a whole?
If i was an internet reader who just came across an article like this,I’d think “Oh big Catholic Apologist person says that everything resolves around the earth”.IE:The average non-Catholic “joeblow” out there doesn’t know what is spoken with Church “authority” and what isn’t.
Especially when it referring to a person with a “title”.
So the end result can be mockery for Catholics from people who think this reflects the religion as a whole.
And also can lead to confuse and gullibility and doubting etc to naive,impressionable people.

I understand people say everyone has right to hold an opinion,but it does cause me some concern for people when the opinion is possibly dangerous to the easily led.
People can always have a difference of opinion eg: “i prefer red colour” & the next person says “i prefer blue colour”,but when it comes to opinions involving something
“wacky” how can we balance freedom to hold an opinion with caring about people potential mental health?
Can’t things like Fundamentialism,Conspiracy theories etc sometimes go beyond just an opinion but also extend to delusion/affecting some people’s mental health?

Generally speaking,why do people hold onto fundamental literal views regarding things that are shown to be incorrect?Is it because of an attachment to tradition,or fear,or something else etc?

At least if some Catholic scientists came out in the media and stated that they don’t agree with his views,then at least it would provide people with a more balanced perspective and the people who still wished to believe as Sungenis does could continue to do so,and other people could make the choice not to do so.
And general public would have more balanced view regarding Catholicism.
 
MarcoPolo said:
Do we have substantiation for this claim?
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On December 13, 2008, The Washington Post reported:

Sungenis’s writings on Jews have been sharply criticized by fellow Catholics, who accuse him of anti-Semitism. His local bishop, Kevin Rhoades of Harrisburg, has demanded that Sungenis stop writing about Jews and made him stop using the word “Catholic” in his organization’s name.

On March 23, 2009, Robert Sungenis stated at his website:

The only real authority Bishop Rhoades had was to prohibit me from using the word ‘Catholic,’ since Canon Law says that an apostolate needs prior approval to use that particular moniker, and thus he added: "If you do not comply with these directives, I will…declare that Catholic Apologetics International lacks the appropriate ecclesiastical consent for the use of the name Catholic and I will direct that the name “Catholic” should not be used.

On October 12, 2010, at the Discover magazine blog, Robert Sungenis stated:

“[Bishop Rhoades] forced me to take the name ‘Catholic’ from my website.”
 
DavidPalm said:
On December 13, 2008, The Washington Post reported:

Sungenis’s writings on Jews have been sharply criticized by fellow Catholics, who accuse him of anti-Semitism. His local bishop, Kevin Rhoades of Harrisburg, has demanded that Sungenis stop writing about Jews and made him stop using the word “Catholic” in his organization’s name.

On March 23, 2009, Robert Sungenis stated at his website:

The only real authority Bishop Rhoades had was to prohibit me from using the word ‘Catholic,’ since Canon Law says that an apostolate needs prior approval to use that particular moniker, and thus he added: "If you do not comply with these directives, I will…declare that Catholic Apologetics International lacks the appropriate ecclesiastical consent for the use of the name Catholic and I will direct that the name “Catholic” should not be used.

On October 12, 2010, at the Discover magazine blog, Robert Sungenis stated:

“[Bishop Rhoades] forced me to take the name ‘Catholic’ from my website.”
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That’s not what was originally claimed in this thread. The original claim was that he was asked to not use Catholic for his views. And that’s still unsubstantiated.
 
psi said:
That’s not what was originally claimed in this thread. The original claim was that he was asked to not use Catholic for his views. And that’s still unsubstantiated.
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Well, if you are trying to establish that he was not prohibited from ever using the word Catholic in a sentence again, I’ll concede the point. But I think real point is that he was told by his bishop to take the label “Catholic” off his organization precisely so that he did not mislead people into thinking that he somehow speaks for the Catholic Church or that his views are anything more than his private thoughts. And that goes directly to the OP’s original concern, that this fellow’s eccentric views get taken as somehow representative of what the Catholic Church actually teaches.
 
DavidPalm said:
Well, if you are trying to establish that he was not prohibited from ever using the word Catholic in a sentence again, I’ll concede the point. But I think real point is that he was told by his bishop to take the label “Catholic” off his organization precisely so that he did not mislead people into thinking that he somehow speaks for the Catholic Church or that his views are anything more than his private thoughts. And that goes directly to the OP’s original concern, that this fellow’s eccentric views get taken as somehow representative of what the Catholic Church actually teaches.
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I don’t think there’s any risk of that in regard to geocentrism since most everyone has heard that the pope apologized to galileo.

I find it hard to see how anyone sane can believe in geocentrism.
 
psi said:
I don’t think there’s any risk of that in regard to geocentrism since most everyone has heard that the pope apologized to galileo.

I find it hard to see how anyone sane can believe in geocentrism.
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Well around here some folks think the world is between 6000-10000 years old so. . . . . . 🤷
 
ringil said:
Well around here some folks think the world is between 6000-10000 years old so. . . . . . 🤷
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That’s an unreasonable belief but geocentrism is on a whole other level like believing the earth is flat.
 
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