B
Bill_B_NY
Guest
God used you to do a very great thing for your Dad. Congratulations and thank you for sharing this!!!
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.
E
EXdrinker
Guest
Well said!
O
OraLabora
Guest
Sarcasm noted! I take him with a grain of salt. Anyone who can write an entire book about using a “Benedictine” approach to help Catholics live in an increasingly secular world without mentioning oblates even once, misses the mark by a country mile. Oblates are doing just that. And not by circling the wagons and filtering out the world (good luck with that) but by quietly by being witnesses in the world where God wants us. Which is probably why he didn’t mention us. We would have totally trashed his thesis.I can always count on good ol’ Rod Dreher to write such uplifting and inspiring articles.
He really doesn’t have much constructive to say IMHO.
O
old_man_chris
Guest
I have seen it happen, back in my home country of England, albeit in the Church of England. My take on the crisis facing the C of E is their distancing from the traditional teachings, almost in an attempt to please everyone. They lost sight of one of the most important lessons, that it’s not about pleasing people, it’s about setting a standard to aspire to, not to just accept whatever feels good. They lost credibility, and give off an impression of going with whatever the latest ‘social’ craze is in an act of desperation to tempt in new members.
On the whole, I do not see the same trends in Catholicism. It’s hard to live up to the standards of the Church, but that’s the point. I have faith that this challenge still appeals to people who want to be better than they are. The hedonistic life is ultimately unsatisfying, and that is what will draw people back to a more traditional meaning, even it it takes them longer to get there. The prodigal son still came home, after all.
On the whole, I do not see the same trends in Catholicism. It’s hard to live up to the standards of the Church, but that’s the point. I have faith that this challenge still appeals to people who want to be better than they are. The hedonistic life is ultimately unsatisfying, and that is what will draw people back to a more traditional meaning, even it it takes them longer to get there. The prodigal son still came home, after all.
S
Sarcelle
Guest
True
To me the Church is like Noah’s ark. We who are on the inside hear the creak of the boat, we feel it toss and turn and we hear the sound of the rain, wind and storm. It feels like the boat could capsize and go under at any moment. We see the Captain of the boat, Jesus himself, seemingly asleep, and we wonder if he will wake up to rebuke the storm and give us peace.
We’re still waiting, however we must remember how he rebuked the apostles for their lack of faith and we do well to remember this.
To me the Church is like Noah’s ark. We who are on the inside hear the creak of the boat, we feel it toss and turn and we hear the sound of the rain, wind and storm. It feels like the boat could capsize and go under at any moment. We see the Captain of the boat, Jesus himself, seemingly asleep, and we wonder if he will wake up to rebuke the storm and give us peace.
We’re still waiting, however we must remember how he rebuked the apostles for their lack of faith and we do well to remember this.
Last edited:
G
Genesis315
Guest
Yeah, I can’t really judge, but he does seem like he never really left and deep down he still is/wants to be Catholic. I know of other EO converts who act the same way. They remind me of the those in St. John Bosco’s dream of the two pillars who he describes as “having retreated through fear of the battle” that end up returning when things calm down. I have never met a convert to Catholicism who remains so interested in the state of the church/religion they left as certain ex-Catholic EO converts are with Catholicism.A bit inappropriate for him to continue harping about Catholicism, other than perhaps discussing why he himself left.
If he hasn’t been a Catholic for years then he’s hardly qualified to write with any sort of credibility about events that occurred after he departed the Church.
Last edited:
G
Genesis315
Guest
Not just to you–the ark is a figure of the Church. St. Gregory the Great notes another parallel that is apt here:To me the Church is like Noah’s ark.
And it should not frighten you that in the Church the bad are many and the good few. For the Ark, which in the midst of the Flood was a figure of this Church, was wide below and narrow above, and at the summit measured but one cubit (Genesis vi, 16). And we are to believe that below were the four-footed animals and serpents, above the birds and men. It was wide where the beasts were, narrow where men lived: for the Holy Church is indeed wide in the number of those who are carnal minded, narrow in those who are spiritual. For where she suffers the morals and beastly ways of men, there she enlarges her bosom. But where she has the care of those whose lives are founded on spiritual things, these she leads to the higher place; but since they are few, this part is narrow. Wide indeed is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction; and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate that leadeth to life; and few there are that find it!
Last edited:
- Status
- Not open for further replies.