I have seen and dealt with ‘progressives’ in the Church who pretty viciously go after ‘traditionalists’ with a favorite refrain that they don’t care about the poor and don’t *do *anything. (First of all, even if we were not active in ministries, avoiding sin and reverently worshiping God is **doing **something. Something pretty important. But almost always non-progressives are very generous but perhaps not as showy and loud about it).
Yet, they seem to be most in favor of more than wasting time with pop culture (a priest, God bless him, gave a homily on the wonders of Larry King and Depack Chopra. It was a very long morning that Wednesday. Nice man…definitely progressive.)
You can watch Larry King and justify it by saying it is informative (and we may differ on that). Seinfeld does not pretend to be a news show. It is a sitcom that celebrates trechery, lying, sex outside of marriage, and general selfishness while wrapping itself up in ‘silliness’= QUOTE]
Dear King Theoden,
Thankyou for your posting which I found most uplifting,
It appears to me that many Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, living in the affluent and hedonistic west are quite content with an inferior, hand in hand with the world standard of sanctity that was hitherto unknown. Notwithstandanding the fact that Sacred Scripture, to say nothing of the lives of the saints, enjoins a separation from the world. Thus St. Paul warns the Corinthians not to become again ensnared with the idolatry of Corinth when he says, “Therefore come out from among them, and be separate says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean” (2 Cor. 6: 17, emphasis mine). Now the application of this text to our situation today is surely not too far to seek. In short we Christians should be spiritually and morally withdrawn from the neo-pagan society in which we live. It clearly follows from this that there are certain practices and habits, certain places that a Christian simply cannot go, and, one may add, wouldn’t want to go.
In the light of this it is beyond belief that there are so many Catholics who will vehemently defend to the death demoralizing ammusements (e.g. bawdy TV shows and films, promiscuous dancing, salacious fiction and rock music with its occultic connections and sexual innuendo). They will engage in all manner of sophistry and fine nuancing in order to justify and normalize these sinful pursuits. In their heart of hearts they must surely know that these things are wrong and morally unwholesome. What is most revealing is that these people seldon cite Scripture to support their erroneous and fallacious arguments; it all comes down to their carnal reasoning in the final analysis. Their usual line of argument, as you are probably aware, is to insinuate that we are imposing our own personal standard of morality for ourselves upon others who are suppossedly as equally devout. They then proceed to personally attack us with accusations of being condescending and with being obessed with removing the splinters from the eyes of our brethren. By this they seek to demonise us and totally discredit us in the eyes of others; in actual fact they are only demonstrating just how uncharitable and deeply insecure they themselves are with the absurd uncatholic positions that they are seeking to uphold.
As a recent convert to the Church from Anglicanism, I have been deeply sadened by the number of Catholics, even on CAF, who are recklessly determined to defend that which is indefensible and morally reprehensible. Such shameless worldliness almost makes me want to sit down and weep as I thought I had left all this behind me in socially liberal Protestantism. Do not such people realize that their pre-occupation with the tawdry and trivial is degarading their own humanity and causing our holy faith to be evil spoken of? Look the Church’s mandate is to convert the world, not to be converted by the world - “the church which marries the spirit of the age will be a widow in the next” (Dean Inge).
Only habits of self-restraint and self-denial can lay the foundation of a virile godly character and foster a faith that will not buckle under pressure. - "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under the foot of men (St. Matt. 5: 13). These words of our Lord implicitly call for a renunciation of worldliness and an ardent pursuit of holiness. Moreover St. Paul says that the wise man will make “…the most of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5: 15). This does not exactly allow for or give much encouragement to worldly indulgences and pleasure seeking does it? If the exponents of a this worldly type of Catholicism denounce this as smacking of priggish Puritanism then so be it, but it is, nonetheless, validated by Sacred Scripture.
Warmest good wishes,
Portrait
