The honeymoon is over.
The paper today reports that not everybody is happy with the
new pontiff. Actually I’m rather
surprised it took so long. Most of the brouhaha
stems from the pontiff saying that if a priest is gay but repents of a
lifestyle not in keeping with the priesthood, then who is he to judge.
Those on the right and left are not happy. The right is not happy because he seems too wishy-washy. The left is not happy because he does not
seem wishy-washy enough. Which places
our pontiff right smack dab in the middle, or in his own terms, he is a son of
the Church and believes as the Church does.
There is erroneous thought out there that he can change
Church teaching. He can’t and any
Catholic worth his salt knows that.
Allowing a man to become a priest who happens to have SSA is not matter
of theology per se, but matter of
policy. If I were hiring a business
manager, I might want someone who has at least worked in the non-profit world
because that would be a lot smaller learning curve for the new employee, but
that too is a matter of policy, not the official teaching of the Church.
In the end, what has changed? Nothing.
Any man who wants to become a priest will have to conform his life
morally to the teachings of Christ no matter his orientation. What is far more interesting is this idea
that we have to “like” or “dislike” our pontiff as if he were a Facebook
page. Either way, he is our
pontiff. Do you like your boss? Do you like your Dad? Do you like your president? Like or dislike all you want, unless you want
to leave you job, family, or country you can either be miserable or work with
what God gave you to make something holy of your life and advance the Kingdom
of God. (Do you really think God cares
if you like Christ’s vicar on earth? But
I would imagine he does care if you worked for the advancement of the kingdom
or not.)
My Dad used to go into an absolute fit when it rained. “I can’t ride my bike, I can’t work in the
garden, I can’t go out and do anything!”
To him I used to say, “Dad, you live in northeast Ohio. It rains.
You either find a way to enjoy the rain or you are going to be
miserable.” He chose to be miserable.
We have a pope. What
do you choose?
3 comments:
I'm glad you brought this up. I'm actually surprised at all the excitement. The pope has said nothing new, and yet all of my "progressive" friends on Facebook are saying, "Wow! I might start going to mass again! The Church is changing!" I want to say, "Well, that's great; but the Pope has said nothing new. This is what the church has always held that all are welcome regardless, but we must repent of our sinful tendencies." Alas, I don't have the courage...
"Like"
After perusing a number of articles in the "aftermath" of the plane press conference, I've settled on Raymond Arroyo's respectful and positive commentary on Pope Francis as one of the best articles I've seen for faithful Catholics who love and respect the office of Holy Father, but are confused by some of what Francis says and does: "The Messing Alluring Grace of Pope Francis".
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