De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

  “A Catholic priest comments” I have received an email from a Catholic priest who asked if I would post the following message:   In the comments I noticed the following from Andy.   Dear Mark, I found your site after following Gavin Ashenden and his pilgrimage for a couple of years. I love Catholic unscripted and the writings of all three of you. I’m not a Catholic, I am a Christian. A member of an “Ecclesial Community” as Gavin put it in episode 14 ( quoting Benedict, I believe).  Anyhow, thanks so much for your writings and I pray you continue to contend for the faith…. Regards, Andy   Presumably when Andy describes himself as a member of an “Ecclesial Community”, he is referring to  Dominus Iesus  the Declaration of the CDF issued on 6 August 2000 by Cardinal Ratzinger: Dominus Iesus  paragraph 17 states:   On the other hand,  the ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substan...

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI thoughts on “mission” were reiterated in an address delivered on October 21st to faculty and students of Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome. The address was read by Archbishop Georg Ganswein, who is prefect of the papal household and the personal secretary to Benedict . Particularly noteworthy to my mind was this section: “The risen Lord instructed his apostles, and through them his disciples in all ages, to take his word to the ends of the earth and to make disciples of all people,” retired Pope Benedict wrote. “‘But does that still apply?’ many inside and outside the church ask themselves today. ‘Is mission still something for today? Would it not be more appropriate to meet in dialogue among religions and serve together the cause of world peace?’ The counter-question is: ‘Can dialogue substitute for mission?’ “In fact, many today think religions should respect each other and, in their dialogue, become a common force for peace. According to th...

Reflecting on the Pope's Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium , I wondered if I might raise a point for discussion? In my last post , I attempted to address the political and economic criticism levelled at the document from some quarters. It appeared to me, that this criticism came from a perspective of those who considered Capitalism as the answer to all the worlds ills, convinced perhaps by its apparent success in the face of historic rivalry from more Marxist based systems.  I attempted to illustrate the consistent criticism of extreme models of Capitalism, along with Socialism, the Church has always exhorted. I did this by referring to perhaps the first criticism of rampant Capitalism in the encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Rerum novarum   (1891) which was written in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution and addressed evils like child labour, unsafe working conditions, long hours and health and safety. In many ways, Karl Marx' Communist Manifesto, Das Cap...

The Second Vatican Council distinguished between “Churches” and “Ecclesial Communities” separated from the Roman Apostolic See ( Unitatis Redintegratio , chapter 3). What is the basis for this distinction? Why is it important? What implications do degrees of communion have for reception of the sacraments in the Catholic Church in union with the Apostolic See? ~Auctore Deo~ Introduction Today Christianity resembles the one garment of the Lord torn between disputing parties. As much as anything else, this of itself forms a major obstacle for many to belief. Without a proper ecclesiology; if we don't understand Church, what, or where the Church is, then the whole proclamation of the faith goes awry. Over emphasis on the wrong kind of ecumenism leads to a relativist ecclesiology which equates the One True Church of Jesus Christ to Protestant theologies which don’t even hold to the divinity of Our Lord. The sacraments are denigrated and lose their potency because they b...