http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ Catholic Exchange Forums Topic: USCCB en Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:06:53 +0000 http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9096 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 06:34:26 +0000 gk 9096@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ So good to see the American bishops stand up on these important issues. I can't believe this is America and I am still alive. I never expected them to stand together on things like this in my life time. Wow! Great! Excellent! Way to go leaders of the Church! God bless you! GK - God is good! http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9095 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 06:32:27 +0000 wljewell 9095@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ The excuse, Randy, of the Offertory collection . . . Most parishes make do on very slim margins, what with physical upkeep and all. Any with a school nowadays really struggle. ('Nowadays' - what an old-fogey term . . .) However, it is in part their own faults. Miseducation in religion is coming to haunt them. As others and I have noted, at least two generations of purported Catholics need evangelization, so ignorant of doctrine and dogma are they. It will take a bold subtlety to get this 'new look' into pulpits. My own spiritual director - a widower with grown children with a late-life call to the Dominicans - admits that he wishes he could preach like I do. It isn't easy to both 'preach' and 'love', but I have learned how to express and project both well, especially in speaking. (I thank a certain lady once wed to me . . .) He has used my expressions in his homilies, and been inspired more than once by my writings to look to how to say what can be said with more 'heart-and-head' than many use, even among priests. Time will tell - right now, when a priest goes boldly into this 'new look', he simply must remember that Christ and His Spirit are with him, no matter how 'alone' he feels. Living martyr to truth, he will be given what to say. I know - I practice that when I speak - to permit the Spirit to use me. And, when I write, I am but His pen and paper . . . I remain your obedient servant, but God's first, <em>Pristinus Sapienter</em> (wljewell @mail.catholicexchange.com or ...yahoo.com) http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9094 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:58:31 +0000 RandyGritter 9094@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ I agree that the documents are late. Still I would rather affirm the bishops than complain about them. They are getting better at a time when the leadership of many churches are getting worse. I am not sure how much this means but it is a step in the right direction. These are some of the key truths that need to be taught in the church. Many priests are afraid to do it. It has gotten to the point that a priest saying some of these things can feel very alone. They are not alone. They have Rome backing them up and now they have the national bishops conference saying the same thing. I think it is up to us to challenge our priests and religion instructors to teach this stuff. What excuse do they have left? I think many want to but are afraid of being labeled extreme. This makes that easy to answer. They can take their complaints to the bishop but he knows his bishop will support him. http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9093 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:23:18 +0000 michaelme 9093@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ PS: Here's another beautiful document from some of the "Southern" bishops: <a href="http://www.archatl.com/archbishops/donoghue/20040804.html." rel="nofollow">http://www.archatl.com/archbishops/donoghue/20040804.html.</a> Michael "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried" "The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." - GK Chesterton http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9092 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:15:28 +0000 wljewell 9092@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ Thank you . . . Documents duly found and readily 'selected' out of the 'evil format' - - will peruse later today and give His Enema-nce Pristinus Sapienter's estimation and review thereofromby. I remain your obedient servant, but God's first, <em>Pristinus Sapienter</em> (wljewell @mail.catholicexchange.com or ...yahoo.com) http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9091 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 04:56:37 +0000 michaelme 9091@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ PS: Of course, our posts are now re-arranged after my correction (quotation marks are important!) so it will be a bit difficult for others to follow...but the link works now. Michael "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried" "The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." - GK Chesterton http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9089 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 04:54:46 +0000 michaelme 9089@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ Find the documents <a href="http://www.usccb.org/bishops/index.shtml">here</a>. Michael "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried" "The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." - GK Chesterton http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9090 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 04:48:57 +0000 wljewell 9090@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ Your Sufficiency, of insufficiency, 'here' doesn't <em>go-there</em> . . . BTW, I am very, very, <em>very</em> critical of our American hierarchy - I really, really, <em>really</em> need others who will tactically and faithfully defend them and even if necessary whack me down - okay? My prayers seem to result in ennui and inertia, USCCB-wise. (BUT, too, there - I reminded myself to stronger prayers . . .) I remain your obedient servant, but God's first, <em>Pristinus Sapienter</em> (wljewell @mail.catholicexchange.com or ...yahoo.com) http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9088 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 04:37:11 +0000 wljewell 9088@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ Yea, doth Saddleback go Barack Obama . . . Even dyed-in-the-wool-Evangelicals are going astray, among the Protties . . . Which, precisely speaking, documents, Randy? I can say that the USCCB is late on a lot of those issues - Paul VI has been dead for years, now, and John Paul the Great's theology of the body is making strides the bishops are just catching up with. The USCCB has permitted at least two generations of Catholics in America to 'hang free' where the Commnadments permitted no such freedom. AND, really - will the pulpits in their dioceses ring with the 'newly-found' traditional righteousness? I remain your obedient servant, but God's first, <em>Pristinus Sapienter</em> (wljewell @mail.catholicexchange.com or ...yahoo.com) http://forums.catholicexchange.com/topic/519#post-9087 Fri, 17 Nov 2006 01:04:33 +0000 twheeler 9087@http://forums.catholicexchange.com/ I have to say how impressed I am with the new documents. They are tackling some key issues in contraception, homosexuality, and communion. Each of them clearly states Catholic teaching without hiding behind and careful language. It seems to me they are getting more orthodox and more courageous. This is a very good thing. Now they need to go back to their parishes and sit down with their priests and tell them this kind of teaching needs to happen at that level as well. Don&#39;t duck the hard topics. Don&#39;t be afraid to talk about mortal sin. When viewed in the light of what so many other churches are going through it is could be viewed as miraculous. Large protestant churches have all seen the forces of liberalism increase in recent years. Sometimes they make you wonder if those churches have lost their mind. The trend isn&#39;t happening in the Catholic Church and I don&#39;t think it is because we are so much better than them. I think it has to do with supernatural intervention. God is saving us from ourselves once again.