Thursday, January 28, 2010

Dancing Hula in the Quest for Holiness

Dancing Hula in the Quest for Holiness
"...What I learned from St. Josemaría’s love of freedom is that it didn’t matter that I didn’t fit. I wasn’t supposed to fit. God made me the way he did for a reason, and it is my role as a Christian to be open to his promptings so I can fulfill what he wants of me. I actually can’t wait to find out how a Jamaican/English hula-dancing engineer with six kids fits into his plans. I know it won’t be dull..."
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

East and West: Will the thousand year division end in our lifetime?

"The Pope Is the First Among the Patriarchs" Just How Remains to Be Seen -Chiesa News

With Benedict XVI, for the first time in history, the Orthodox have agreed to discuss the primacy of the bishop of Rome, according to the model of the first millennium, when the Church was undivided...
There are some who say that ecumenism has entered a phase of retreat and chill. But as soon as one that looks to the East, the facts say the opposite. Relations with the Orthodox Churches have never been so promising as they have since Joseph Ratzinger has been pope.
...

First in Belgrade in 2006, and then in Ravenna in 2007, the international mixed commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches started meeting again.
And what rose to the top of the discussion was precisely the question that most divides East and West: the primacy of the successor of Peter in the universal Church.
...
Since then, the discussion on controversial points has advanced at an accelerated pace. And it has started to examine, above all, how the Churches of East and West interpreted the role of the bishop of Rome during the first millennium, when they were still united.


The full article reveals some encouraging signs that the discussions are serious, positive, and in good faith. They seem to be "getting traction".

It would be pretty nice if the churches of the East and West would find their way to reunite before Jesus returns. I'm pretty sure He'd be happy to see that sort of progress.

It could almost be like a surprise party for Him. -except He's always known that it was going to happen.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Belgian government denounces archbishop for being Catholic

‘Belgian Ratzinger’ named nation’s primate; government blasts choice -Catholic Culture

Pope Benedict on January 18 named Bishop André-Mutien Léonard of Namur, a member of the International Theological Commission, as Archbishop of Malines-Brussels. Succeeding the influential Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Archbishop Léonard is known for his forthright defense of Catholic moral teaching and his support for Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict’s motu proprio on the extraordinary form of the Mass.

Deputy Prime Minister Laurette Onkelinx condemned the choice. "Church and State are separate in Belgium, but when there are problems in our society, all the social partners sit down around a table, including representatives of secularism and of religion,” she said. “Cardinal Danneels was a man of openness, of tolerance and was able to fit in there. Archbishop Léonard has already regularly challenged decisions made by our parliament."

"Concerning AIDS, he’s against the use of condoms even while people are dying from it every day," she continued. "He is against abortion and euthanasia … The Pope’s choice could undermine the compromise that allows us to live together with respect for everyone."

"The Pope’s choice could undermine the compromise that allows us to live together with respect for everyone."

Behold the thinly veiled threat. The dark lords of secularism warn that "respect for everyone" demands a "compromise" in which no one dares to challenge the government or blaspheme the sacraments of the Culture of Death: Holy Contraception, Holy Abortion, and Holy Euthanasia.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Musings of an Expagan » Orthodoxy, sadness, and Eastern Christianity.

Musings of an Expagan » Orthodoxy, sadness, and Eastern Christianity.

My friend, You wrote,
“Half measures do not work, when those who find Orthodoxy in union with Rome scratch the surface they find a thin veneer of orthodoxy. And wanting to steep themselves more deeply they find they cannot get this within the Eastern rites so they have to go to the Orthodox. Even the Vatican has told the Eastern rite Catholics that where we are lacking in our spirituality we must go back to the Orthodox. Even the Vatican realizes that on some level that due to miscalculated meddling that the Eastern rite Catholics have been robbed of many of their authentic traditions. In the end, the ultimate goal, should be the total reincorporation of the Eastern Catholic Churches with those Orthodox Churches that they once were part of. The separation from our roots, and our brothers, is killing us.”
I do believe that there is much of great value that Eastern rite and Orthodox Christians have preserved in their liturgy and tradition, as have Latin rite Christians. These things should be rich soil for nurturing the “faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Yet are these things really the “roots” of the faith, or are they rather its food, its clothing, its shelter, its cultural heritage, and its proofs?
One could become so concerned with the cultural and historical divisions of the Church that one might lose sight of its essential unity. The divisions are terrible, yet they are temporary. The unity will last, because Christ will triumph -has already triumphed. And he has given His Church an apostolic foundation and a vicar to serve as a visible principle of unity.

“Particular Churches are fully catholic through their communion with one of them, the Church of Rome ‘which presides in charity.’” (CCC 834)
None of us have been called to communion with a Church already completely healed of its divisions and fully purified of its past, any more than are its members yet perfected. But we have received a faith that Jesus delivered through His apostles in union with Peter and his successor, the bishop of Rome. In union with him we have access and anchor to a truly “orthodox” faith.

It’s one thing to acknowledge the depth and beauty of Christian diversity, and to draw benefits from the treasures preserved by various Christian traditions. But it would seem to me a tragedy for a friend to abandon unity with Peter in search of some other, elusive, unity which apart from Peter can not truly exist. Dividing from Peter can not further unity with Christ, nor bring closer that coming day of unity among believers that Jesus so much prayed for.

Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia.