Discussion Group for Catholics Not Fed Spiritually
Announcing the formation of a new discussion board/Yahoo group for lapsed Catholics, those Catholics who are struggling with their faith, and others who have an interest in Catholicism from their childhood days but have explored a different journey of faith. Some people feel they are not fed by a Church that emphasizes conforming to rules and regulations, rather than love. These people are not being fed spiritually by the church. Others find the stories in the Bible describe a way of life, but these stories do not offer solutions to problems they encounter in daily life. For others, the pronouncements of bishops or the pope may turn them off and away from the institutional church, but at heart they remain Catholic in their outlook. Anyone interested in joining this group can simply send an email message to OnceCatholicNotFedSpiritually-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
EXAMPLE OF POSTING:
In his book, MERE CHRISTIANITY, C. S. Lewis writes that sins of the flesh are among the least serious and least worrisome sins of man. Instead, C. S. Lewis states, and philosopher/theologian Thomas Merton might agree --I vaguely recall a quote from Merton on topic but can't identify it at the moment -- that PRIDE is the worst sin of all. Pride gets us into wars. Pride leads to putting down others, financially, politically,religiously, etc.
The hierarchy, starting with Pope Benedict and following all bishops who try to move in lockstep with him as if there is some charm in that, has gone back to Thomas Aquinas's 13th-century view of morality: homosexual conduct is a top 3 sin for Aquinas. Imagine that! He casts all gays into Hell, but murderers he can imagine might be redeemed if they express sorrow.
I have often thought as a professor who teaches courses online at the university level that I should assign a weekly grade to our local bishop and to the pope. A few weeks they might earn As, but for the majority of weeks they would receive a grade of F.
Our local bishop aligned himself with religious fundamentalist bigots and proudly took some credit for our state's passage of a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriages. I would have thought he would look left and right and see the type of people with whom he was aligned politically on that issue and have pause.
Yesterday, the bishops came out with a message to gay Catholics that said orientation is no sin but acting on it is a sin. That is going to antagonize more people towards the Church, and it creates a false dilemma for priests and other religious who risk ridicule just for acknowledging their orientation. I hate this persecution. As someone whose grandmother was sent to a concentration camp at age 82 simply because she was Jewish, I know how these kinds of scorn directed to one (powerless) class of humans can lead to violence.
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Today's Bishop's Decisions: news story
The doctrine committee presented a document addressing ministering to homosexuals. While maintaining the church's traditional teaching that homosexual acts are "morally disordered" and "contrary to the natural law," the new document softens the church's attitude toward homosexuals who remain chaste. "While the Church teaches that homosexual acts are immoral, she does distinguish between engaging in homosexual acts and having a homosexual inclination," the document reads. "While the former is always sinful, the latter is not. ... simply having the tendency is not a sin."
The document also takes up the issue of baptizing the adopted children of gay couples, saying that while the matter "presents a pastoral concern the Church does not refuse the Sacrament of Baptism to these children" if there's reason to believe the children will be brought up Catholic.
The bishops' pro-life committee presented a new document about birth control aimed at engaged and married Catholic couples. It reaffirms the Church's much-ignored teaching that contraception is immoral.
A 2003 ABC News poll reported that 94 percent of Catholics found "using the birth control pill or condoms" morally acceptable. A 2005 Harris poll reported that birth control is supported by 90 percent of American Catholics. The bishops' own numbers aren't much better, saying only 4 percent "of Catholic married couples of childbearing age use Natural Family Planning," according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website.
The doctrine committee also proposed a question-and-answer pamphlet that seeks to catechize, or teach, Catholics the basics about Holy Communion and who may and may not receive it. Some bishops would like to deny communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights. St. Louis?s archbishop even went so far as to say Catholics who voted for politicians who support abortion rights would be committing a mortal sin and would have to confess before receiving Holy Communion. He later clarified his statement saying Catholic voters would have to be voting for a candidate specifically because the candidate supported abortion rights for the Church to consider it a sin. _________________________________________
COMMENT 1: I never thought of truth as being determined by a democracy. Rather Truth exists whether or not we accept it. As Catholics we believe that the Holy Spirit guides the Church into all truth. We are all influenced by our culture. But our culture does not set out to always seek truth. Is Christ's opinion of contraception, sex, homosexuality, etc. not worthy of consideration? Or do we think that we are so clever as to determine truth for ourselves?
COMMENT 2: You ask: "Is Christ's opinion of contraception, sex,homosexuality, etc. not worthy of consideration?" Christ said not one word about contraception or homosexuality and little about sex. He mentioned marriage and adultery, probably fornication (I'll have to look that up to be sure), but he was not at all focused on these subjects. He focused on love, he focused on forgiveness, he focused on taking care of "the least of my brethren". The Church sometimes seems to focus on nothing but sex. Everything else is secondary.
Most Church teaching in these areas comes from people like Augustine and the Desert Fathers, who prized virginity above all things. Sex and marriage were tolerated simply as necessary for the continuation of the human race. Augustine even said it was a sin to enjoy sex while engaging in it for procreation purposes! I'm not sure how you do that, but...
Anyone interested in joining this group can simply send an email message to OnceCatholicNotFedSpiritually-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Dr. Michael A. S. Guth is a Ph.D. risk management consultant, former investment banker, and an attorney at law. He operates a blog espousing liberal Catholic theology and spirituality. He can be contacted through his website http://michaelguth.com
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