Sunday, September 21, 2008

A Good Bishop

Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn delivered an excellent homily for the Red Mass in his diocese. (hat tip to Fr. Z)

It is good to see the return of real men to the episcopacy in the United States.

1 comment:

Turfsuper said...

In response to your Comments on the homily by Bishop Finn.

[YES YES! Note the words "put aside".] (you have your totality and others may have different experiences. You have no right to impose your understanding of your experience upon the reality of others.)

[We don’t need to argue most of our issues on the basis of religious formulations. We can appeal to our very nature.] (Regardless stating you are arguing without your religious formulations is disingenuous. By appealing to your very nature, are you not arguing from something more fundamental than Catholic dogma. These would be the same “ideas/values” that have been bound across all cultures and across all lands long before the existence of any Christian-Judeo traditions.)

God’s revealed truth and an authentic human experience of truth are never contradictory. (This is a tenant of your religious faith but not all faiths. Additionally your God’s revealed truth is not a natural right or justification for your ignoring the experiences of others not like you.)

[We cannot, as Catholics, admit that our Faith should be relegated to the realm of the private.] ( I believe that Jesus wanted us to live our faith rather than display it on the bumpers of our cars or the t-shirts we wear. Living your faith is different than practicing your religion. Additionally religion needs to stay on the other side of the Wall of Separation otherwise inevitably conflict between different religions or Christian sects shall happen)

We cannot live: part of us for God; part of us directed to some contrary ultimate gain. (When will the Church actually learn this lesson let alone most of us?)

The priest or pastor must do his part; BUT so also [especially] the expert in business, science, journalism, or the law. (So must ordinary people who should never put total trust in experts, journalists, priests, pastors but most of all politicians. In a common vernacular, we should never drink the Kool Aid.)

[clergy form lay people – lay people form the world] (Clergy have mislead lay people and lay people have committed the most terrible crimes against humanity in the name of their God. It's a sin to surrender your moral responsibility for your actions to the overestimated skill and understanding of others.

…no text from the Second Vatican Council which defines “right conscience” apart from the established moral teaching of the Church. [Exactly!] (You failure in understanding the message or spirit of Vatican II is directly related to your failures and frustrations over abortion.)