I am at the Thomistic Institute continuing Ed program for priests in Baltimore. Our first speaker last night spoke of Baltimore being ground zero for the decline in the Church especially concerning the sense of sin, as relativism was taught in the major seminary here beginning in the early 70's and local priests propagated heterodoxy in a rampant way led by the theologians here in the Washington/Baltimore metro area. This led to a decline in the use of Confession exacerbated by communal Penance Services with general absolution.
Of course I was at this Baltimore seminary, ground zero, during that heady, arrogant, prideful and vainglory time from 1976 through 1979 and can corroborate the above critique.
I'm blogging with an iPad which is tedious in terms of typing so my posts will be short or copied from other blogs for your comments.
7 comments:
iPad notwithstanding, your grammar nerds attention. You wanted to type, "vainglorious," not, "vainglory."
How did you end up at such a seminary? Was the bishop who sent you there liberal? And how did you turn out so conservative after attending a seminary like that?
Yes, and as I recall, that particular seminary was also once called "The Pink Palace"? That was after your time there, I believe, but the groundwork was laid for that travesty to develop.
First of all, Father McDonald is no conservative. It is evident that he loves the length and breadth of the Catholic Faith in general, and of the Roman liturgical tradition in particular. He clearly wishes to apply a liberal application of these spiritual resources to the people in his care, including those following his blog. He's the right kind of liberal.
Secondly, it is an injustice that the ecclesiastical authorities and collaborators who perpetrated the errors and immorality in our seminaries have never been tried and convicted by Church tribunals for their crimes. The Church needs a "truth and reconciliation commission".
Thanks, Dialogue, I have thought for years that your second point desperately needed doing. But our Church apparently just cannot function that way...more's the pity. And this explains, at least to some degree, why the Church is no longer looked up to as a voice of moral authority in the world. So many good priests held hostage in poor regard through no fault of their own because of a few bad men never held accountable.
Your idea of a truth and reconciliation commission, even at this late date, might restore some badly-needed credibility on the moral front.
You aren't up there mounting a secret bid for the next bishop of Arlington (Northern Virginia)? Their bishop reaches 75 this year---it is probably the second most conservative diocese in the USA (a shade behind Lincoln. Nebraska). A beacon of tradition in increasingly secular, liberal Northern Virginia.
Jdj, given the way the world, the legal system and the Church are intertwining, I wouldn't be surprised if any removed, homosexual-leaning, priests (perhaps as a class) would sue Christ's Church demanding reinstatement or monetary restitution for violation of so-called Civil Rights and "Hate Speech".
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