Stephen White’s commentary on Cardinal McElroy’s vapid theology is breathtaking. As I read his summary of what McElroy writes in a 3000 word commentary, I felt I was back at St. Mary’s Seminary in the 1976/77 academic year. This poor man is stuck in a period of time when pastoral theology trumped Scripture and Tradition as well as the Deposit of Faith.
His backwardism is truly breath taking. Here is White’s most damning assessment:
The actual words of the Scripture stand in jarring contrast to the disjointed view of doctrine and pastoral concerns, as Cardinal McElroy presents them. Curiously, the essay’s only reference to Scripture, such as it is, is to the title of a Synod document which is taken from Isaiah: “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent.” Not incidentally, Scripture scholars say this really refers, not to “inclusion,” but the territorial expansion of Israel, i.e., conquest.
For his part, the Cardinal is concerned that the Church places too much emphasis today on sexual morality. Were it not for the utter collapse of marriage in the West, the malformation and perversion of a whole generation of young people through pornography, the daily reminders that our gnostic culture promotes a view of the human person which renders the body meaningless and the Incarnation incoherent, and the Church’s own decades of failure to adequately address sexual abuse, he might have a point.
Cardinal McElroy has often expressed concern about polarization in the Church and has long been a critic of various notions of individual autonomy that mark American culture. Yet when it comes to reception of the Eucharist, that most inextricably communal reality in Christian life, McElroy stakes out a maximalist view of individual conscience: “While Catholic teaching must play a critical role in the decision making of believers, it is conscience that has the privileged place. Categorical exclusions undermine that privilege precisely because they cannot encompass the inner conversation between women and men and their God.”
As I’ve written before, nowhere is the individualist strain in American Catholicism more manifest than in the ubiquitous belief that reception of the Holy Eucharist is a private matter rather than a fundamentally ecclesial reality. Here we see it from Cardinal McElroy in its starkest form.
READ THE WHITE’S ENTIRE COMMENTARY BY PRESSING THE TITLE BELOW:
7 comments:
Pope Francis appoints people less educated than himself - figures
Father McDonald said..."MORE THAN IN 1978, TODAY WE NEED ANOTHER POPE JOHN PAUL II IN ORDER TO COMBAT THE FUZZY 1970’S THINKING/THEOLOGY RECOVERED BY CERTAIN CARDINALS IN 2023!"
Father McDonald, it is interesting that you referred to Pope Saint John Paul II.
It was Pope Saint John Paul II who had made McElroy an Honorary Prelate of His Holiness;
In addition, it was Pope Benedict XVI who had appointed McElroy as auxiliary bishop for San Francisco and titular Bishop of Gemellae in Byzacena.
Also, your desire to return to Pope Saint John Paul II would prove unpopular with his many left-wing, as well as right-wing, critics.
Pope Saint John Paul II remains a very divisive Pope to the above-mentioned folks.
The left-wing has insisted that Pope Saint John Paul II was a rigid, right-winger who had wrecked the Church.
Many right-wingers have followed Archbishop Lefebvre's lead in their having labeled Pope Saint John Paul II a liberal "Modernist/Apostate."
Anyway, I wonder as to the extent that Saint John Paul II had combatted successfully the likes of Cardinal McElroy and his (supposed) fuzzy thinking/theology.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Last year, Stephen P. White said:
"Now, I’m not entirely convinced that Pope Francis wants to roll the clock back to 1977."
"And if some have cast Francis in the role of progressive revolutionary, too many others, both inside and outside of the Church, have been too eager to believe that caricature – either in hope or fear."
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God has entrusted His Church's governance to Pope Francis. Cardinal McElroy and his (supposed) ilk must teach in line with Pope Francis.
The good news is that it's futile for any Cardinal, or bishop, to defy the Pope. The Pope's awesome, God-given authority to teach, govern, and sanctify us will carry the day.
Therefore, to remain in communion with God and His Holy Church, we must, in turn, remain in communion with Pope Francis. I am confident that Cardinal McElroy, who loves, and desires to serve God, will do so.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Mark Thomas,
You must support abortion, gay marriage and transgenderism just like all leftwingers. Leftwinger, leftwinger, leftwinger.
Please provide a definition of “rightwinger”
What good is it if someone with little or no faith does what his darkened intellect and conscience tells him is the right thing to do, but you know by faith and intellect enlightened by God and his teaching, that the person is doing wrong. Can his believing in what his conscience tells him save him?
If a brother or sister is unmindful, ignorant, or dismisses God's law, and you say to them, "Go in peace and may your conscience save you" and you do not provide them with any spiritual necessity or instruction and pray for them to be enlightened by God, what good has that done for them? Faith which acts in such a way as to not disapprove of what is wrongful behavior, which is that which offends God and does harm to the person, is not a faith directed by love and mercy.
Debra Winger is probably the right Winger you don't know.
In our day an age their are ocean going vessels, small and large, who are equipped with electronic navigation systems and charts to guide them safely to their destination. If a vessel had one of these systems which was faulty and gave incorrect readings, how would it be guided to where it is supposed to go? Likewise with those whose conscience is faulty.
Those occupying authoritative positions in the Catholic Church, the bishops, if they are possessed of a true and correct understanding of God's revealed teachings,are there to teach those of the Faith in how they are to serve and honor God by faithfully obeying His laws.
In this way, with a correctly formed conscience informed by true and correct teaching, and with the Spiritual navigation system of our Holy Mother Church to guide us, we will get safely to our destination.
If a conscience which is not correctly formed is the arbiter of your decisions on moral matters, know that its usefulness for making correct decisions on these matters cannot be depended on, and that persistent sinfulness affects its proper functioning.
Everything holds together only as long as we accept, acknowledge and obey God's pre-ordained laws and His created order of all things.
Does not God want us to obey His Holy laws? He wants us to obey them out of love and respect for Him and for our own good. It is for our own good to do so because disobedience to His ordinances can bring serious consequences, even spiritual death and Eternal damnation.
Man cannot know true freedom if does not obey the precepts given by God. By ignoring or discounting traditional values and religious teachings owing to his malformed conscience, unless he was to somehow turn to God, will end up a slave to his passions and his selfish desires.
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