America Magazine offers a straightforward article on the findings of a survey of priests.
Priests, (and this includes the current pope) who were ordained before 1980 (my age bracket) are far more liberal both religiously and politically than priests ordained afterward, but especially those priests ordained in the 2000’s.
For different reasons, both ideological and polarized sets of clergy in the USA, believe the Church is not doing well here and worldwide.
I think Pope Benedict, a conservative and far more traditional than Pope Francis, was doing a marvelous job of bringing inner healing to the Church and I think most Catholics and priests in this country felt that there was far more harmony and less polarization under Benedict’s pontificate despite initial fears of what he would cause in the Church.
Pope Francis, on the other hand, has accelerated the polarization in the Church and worldwide and seems to relish that he is doing it.
His abrogation of Benedict’s compassionate and reasoned Summorum Pontificum is a point of example but so too have been his most polarizing synods which have done nothing to promote harmony in the Church. His constant ridiculing of “rigid” clergy and laity and name calling are unbecoming the pope and have become tiresome.
All that was needed for the traditional community is that the pope ask bishops to be more solicitous of priests involved in these communities and the communities themselves. But more importantly there should have been and still must be a crackdown on how poorly the Ordinary Form of the Mass is celebrated with too many abuses contained to list here. That’s the more pressing issue.
But here is the America Magazine article:
9 comments:
In fact, PF is not liberal at all, he is a Fascist. I recall when Pope Benedict was elected, the "liberals" were wailing that he would be a Fascist. He was anything but. Ironic, no?
TJM, Fascist is a terrible term and refers to genocidal tendencies to eliminate whole groups of people, like the Jews. I think I would rethink using that term to describe the Holy Father. It’s not fair. This pope may be authoritarian in some way, but fascist His Holiness isn’t. You can be a dictator without being a Nazi or a Fascist!
Popes and other leaders are decisive - when what they say or do aligns with my thoughts or perspective; they are authoritarian when they don't.
For the most part, Benedict was authoritative not authoritarian; he proposed but did not impose. The Church was better of with his decisive leadership in this regard.
Fascist is someone who applies racial preferences and is willing to do what ever it takes to assure the preferred race can exercise absolute hegemony over the "race alien". Prefers atheism but will to tolerate theists, at least in the short term. In the German version operated extermination camps. Liberals claim to to hate them.
A communist is the same just substitutes socio-economic class for race and will persecute the "class alien". The only good class is the"working class". Radical atheist, no tolerance for the God of any religion. Operated the Gulag in the old Soviet Union. The Gulag amounted to about the same as the fascist camps. Most never left its reservations alive. Just like the Jews, Poles, Gypsies, priests, nuns and others who were imprisoned in fascists camps. They also murdered others: for example, millions of Ukranians were starved to death. Liberals do not hate the Communists but some are ashamed of Stalin or Lenin; not so much of the better dressed ones like the Italian Gramsci.
The "Catholic" Communists subculture prefers to identify as socialist. Look around at Notre Dame, or Brown university, really most Jesuit institutions, they are there in numbers. The Holy Father is a Jesuit. Jesuits and other socialist clerics are interested in liberation theology, gender theory, conducting pronoun wars everywhere, however, they tend to ignore the abortion holocaust.
As far as is known they do not have intentions too commit TLM goers to to the ovens but have plans to make them extremely uncomfortable in the mean time. This Catholic subculture will sell you out, just ask the Chinese Catholics today.or remember Vatican 2 invented Ost politic. This brilliant diplomatic achevement gave Communist governments in Eastern Europe the opportunity to force Catholic priests to spy on each other, kill and imprison many, or go underground for 40 some years.
Forgot to mention Pachamama. But we all know about that anyway.
I know a few people who dealt with Benedict when he was head of CDF - they would certainly hold that the then Cardinal Ratzinger was quite authoritarian.
That was the fear in 2005 but it certainly did not pan out, especially with his brilliant first encyclical on love.
Bill
You have not been paying attention. From the time of Crdl Ratzing' appointment to the CDF people like yourself tried to create a false image of Crdl Ratzingger being "the panzer cardinal", a poor maladroit attempt to link him to Hitler's army. You are just up to your dirty old tricks again. Shame on you!
John,
I sense the sorrow and bitterness in your words and I am sorry for your sense of desolation. I will keep you in my prayers.
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