tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post2248772143474830486..comments2024-03-28T18:02:12.286-04:00Comments on southern orders: A WISE FOX WHO ISN'T AS CRAZY AS A FOX, FATHER FOX THAT IS, ON THE POPE'S REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTHFr. Allan J. McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-7046807928916818342014-05-15T14:04:23.884-04:002014-05-15T14:04:23.884-04:00Father:
Thanks for the plug!
Anonymous:
I enjoy...Father:<br /><br />Thanks for the plug!<br /><br />Anonymous:<br /><br />I enjoyed my one visit with Father several years ago; I hope someday I can visit again, and Father will continue to rub off on me!Fr Martin Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01375628123126091747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-90568260300643379082014-05-12T05:54:09.299-04:002014-05-12T05:54:09.299-04:00Here in the UK the government is attempting to dea...Here in the UK the government is attempting to deal with the enormous welfare budget and get people off benefits and into work. To get some perspective on this, central government spends more than three times as much on welfare as it does on defence (and this doesn't include the social services provided by local authorities) and a family of five with neither adult working can claim in benefits the equivalent of a middle-class disposable income.<br /><br />The fact that this policy has moral as well as economic imperatives, and is supported, in principle at least, by all the major political parties, did not stop Cardinal Vincent Nichols from attacking it recently in forthright terms, calling it 'disgraceful' without, of course, suggesting an alternative solution to what even His Eminence can see is a problem.<br /><br />I know the difference between Catholic social teaching and misguided and irresponsible forays into politics. It doesn't help that ++Vincent hails from Liverpool, a city which is regarded by the rest of the country as being populated by self-pitying welfare scroungers. This is an unfair caricature but was reinforced by a popular TV sitcom, written by a Liverpudlian (Carla Lane) and featuring a family of sentimental Scouse scroungers. I didn't find it in the least funny.John Nolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027156691859606002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-4083485295869251712014-05-11T21:39:24.702-04:002014-05-11T21:39:24.702-04:00Gene, that is the one hope that I have. Cardinal B...Gene, that is the one hope that I have. Cardinal Bergoglio was no fan of the governments in Laitn America and knows better than we the reason for the oceans of slums in those countries. I have to hope that is his audience, and he would be more than correct. My concern is that our own government will see it as an order of golden goose. rcghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09131930849106490711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-2299333544679729292014-05-11T18:48:35.059-04:002014-05-11T18:48:35.059-04:00This is another example of careless speech by this...This is another example of careless speech by this Pope. He is advocating big government and socialist philosophy. But, being from the Third World and having European ties, he is perfectly comfortable with tyrannical forms of government and socialism. He is not a politician; he needs to stop playing in that arena. <br /><br />Taxes are wealth distribution. We now have an inverted pyramid in this country where the minority are supporting the majority with their hard-earned money. This is nuts…especially since many of the majority are perfectly capable of working if an administration would get about creating jobs instead of more social programs.<br /><br />It is also a near cause of sin for many who are sick and tired of hearing the mantra of the Left about the poor. It is breeding uncharitable feelings in many who, previously, were more generous. I give to there Church for the poor because the Church says I should. I certainly do not do so because I believe it improves their condition. The poor in this country, anyway, are a bottomless pit and are being used as a political tool by the Left.Genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06672484450736725268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-33163450870532140922014-05-11T17:28:46.461-04:002014-05-11T17:28:46.461-04:00Father McDonald,
You need to spend more time with ...Father McDonald,<br />You need to spend more time with Father Fox. He has a healthy view of how free markets and Catholicism are complementary. My guess is that he is no liturgical showman either. Invite him to say more Masses with you and maybe he’ll rub off a little more.<br />Remember the gov't view on business: "If it moves tax it, if it keeps moving regulate it and if it stops moving subsidize it". ...Ronald Reagan Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-1872506162278566152014-05-11T16:53:04.354-04:002014-05-11T16:53:04.354-04:00Some further thoughts: Presumably these virtues ar...Some further thoughts: Presumably these virtues are necessary so that there is a genuine, and not just a lip service, commitment to the end, and a clear eyed evaluation of means. <br /><br />And isn’t another virtue also essential – the virtue of justice? In this regard, there is a very provocative sentence in Pope Francis’s address to the United Nations. Thus he says:<br /><br />“Today, in concrete terms, an awareness of the dignity of each of our brothers and sisters whose life is sacred and inviolable from conception to natural death must lead us to share with complete freedom the goods which God’s providence has placed in our hands, material goods but also intellectual and spiritual ones, and to give back generously and lavishly whatever we may have earlier unjustly refused to others.”<br /><br />The reference to intellectual and spiritual goods as well as material goods is interesting, of course, but I wonder what is meant by “whatever we may have earlier unjustly refused to others.”Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-78622276336728599122014-05-11T15:57:04.619-04:002014-05-11T15:57:04.619-04:00As Father Fox observes, the issue is not one of en...As Father Fox observes, the issue is not one of ends but of means. As to the latter he states:<br /><br />“Catholic teaching holds that how the goods of this world are distributed for the benefit of all are a matter of public policy. Those of us who argue for free markets and limited government, argue that these things work better, and are more consistent with Catholic values, than big-governmentism.”<br /><br />So, once again it seems to come down to the principle of subsidiarity and thus making the public policy decision to favor that level of “government” that works better to achieve the agreed upon end -- self-government by individuals and associations of individuals in civil society; or formal government at the local, state, national, and/or international level. Father Fox himself favors “free markets and limited government” as opposed to “big-governmentism.” Pope Francis and earlier Popes, by contrast, seem to leave the matter open and to admit several possibilities, depending on the circumstances.<br /><br />And are they not right to do so? Is it really an “either-or” choice? Isn’t there, instead, a continuum of possibilities and, moreover, many different issues or aspects that need to be addressed? And isn’t it quite possible that what may be the better method for one issue may not work as well for another issue? If so, doesn’t practical wisdom would again suggest that we should attend to these particularities instead of adopting some Procustean and reductionist ideological approach applicable to all of them?<br /><br />And in order to exercise wisdom don’t we need other virtues? In particular, don’t we need the virtues of generosity and benevolence so as to avoid, on the “left,” the vices of envy and resentment and, on the “right,” the vices of selfishness and greed?Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-70966855413921233862014-05-11T12:35:06.145-04:002014-05-11T12:35:06.145-04:00I saw this only this morning early. Here is where...I saw this only this morning early. Here is where I am with this particular statement of Pope Francis: He was addressing the UN, an group of mostly very bad actors. From their perspective he attacked their place in life, their class systems and privilege. Unless they see it as an excuse to increase their robbery and expand their class system to the more free productive countries. That is my problem. I think the concept of the Crusades is a great idea very badly executed. The chance for a backfire on this is incredibly great. I pray the Holy Spirit guides and protects him.rcghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09131930849106490711noreply@blogger.com