A unique grace of the Holy Spirit?

William Arthurs said...

An analogy: communion for Protestant spouses of Catholics. Pastorally, if you think of a checklist approach, the question is whether the spouse agrees with enough items to be admissible. (If they agreed with everything, why then they should be seeking to be received into the Catholic Church and this situation would not arise. So the answer could never be 100 per cent.) The more items you agree with, the deeper your communion could be said to be. The only remaining question is, what is the checklist? A printed copy of the Catechism is like a first-year undergraduate law textbook -- by the time you get to practise, it will already be out-of-date thanks to new cases and new rulings. I can't keep up to date these days -- that's why there are professionals whose job it is to keep on top of all the new stuff and tell me what I need to know. Thank goodness.

04 October, 2018

...

Amateur Brain Surgeon said...

We know he is serene
We can see it in his face
Its attested to by Max Beans
Francis is a volcano of holy grace

04 October, 2018

...

Arthur L. Gallagher said...

Gin seems an excellent choice.

Francis is like Haile Selassie. The humble one is all about his own power, and demands that he be fawned over, yet his power is slipping away. The words are meant to please, yet they have a comic opera quality to them. The palace courtiers will continue to utter their fawning phrases, but nobody will listen to them outside of the inner circle.

Francis' South American gambit did not work out, so now he is angling to use China as his path to world power. It is utterly vain. I have a better chance of being crowned King of Ireland than he has of being a world class power broker. Soon, he will die, of the usual ailments of old age, and even his toadies will repudiate his legacy.

Man proposes, God disposes. The name of Francis will become a by-word for failed popes, and the Church will go on, rejuvenated by the Paraclete, to follow Christ, and the novelties of the current pontificate will be utterly forgotten. Except by students of history, political science, organizational behavior, and abnormal psychology. His legacy will be to provide fodder for college lectures on abberant behavior.

04 October, 2018

Anita Moore said...

The encomia are indeed disturbing. They make Pope Francis sound like a cult leader.

04 October, 2018

Neil Addison said...

I first read the communique in Eccles is Saved and assumed it was a wind up. It's rather worrying to realise that grown men have actually put their names to this It reveals a great insecurity on the part of both the Pope and the Bishops that they feel the need to send out this sort of sycophantic clap trap

04 October, 2018

...

Donna Bethell (formerly known as Rose Marie) said...

Well, they are not my bishops, so I don't need so much gin as the good Father. Then I quickly considered who are my bishops and reached again for the Tanqueray. Hands across the pond, as it were.

05 October, 2018

...

John the Mad said...

Sadly, I find myself not in communion with the See of Rome. I'm not sure exactly when this happened in the midst of papal insults and exhortations, but I remain where I was, a lifelong practicing Catholic. It is the Holy See that has moved, in the person of this pontiff.

I've stopped receiving communion, as I cannot accede to part of the Eucharistic prayer, e.g., "Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world, together with your servant Francis our Pope ...." (I cannot consent to the last seven words).

It is not a happy place to be. (Where Lord, would I go? You have the words of life.) I believe with all my heart and intellect that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ and that the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ, but I cannot accompany this pope on his route march to destruction. I find myself a part of the loyal opposition.

06 October, 2018

...

Unknown said...

Excommunicating yourself because of a bad Pope doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Remember that Christ is the head of the Church , not the Pope. We should pray for him - although I agree it isn't easy. Exsurgat Deus et dissipentur inimici eius.

10 October, 2018