For many people today, practical atheism is the normal rule of life...If this attitude becomes a general existential position, then freedom no longer has any standards, then everyting is possible and permissible.
Certainly, it is difficult to make the demands of the Gospel understandable to secularized people. But this pastoral difficulty must not lead to compromises with the truth.
Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world.
One can readily admit that the Magisterium's manner of expression does not seem very easy to understand at times. It needs to be translated by preachers and catechists into a language which relates to people and to their respective cultural environments. The essential content of the Church's teaching, however, must be upheld in this process. It must not be watered down on allegedly pastoral grounds, because it communicates the revealed truth.
That Christianity gives joy and breadth is also a thread that runs through my whole life. Ultimately someone who is always only in opposition could not endure life at all.
There is a very good documentary on the breakdown on Swedish society as impacted by its ridiculous social policies. This one deals almost exclusively with immigration.
It has been done by non-Swedes from all appearances but whoever did it had done his/her homework, as many of the points are those which are easily glossed over by others who speak of the place.
By now no believing Christian can claim that Bergoglio is unwillfully attempting to destroy the Catholic Church.
If we try to follow Christ we had better get used to being thrown under the bus, as this commenter to the piece reporting on Bergoglio's latest scandalous appointments makes clear:
As if the news from France - the murdering of a priest by Islamists - was not bad enough, I read this:
The mosque in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was inaugurated in 2000 on a plot of land donated by the Catholic parish of the city.
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar