“If you believe what you like in the Gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
No one is forced to be a Christian. But no one should be forced to live according to the "new religion" as though it alone were definitive and obligatory for all mankind.
Evil too, will always be part of the mystery of the Church. And when we see what men, what the clergy have done in the Church, then that is nothing short of proof that he [Christ] founded and upholds the Church. If she were dependent on men, she would long since have perished.
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.
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.
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