WHAT'S
RIGHT WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH #118
Pope Francis is a surge of fresh air flowing
through the window that Pope John XXlll opened with the Second Vatican
Council
in the 1960's. It's unfortunate that Pope Paul VI and his
followers in
the subsequent decades placed a heavy drape over it for so long.
The
result has been the avoidable diminution of the Church and of the Roman
Catholic Faith in the lives of so many in the world.
But one cannot
understand the promise that this new pontiff
brings to the Laity, the Body of the Church, by merely reading the
"racy" media accounts of his long (over three sessions) interview
with fellow Jesuit Antonio Spadaro, held in August, 2013.
Abortion.
Contraception. Homosexuality. Nothing has changed - yet -
regarding the Church's
teachings on these subjects. What has changed is the proper emphasis on
the
person who may be involved. As my father said frequently - and as
Pope
Francis paraphrases - "There is a God in every man".
But let's look at
these Church teachings. Here I insert my
firm opinions, well articulated in the Category in this web-site
(Abortion,
Morality and Ethics) under Catholic Church, "What's Wrong,( or
Right,)
With the Catholic Church.".
Abortion, the intentional killing of a human being from
the moment of
conception, is a non-negotiable Wrong - unless legitimately performed
to save
the Life of the mother.
Contraception was foolishly equated by Pope Paul VI and his
followers with
Abortion and thus "threw the baby out with the bath water".
Here I refer only to contraception practiced by two committed married
persons
in the discharge of their duty to bring into the world only those
children whom
they can reasonably raise. In this case, THE CHURCH HAS NO
JURISDICTION.
Similarly, and only in the above context, the related "Unitive
Function" of sexual intercourse is ridiculous. Perhaps, in time,
Pope Francis will address this self-inflicted wound of the Church.
Homosexuality is now being identified scientifically as a
biologic occurrence,
in the womb and possibly in the DNA, and not a "Choice". Here
the Church does not have a few centuries, as it took with basic
Astronomy, to
get it right.
In any case, please
read this insightful interview in the original,
as offered herewith, whatever your religion or faith.
|
|
|
|
|
|