User talk:LCP

Talk Archive: [1]

"Contemporary Roman Catholic views" is a mess

The more I look at it, the less I understand the edits made to it by ADM over the weekend. For example, the section starts by talking about how nuances of Catholic teaching have been overlooked of late. This makes no sense without the context of the version of last week. I've started reorganizing, but it is such a mess, I am leaning toward a full-blown revert. Anyone else have any thoughts?LCP (talk) 16:19, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

I would add that the term Church teaching just means the positions taken by various Catholic leaders, especially Popes, Cardinals and Archbishops, on various issues. Please note that the mode of Catholic decision-making on social issues is not based on things like the texts of the Bible, early theology, modern science, the women's rights movement or representative democracy, but that it works a lot like a conservative political party, which has a President and a College of public representatives, who each have to try to build a consensus. Their views are their own and not anyone else's. ADM (talk) 04:24, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Your statements belie a profound ignorance of Catholicism and how Jesus has set up his Church. Please read the article on Apostolic succession. And then, read the article on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Among other things, it points out, "The contents are abundantly footnoted with references to sources of the teaching, in particular the Scriptures, the Church Fathers, and the Ecumenical Councils and other authoritative Catholic statements, principally those issued by recent Popes." Finally, you can look up Evolution and the Roman Catholic Church for an examination of how the Magisterium interacts with scientific findings. Having said all that, I have to add that you are correct on one very important point: The Church is not a representative democracy. Jesus didn't set it up that way. If you want truth by democracy instead of truth by the Holy Spirit, there are several options. If you like the feel of orthodoxy (without all of that pesky Roman Catholic business about the Pope and apostolic authority), you might try the Episcopalians. I hear the laity has recently voted to give their bishops permission to bless homosexual unions; if that isn't democracy, I don't know what is! LCP (talk) 20:31, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

My statement merely reflects the assent given by Pope Pius XII in the encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi. If we really believe the Church is the Body of Christ, then we must believe that the Magisterium of the Church is authentically guided by a Spirit-led authority which actually expresses divine intentions for the pastoral care of humanity's flock. According to this perspective, which is abundantly found in the texts of Vatican II (i.e. Lumen Gentium, Ecclesiam Suam), the truth of the Church speaks on its own because it is the truth. Citing Jesus in a individual and historical manner is okay, but it doesn't necessarily express the more profound mystery of Christ being fully incarnated in his Spouse the Church. ADM