The Anchoress at Patheos is wrong

Patheos is becoming notorious for closing their comment box- especially when they don’t hear the feedback they were hoping for. 

The Anchoress (Elizabeth Scalia) has decided to opine about Catholics who are scandalized by Cardinal Dolan’s participation as Grand Marshal for the 2015 St. Patrick’s Day parade which has now become another outlet for “gay pride”.  Scalia believes we are wrong and goes on to twist assorted Scripture in an attempt to prove her point.  Mostly she failed-hence the reason she closed her comments. When the comments area of her Patheos blog got ugly, Scalia closed the comments down.

Here are a few comments from her blog before the comment box was closed...

I think these people are spot on!  

So again, like with Fr. Longenecker's "Church of Nasty" I am going to respond to why I believe Elizabeth Scalia is wrong here on my own blog because her comment area is closed.

For the first time openly gay homosexuals and their supporters will march with gay pride banners in the parade with a Catholic Cardinal as Grand Marshall kicking off the parade.  Devout Catholics are scandalized that this Cardinal (like those before him) sees nothing wrong with this.

Other’s have already written about the “cause of scandal” the Cardinal is (and will) inflict on devout Catholics, so I won’t repeat the obvious.

What I am going to do is point out Scalia's errors.

First, she gives Biblical examples of people in sin that were “quietly” corrected by Jesus (neglecting to recall when Jesus made a whip and used it against people, flipping tables and emptying the temple area of those who disrespected his Father's Temple).

Then she has this to say about Dolan…

What about a bishop agreeing to be Grand Marshall in a Saint Patrick’s Day parade wherein homosexual groups — yes, even the sort of lobbyist homosexual groups over which Pope Francis expressed concern — will be included among the participants?

That’s pretty bad, right? For some it is causing scandal and confusion and calumny and they are loudly suggesting — in a way Jesus never would — that the bishop should repent, apologize, express contrition (things Jesus didn’t demand of the adulterous woman) and then resign his office. They want him to literally remove himself from the area, before his uncleanliness renders everyone else unclean.

“in a way Jesus never would” - ??  Really? 

"Get behind me Satan!" was probably not whispered by Christ to Peter so no one else would hear. 

Matthew 16

²¹ From then onwards Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.²² Then, taking him aside, Peter started to rebuke him. 'Heaven preserve you, Lord,' he said, 'this must not happen to you.' ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because you are thinking not as God thinks but as human beings do.'

The Apostles corrected each other- loudly and publicly -remember Saint Paul to Saint Peter-the pope!?  Saint Paul didn’t hold back because Jesus didn’t hold back.  

We are (in the case of Dolan) talking about when a member of the CLERGY commits scandal.

“Those who commit these types of scandals are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder, but I'm here among you to prevent something far worst for you. While those who give scandal are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder, those who take scandal- who allow scandals to destroy faith- are guilty of spiritual suicide.” -- St. Francis de Sales

Another example she gives is about the Prodigal Son, suggesting that Cardinal Dolan leading a parade under gay pride banners is the same as the Prodigal son’s father running out to greet his REPENTING son who has seen the errors of his ways and returned to his father. This is truly cringe worthy...

Quote: I’m not sure a bishop has a choice but to run out to meet prodigals, regardless of motivating factors. The father wants everyone to come home and be with him. Once they’re at the doorstep, they may be encouraged to come in; once they’re inside, they can be talked with, nurtured, fed, encouraged, formed, and made whole. This cannot happen as long as they are off in the faraway places.

The key here, aside from the father running out to the prodigal son, is that he ran out while the son was still a long way off.Later in the story, the older son — obedient and responsible — feels shortchanged and resentful, because the father has been so welcoming of the wastrel while barely noticing the elder son’s daily toil. And what does the father do? He goes out to his elder son, to reassure him that his faithfulness is seen and known. He tells him, “everything I have is yours” even while urging him to make his returning brother welcome.Because only in this way can his family eventually become whole, and holy.

Let’s be perfectly clear…gay rights supporters marching under gay pride banners in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade are NOT- I repeat- are NOT prodigal sons HUMBLY returning to the father. 

They are in fact more like the sexually immoral mob pounding on Lot’s door demanding homosexual sex with the angels visiting Lot in Genesis 19! 

What was God’s response to that?  The complete destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah!

Scalia also paints Dolan at the now notorious dinner with Barack Obama as if he [Dolan] were Jesus eating with the Pharisees.

Quote: Understanding the circumstances surrounding any event plays hell with our easy judgments, doesn’t it?

Why would a bishop — say, for instance New York’s Cardinal Archbishop Timothy Dolan — participate in a political dinner that hosts real tax-collectors and known liars and sinners (as opposed to the less-obvious ones) and rather few actual holy men and women? Well for one thing, the dinner keeps the church present in a public square that would like to usher it out. One cannot speak to souls who bar you from the plaza. For another, it raises a huge amount of money for an organization that does a lot of good for people facing poverty and ruin. A bishop might risk causing “scandal and confusion” for the sake of those complicating, gray-inducing factors.Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”So Jesus ate and socialized, probably very pleasantly, with awful people. If we do not want to see a bishop seated next to a sinner unless that bishop is loudly consigning the sinner to hell, well then, we don’t want to see a bishop sitting next to anyone. And we do not want to see a bishop who models Christ Jesus.
But we were never supposed to want to be like the pharisees, nor expect it of our shepherds.

Again, Elizabeth Scalia is wrong. 

First her example is off.  Obama did not invite Dolan to a public dinner – Dolan invited the pro-abortion, forced HHS mandate on Catholics president to dinner.

Secondly, she COMPLETELY misses the point that the “sick” are those in sin seeking healing from the Physician.  If Jesus is the physician to heal them (and he is), he MUST tell them their sin (remember the woman at the well?) so they can confess and be healed! 

Did Dolan tell Obama over dinner that Obama was "sick" and needed to be healed?

Will Dolan go to those holding gay pride banners and tell them they are "sick" and need to be healed?   If you believe that will happen I have a bridge to sell you.

When Jesus ate with the Pharisees he corrected them at the dinner in front of everyone – did Dolan do that?

Luke 7 - ³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus^[j] to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. ³⁷ And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. ³⁸ She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰ Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” ⁴¹ “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii,^[k] and the other fifty. ⁴² When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus^[l] said to him, “You have judged rightly.” ⁴⁴ Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” 

Dolan did NOT do as Jesus Christ did.  Dolan joined in the celebration, eating and drinking with sinners without ever mentioning their sin or pointing out their errors.  He didn’t ask them if they wanted to be healed by Christ our physician.  He

didn’t even present himself as WORRIED for the souls at that dinner, rather he belly laughed with them, poised for photos and scandalized devout Catholics with the timing (remember what was going on at the time of this dinner 2012 election and the HHS abortion/birth control mandate being forced on Catholics) of his public cuddling with Barack Obama.

I am reminded more of Jesus’ teaching on the Seven Woes…

Matthew 23 - "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; ³ therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. ⁶ They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi."

When the Faithful are scandalized REPEATEDLY by Catholic clergy there is a serious problem that must be addressed. Either the Catholic faithful are TOO pious or the clergy are truly scandalous.

Scandal:

Respect for the souls of others: scandal
2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

 2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."⁸⁶ Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.⁸⁷ 

2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion. Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to "social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible."⁸⁸ This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger,⁸⁹ or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values. 

2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!

In light of the Church's teaching on scandal I do not believe the Catholic laity who are concerned with Dolan's scandalous behavior are "too pious", I believe they are spot on.


In Christ,

Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner

Link: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm

Link: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/theanchoress/2014/09/09/dolan-is-charged-to-model-christ-not-the-pharisees/

Link: http://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=47&bible_chapter=16

Link: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/obama-tells-catholic-church-at-al-smith-dinner-tribulation-produces-perseve

Pope Francis the Hippie Pope?

Elizabeth Scalia over at Patheos’ The Anchoress recently wrote a post “If we ‘get’ Francis, we have to absorb his lessons”.

Personally, I don’t think the issue so many people are having with Pope Francis is over “his lessons”.  Rather, I think its over how he comes across in his interviews.   Which, by the way, Creative Minority Report reminded us all that in July, during WYD, Pope Francis said: "It's true I don't give interviews. I don't know why. I just can't. It's tiresome," he said. "But I enjoy your company."

Really?  Guess that is a thing of the past now.

Anyway, after reading The Anchoress and thinking on what she said, I commented with the following on her blog (someone asked me to clarify who “we” are in my comment, so I am doing that here):

Me: “I think (could certainly be very wrong) but I THINK the issue for many Catholics is all this "love" talk is reminding us of the HUGE FAILURE of the hippy generation who wanted to just talk "love" and "tolerance". The fruit of love talk without correction or pointing to sin, is...well, what we [the world in general ‘we’] have today: abortion, divorce/remarriage, drop in Church attendance, disbelief in the Eucharist, gay marriage, euthanasia and more. We [the ‘we’ are Catholics who freak out each time the Pope gives an interview] don't want a "Hippie Pope" who talks merely of love- we NEED and desire to hear the good AND the bad of life. Sin. The consequence of sin. Jesus ACTED in love, but He SPOKE about sin, repenting and the consequence of sin- damnation. There MUST be balance and so far many Catholics (myself included) are only seeing the "warm fuzzies" of hippy-type love talk and that makes us very uneasy because we know what a disaster that is. JMO” [end comment]

That is what I think is freaking out so many Catholics here in the United States (and perhaps around the world) with these interviews. (To my knowledge no one is freaking out over homilies etc).  The hippy “love and tolerate” everything movement of the 1960’s is still too fresh in our minds.  We see the TOTAL destruction of that decade and it’s effect on the decades that followed.  Rules were tossed out and the warm fuzzies of LOVE replaced them.  

What’s so wrong with rules? 

Can you play a board game in which each player makes up their own rules and plays by them, while the other players do the same?

If no one follows the rules chaos erupts.  That is what we have especially among the "progressive" Catholics.  No rules...chaos.

The Catholic Church is not a dictatorship because it teaches the consequences of sin.

Jesus Christ made the “rules” clear (at least to my mind).  Jesus ACTED in LOVE, but SPOKE about sin and the consequences of not following the “rules”.   The “rules” are, we must repent of sin or risk our salvation.  That’s a big deal.  As a matter of fact, that is THE most important aspect of every human life- their soul’s salvation.  Jesus was tortured and died FOR our salvation- it is that important to Him.  Shouldn’t the souls of all humans be just as important to all Catholics?

If we (Catholics) don’t tell people the “rules” HOW can they ever win the end game? Salvation.

If they don’t know what sin is because we spend all our time talking about the warm fuzzies of love when will they repent or even know what to repent of?

I think the Pope is doing a great job with getting the “be humble”, “be loving”, “help the poor” message out there, but that is only PART of it. It’s my own personal opinion that he is (so far) dropping the ball on the rest of Christ’s Gospel Message- REPENT!

If people are humble, loving and help the poor but remain in mortal sin… what do the “rules” say about dying in mortal sin?

Catholic Catechism #1033    We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: “He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”⁶¹² Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.⁶¹³ To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell.” (1861, 393, 633)

Catholic Catechism #1457    According to the Church’s command, “after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year.”⁵⁶ Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution, unless he has a grave reason for receiving Communion and there is no possibility of going to confession.⁵⁷ Children must go to the sacrament of Penance before receiving Holy Communion for the first time.⁵⁸ (2042, 1385)

Do we or don’t we have to repent from mortal sin?

If people aren't told what sin is, how do they repent from it?

I’d like to hear Pope Francis speak the words that lead to repentance and salvation.  I actually fear all his “love” talk in interviews because they are being received as an OK to continue in sin as if the sin is acceptable. I do not doubt for a moment that this pope has GREAT love for people, but then I never doubted that Benedict or JPII had great love for people also.  I think the greatest way to love people is to tell them the WHOLE Gospel message- love, sin and repentance.  The FULL Gospel Message is that Jesus died for our sins because of love for us.  The sin led to death because of love and if we put sin to death for love of God we will have eternal salvation with Him.  That's the goal at the end of life.  The three (sin, repenting and love) need to be preached together.

When you have “progressives” who support gay marriage and abortion and euthanasia CHEERING for the Pope, you KNOW they are not understanding 1) what sin is, 2) the need to repent from it, and 3) that mortal sin will send them to Hell for all eternity.

That is what worries me every time the Pope gives an interview.  He’s not telling the whole story, only the warm fuzzy bits and people are dying in damnation because they aren’t hearing the words of salvation.  Cardinal Burke in his interview told the FULL Gospel Message, I have yet heard it from Pope Francis.

That’s a problem for me.

To be clear, I do NOT believe Pope Francis is a "Hippie Pope", I merely think his interviews are reminding SOME Catholics of the destructive hippie movement of the 1960's in the United States and it's worrying us.

In Christ, 

Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner

Links:

The Anchoress: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/theanchoress/2013/10/02/if-we-get-francis-we-have-to-absorb-his-lessons/#comment-1068170141

Creative Minority Report: http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2013/10/can-you-believe-pope-really-said-this.html