I sometimes find it helpful when praying formal prayers such as Liturgy of the Hours, to insert myself and God the Father, personally into the prayer the prayer as in where it says God, to put in “You, God,” or where it says “God, help your sons and daughters,” to put in “God help me, your daughter.” Not, of course, to want to alter the liturgy of the hours, but only in private prayer to make it more pointed.
I have dreamed of an assisted living community of like-minded Catholics, ever since the death of my husband in 1993. Sometimes God answers our prayers virtually vs. literally. As I gaze at the daily communicants in our small parish, most of whom are elderly and, some, assisted in getting rides to the Church, I often think “Here is your assisted living community, Ronda!”
Over time there is a spiritual bond between the “dailies” even if we don’t see one another in our homes.
I have dreamed of an assisted living community of like-minded Catholics, ever since the death of my husband in 1993. Sometimes God answers our prayers virtually vs. literally. As I gaze at the daily communicants in our small parish, most of whom are elderly and, some, assisted in getting rides to the Church, I often think “Here is your assisted living community, Ronda!”
Over time there is a spiritual bond between the “dailies” even if we don’t see one another in our homes.
“The elephant in the living room” is a phrase used in 12 step to describe how there might be someone in the family with a terrible addiction, but no one talks about it.
A kind of new elephant in the living room of the Church is the crisis going on where because Catholics have so many different understandings of it, some think it better never to talk about it.
Since, sometimes, people ask me what I think about it, I thought that laying out a spectrum of different viewpoints could be helpful.
Here is a such a Spectrum as I see it. The numbers move from those who think there is no crisis, to the maximum amount of crisis.
1. A VIEW I DON’T HOLD: Many teachings in the area of faith are symbolic rather than literal such as the Resurrection of Christ was not his literal body but meant that after his death, his spirituality survived. Or, moral teachings of the Church change over time. Consider that in the time of Bible since probably ½ the known people in the world were slaves, slavery was seen as part of life, with only the treatment of slaves being a moral issue. Eventually we came to see that slavery was wrong in itself. So, in today’s Church there is room for change on issues such as communion of those married outside the Church, or same-sex marriage. (Ronda’s added comment: my research shows that in Biblical times, slavery was the preferred alternative to being killed by victorious enemies in battle. It was never approved by the Church such as marriage as a sacrament between a man and a woman at all times in the Catholic Church. Slavery was tolerated but not approved and eventually the slave trade condemned by different Popes. I compare it to how many pastors will tolerate parishioners living luxuriously, even if the teaching of the Church is that is good to have necessities, but that our luxuries belong to the poor. For more on that you can read my Way of Love, the part called “Making Loving Moral Decisions.”)
A kind of new elephant in the living room of the Church is the crisis going on where because Catholics have so many different understandings of it, some think it better never to talk about it.
Since, sometimes, people ask me what I think about it, I thought that laying out a spectrum of different viewpoints could be helpful.
Here is a such a Spectrum as I see it. The numbers move from those who think there is no crisis, to the maximum amount of crisis.
1. A VIEW I DON’T HOLD: Many teachings in the area of faith are symbolic rather than literal such as the Resurrection of Christ was not his literal body but meant that after his death, his spirituality survived. Or, moral teachings of the Church change over time. Consider that in the time of Bible since probably ½ the known people in the world were slaves, slavery was seen as part of life, with only the treatment of slaves being a moral issue. Eventually we came to see that slavery was wrong in itself. So, in today’s Church there is room for change on issues such as communion of those married outside the Church, or same-sex marriage. (Ronda’s added comment: my research shows that in Biblical times, slavery was the preferred alternative to being killed by victorious enemies in battle. It was never approved by the Church such as marriage as a sacrament between a man and a woman at all times in the Catholic Church. Slavery was tolerated but not approved and eventually the slave trade condemned by different Popes. I compare it to how many pastors will tolerate parishioners living luxuriously, even if the teaching of the Church is that is good to have necessities, but that our luxuries belong to the poor. For more on that you can read my Way of Love, the part called “Making Loving Moral Decisions.”)
2. ANOTHER VIEW I DON’T HOLD: A Catholic should be free to interpret doctrines as literal and others as symbolic and on moral teachings one could see them as ideals rather than universally binding. Your own conscience should be your norm. Pastoral practice should allow for exceptions to rules. Some of the teachings of Pope Francis RIGHTLY reflect this viewpoint.
3. A VIEW I DO HOLD: Doctrines in the Creed and other documents are true, and only symbolic in a secondary sense. For example, Jesus truly, FACTUALLY, rose from the dead, and also He spirituality survived. Perennial moral teachings include the admonition never to commit any intrinsically evil act such as the deliberate killing of an innocent person, from the innocent unborn, to innocent civilians in war, not to be targeted. Pastoral practices should reflect this truth.
4. A VIEW I DO HOLD: Some Cardinals, Bishops, and lay scholars, are convinced that Pope Francis is wrongly propagating #2 in some instances. They have asked him to clarify and, so far, he has not done so. They are praying for a clarification in the direction of #3. In the meantime, such lay people are clinging to Jesus and to priests they trust for guidance.
5. Some Catholics in different states of life, believe that Bergoglio, who they no longer call Pope Francis, is clearly heretical; some that his election was invalid; so that in either or both cases a conclave has to be held in the near future.
6. Some Catholics are convinced that the prophesied Tribulation and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart is imminent, trumping all these other matters. I AM NOT CONVINCED BUT I WISH IT WERE TRUE.
3. A VIEW I DO HOLD: Doctrines in the Creed and other documents are true, and only symbolic in a secondary sense. For example, Jesus truly, FACTUALLY, rose from the dead, and also He spirituality survived. Perennial moral teachings include the admonition never to commit any intrinsically evil act such as the deliberate killing of an innocent person, from the innocent unborn, to innocent civilians in war, not to be targeted. Pastoral practices should reflect this truth.
4. A VIEW I DO HOLD: Some Cardinals, Bishops, and lay scholars, are convinced that Pope Francis is wrongly propagating #2 in some instances. They have asked him to clarify and, so far, he has not done so. They are praying for a clarification in the direction of #3. In the meantime, such lay people are clinging to Jesus and to priests they trust for guidance.
5. Some Catholics in different states of life, believe that Bergoglio, who they no longer call Pope Francis, is clearly heretical; some that his election was invalid; so that in either or both cases a conclave has to be held in the near future.
6. Some Catholics are convinced that the prophesied Tribulation and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart is imminent, trumping all these other matters. I AM NOT CONVINCED BUT I WISH IT WERE TRUE.
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