This site is dedicated to the publication and promotion of books and media that best portray all the wondrous dimensions of the true 
Catholic imagination with its faithful perception and contemplation of all visible and invisible reality made new by the living presence 
of the Word Incarnate.  May this array of exemplary books and blogs extol and instill a gladsome and playful experience of the Catholic 
sacrificial mindset and sacramental worldview.  May traipsing  through these pages whet your wits and brighten your witness to the 
beauty of truth at the Heart of the World , in the Face of the Word.
 Goodbooks Media
  • Home
  • Still Catholic
  • Books We Publish
    • How to Remain Sane in a World That Is Going Mad
    • Toward a 21st Century Catholic World-View
    • LAST CALL
    • PRAYER
    • PARADISE COMMANDER >
      • Interviews
      • Articles & Essays
    • 12 for Christmas
    • Christmas Is Forever
    • NUZZLE & FRITZAPAW
  • Blogs
    • RondaView >
      • Transformative Catholic Philosophy
      • Toward a 21st Century Catholic World View
    • Catacombs Post Office
    • Catholic Imagination
  • Book Salon
  • Audios
  • Get in Touch

To the Point of Getting Serious

5/9/2018

0 Comments

 
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.
Picture
Picture
“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.”)

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.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Ronda Chervin received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Fordham University and an MA in Religious Studies from Notre Dame Apostolic Institute. She is a dedicated widow, mother, and grandmother.
    Ronda converted to the Catholic Faith from a Jewish, though atheistic, background and has been a Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Loyola Marymount University, the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and Franciscan University of Steubenville. She is an international speaker and author of some fifty books about Catholic thought, practice and spirituality. One of her latest is LAST CALL, published by Goodbooks Media.
    Dr. Ronda is currently retired and living in Corpus Christi, Texas after her years of teaching philosophy at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut.
    You can contact her via e-mail by clicking here or by emailing [email protected] directly.

    Visit her websites:
    here and here.

    Archives

    April 2021
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    Bishop Flaget
    Body Language
    Comfort Zone
    Fr. Longenecker
    Healing For Insecurity
    Loud Voice
    Old People And Tech Transition
    Prayer Of Suffering
    Problems And Graces
    Richard And Ruth Ballard
    Soft Talk
    What Saints Said

    RSS Feed

    Check Out Religion Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Bob Olson on BlogTalkRadio
Web Hosting by FatCow