Universalis

Monday, May 24, 2004

"Catholic" still takes no adjectives!

Pope John Paul II to the bishops of Texas and Oklahoma on Saturday:

As in any family, the Church's internal harmony can at times be challenged by a lack of charity and the presence of conflict among her members. This can lead to the formation of factions within the Church which often become so concerned with their special interests that they lose sight of the unity and solidarity which are the foundations of ecclesial life and the sources of communion in the family of God. To address this worrisome phenomenon bishops are charged to act with fatherly solicitude as men of communion to ensure that their particular Churches act as families, so that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

Confirmation that I'm right to stand on this soapbox, at least. AmChurch is a myth, MaChurch also. Progressive, conservative, liberal, reactionary, etc., are terms that just do not work to modify Catholic --- they just don't. So let's just stop that kind of shenanigans, and do our best to live as Catholics. That will, eventually, make every single one of us orthodox, orthoprax, radical (right down to the roots!), and all those other good things; and not one at a time as though they were contradictory, but all of them at the same time happily together.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great post - as usual! I've always thought the same (but never seem to find anyone to agree).

Hey, could you give me your working definition of orthoprax?

Thanks, M. David