Of all the people deserving Episcopal ire, the Archbishop of Westminster has singled out one group saying “”they should have no place in the Church.”
Pro-aborts? Gay marriage advocates? Nope. Catholic Bloggers.
Of all the people deserving Episcopal ire, the Archbishop of Westminster has singled out one group saying “”they should have no place in the Church.”
Pro-aborts? Gay marriage advocates? Nope. Catholic Bloggers.
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April 17, 2013 at 3:42 am
Now wasn't it Papa Benedetto that encouraged us to us use the new media, including blogs? Sounds to me like this Archbishop has an ax to grind.
April 17, 2013 at 4:17 am
Archbishop Nichols is a dissenter from Church teaching and decries the Catholics obedient to the Magisterium that call him out.
April 17, 2013 at 5:28 am
No wonder Fr. Z is running scared.
April 17, 2013 at 12:35 pm
Quite correct, Lynda. Archbishop Nichols supports the so-called 'gay' Masses in his archdiocese, and refuses to put a stop to them.
He supports active homosexuals in the commission of their depravity, making no attempt to dissuade them from sin in the course of offering these Masses.
I suspect that Nichols is a member of the 'lavender mafia' in the hierarchy, and said so in a Catholic newspaper's blog. They banned me for being so impertinent to this wannabe pope.
April 17, 2013 at 1:18 pm
Brandon Vogt, via Linen on the Hedgerow, makes the excellent point that blogs are informal conversations in the pub or at home, not documents to be vetted. The Church, through the creation of universities and public schools, clearly means for Catholics to be free to think and speak, and one cranky bishop does not possess a veto on the universal Church.
April 17, 2013 at 6:45 pm
It isn't fair to present the Archbishop as saying bloggers aren't Catholic, nor that they (as individuals or as a group sharing a specific action) don't have a place in the Church.
It is clear that in his homily, echoing the Holy Father, Nichols was referring to sinful complaints and gossip themselves:
"Pope Francis understands this in practical terms. He has already identified two kinds of behaviour that destroy love in the Church. They are complaining and gossiping. He is a practical man. He knows that we live in a society in which complaining and gossip is a standard fare. They sell newspapers and attract us to blogs because we love hear complaints and to read gossip.
But Pope Francis is clear: they should have no place in the Church."
The objects of that sentence are complaining and gossip on the plain face of it, and there isn't a way to to turn it to specific bloggers. Individuals aren't even mentioned, only actions and sites–and he might just as well have meant TMZ or What the Fugg as Rorate or CMR.
Today there are enough serious and dangerous threats against the Church, Tradition, and the faithful for us to focus on. We must "get it right" every time, understanding truly what is being said and how best to react, and not be sidetracked (or lose credibility) by misreadings or sensationalism.
Nor is it healthy for us as the orthodox to actively seek fault and injury in every direction, to see evil, and to attack bishops at the drop of a hat. Especially when reproving weak bishops our facts need to be in order and our motivation charity.
I am a daily reader, and enjoy and respect your work immensely. Thank you for it. But skewed readings like the above are not helping and may, in fact, inadvertently scandalize others and inadvertently prove the Archbishop's point.
Best Wishes,
Jeremy
April 18, 2013 at 1:53 am
The Archbishop finds these people so repulsive that "they should have no place in the Church."
That's because they can't be controlled through the traditional ecclesiastical apparatus.
Such lack of episcopal control is what the arsebishop finds so repulsive, not blogs themselves nor the people who operate them (though I doubt if the good arsebishop has ever met Mark Shea….).
He reminded us that the disciples, on the road to Emmaus were sad and complaining. He added: 'and the more they complained, the more they were closed in on themselves. They did not have a horizon before them, only a wall.' Complaining and griping about others, about things in one's own life, is harmful, he said 'because it dashes hope. Don't get into this game of a life of complaints.' Then, in another memorable phrase, he added that some ‘stew their lives in the juice of their own complaining.'
That episcopal jackass doesn't know Scripture! The disciples going to Emmaus weren't complaining; they were grieving because they thought that, with Jesus' death, their hope for the restoration of Israel as a political entity died with it. Why do you think Jesus accompanied them incognito? To correct their misconceptions and restore their faith, not to condemn them for "complaining"!
Nichols' absurd comments simply illustrate I've made elsewhere (and perhaps here): The Catholic Church is nothing but a religious Mafia run of, by and for the bishops and their clericalist sycophants. Free, unfettered expression of any kind threatens self-benighted, isolated authorities who view themselves beyond public accountability.
The good arsebishop would feel right at home with the Soviet nomenklatura and apparatchiks of 30-plus years ago.
With such "shepherds" as Nichols in episcopal authority, who needs atheism or Scientology?
April 18, 2013 at 7:04 am
It sounds as though the archbishop is "complaining"! I guess that means he has no place in the church.
April 18, 2013 at 7:28 am
Bravo, Mrs. Pinkerton!! 🙂
April 18, 2013 at 9:39 pm
What's even more offensive is that, by invoking Pope Francis, Absp. Nichols is engaging in an obvious act of posterior-kissing to try to impress the new boss. Let's hope that Pope Francis isn't taken in by this condecendning nonsense.