Ok boys and girls, pick up your #2 pencils. Today’s quiz has only one question and it is a multiple choice.
Which statement best represents “thinking fully with the Church?”
- “But when we speak about these issues (the systematic murder of millions of innocent Jews) we have to talk about them in a context. But it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.”
- “But when we speak about these issues (the systematic murder of thousands of innocent Syrians) we have to talk about them in a context. But it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.”
- “But when we speak about these issues (the systematic murder of millions of innocent babies) we have to talk about them in a context. But it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.”
Take your time.
I hope if I am ever murdered, that when you speak of it, you speak of it in context.
UPDATE
Pope Francis today on Abortion:
Each one of us is invited to recognize in the fragile human being the face of the Lord, who, in his human flesh, experienced the indifference and loneliness to which we often condemn the poorest, either in the developing nations or in the developed societies. Each child that is unborn, but is unjustly condemned to be aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who, even before he was born, and then as soon as he was born experienced the rejection of the world. And also each old person and – I spoke of the child, let us also speak of the elderly, another point! And each old person, even if infirm or at the end of his days, bears the face of Christ. They cannot be discarded, as the “culture of waste” proposes! They cannot be discarded!
I do not think it is coincidental that the Holy Father made these comments today, but I appreciate him doing so. It should never be either/or. The Catholic faith is not defined by its opposition to abortion, but we can never back down over this issue. We must keep it front and center as long as babies are dying by the millions.
[Source] [Translation via Rorate]
P.P.S.
Yes, Pope Benedict made similar comments, but he spoke about abortion all the time. Pope Francis, by his own admission, assiduously avoided the topic, until today. Again, not either/or but both.
September 20, 2013 at 4:34 pm
Harry Seldon,
Excellent description. This happened in my parish, too, and is ongoing in a systematic and extremely destructive way. Our parish is only nominally Catholic at this point and the change has been incremental and predicated upon just what you describe. I also apologize for length.
What you describe is akin to what is called Generative Learning. Quoting from MIT Professor Edward Schein's essay, “Organizational Learning as Cognitive Re-definition: Coercive Persuasion Revisited,” he writes, “I would suggest that generative organizational learning puts most
managers and employees into a situation comparable to the prisoner in a political prison. It is not a spontaneous joyful process to give up one’s beliefs, values and concepts in favor of
untested and inimical new concepts and anchors for judgment. It is not a particularly
comfortable situation to be subjected to re-engineering or culture change programs with
the clear threat that unless one participates wholeheartedly one might lose one’s job.”
Schein goes on to say, “It may seem absurd to the reader to draw an analogy between the
coercive persuasion in political prisons and a new leader announcing that he or she is going "to
change the culture." However, if the leader really means it, if the change will really affect
fundamental assumptions and values, one can anticipate levels of anxiety and resistance
quite comparable to those one would see in prisons.”
He further states, “It remains to be seen whether the level of organizational change that is
implied by "generative" learning can be accomplished without imposed culture change. And if such imposed culture change is involved we must accept the reality that learning may involve some painful periods of coercive persuasion. One of the most difficult aspects of this reality is that we cannot ignore that the same methods of learning, i.e. coercive persuasion or colloquially brainwashing, can be used equally for goals that we deplore and goals that we accept. In making organizations more competitive we may well resort to methods that under other conditions we would deplore.”
I think the vast majority of us have no idea how we are being manipulated by our leaders, in the political, religious, and workplace world.
September 20, 2013 at 10:43 pm
Harry Seldon…truly WELL SAID!
September 21, 2013 at 1:18 am
@harry seldon
Either your skills in psychohistory are impressive or you are the mule. I will have to think about what you are saying as it resonates pretty consistently with many contemporary dealings
September 21, 2013 at 12:32 pm
I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else—God is in this person’s life. You can, you must try to seek God in every human life. Although the life of a person is a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow. You have to trust God.