Cardinal George rejects 'conservative v. liberal' Catholicism
October 07, 2009
John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter offers a lengthy, interesting interview with Cardinal Francis George, concentrating on the cardinal's plea to move beyond "liberal" and "conservative" Catholicism and instead embrace "simply Catholicism." A sample:
Consequently, when you get into the church, you get the conservatives unhappy because bishops aren’t using power the way they’re supposed to, the way they want them to. You get liberals who are unhappy because [the bishops] have any power at all. Both of them are defining themselves vis-à-vis the bishops rather than vis-à-vis Christ, who uses the bishops to govern the church. It’s not a Christ-centered church, as it’s supposed to be, it’s a bishop-centered church.
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Posted by: William F. Folger -
Oct. 07, 2009 11:29 PM ET USA
George’s apologetics + catechesis idea is much needed, where both right & wrong are explained. So, it’s vital to fix an unintended error in the National Directory for Catechesis, pgs 175-176 which misprints CCC 2323 by asserting “the human embryo is a person at every stage”, a claim NOT made by the magisterium. Being misled, many American Catholics then wrongly urge voters to assert zygote = person in Human Life Amendments. Honest to vote to TREAT every stage as a person out of respect for God.
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Posted by: unum -
Oct. 07, 2009 10:52 PM ET USA
Cardinal George says conservatives are unhappy because bishops aren’t using power the way "they want them to". That excuses the bishops for their lack of fidelity to the teachings of the Church and for their political action instead of teaching the laity "like Jesus did". As a result we have a politicized laity who are uneducated in the faith as applied in the modern world. But, conservatives want fidelity, not control, and leadership, not political action. Cardinal George doesn't get it.
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Posted by: John J Plick -
Oct. 07, 2009 10:11 PM ET USA
Hmmmm.... Cardinal George is quite correct! Pleasantly surprising.... Only one glitch.... And that is few Catholic laity are mature enough to be able to walk with Jesus at that level of detachment. The Bishops stll have a duty as "fathers" to reonile brothers when necessay.
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Posted by: -
Oct. 07, 2009 9:21 PM ET USA
Where was Cardinal George when the hierarchy was allowing priest/predators to sodomize teenage boys? The bill for this dereliction of duty was TWO BILLION DOLLARS!
