It's time to assess our rootedness

The Anchoress is using Nancy Pelosi as a launching point of sorts to predict stormy times ahead, for the Church and for the country... but she ends on a note of hope and wise advice:

I get yelled at when I say this but the worst-case scenario — and I think it’s inevitable — will be a schism and the creation of an American Catholic Church, one that works very closely with the government to “do the right thing” and reaps its worldly rewards, both material and elitist. It will claim apostolic succession as I have no doubt at all that some bishop in the US will be willing to act as titular head, and it will likely — with the help of the government (via fines, settlements, levies) — quickly lay claim to (or be awarded) Roman Catholic properties.

You think this cannot happen? Why not? It’s happened before:

. . .their resentment builds; they mark every sin within the church, all of its human faults and deep failings, and slowly they convince themselves that their ardent desiring is not objectionable, but the sin-riddled church clearly is. And so they break away. With astonishing speed, a new church is formed in authority, trained in tolerance, unified in purpose and installed within sacred structures confiscated by law, while the disgraced and rigid old church and her clergy are hounded underground.

. . .consider that such a scenario has already taken place in history — right down to the confiscation of properties and the hiding of clergy — and is in fact considered . . .to be one of King Henry VIII’s great “achievements.” . . . All of this speaks to our own era of material abundance, instant gratification and what our good Pope Benedict XVI calls “the dictatorship of relativism,” wherein we create our truths and then drown them in a syrup of sentiment disguised as justice: I like her and she wants to be a priest, so she should be. Divorce doesn’t matter. They’re so nice, why shouldn’t they marry? It’s not fair; the Church is cruel! [As with Henry]…Personal autonomy seeks greater freedom and worldly wisdom encourages self-actualization above all.

The American Catholic Church will quickly become mainstream because it will be seen as victorious over that stuffy old Roman church, and people want to be on the side with the “winner.”

...

I read something I really liked this week, by a writer named Margaret Rose Realy, who is a master gardener; she has a wonderful way of taking what she’s learned amid the turned earth and seeds and applying it well. In line with our stormy times, Margaret writes:

All storms end and after the big ones there is usually the fall-out and debris of broken branches littering the street and lawns. The weakest limbs, those that have declined from the lack of nourishment, have snapped off during the turbulent downpour. It is usually those branches that had grown farthest away from the trunk that have fallen away.

Energy was not drawn up from the root; the branch no longer has life within it. It is no longer able to withstand the storms. A pretty clear analogy of how I should live: Drawing life from His strong roots, developing a living faith so I won’t break apart in the turbulent storms that come.

A good analogy, too of how things will fallout within our church and our country. And, too, how the church will remain who and what it is. As she is tossed, she will draw energy from her root. And when all of the movers and shakers have had their way and perished, she will remain. And she will still be the most radically counter-cultural entity the world has ever known.

 

It's time, past time really, to become rooted.  Storms are a'coming.

Do yourself a favor and take the time to assess how far from the trunk you may've fallen. 

I believe there to be nothing more important than that assessment.

 

Comments

[Ed]

I wish religion would keep its nose out of politics..

[Rick]

Ed, I appreciate the fact that you're finding the time to show up in the comments of many a post here at Brutally Honest but do yourself a favor and go a little deeper with your comments... otherwise, we're all to conclude that you're nothing more than a shallow troll...

[Ed]

You are welcome.

What is so deep about wanting people to keep their religions in church and out of public office? As an American, it should be common sense..
If you can't accept that then maybe it is you who needs to evaluate your own position..

[Ed]

This may come as a shock, Rick

But many people do not adhere to your beloved Holy Catholic and Apostolic church.

If that hurts your feelings I can't help it..

[Ed]

And furthermore, the topic at hand is very interesting, and you have a point, people can choose to stay within the church if they choose.

They also can choose to leave the church and its rules if they do not fit in their lives. Gone are the days, (thankfully) of people being tortured and maimed for doing so.

I thank the secular system for that, for not allowing church leaders to make their own version of hell on this earth for those who choose to reject the church on face value, the same way you choose to reject any other religion in the world that isnt to your liking.

If you guys chose to go the route of the Amish I might have such an issue with the church...:D

[Ed]

Might not..sorry for the typo..

[Rick]

Ed, exactly what litmus test would you use to deny a citizen from actively engaging in the political scene? And exactly how would you prevent his or her participation?

I am not shocked in the least that many don't adhere to Catholic teaching... many Catholics sadly don't... this however isn't the fault of the teachings, which I've come to see as sound and filled with reason, but the fault of those who've chosen to go their own way, who've done so without really checking fully into the teaching or who, as I suspect you are doing, find fault in what they believe to be Catholic teaching when in reality it's anything but...

In other words...

Ignorance.

[Ed]

Why would a citizen need to drag their dogma into the voting booth? Therein lies my question.

Ignorance? do you realize that not all who feel as I do have an 'ignorance' of The Catholic teachings as you find comfort in believing?

Thats the root of your ideals...to find your own viewpoints as soley legitimate. What makes them legitimate aside from an appeal to authority?

Your stance is fallacious.

[Ed]

And you cant answer simple questions w/out ad hominem attacks on someone you do not know.

And you wonder why people walk away from your church?

They would do so the same way you would walk away from someone who told you they saw a pink bunny rabbit perched on your shoulder.

I'm assuming from your posts that you are a thoughtful and intelligent person.

But I think your beliefs are nonsense.

[Rick]

Ad hominem? Where? The reference to a shallow troll? It's conditional... I asked you to go deeper and instead you respond with more insults and more shallow claims... while accusing me of using ad hominems...

Load of bunk brother. And you might get away with that sort of illogic elsewhere but not here.

People walk away from my Church for lots of reasons and I can attest to the largest one myself... because I did too... and yes, it's ignorance...

The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, "There are not even 100 people in this country who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they think the Catholic Church to be."

I'll count you amongst them Ed.

Until you give me some notional idea that you know more about Catholicism that you've given thus far, I conclude based on the evidence that you are ignorant about Catholicism.

It's really that simple.

And oh by the way... I'm not the most patient of people.

If you continue to spam this blog with shallowness, you'll find quicker than you can say goodbye that I'll be saying goodbye...

So engage... but engage with some substance...

[Ed]

I can write from here to Texas my reasonings as to why Catholicism is illogical.

The reasons are many. One does not need to be an adherent of any religion to see that after a while.

But I will start with one, your obvious dislike for dissent. Your Church cannot stand to be corrected. In any way whatsoever.

I'm not saying there isn't ignorance, in fact there is much ignorance, but when you have people who have almost finished Seminary with a bad aftertaste in their mouth (no pun intended)and walked away,
then ignorance is the least of those issues..

One does not need to finish a plate of bad food to know it is bad..

How about you be a good theist and pray for some patience from the one who made it all?
:D

Have a good day. I'm thankful your church is no longer able to torture people the way it has in the past. I'm hoping Islam follows suit someday.

[Rick]

Your analogy Ed as to food would be more accurate if you were to put it this way...

One should no longer eat food after finding that some food is bad.

That's your sum game. The Catholic Church has made some bad decisions historically and because of it, all of Catholicism is to be discarded. Never mind the good that the Church has done over the ages that so far exceeds the bad as to make the bad infinitismally small in comparison.

Your mindset is intriguing.

Have you ever made a mistake Ed? The assumption is that you have.

Should you now then be shunned by the rest of us?

If we're to follow your lead, the answer is yes.

If you don't see the ignorance in that mindset, then I simply pity you.

Seriously pity you especially since you embrace your ignorance as something good, something that makes you better than the rest of us.

Laughably silly.

And woefully ignorant.

[Ed]

Of course I have made mistakes

its from mistakes that people grow

it's also from learning from said mistakes that people discard things that do not make sense to them and seek better alternatives.

I was not insulting you as a person, as A) I do not know you.
B) you apparently have a good set of critical thinking skills and communication skills.

What is painful is how you reject anything that reason points out to be essentially weak. Such as your position above. Confirmation bias does not make your position real to anyone but you.

Leave other people out of it. Please.

[Rick]

The Church is made up of people. The Church has learned from her mistakes. If you're willing to allow that people learn from their mistakes, it seems illogical to assume that The Church cannot do the same, particularly when she is made up of people.

You are indirectly insulting every person who thinks not as you do... and you've got to be aware of this.

What is more painful is how presumptious you are about what it is The Church believes, what it is I believe, and how unreasonable it is that people disagree with your erroneously constructed arguments.