We could have used fewer scholars and more no nonsense practical orthodox popes. The idea that popes should always be scribblers and that their scribblings should be treated with the awe accorded to Moses bringing the Law down from Mount Sinai is a modern, since Pio Nono, misconception of the office of Pope which traditionally has been an inherently practical one. Popes traditionally made doctrinal rulings rarely, and usually to deal with some new heresy. Most popes issued no writings that were assumed to have lasting significance. In holding that the most important thing that popes do is to write, the office has been transformed in a malign way, with the vanity of authorship being alloyed with the cultish enthusiasms of those who make the Church consist of only the current pope and his agendas.
Yep
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
“JPII was not an authoritarian but a too lenient father with spoiled brats for bishops.”
Pope John Paul II called the American bishops to Rome and told them: “One crime and the priest is out.” The American bishop returned home and wrote the Dallas Charter, leaving themselves unaccountable and giving the responsibility to Benedict Groschel to return the sex criminal to ministry. Groschel blamed the 14 year old boys for the crime. Notwithstanding the spiritual and corporal works of mercy needed to rectify the situation. Groeschel bragged on EWTN video that only a very small number of sexual deviate priests returned to molest minor children.
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen was in charge of sexual deviate priests. Bishop Sheen never returned a sexual deviate priest to ministry. Spoiled Brats. Complicit sexual monsters.
Humanae Vitae is a monumental work in bring about the joy in marriage and Paul VI’s great accomplishment.
Benedict XVI was a gentleman, scholar and priest blessed
I’m not complaining about their writings unless it comes at the expense of attention to important administrative matters. The traveling everywhere I don’t much care for, especially in re the current occupant of the Vatican.
Art:
I agree with you that it’s past time for a kick-butt kind of pope, on the order of Sixtus V, Pius IX or X, and Leo XIII. But some conservative Catholics have a “Magic Pope” illusion (like some isolationists have a “Magic Ocean” illusion) that somehow a “really good” Pope would have forestalled the Sexual Revolution and the pews would still be filled with large families and parents dressed like Ward and June Cleaver. That monster wave would have struck the Barque of Peter regardless, although better maneuvering would have had us take it bow-on rather than broadside. For example: Paul VI should have issued Humane Vitae without allowing debate and immediately dismissed any bishop who objected. Whining about women “priests” or “gays” should have been met the same way: “NO, and there’s the door if you don’t like it!” There would have been losses, but the Church would have kept her internal integrity.
I don’t see much good out of the Council.
I suspect the most destructive element of the era was to modify the liturgy and day-to-day observances. Another was a failure to respond with equanimity to problems in the seminary and to offenses by priests as they came to be known. These turned into a time bomb which exploded around 1984. I’m not sure there was any way around the demographic implosion of the religious orders, but I do wonder if given maintenance of traditional observances and a concerted effort to weed out deviants, we might have seen a 70% decline in ordinations to the regular clergy, not a 90% decline, and an 85% decline in woman entering religious life rather than a 97% decline.
Some old priests explained to Dom Bettinelli some years back how money was handled in parishes prior to 1965 and how better financial controls were implemented after the Council. You really did not need an ecumenical council to accomplish that. It’s the only beneficial ‘fruit of the Council’ of which I’ve ever heard.
We have a kind of “kick-butt” Pope now. The problem is the butts he’s kicking are those of orthodox Catholics while promoting heresy. Seems to be getting away with it also. Where is the opposition? Is there any? Hopefully, they are biding their time and being silent, but I am regretfully not sure that most of the hierarchy do not agree with his actions.
The traveling everywhere I don’t much care for, especially in re the current occupant of the Vatican
The frequently travelling Pope came about because air travel became more accessible and common in the twentieth century. The world has become a small world because this. It’s the current Popes ad hoc interviews in the air which are the issue. Not the travelling as such.