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Dear Joe,

O.K., I'll stop using the "liberal-conservative" terminology!

How does one define "Orthopraxis?"

Alex

My thanks and compliments to Henry Karlson for mentioning the Donatists - there's a current outbreak of that heresy which is alarming.

It is, of course, quite possible to be theologically educated and wrong simultaneously. Someone about ten years ago wrote, quite perceptively, that a particular denomination which came into being around 1830 and still maintains a shadowy existence might have had as its purpose the desire to prove that the intellectual elite are just as gullible as everybody else! Nevertheless, to note that good theology demands a good theological education is not prima facie proof of a lack of humility - it is not "unhumble' to prefer that the cook should know something about food and cuisine, or that the person attempting to teach arithmetic to one's children should know how to do sums, and be able to explain the difference between short division and long division understandably (having never learned to do short division myself, I'm not applying for the job!).

In fact, I often suspect that those who give the impression of arguing against theological education are themselves lacking in humility - for a delightful example, try the now-old science fiction novel "A Canticle for Leibowitz".

Incognitus

Dear Incognitus,

Well, up here in Canuckistan, we literally swear by our Donats!

If that makes us heretical, then let the papal bull fly!

Alex

Theological education is fine, and under most circumstances, a good thing. Failure to submit one's own theological teachings to the authority of the Church is dangerously wrong and lacking in humility because it comes from pride. Heresy often does seem to have an arrogance about it - not always, but often. I tend to believe the Church is the final judge on earth of whether or not a particular theology is valid and I accept its verdict.

Need we say more?

Yes, Alex, I believe Tim Horton is the first saint of the Donutists...

Dear Charles,

You remind me of Bl. Joachim de Fiore who submitted his theological propositions to the Roman Church just before he died.

In the preface, he said that he submits to the judgement of the Church in whatever way it deems his writings to have been deficient or even heretical.

They DID find a number of propositions in his writings that were deemed wrong, but because he had submitted in advance to the church's judgement, he was not condemned and is even in the Roman calendar as a Blessed . . .

Alex

I just heard Father Groeschel talk in his Lenten Meditations...he mentioned the "liberal" Protestant thought of the late 19th century(?), and the pan-ecumenical acceptance today of sin being relative, etc....

It seems that most of us therefore, understand the basic term of 'liberal' as it is used in an ecclesiastical format. Sometimes we may not like a term for whatever reason, but, be that as it may, it isn't going to change in popular usage because of our personal dislike of it.

Alice

Dear Diak,

"As you go on through life, friend,
Whatever be your goal,
Keep your eye upon the doughnut,
And not upon the hole!"

You wrote such a beautiful Akathist - a fitting tribute to St Leonid!

Speaking of theologians, it is said that Bl. Pope John XXIII once met a Vatican ambassador and asked him if he were a theologian.

When he said, predictably, "no," the Pope smiled and continued, "Well, Deo Gratias! Neither am I!"

I also understand that Catholic moral theologians have a very low score card when it comes to their being canonized as saints (St Alphonsus is the only one?).

One would think that those who talk about it for a living . . .

Alex

Dear Alice,

Yes, I think "liberal" is a relative term, as Joe Thur states, since its definition shifts over time.

But I think you are right, as well, for when we say someone is a theological "liberal" we know exactly what is meant.

Here where I work, there are other names for political "Liberals," but I can't mention them on this forum . . .

Alex

Dear Alex,

I, for one, am not going to argue with the usage of a word used by one of the holiest and most orthodox clerics of the Roman Catholic Church in America!

Alice

Alex, all kidding aside, other than the fact that I am a Donutist - either Krispy Kreme or Dunkin' works for me. I think theology has dropped in public esteem of late. Let me elaborate on that a bit. I have a priest friend who was required to obtain a degree in philosophy. A great deal of theology seems to rest on philosophical reasoning. Unfortunately, in a congregation of techies and scientific people, philosophical reasoning is regarded as a fling at the moon proving little or nothing. In other words, that type of reasoning is viewed as word-craft, not evidence. So my priest friend feels he has been given yesterday's tools to deal with today's problems. So is it time for a new Aquinas to reinterpret theology, or a new Augustine to cast it in a new perspective that is more meaningful to a modern audience? I don't know. What do you think? I will have a donut in your honor next time I am out.

What fun to find my fellow Catholics have all been coopted by the Calvinist neocons! When basic words become swear words and meanings are what they choose them to mean? There seems to be some confusion between dogma and teachings? Teachings are the best available at the time and are NOT dogma. The Catechism, that liberal publication, notes that the final judge is our conscience! but here we find that no, we do not listen to our conscience, we do not need to think nor to learn, we can simply turn to the publication of one office in the Vatican or one sentence or so of that publication and we shall know the truth! wow! i didn't know it was that easy? wonder why God gave us a conscience or a mind? to follow orders be obedient? the best way to avoid chaos is blind obedience.

Dear Charles,

My favourite commentator on theologians is Erasmus!

He once wrote, "And there was another fool . . . did I say 'fool?' I meant to say 'theologian . . .'"

He once described a sermon he heard in church by a theologian-priest, something about calculating the numerical value of the Name of our Lord, dividing by . . .

And Erasmus thought, "What IS this stink?"

And, he said, at the Last Judgement, there will be a monk who will carry a large pair of gloves as proof positive that his skin NEVER touched money!

Another will present his belly full of the finest fish as an indication that he fasted a great deal . . .

Bishops, he wrote, are said to be "in religion" and yet that is a misnomer for they "stay as far away from religion as possible." For them, "praying is a woeful waste of time . . ." etc. etc.



Just some levity as I understand many of you folk are in the Great Fast . . . my turn will come next week . . .

Alex

PS: when i was in the seminary, there were two groups, those who believed their role was primarily pastoral and those who believed their role was to enforce the law! i thought we had that before, the Pharisees and Jesus?