tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post1103208863446572480..comments2023-09-27T02:46:21.569-07:00Comments on Deacons Today: Musings on Diakonia and Diaconate: The Corapi Matter and the Polarization of the Catholic Church in the United StatesDeacon William T. Ditewig, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11525431509279159558noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-80131620136903700602011-07-15T09:09:27.258-07:002011-07-15T09:09:27.258-07:00"Especially since Natural Family Planning off..."Especially since Natural Family Planning offers a genuine, healthy, moral alternative albeit it isn't readily offered in many parishes"<br /><br />How isn't NFP artificial? Is the couple not making a specific decision to take actions that they believe will relieve them of an unwanted pregnancy? Yes, you're avoiding the drugs, but the intent is the same -- "I choose" to try and not be pregnant.<br /><br />Caveat: I am not now, nor have I ever been, on the staff of the USCCB.Deacon Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13211505710176360086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-41236116077961988802011-06-24T14:43:46.566-07:002011-06-24T14:43:46.566-07:00Norbert,
I share your era and appreciate your reco...Norbert,<br />I share your era and appreciate your recognition of the diminishment in the confessional line. You can presume what you want about your grandfather and his need to go to confession but he is in good company since, the now Blessed John-Paul II went to confession every week also. In JPII's case wouldn't it be difficult to dismiss this as the product of "over-zealous preachers and under-educated religious sisters"? As far as "very petty rules" and "trival items" you wouldn't include practicing Artificial Birth Control in that list would you? Especially since Natural Family Planning offers a genuine, healthy, moral alternative albeit it isn't readily offered in many parishes. Why Not? It also certainly couldn't include those practioners that may not hesitate to receive Sacrilegious Communions?<br /><br />People and human nature do not change so maybe some work needs to be done to help the faithful in examining their conscience and then maybe the business of confessional will pick up a little bit.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02843591519241573651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-32376488159583677712011-06-24T07:08:10.561-07:002011-06-24T07:08:10.561-07:00I just feel compelled to comment on the confession...I just feel compelled to comment on the confession lines issue. My parish is the only one in the area that offers confession on a daily basis and twice on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The lines are so long it often takes more that a half hour to get into the confessional. A lot of the people in line are from other parishes that hold to the mistaken notion that no one goes to confession anymore. I have found that Catholics will practice their faith in greater numbers if given the opportunity. Finally, Paula said it best, Thank you Deacon Bill!Ken Ramseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06817533038279154938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-89458778444147139972011-06-23T12:23:09.923-07:002011-06-23T12:23:09.923-07:00Thank you Deacon Bill!Thank you Deacon Bill!Paulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02647220453777040327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-20032390828730554072011-06-23T05:47:20.727-07:002011-06-23T05:47:20.727-07:00Bob:
I think your last sentence says it all: a pr...Bob:<br /><br />I think your last sentence says it all: a prudent Catholic does need to pray for discernment about those issues you raised.<br /><br />Let's look, however, at your complaint about the confession lines being almost empty.<br /><br />I was in grade school and high school in the years before Vatican II and -- yes -- during that time there were usually long lines at the confessional. But let's consider some contemporaneous insights you are probably not old enough to have experienced: (1) Among those penitents was my grandfather (born in the mid 1890's) who went to confession every week, whether he needed to or not -- and in my mind (even then) he really did not need to; (2) There were a long list of very petty rules violations that were a part of the conventional wisdom of the Pre-Vatican Church. Most of them were not sins in any eternal/moral sense but penitents were led to believe they were by over-zealous preachers and under-educated religious sisters. Mumbled laundry-lists of these trivial items were so common they drove most confessors of that era to absolute distraction.<br /><br />Bottom line: Those long-lines at the confessionals prior to Vatican II could well have been more a result of bad catechesis than our modern-era shorter ones. <br /><br />Trust me, there was a lot of bad catechesis that the pew-sitting Catholic had to endure in the Pre-Vatican era.<br /><br />Only the very best of blessings!<br /><br />Deacon Norb in OhioNorberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10464878965952469636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-31645907613430462022011-06-22T15:18:45.477-07:002011-06-22T15:18:45.477-07:00If the church is in such great shape in America Wh...If the church is in such great shape in America Why are the confession lines almost empty??? Why has the tabernacle been moved to the side in so many churches. Why do pro-abortion politician receive Communion at Mass? Why do Catholics practice artifical birthcontrol in the same percentages as non-catholics. Why is the second largest demoniation in the US fallen away catholics? I can go on and on but the bottom line is the Bishops are in charge (if you would call it that) and I don't see any blood in the streets. One of the two formal messages of Our Blessed Mother given at Garabandal Spain in 1961-5 was that amoung other things that"Many Cardinal, Bishops and Priests are going to Perdition and taking many souls with them". Fifty years later this seems to have at least a scent of prophesy in it. Mary did not say all or even most but many. I believe the prudent catholic needs to pray for decernment about such things.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02843591519241573651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-83244788365464284232011-06-21T15:54:37.798-07:002011-06-21T15:54:37.798-07:00I cannot comment on the American Bishops Conferenc...I cannot comment on the American Bishops Conference; but here in the UK the same arguments are raging. Some comments are full of so much rancor and bile that one wonders were the spirit of Christian forgiveness lives.Barryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14234034111126169326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-34213193634817296272011-06-20T17:06:15.606-07:002011-06-20T17:06:15.606-07:00Well said, Bill. I know that you also have experie...Well said, Bill. I know that you also have experience at the local (i.e., diocesan level) and now work for the wonderful Bp Garcia in lovely Monterrey. I have had and continue to have the distinct privilege of getting to know and working with two bishops- one of whom is routinely pilloried as well as slandered and libelled- the current archbishop of San Francisco, the man who ordained me- George Niederauer. Nobody who knows Abp Niederauer could possibly impugn his honesty, integrity, piety, or personal orthodoxy. Is he perfect? By no means! But he is a man of the church through-and-through. <br /><br />Further, anyone who knows anything about the demands and challenges of episcopal ministry in the contemporary U.S. would be very slow to rush to hasty judgments about individual bishops, let alone our bishops generally. By slow I mean prudent, which, in turn, means sometimes constructive criticism, even publicly given, is fine and even an act of charity. I think about the unfortunate recent events in Kansas City-St. Joseph as an example. I don't for one minute think Bishop Finn is a bad or evil man unconcerned about his flock, even while I find it both incomprehensible and lamentable that he opted not to read a memo about Shawn Ratigan. <br /><br />Both the bishops with whom I have worked/collaborated, including my current ordinary, John Wester, are devoted, spiritual, and intelligent men very open to discussion. Their episcopal styles are collaborative rather than dictatorial. I have not always agreed with them on everything. I think both men are fairly representative of the kind of bishops we have and for whom we should all pray daily, not just in Mass, but privately as well.<br /><br />All of this leads me to the observation that I made on Saturday, which is that Corapi stepping aside is a boon for the church. In my judgment, he has long been an ideologically-driven divider. I continue to pray for him, namely that he will come to his senses and immediately halt his highly disingenuous passive aggressive offensive against the <i>"murky"</i> powers in the church out to get him. I think he now aspires to be the Catholic Glenn Beck (Beck having abandoned the Catholic Church to become LDS).<br /><br />There is no conspiracy at the USCCB in individual chanceries, or against Corapi. So, instead of to the self-styled "Dog," make your checks to payable to Catholic Relief Services, where it will be put to good use.Dcn Scott Dodgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09994604395739905637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-73831380493551377552011-06-20T14:51:18.770-07:002011-06-20T14:51:18.770-07:00Dear Bender,
And you know all of this about the p...Dear Bender,<br /><br />And you know all of this about the people at the Conference -- how? How many of them do you know? If you're going to make such claims, how about backing them up with some actual FACTS?<br /><br />It's this tired old innuendo that appeals to fear and emotionalism that gets very old, very fast. <br /><br />Do you have some facts to back up your claims, or not?<br /><br />Please cite for me how I (I'm not concerned about other bloggers or organizations at the moment) have engaged in any calumnious conversation, or have otherwise spread inaccuracies? Please show me the quotes where you think I've done that. If you can, I'll take steps to correct it, and with thanks to you. If you can't, knock it off.<br /><br />You mention a "well-known" shift to the political left among the staff at the Conference. Well known by whom? And again, facts: if this is so well known, then who are the actual staff members you feel have been a part of this "tilt to the political left"? Names, please, and things they've written or otherwise communicated that demonstrate such an action.<br /><br />Just how many people do you think serve as staff at the USCCB? Put a figure to that, please. Do you even comprehend what, precisely, a 90% reduction in staff would look like? How many people would that be, exactly?<br /><br />So, Bender, put up or shut up. Facts, please, not innuendo, gossip, or detraction and calumny. Oh, wait! That's what the "other" people do! I forgot.<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Deacon BillDeacon William T. Ditewig, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11525431509279159558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-30836576209838694482011-06-20T14:14:36.937-07:002011-06-20T14:14:36.937-07:00Polarization?
You invited such polarization and d...Polarization?<br /><br />You invited such polarization and division and rancor when you and others decided to, instead of speaking on the faith, obsess about personalities, engage in gossip, and descend into detraction and calumny.<br /><br />And you really do protest too much methinks professing ignorance and innocence with respect to the well-known tilt toward the political left by the staff at the bishops' conference.<br /><br />What is needed at the USCCB is that it be truly a bishops' conference -- that 90 percent of the staff positions be eliminated.Benderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322135500288738561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-65635504872909443752011-06-20T11:19:29.630-07:002011-06-20T11:19:29.630-07:00I don't watch TV at all, but I have noticed th...I don't watch TV at all, but I have noticed that EWTN fans tend to think of themselves as especially "orthodox," and that makes them susceptible to a very narrow view of <i>real Catholicism</i> popularized by right-wing Internet pundits. Even our bishops--or at least their advisory staff--are readily written out of the Church if their support for Catholic social teaching makes them politically suspect. I have never heard Fr. Corapi preach, but it frightens me to think that he helped form the religious faith of people who now think of themselves as more Catholic than the successors of the apostles.Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16858192358085762357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595608247665759734.post-69601503424602823322011-06-20T10:42:38.947-07:002011-06-20T10:42:38.947-07:00Bravo Zulu.Bravo Zulu.Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01819831282677092730noreply@blogger.com