Could you imagine sitting in on a conversation between George W. Bush and Pope Benedict XVI? And they say us academic theory-heads are difficult to understand!
(courtesy of Nate Hinerman, San Francisco philosopher and Gold Cane regular)
Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) Selected Quotable Quotes:
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. "Magisterium of the Church, Faith, Morality." In Curran and McCormick. Readings in Moral Theology, No. 2., p.186.
In the process of assimilating what is really rational and rejecting what only seems to be rational, the whole Church has to play a part. This process cannot be carried out in every detail by an isolated Magisterium, with oracular infallibility. The life and suffering of Christians who profess their faith in the midst of their times has just as important a part to play as the thinking and questioning of the learned, which would have a very hollow ring without the backing of Christian existence, which learns to discern spirits in the travail of everyday life.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. THE RATZINGER REPORT: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church. 1985. p. 134.
The Eucharist presupposes the other sacraments and points towards them. But Eucharist also presupposes personal prayer, prayer in the family and extra-liturgical prayer in community. ... two of the deepest and most fruitful prayers of Christendom; which are always leading us anew into the mighty river of the Eucharist: the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary. If nowadays we are so dangerously exposed to the attractions of Asiatic religious practices; it is surely in part because we have forgotten these prayers.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Moral Theology Today: Certitudes and Doubts, 1984, p. 340, listing all the probable causes for theological dissent :
He [the dissenter] may not have understood the [magisterial] statement. He may have misunderstood another statement which affects his understanding of this one. The causes of dissent in a person can even be of an entirely sentimental kind. He may, after all, not like his bishop!
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Ibid., p. 339.
... dissent is a free act of the person which involves him in the taking of an intellectual stand, with no claimable support from the enlightening Spirit of truth, but which nevertheless puts distance between the one who dissent s and the ones who do not. Dissent is not a parlor game, it is serious business and should be recognized as such, not only by the Church, but also by the person who decides to take the dissenting position. Isolation of anyone in a community is a problem.
7 comments:
you will burn in eternal hell for putting those quotes in my brain...bad enough we had to listen to Bush BS and his slight slurring and incoherencve, now this? You are evil incarnate!!
:) Your welcome! Don't forget to thank Nate as well!
"two of the deepest and most fruitful prayers of Christendom; which are always leading us anew into the mighty river of the Eucharist: the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary. If nowadays we are so dangerously exposed to the attractions of Asiatic religious practices; it is surely in part because we have forgotten these prayers."
"... dissent is a free act of the person which involves him in the taking of an intellectual stand, with no claimable support from the enlightening Spirit of truth, but which nevertheless puts distance between the one who dissent s and the ones who do not. Dissent is not a parlor game, it is serious business and should be recognized as such, not only by the Church, but also by the person who decides to take the dissenting position. Isolation of anyone in a community is a problem."
These quotes, unless I am misreading them, are the two that di it for me. The former basicakky says that we need to stop the rise of Asian religions, just guessung here but I believe he is speaking of Muslim or Hindu. The latter says that the dissent against church policy is great, but that because there is "... dissent is a free act of the person which involves him in the taking of an intellectual stand, with no claimable support from the enlightening Spirit of truth,..." basically says " hey dude it is OK for you to disagree but I am more holy than thou so STFU and follow my infallible reasoning". So we have bigotted quotes against certain religions, we have a I am right because the Holy Spirit works through me not you, and we need more religion, i.e. community prayer to survive. This type of religious zealotry deserves to be mocked and made known to the public.
Abby
John,
Lighten up, sometimes I have people gving me a hard time for being too serious, now I have people giving me a hard time for a bit of frivolity...
I find Bennie's theorization to be aggressive, patronizing and couched in a history of blood (the knife behind the back while encouraging dissent). It is also obtuse and shows little attempt to reach out past fellow insiders--poor communication skills or a lack of concern for input beyond the inner circle.
If you think that load of bullshit by Benedict I posted is leftist then you are obviously operating in a fantasy land--maybe you traveled so far left you ended up on the right--anyways these dualisms are ridiculous... Bennie is contemptous of those that dissent and he clearly outlines this in his statements quoted in the post.
I don't view the pope as an adversary--do you? Why? I have bigger, more dangerous, fish to fry (see the articles on American evangelicals in may's Harper's). I'm not making fun of him for being smart, I'm making fun of him fo being purposely misleading and obtuse--there is a big difference. I don't make fun of Dubya for being dumb (I don't believe he is dumb) I make fun of him for his dangerous fantasies (likewise the Pope, who truly believes he is generous in regards to dissent, but would stamp it out if it appeared--the equivalent of our presidential "compassionate conservative"--plain, old-fashioned, manipulative deception, or delusional fantasies--you pick!)
I just visited your website about grassroot politics and while you have some interesting "monologues" going on, its strange that you theorize about the possibility of grassroots politics in this context-free, ahistorical, generalized manner--where are the examples... check out this site I designed for some grassroot activists for an example of outlining some specifics: http://grandparentcoalition.blogspot.com
Abby, I agree completely!
Peace!
John,
You asked, I responded, that is the spirit of this collective venture!
Once this hell week is over and I have graded my last paper, I'll trip on over to your site and engage your postings--I'm very interested in the subject.
Rickenharp,
Thanks for the insights--on this side of the Atlantic the only spectre that the media raised was also the Hitler youth membership, which, to me, was most likely something many kids did simply because it was expected. We could forgive Ratzinger for this as he was a child, whereas we could condemn Martin Heidegger for his choices because he was an adult intellectual who should have known better (or did and now covers it up--too bad as Heidegger's thought I do admire and this causes me much discomfort). The (mainstream) media, intentionally or unintentionally, once again dropped the ball and failed to inform the public about the past/present roles/acts of their new pope.
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