Posted by tantamergo in asshatery, disaster, episcopate, error, foolishness,General Catholic, persecution, priests, scandals, secularism, silliness, Society.
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I posted yesterday two Vortex videos which showed Fr. Tom Rosica of Salt+Light TV interviewing noted apostate Gregory Baum. I’ve already noted how Rosica gushed over his admiration for the man who many view as doing more damage to the Church in Canada than any other individual.
But there was another statement Fr. Rosica made that deserves further commentary, because I’ve heard it before and it’s one of those progressive shibolleths that is wielded as a weapon but is, in fact, nonsense. I am referring to Fr. Rosica’s attack against critics of the heretical Baum, those Rosica himself called orthodox but who lamented always seem to be angry and not joyful like the enlightened progressive crowd. The implication is, that any true Catholic would be joyful, and thus the false, worldly joy of the progressives is a prime indicator of their superior Catholicism. This is wrong on many levels, and is really a pretty brutish form of attack.
Ever read much St. Paul? We should all know his famous statement to the Colossians: “I work out my salvation with fear and trembling.” This is the, I’ll say it, Catholic view of salvation. As I wrote extensively yesterday, no one knows in this life whether they are saved or not. It seems, to me, an unacknowledged acceptance of the protestant error of “once saved always saved” that leads to beliefs like those of Rosica, which assume that one should be joyful since one is very confident of salvation. Most all traditional Catholics I know are positive – they trust in God, they look to their salvation, but they are also cognizant of the fallen nature of all of us and know that any of us can descend into sin at any moment. For some of us, it would be a descent back into sin – we’ve already been there, know the misery of it, so we are constantly watchful that we don’t start evidencing those behaviors hat would lead us back down the wide path of destruction. So, most orthodox Catholics have a certain seriousness about them, because the eternal destination of our soul is deadly serious business. It is a far more realistic attitude than the “happy happy joy joy” liberal protestantism of the progressive wing of the Church.
But, it’s a very sly statement, isn’t it? It’s sort of a way to shame the opposition – “oh, you orthodox, you claim to be faithful, but why aren’t you joyful? If you really believed in Christ, you’d be incredibly confident of your eternal destination and you wouldn’t go around all serious all the time.” It’s exactly the types of behaviors Fr. Rosica has engaged in for decades to try to undermine traditional Catholic practices and advance the progressive cause. It is the height of the passive-aggressive, feminized mentality of the post-Vatican II Church.
Michael also notes: we faithful Catholics have a lot to be serious, even upset, about. We look around and see a Church in ruins – it’s not exactly a time for feigned positivism and irrational exuberance.
Another factor regarding the progressives “happiness:” they receive the accolades of the world, they are right there with the world on all manner of subjects, so they’re not serving in the uncomfortable position of being a sign of contradiction. Expressing fashionable left wing economic and political beliefs is not a sign of contradiction – having a bunch of kids, dressing modestly, rejecting most popular culture, etc…….those are signs of contradiction.
That doesn’t mean we should be constantly beat down and grumpy, as I’ve seen from time to time. But we should be serious, committed, on the positive side, but fully realistic about the challenges the Church faces, and our own personal challenges to achieve salvation.
The scandal of Gregory Baum and the Canadian Church – UPDATED December 4, 2012
Posted by tantamergo in Abortion, asshatery, Basics, catachesis, contraception,disaster, error, Eucharist, foolishness, General Catholic, priests, sadness,scandals, sexual depravity, sickness.3 comments
A little off topic for this blog, but it is in the same vein as the posts I’ve done previously on this blog and the radio show I did last Thursday night. Former Father Gregory Baum has been one of the most influential theologians in the revolutionary sect of the Church which sprang into being during and after Vatican II, and his influence has been most thoroughly felt in Canada. Indeed, it was Gregory Baum who, according to Anne Roche Muggeridge penned most of the Canadian bishop’s execrable “Winnipeg Statement” in which they, collectively, apostasized, by rejecting the timeless and authoritative Doctrine on contraception. If that had been the limit of Baum’s baleful influence, it would have been enough to mark him as one of the most destructive theologians of the 20th century. But he’s done far more than that.
About a month ago, Michael Voris ran some videos that discussed Baum, and another figure, Fr. Tom Rosica, the head of the tiny Salt+Light TV network that runs in parts of Canada and the US northeast. It’s a rather liberal competitor to EWTN. I have read some very disturbing things regarding Fr. Rosica. He has worked behind the scenes to try to undermine, persecute, or otherwise destroy certain blogs and websites he dislikes. He’s been pretty hard on LifeSiteNews, in particular. But even given what I knew about Fr. Rosica, his penchant for progressive thought and his distaste of more traditional Catholics, I was shocked that he would bring Gregory Baum onto his network and give him a glowing introduction, and refer to him as someone who “loves his theology,” which makes plain this wasn’t some cross-examination of a controversial figure, this was Rosica giving a platform to a theological dissident – heck, a manifest heretic – to proclaim his error as truth and to undermine the faith of a few thousand more Catholics. It’s more than shameful. It’s diabolical, to present the man who, I agree, has probably done more to destroy the Church in Canada than any other person (and that’s saying something, because the Church in the US is like 13th Century France compared to Canada) as some great hero and inspiration. It tells us, I think, all we need to know of Fr. Rosica.
The relevant portion in the video below begins at around the 3:00 mark:
Rosica does have some very powerful friends, it seems. The progressive faction is still pretty dominant in Canada.
This video contains much more, the most relevant portion beginning around 4:00:
Michael Voris fisks this damnable interview quite well, so I’ll only add one bit. When Fr. Rosica tries to sell his vision of a progressive church enlightened by the “spirit of Vatican II,” is he appealing to people’s better angels? Is it an appeal to people’s better angels to encourage them to terminate their children, sterilize themselves, engage in perverse sex, radically redefine marriage no matter the devastation that may be caused in individual lives and the culture, etc? Is this a call to virtue? Or is the attempted duping of minimally involved Catholic masses, who might “buy” the concept of the Church “changing her teachings” for the carrot of radically
relaxed obliterated moral standards, an appeal to the very basest, most fallen aspects of mankind?
One final note on Baum, which sort of puts that whole sordid period of the Church in perspective. That former nun/sister he married? She was already divorced, and they divorced a few years later. Baum has never reconciled with the Church.
UPDATE: I forgot. Fr. Rosica made this condescending, self-serving reply to Voris here. What do you make of that? To me, Fr. Rosica has no argument to make in response to Voris’ very well placed ire. So, he tries to change the subject.
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