Tuesday, July 03, 2007

This Guy Doesn't Really Get It

Evidently "Faithful Catholic" doesn't really get it.

I don't want this blog to be overly negative, but I do not understand this capital campaign at all as reported in the Catholic Herald.

...This just seems like an excuse to put forward his Catholic schools agenda. He states that the money will be for all religious ed programs, but who uses more money under the auspices of religious ed than Catholic schools. Catholic schools are huge money pits compared to your average Sunday school program.

A fact which was also noticed by our ex-Abp., Rembert Weakland, OSB. That's why he imposed a 'minimum-%-of-cost' rule which required parishes to collect more money from parents with children in parish schools.

Since then, of course, Catholic parish schools have been closing left-and-right.

Not that Catholic schools is a bad thing to support, but he definitely did not ask anyone I know if we wanted to make that the number one priority in this Archdiocese. It's all very disappointing.

No mention from F.C. exactly what SHOULD be the #1 priority.

Allow me to assist F.C., quoting his own blog:

It was a real shame when St. Francis closed. It still boggles my mind. Two and a half years ago, the Archbishop sets up a committee to put their ears to the ground, do some research, and give him a recommendation about the future of St. Francis. They report to him that it is very important to keep St. Francis open, especially since it gives future lay ministers & priests a chance to connect before they get to the parish and work together. So the Archbishop responds, Bravo, let's keep it open. Only to close the Seminary a year later.

In fact, an orthodox Seminary is THE #1 priority for the Archdiocese, whether sub-contracted (as ours is, more or less) or direct. With that settled, (orthodox) parochial schools are easily the next priority--as Catholic education, in the fullest sense, is the antidote to What's Wrong With the World.

So F.C. was right--it was a shame, kinda. What would have been worse? Keeping the Seminary open as a "meet-and-greet" ground for Ordination-track candidates and the "lay Church leaders" (whatever that actually means) who are 90+% females.

Reading through FC's posts leaves one with the impression that it might be parody.

For example, FC gives us this gem, right out of Jack Chick:

The real reason there are not women priests right now is that until recently, women were not considered whole human beings. Both Augustine and Aquinas state as much. And the reason that marriend men are not ordained priests in the Roman Church is because Rome does not want priests saying Mass who have just had sex. There are numerous documents throughout the ages by bishops and theologians asking priests not to "descrate" themselves with their wives before celebrating Mass.

Uh-huh. There's too much there to fisk. Maybe better put, there's too little there to fisk...

And then there's this, part of FC's first actual real-live blog entry:

... I think it is possible that John Paul "The Great" may go down in history as the man responsible for killing the Catholic Church.

"Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated" was quipped forth by Mark Twain. Seems to apply here, too...

5 comments:

xxxxxx said...

Faithful Catholic is an idiot.

I wonder how Faithful Catholic would feel if we actually did have married priests. Would he be willing to support, through his donations, a married Catholic priest and his wife, plus the many children God might possibly bless them with?

Has he any familiarity with real Catholic teaching or is he so far gone in what Father Dissent tells him? The answer is obvious.

It's sad that he feels there is no reason to have catholic schools. Maybe if we had better catholic schools it would eliminate the need for "future lay ministers".

Dad29 said...

It's still possible that it's parody, Diana.

But I would be VERY interested in citations of recent (say from 1700AD forward) "documents" of the Church which forbid priest/wife carrying-on prior to Mass...

Fr. Erik Richtsteig said...

What do you expect from a person whose favorite books are by Karl Rahner and Raymond Brown.

Closing St. Francis is a good step, but relying on Hales Corners for theology is not.

Dad29 said...

There are some questions about Hales Corners.

But Abp Dolan is not the sort who would send his seminarians to Lincoln's sem, either.

Brother James said...

I love how dissenters love to call themselves 'faithful catholics', then parade their favourite heresies and ecclesiastic fantasies for the listener/reader.

Catholic Education is a high priority in Lincoln, and my children are currently benefitting from the Diocese's focus on it. The tuition at the school is very inexpensive, thanks to a couple well-managed endowments, and lots of parent and parishoner involvement in maintenance, supplies, and programs. There's no other way that $30K/yr Joe Blow could send his three kids to a Catholic school.