While I don't really know the ins and outs of how Catholics run their house, I feel like the claim being made here that the Pope sowing "chronic confusion" and teaching in an “intentionally ambiguous” seems to be something I've pointed to before as being an issue. Although I would probably say though that the Pope's ambiguousness has been more often un-intentional.Del wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2017 9:49 amPope Francis is not the problem.wosbald wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2017 7:02 am+JMJ+
After critical letter to pope, theologian resigns as consultant to U.S. bishops
Capuchin Father Thomas Weinandy. (Credit: Stock image.)
On the same day that an ex-chief of staff for the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine and a current member of the Vatican's International Theological Commission made public a critical letter he wrote to Pope Francis accusing him of sowing "chronic confusion," the U.S. bishops announced that Capuchin Father Thomas Weinandy has resigned as an adviser to the Committee on Doctrine.
After making public a letter he wrote to Pope Francis accusing the pontiff of sowing “chronic confusion” and teaching in an “intentionally ambiguous” manner, a former chief of staff for the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine has resigned as a consultant to the same committee.
The conference announced the resignation in a statement on Tuesday, the same day the letter by Capuchin Father Thomas Weinandy was published by Crux and other media outlets.
“After speaking with the General Secretary of the Conference today, Father Thomas Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap., has resigned, effective immediately, from his position as consultant to the USCCB Committee on Doctrine,” the bishops’ statement said.
“The work of the committee is done in support of, and in affective collegiality with, the Holy Father and the Church in the United States. Our prayers go with Father Weinandy as his service to the committee comes to a close,” it said.
At the same time, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, released a separate statement saying Weinandy’s resignation illustrates the nature of constructive discussion in the Church.
“Throughout the history of the Church, ministers, theologians and the laity all have debated and have held personal opinions on a variety of theological and pastoral issues. In more recent times, these debates have made their way into the popular press. That is to be expected, and is often good,” DiNardo said.
“However, these reports are often expressed in terms of opposition, as political - conservative vs. liberal, left vs. right, pre-Vatican II vs Vatican II. These distinctions are not always very helpful,” he said.
“Christian charity needs to be exercised by all involved. In saying this, we all must acknowledge that legitimate differences exist, and that it is the work of the Church, the entire body of Christ, to work towards an ever-growing understanding of God’s truth,” DiNardo said.
DiNardo appeared to suggest that Weinandy’s letter failed to afford a necessary benefit of the doubt to the pope’s positions. …
His teachings only seem "confusing" because our age is confused.
Francis tells us to look at our problems, so we can start to find solutions.
It doesn't help us that our political "left" and "right" are both insane, and so Francis does not support either side of the political spectrum. Part of our own problem is that we keep looking to governments for solutions to problems that governments can't solve -- like defining gender, or marriage, or changing the climate. We we need to do for ourselves.
Now for at time you guys had convinced me that the Pope is more consistent with Catholic doctrine than his critics claim. I accepted it as a portion of my ignorance of things Roman Catholic over the fact that I found him often at odds with certain longstanding Roman Catholic held doctrines. You all have more or less said he's being clear and consistent with Roman Catholic doctrine and I've accepted that for the time being, leaning on your all's credibility as folks inside the house despite what I see looking through the window.
But what do I do when people on the inside, and even people closer to the Pope, start saying the same thing I was saying before my education? While I'm a Protestant, I'm certainly not an opponent of Francis the man, and I frankly have often found much of what he says to be encouraging (before it's explained back inside the fence). Then after speaking with all of you, if I'm allowed an opinion on the subject, where I used to think the Pope very confusing, I now think the Pope isn't that confusing at all. I'm certainly not confused when I hear what he says, but apparently a number of Catholics are confused at what he says...and that I now realize, is what was leading to my initial confusion. And the fact that he's being accused of sowing continual confusion by folks inside the house, makes me wonder if I'm more right about him than I've been led to believe.
And this isn't political for me. My confusion over the Pope's comments was less about the Pope's comments and more about the comments from folks within the house who were confused about the Pope's comments. Follow? So circle back to the beginning. If I find the Pope's comments to be clear, and Catholics find the Pope's comments to be confusing (particularly, I suspect, because a person like me does find them to be clear), then at the very least, the Roman Catholics have a problem on their hands with the Pope. That problem is that he's either very clear, or absolutely unclear. This leads me to think that it's less that our age is confused, less that the Pope is confused, and more that the Roman Catholic Church is confused. I have a feeling that's the real problem that this Pope is exposing.