tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post3758393273895504700..comments2024-02-14T03:56:12.027-08:00Comments on La Salette Journey: Catholic Free Press columnist Stacy Trasancos: Faithful to the Magisterium?Paul Anthony Melansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08455719838570381999noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-77331521852920279122012-02-13T06:15:54.519-08:002012-02-13T06:15:54.519-08:00"We know that by the end of the first century..."We know that by the end of the first century the Roman Catholic Church was established and there can be little doubt that the cultural influences of that time and place affected the doctrine [that only men are called to the ministerial priesthood]. We do also know that the Church has evolved over time and that part of theology's goal is to communicate faith to changing cultures. For these reasons, maybe the question of women in the priesthood will remain unsettled.."<br /><br />How is the question unsettled? Bizarre. And the argument that Jesus was influenced by the culture is nothing less a demonic attack on the Lord Jesus and His authority. As E.L. Mascall explains, "If the supporters of women priests are right, then Our Lord in instituting an exclusively male apostolate, was doing something which has deprived half the members of the Church from their legitimate rights for nearly 2,000 years. And it would be difficult in that case to feel very confident of either his moral or his intellectual integrity. And then it is difficult to see why we should attribute any authority to him at all."Blakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-91436925092351553012012-02-12T04:40:16.937-08:002012-02-12T04:40:16.937-08:00Lumen Gentium 25 says: "Among the principal d...Lumen Gentium 25 says: "Among the principal duties of bishops the preaching of the Gospel occupies an eminent place. For bishops are preachers of the faith, who lead new disciples to Christ, and they are authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach to the people committed to them the faith they must believe and put into practice, and by the light of the Holy Spirit illustrate that faith. They bring forth from the treasury of Revelation new things and old, making it bear fruit and vigilantly warding off any errors that threaten their flock. Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking."<br /><br />Stacy Trasancos isn't showing that "religious submission of mind and will" called for by Vatican II when she suggests that the Church's teaching on this issue might "remain unsettled."<br /><br />Imagine if a Catholic wrote: "The attitude of pushing for abortion and contraception is wrong....perhaps the question of a woman's right to choose abortion or to use artificial birth control will remain unsettled. There isn't any hard logic to support the idea that these practices are always sinful and that the Church's teaching cannot be changed"<br /><br />Once the Church has addressed a matter definitively, the matter is - for the faithful Catholic - closed.<br /><br />Period.Ellen Wironkenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15037753678014941848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-14738287491521533692012-02-12T03:55:35.267-08:002012-02-12T03:55:35.267-08:00Right Mike. The Church's teaching that women ...Right Mike. The Church's teaching that women cannot be ordained has been set forth definitively. And Canon 750 ยง 2. of the Code of Canon Law states that:<br /><br />"..each and everything set forth definitively by the Magisterium of the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals must be firmly accepted and held; namely, those things required for the holy keeping and faithful exposition of the deposit of faith; therefore, anyone who rejects propositions which are to be held definitively sets himself against the teaching of the Catholic Church."<br /><br />It is not sufficient for Trasancos to acknowledge that "the attitude pushing for change [on women's ordination] is wrong." By suggesting that the teaching is not supported by hard logic and can still change, Trasancos is not firmly accepting and holding a teaching which has been "set forth definitively by the Magisterium of the Church."<br /><br />Trasancos' attitude strikes me as most arrogant. The Church teaches with the authority of Jesus Christ. To suggest that the Church's teaching in this matter, which reflects the mind of Christ and which has been set forth infallibly by the Supreme Pontiff, does not rest upon "hard logic" is arrogant and opposed to that religious submission of mind and will called for in Lumen Gentium, No. 25.Paul Anthony Melansonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08455719838570381999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-15255635972242833902012-02-12T02:31:51.487-08:002012-02-12T02:31:51.487-08:00Even though Stacy admits that, "the attitude ...Even though Stacy admits that, "the attitude pushing for change is wrong..", she still suggests that the Church's teaching is not supported by "hard logic" and suggests that it could change. In light of the Vatican's infallible ban, such a statement is very disturbing.Michael Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17489929697997071892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-71605917604146584792012-02-12T02:07:26.286-08:002012-02-12T02:07:26.286-08:00Vatican Ban on Women Priest Is Infallible
by Pau...Vatican Ban on Women Priest Is Infallible <br /><br />by Paul Likoudis <br /><br />Challenge Magazine January, 1996<br /><br />Determined to put a stop to a three decades long campaign waged by <br />dissenting theologians and renegade religious to open the Catholic <br />priesthood to women, the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith released <br />a statement November 18 saying the Church's traditional ban on women <br />priest "requires definitive assent...(and) has been set forth infallibly by <br />the ordinary and universal Magisterium."<br /><br />The teaching that the Church possesses no authority to ordain women, <br />declared the letter, "is to be held always, everywhere, and by all, as <br />belonging to the deposit of faith."<br /><br />The letter, signed by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the <br />Congregation, was accompanied by a cover letter insisting that bishops <br />"will do everything possible to ensure its distribution and favourable <br />reception, taking particular care that, above all on the part of theologians, <br />pastors of souls, and religious, ambiguous and contrary positions will not <br />again be proposed."<br /><br />Invoking the word "infallible" in the letter, explained Father Augustine <br />DeNoia, a theological advisor to the US Bishops, means that "to teach the <br />contrary is equivalent to leading consciences into error."<br /><br />For the ordinary Catholic, the so-called "person in the pew" who has to <br />read women's ordination agitprop in his parish bulletin, the young <br />student who is required to believe in women's ordination as a pre-<br />requisite for Confirmation, the seminarian who must agree women <br />should be ordained as a requirement for continuing his studies, this <br />Vatican letter will come as a great support. <br /><br />For, now he can tell women's ordination advocates that they are not <br />Catholic. For, as those on both sides of the battle agree, the essence of this <br />recent statement is that those who will not accept Church teaching on <br />ordination are not Catholic. <br /><br />The Pope is not only "aiming to shut the door on debate about women's <br />ordination" as Catholic New Service reporter John Thavis wrote from <br />Rome, but he has made it clear that dissenters on the issue are out of the <br />Church.<br /><br />One of North America's most prominent dissenting theologians, Father <br />Richard McBrien of Notre Dame university realized this immediately, as <br />he told the New York Times: "If the pope wants us to believe that the <br />prohibition against the ordination of women is a matter of divine law <br />and divine faith such that the denial of this teaching is a heresy, then that <br />puts everyone who disagrees outside the Church. Is that what is being <br />said?<br /><br />Precisely, says Archbishop J. Francis Stafford of Denver. The issue of <br />women's ordination has been explored exhaustively, and now "it is time <br />to move on.<br /><br />"The Church's teaching is definitive, and has been set forth infallibly by <br />formal declaration. It will not and cannot change. Therefore, for those <br />who see with the eyes of faith, the matter is resolved."<br /><br />http://www.ewtn.com/library/<br />ISSUES/VATBAN.TXT<br /><br />I've had letters to the editor of the CFP which also weren't published. I really do think they try to manipulate opinion in this way still. I still remember the moratorium on Fr. McBrien. While the CFP wouldn't publish letters to the editor expressing concern over the dissenting priest's views, his column continued to be published every week.<br /><br />Same old nonsense at the CFP.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-55749229426338116402012-02-11T13:39:41.719-08:002012-02-11T13:39:41.719-08:00I received an email this afternoon from an individ...I received an email this afternoon from an individual who wanted to know how to respond to people who promote women's ordination by citing the text from Galatians 3: 27-28, specifically the passage which reads, "There is no longer either male or female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ." Saint Paul precedes this passage with these words: "For all you who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ."<br /><br />This Scripture has three parallels in the epistles of Saint Paul. In Romans 10:12, St. Paul observes that since all men are saved who all on the name Jesus, who confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in their heart that God has raised Him from the dead, "there is no difference, no diastole at all between Jew and Greek."<br /><br />To the Church at Corinth, St. Paul recalls that "we have all been baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greeks, whether bond or free; we have all been made to drink into one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:13).<br /><br />And to the Colossians, where St. Paul is describing the behavior proper to those who, being baptized, are risen with Christ, he teaches his readers that, since they have put off the old man and have put on the new man who does not cease to be renewed after the image of Him who created him, they must know that "there is no longer here either Jew or Greek, either circumcised or uncircumcised, either barbarian or Scythian, either bond or free, but Christ who is all in all." (Colossians 3:11).<br /><br />As Fr. Miceli explains, "Only the first of these four texts mentions that there are no longer male or female in Christ. But as shown clearly from the context, all four texts are intimately connected with baptism and have nothing to do with the ministry of the priesthood. Because baptism is sufficient for salvation since Christ's coming, circumcision is no longer needed. Women are no longer passed over by an initiating seal into the people of God. In what relates to their salvation they receive the same necessary rebirth in Christ and the Holy Spirit that men receive."Paul Anthony Melansonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08455719838570381999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-22585550669780632242012-02-11T13:00:01.578-08:002012-02-11T13:00:01.578-08:002,000 years of unbroken Tradition based on the fac...2,000 years of unbroken Tradition based on the fact that Christ called only men isn't enough "hard logic" for Trasancos. An infallible statement from the Roman Pontiff doesn't quite cut it for her. A mind darkened.HolyCross2012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-36813055530033018272012-02-11T12:17:14.192-08:002012-02-11T12:17:14.192-08:00Trasancos writes, "We do also know that the C...Trasancos writes, "We do also know that the Church has evolved over time and that part of theology's goal is to communicate faith to changing cultures. For these reasons, maybe the question of women in the priesthood will remain unsettled.."<br /><br />While it is true that doctrine does develop, it does not develop in the same way as knowledge in other fields. Divine Revelation and faith do not originate in human observation and reasoning and their truth transcends the cultural forms in which they were first expressed. Trasancos appears to believe that religious knowledge progresses like other kinds of knowledge where mistakes in observation, errors in reasoning and cultural limits are gradually overcome.<br /><br />The Church can never contradict the truth which she has received from God. Therefore, development of doctrine cannot ever call into question anything which Catholics as a whole have held with faith in earlier times.<br /><br />Pope Paul VI warns that, "Among our contemporaries, the religious sense which provides faith with a kind of natural foundation is growing weaker. But Catholic belief, too, is being contaminated. Ideas are appearing in the field of exegesis and theology which have their origin in certain bold but misleading philosophical theories and which cast doubt upon or narrow down the full meaning of the truths which the Church has taught with her rightful authority. There is a pretense that religion must be adapted to the contemporary mind; the directive wisdom of the Church's teaching authority is scorned; theological inquiry is remodeled to suit the principles of 'historicism'; the divine inspiration and historical truth of Sacred Scripture are boldly denied: in short, God's People are being encouraged to adopt a new, so-called 'post-conciliar' attitude of mind." (Petrum et Paulum, AAS 59 (1967) 198, The Pope Speaks 12 (1967): 141).Paul Anthony Melansonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08455719838570381999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-36121574295995405572012-02-11T11:13:15.830-08:002012-02-11T11:13:15.830-08:00How is the question of women's ordination unse...How is the question of women's ordination unsettled? Trasancos doesn't accept Pope John Paul II's infallible decision in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, No. 4 then.<br /><br />She is not only challenging the Magisterium, she is openly rejecting the Pope's authoritative and infallible judgment by presenting the Church's teaching as an unresolved matter.Jonathannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-77686116944621019642012-02-11T10:33:38.407-08:002012-02-11T10:33:38.407-08:00Trasancos' claim that, "There isn't a...Trasancos' claim that, "There isn't any hard logic to support the idea that the concrete forms of the ecclesiastical offices cannot be changed," is nothing less than an attack on the Church's authoritative teaching regarding women's ordination.<br /><br />She is saying here that the Church's teaching that women cannot be ordained does not rest on hard logic.<br /><br />Trasancos is a dissenter. And her column should be removed from the Catholic Free Press immediately.Michael Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17489929697997071892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-41875596945500641692012-02-11T08:54:29.886-08:002012-02-11T08:54:29.886-08:00Just great....that's EXACTLY what this diocese...Just great....that's EXACTLY what this diocese needs, another promoter of Catholicism-Lite who believes that she is wiser than the Magisterium...Worcester continues to suffer from a crisis of infidelity.<br /><br />Sad.ShrewsburyCatholicnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-79325765141666322992012-02-11T08:26:22.962-08:002012-02-11T08:26:22.962-08:00I don't think you can get published in the CFP...I don't think you can get published in the CFP unless you support either women's ordination, homosexuality or New Age spirituality - think of the "Commission for Women." You must pass a sort of litmus test for dissent.ACatholicinClintonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-16296858191814106982012-02-11T07:39:39.071-08:002012-02-11T07:39:39.071-08:00Trasancos is yet another wolf in sheep's cloth...Trasancos is yet another wolf in sheep's clothing. God help the Worcester Diocese!Wendynoreply@blogger.com