www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Bishop promoting vocations

Here is a bishop doing something about vocations...What are our eastern bishops doing?

http://kansascitycatholic.blogspot.com/2007/06/vocations-step-by-step.html

Anna,

Thanks for this post. As one of his seminarians wrote in the comments to the blog:

Lord, send workers into your harvest East, West and in between.

Thanks for this Anna.

I have heard many good things about this Bishop from my conservative friends but my liberal friends hate him because he closed the Peace and Justice center and other liberal agencies.

God be praised for a Bishop who has the courage to act like a Bishop leading his flock.

Holly

Anytime, and I mean anytime, you see the phrases 'peace and justice' or 'social justice' it means that marxists are at work to create anything but peace and justice. In the Eparchy of Parma newspaper Horizons, a Father John Rausch wirtes a bi-monthly column called 'Issues of Justice'. Sure enough, total anti-American, Marxist and Communist drivel.

This Bishop should be made Cardinal of LA and clean up the mess that Cardinal Mahoney has created out there.


Monomakh

I googled him and found this:


Sounds like your commentary is fair. But to be honest, the Church (from the Gospel's through the Fathers right down to the "Social Doctrine of the Church") has always had a prophetic word to say about the world we live in.

I hope they leave Bishop Flinn where he is -- he's having a big impact there, and the people love him. It's going to take a "Bishop Hercules" to cleanup the Augean stables of LA!

That's simply not true. I have written about "social justice" concerns in some of my papers for theology courses. I am by no means a Marxist. I think numerous other examples can be found. Some of us believe that capitalism should not be unfettered or unregulated. That makes us neither Marxist nor un-American. Capitalism very easily arouses greed-and sometimes in terrific quanity. That is not to say that it should be ditched for communism. Aside from the Marxist commitment to atheism and its denial of human freedom, the history of the twentieth century shows what a collossal failure communism is. What is needed to counter the unpleasant aspects of capitalism is not communism; rather, institutional commitment to the dignity of all persons and to the common good, as well as care for the poor, which are all taught by the Church, are what are needed to counter the greed that is often the unfortunate result of capitalism.

Ryan

Ryan is absolutely right. The OT prophets beginning with Amos continually preached social justice. The Psalms, too, talk of mercy and justice being required before sacrifice would be acceptable. The prophets were quoted by the evangelists, and the earliest Christians in Acts had all things in common. St. John Chrysostom got in hot water with the empress because of his pointed homilies against the luxuries and excesses of the court in the face of poverty among the lower classes.

This is not Marxism; it's Christianity. Rather than the State being the driving force, mercy and justice must derive from the love of God which overflows through us onto our fellow man. Christians must be in the vanguard of promoting justice for all. That a single person should die from the cold in the winter or the heat in the summer is a sin. That a single child should go hungry is a sin.

Ryan and Sophia,

I think you are confusing rhetoric with reality. We all agree that Communinism is a curse but I've never heard those slogans used by authentic prophets or by anyone but Marxists. Those are specialized terms that indicate Marxism.

CDL

Carson:

I agree with you that "peace and justice" and "social justice" are terms/phrases that have been used by Marxists. However, to say that absolutely everytime those phrases are spoken/written that it is the work of Marxists simply is not true. As I wrote in my previous post, I have written about "social justice" concerns in theologial papers. I am by no means Marxist. Others who are not Marxist have used this terminology as well. When I speak of "social justice," it would be in reference to questions such as race, the economy, and access to services, such as health care, as opposed to justice in the sense of the criminal courts or a civil lawsuit involving only two parties. "Peace" and "justice" are both terms that one will find in English translations of Holy Scripture, as I know you, as someone with an extensive theological education, are aware. Just because Marxists have sometimes employed these terms in their propaganda does not mean that the Church should abandon them. However, exactly because they have been used by Marxists, Christians should take care to show that when addressing matters of "peace" and "social justice," they are not advocating Marxism. The "Compendium of the Social Doctine of the Church," itself uses "social justice" at least in one place where it states, "The legitimate requirements of economic efficiency need to be better harmonized with those of political participation and social justice." This is found in Chapter 12, II., e., 3, (564). So, I ask, is the Roman Catholic Church Marxist?

Ryan

Ryan

CDL,

That's a BEAUTIFUL CHURCH pictured in your link, wish I could go there sometime.

Subdeacon,

If you are in the area of Homer Glen stop by anytime. On Sundays I am either the world's oldest altar boy or I'm standing by my young bride in the middle of the Church. Stop by and say "Glory to Jesus Christ"

CDL

I think that we are in agreement. I would agree with you and point that the good samaritan did not run to the government and tell them to take care of the situation, but rather he took it up on himself.

I think that you missed the point where I wrote: "to create anything but peace and justice" It's just that everytime someone starts using the term 'social justice' I start to get nervous because they don't mean social justice, they mean communism. Everytime people advocating social justice(which turned out to be Communism) it has resulted in millions dead). I give you another paralell example. The Democroatic Peoples Republic of North Korea is anything but a Democratic Peoples Republic. If another country started calling itself that, I would get nervous. Does this mean that I am against Democracy, absolutely not, in fact it would be the opposite.

Father John Rausch who writes a column in Horizons from time to time writes about 'Issues of Justice', which after reading his articles equates to the state running everything and 'taking care
of everyone.

You are correct it is Christians responsibilities to help the poor and afflicted, but it is not the states. In fact in the past almsgiving used to be a norm for Christians. I'd bet a lot that churches providing for the poor would go a lot further than a government agency taking a dollar and only providing say $0.30 back to the poor.

Monomakh