http://www.patheos.com/Library/Roman-Catholicism.html
The PATHEOS portal advertises itself as “hosting the conversation of faith,” however— it does more than this, it seeks to reframe and/or to delineate religious truth. While several good Catholic blogs are hosted; it seeks neutrality with other religious or non-religious systems that is not possible without compromise and contradiction. For instance, while admitting that Catholicism “traces its history to Jesus of Nazareth,” which it defines as merely an “itinerant preacher,” the quick facts given stipulate the following:
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The Roman Catholic Church formed between the 3rd to the 5th centuries C.E.
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The bishops formed a “universal” church.
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The exact date of the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church is indeterminable.
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Many historians suggest that Pope Leo I (440-461) is the first to claim universal jurisdiction over the worldwide Church, thus initiating the rise of the papacy, a uniquely Roman Catholic structure.
While the nomenclature of “Roman Catholic” and “Pope” develops over time, the Church is directly instituted by Jesus Christ, God-made-man. The apostles were bishop-priests. There was no generic first and second century Christianity. Those who accepted Christ in faith and baptism were Catholic Christians. All the apostles and disciples were Catholic. The Virgin Mary was a Catholic. Jesus calls Simon ROCK or Peter and says that he will build his Church on this ROCK. He gives Peter the keys to the kingdom and universal jurisdiction as his visible shepherd. While there is certainly development, all the important elements go back to Christ and the apostles. Anti-Catholic critics have long contended for the late institution of the Church. Revisionist Catholics, even in academia, spout similar nonsense. These are not credible historians, no matter what alphabet soup follows their names. It seems to me that while individual voices at PATHEOS are orthodox, the site is tainted by a religious relativism that spills over into the section about Catholicism. Might this represent the wrong type of ecumenism about which Pope Benedict XVI has warned us? I think so. There is no sense of the supernatural nature of Mother Church. Dissenting voices are given as much legitimacy as those which speak the truth. There is no imprimatur or protection to insure against misleading statements. Attempting to appease many authorities, there is a definite religious indifferentism and denominationalism. Both are contrary to Catholic teaching and are affronts to the truth.
Mark Shea has a good article on his blog (hosted at PATHEOS) entitled, “Why it’s Our Ruling Class vs. the Rest of Us.” It alerts us to media consolidation and control of information, even religious information. I did not even know that PATHEOS existed until after I looked at the post and had my eye drawn away to the ads and links. I found it very unsettling and confusing. I hope over time the problems can be fixed, but I fear a continuing tension and struggle over what is or is not genuine Catholicism.
Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Apologetics, Apostles, Bishops, Catholic, Church, Evangelization, Faith, Links, Magisterium, Patheos, Pope, Priests, Religion |
Blogger Priest 
There is only one true church. But how can that be true when there are so many churches that believe in the same God, use the bible for their study and preach goodwill toward men (and women). Are all those churches not churches?
My experience with priests has been mixed. Some followed the strict party line and would not deviate from the teachings of Rome even if they were outdated and made no sense. And if you check the record the rules were made by Popes who are men placed in a high position where they have great influence over people. They have the power as has been seen throughout history.
Did you ever wonder why Martin Luther left the RCC? Maybe he thought the people were being robbed by some bishop who bought his miter and was now going to get rich with his new found power? Maybe he saw a church that was unbending in its rules? Maybe he thought the people were more important that the priests?
I asked a priest one day while he was giving several of us boys the tour of the local seminary why priest couldn’t be married. His answer left me with more questions. I don’t know for sure, but I think the apostles were married. Some were women. Early priests were married. So why can’t a priest be married today? Do you think if they could marry that we would have more RCC priests right now instead of them leaving because they committed that grave sin of falling in love with a woman and getting married? I learned from a priest that I greatly respect that marriage was banned by a pope to save the RCC money by not having to take care of the widows and children when a priest died.
I guess that makes as much sense as saying a woman cannot be a priest because the apostles, the first(?) priests were all men. I guess since it wasn’t done before it can’t possibly be done now. Where would we be today if that same logic were applied to flying?
Mergers and control of communication/media can have a huge impact upon the transmission of our faith and values. After the release by Miramax (a Disney company) of the scandalous 1994 movie, PRIEST, Mother Angelica and Fr. Groeschel offered on EWTN what was to be the first awards program for anti-Catholic works. They awarded the film a “mocking” award and urged patrons to avoid the film. Eisner, the CEO for Disney, called them and told them that if they every did that again, EWTN would be taken off all their cable-systems and networks. Disney at that time had ownership (full or partial) in 80-90% of all cable television lines. Fr. Groeschel told me that they had no choice. The first awards program was their last and it was never seen again in repeats. Criticism was snuffed out.
I have similar worries today about the purchase of AMC movie theaters by China for 2.6 billion dollars. Rumored in the early planning stages is a film based upon the life of blind Chinese human rights activist, Chen Guangcheng, who has been vocal against China’s policy of forced abortions. If China owns the movie theaters, do we really think any such film would ever be allowed to see the light of day?
Many social network attempts, even by Christians and Catholics, have collapsed in light of FACEBOOK’s domination of the online market. FACEBOOK recently created some controversy by removing the photo of a child with a physical defect. The child’s mother was upset because she wanted to show her “beautiful” child to friends and family. However, others complained because the pictured disturbed them, especially since if they had their way the child would likely have been aborted. Those who control the mechanisms of communication and/or its transmission can censor or inhibit entirely the messages of others, even the free proclamation of Gospel faith and values.
The section on Gender and Sexuality (written by Cynthia Stewart) gives great weight to dissent against Pope John Paul II’s definitive definition that women cannot be ordained to the priesthood. Accepting the feminist paradigm, it is argued that such is an exercise of abusive male “politics and power” that looks down upon female humanity as somehow defective. What absolute garbage!
Questionable or Misleading Facts about Roman Catholicism at PATHEOS.COM:
FACT: Formed: 3rd – 5th centuries C.E.
FACT: Origin: Roman-Latin Empire
FACT: “Roman Catholicism is a worldwide religious tradition….”
FACT: “It traces its history to Jesus of Nazareth, an itinerant preacher….”
FACT: “Its members congregate in a communion of churches headed by bishops, whose role originated with the disciples of Jesus.”
FACT: “Over a period of some decades after Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, the bishops spread out across the world to form a “universal” (Greek, katholikos) church, ….”
FACT: “The exact date of the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church is indeterminable. While the belief system recognized as Christianity is in place by the first century, institutional structures developed over time. Nor is it possible to distinguish Catholicism as a separate tradition until it can be differentiated from other Christian traditions (most notably, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism).”
FACT: “440-461 – Pope Leo I. Many historians suggest that Pope Leo is the first to claim universal jurisdiction over the worldwide Church, thus initiating the rise of the papacy, a uniquely Roman Catholic structure.”
Christopher Bellitto:
FACT: “Jesus, of course, is the founder of Christianity, but he was not in the business of organizing an administrative bureaucracy.”
FACT: “It is easy to see here a borrowing from the Jewish system of elders, sometimes referred to by the Latin words saniores (older or wiser persons), presbyter, or sacerdos. In a sense, these are the founders of what became organized Roman Catholicism, but it is best to think of the first centuries of Christianity as a string of loosely-affiliated churches throughout the Roman Empire.”
FACT: “The bishop of Rome demanded, asserted, and increasingly achieved recognition not only of his unique prestige as Peter’s successor (primacy) but also of his jurisdictional supremacy. Callistus I (217-222) was the first bishop of Rome to specifically invoke Peter’s authority explicitly.”
FACT: “The Emperor Constantine’s favoring of the bishop of Rome in the early 4th century only strengthened what we might now call “papal” claims.”
FACT: “We may identify these bishops of Rome [Innocent I, Leo I and Gregory I] as the founders of the papacy, at least in a more medieval and modern sense.”