Disqus - Friends of colkoch

Re: Conscience for Me, But Not for Thee

sprietsma29 — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:44:49 -0000

I am an old, retired, Catholic Priest, and I am greatly embarrassed by out current crop of Catholic Bishops. If they read and followed the Vatican 2 Document on Religious Freedom, they would apply it within the Church to the individual’s conscience.
Forget worrying about Shariah Law. I am more worried about Santorum applying his and the Bishop’s version of Catholic Canon Law.

Re: Benedict reflects on Jesus’ birth

sprietsma29 — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 12:05:14 -0000

I can remember being taught in our Scripture courses over 60 years ago that the Infancy narratives were a “Midrash” form of writing -- stories based on various references to Old Testament passages. Thus the many contradictions on Matthew and Luke. They are not meant to be “historical, but expressions of their understanding that Jesus was Son of God.

Re: Church teaching doesn't change, but church laws can

sprietsma29 — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:29:48 -0000

Actually the Church needs to review our Doctrines as well. If the Church now interprets the Genesis stories of Creation as being “MYTH” form of writing, then what happens to some of the older “Doctrines” that were based on a literal interpretation? If Adam and Eve are not real, actual, historical historical people, then what happens to the whole notion of “original sin” that we supposedly “inherit”?

Re: Priests dislike new Mass translations, survey says

sprietsma29 — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:07:13 -0000

When P. Benedict approved using the Tridentine Latin Missal he said that if a rite was once approved, it could always be used. I figure that should apply to the 1998 Missal as well.

Re: The Weigel Consulting Firm has a plan for the church

sprietsma29 — Wed, 29 May 2013 12:57:42 -0000

I wonder if Wiegal even realizes that the Church ’s interpretation of Scripture has undergone a major shift. If The Bible should be interpreted according to the Literary Form in which each passage is written, and the Genesis stories of Creation are intended to be a “myth for” of writing, then what happens to “Original Sin”?? We are going to have to face up to the fact that if “Adam and Eve” are not real. actual, historical people, the “original sin” if not an actual, real, historical fact. So we need to do a lot of revising of a number of traditional Teaching we thought of as “Doctrines."

Re: Jesuit chosen as US bishops' new doctrinal watchdog

sprietsma29 — Wed, 29 May 2013 18:42:58 -0000

I hope he is aware of the need to do a lot of revision in many of our current “traditional” doctrines. Once we change our interpretation of Scripture many of the old doctrines based on a literal interpretation no longer hold. If the Genesis stories of Creation are meant to be myth stories, then what happens to “original sin” and anything related to it.

And the Church’s sexual morality seems based on a medieval logic that says “The ‘Primary Purpose’ of sexuality is the propagation of the species. Therefore any sexual activity must be ‘open to conception’. That does not seem like very good logic, even for people who still think in Scholastic Logical terms. And we contradict that conclusion when we allow that nature itself provides for ‘natural birth control’ and for continuing sexual activity past menopause when people can have sex without the possibility of being ‘open to conception.’ Somehow the Church needs to come up with better reasoning.

Re: New doctrinal watchdog: Theological intervention sometimes necessary

sprietsma29 — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:01:07 -0000

"the teaching about marriage is right there in the Gospel.” -- There is one of the problems. It is in one Gospel, but different in another. While the practice of St.aul allowed for divorce and remarriage if a Christian was married to a pagan who would not accept the conversion, on the grounds that “God has called us to live in harmony and peace, not in strife and discord.” Pur customary position on divorce is based on jus one passage from just one Gospel. We just don’t do Scripture like that anymore. We need to consider all the passages where the topic is treated.

Re: New doctrinal watchdog: Theological intervention sometimes necessary

sprietsma29 — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:11:03 -0000

Sometimes Sisters and hospital ethics committees seem more knowledgeable about Catholic Moral teaching than a local Bishop. Such as the case in Phoenix recently when the Hospital ethics Committee quite correctly applied the traditional principle of Double Effect in the case of an embryo implanted in the fallopian tube. Traditional Catholic ethics allowed for the correction of this abnormality, even though the embryo would die in the process. The local Bishop seems to have never heard of this traditional principle of Catholic moral teaching.

Re: O'Malley, Chaput epitomize church's different paths

sprietsma29 — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:54:46 -0000

It does give me great Hope that Pope Francis chose O’Malley rather than Chaput as his American advisor. Maybe a sign of things to come.

Re: LA Archbishop Gomez, Pope Francis fight indifference to immigrants

sprietsma29 — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:55:48 -0000

Wonder why we never put up a Stature of Liberty in Juarez or Tia Juana or Nogales or other places facing Mexico. Just in New York, welcoming European Immigration. Of course, those were in the days before we had “quotas” so most of our ancestors, like mine, seem to have gotten in free!

Re: LA Archbishop Gomez, Pope Francis fight indifference to immigrants

sprietsma29 — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 18:23:03 -0000

Ah, Pat, now you are getting to the real heart of the problem! The Native Americans should never have let the the Spanish and English and French and other Europeans into America in the first place!

Re: LA Archbishop Gomez, Pope Francis fight indifference to immigrants

sprietsma29 — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 18:38:24 -0000

The problem we are really wrestling with is why and how did out immigration laws get changed from when we put that message on the Statue of Liberty. People emigrate because they are desperate. We are one world, and somehow we ought to be able to accommodate more of those people who are starving than we do at present. Maybe our immigration laws DO need to be changed.

Re: LA Archbishop Gomez, Pope Francis fight indifference to immigrants

sprietsma29 — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:28:11 -0000

Problem seems to be, it is we who have made the laws about who gets in and how. If we changed them, then the immigrants would not be “illegal”.

Re: LA Archbishop Gomez, Pope Francis fight indifference to immigrants

sprietsma29 — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 15:12:10 -0000

Why not make it retroactive. Why not let children born here and their families stay together? Seems like you are pretty stuck on not solvimg the immigration problem.

Re: LA Archbishop Gomez, Pope Francis fight indifference to immigrants

sprietsma29 — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 13:18:05 -0000

I would be interested in hearing about your solution. I tend to agree with you about the idea that some “borders” need to be in place. Though desperate people will always find a way through and around them. Problem facing us now seems to be a just and fair and compassionate way to dealing with those already here.

Re: LA Archbishop Gomez, Pope Francis fight indifference to immigrants

sprietsma29 — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 13:22:21 -0000

I understand that much of Europe is becoming fearful of the many muslim immigrants and the fact that they seem to be having more children than the European population does.I don’t know if those immigrants are “legal” or not.

Re: Schüller in Philadelphia: 'Where has obedience got us?'

sprietsma29 — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 17:26:31 -0000

Parishes seem to be able to pay organists, and other parish personnel who are married a salary sufficient to raise a family. Why not the same for priests? And if priests had families I expect the attitude towards birth control would change pretty quickly.

Re: Schüller in Philadelphia: 'Where has obedience got us?'

sprietsma29 — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 17:38:16 -0000

One problem is that present families just don’t have those extra children to send some to Seminaries or Priesthood.

Re: Schüller in Philadelphia: 'Where has obedience got us?'

sprietsma29 — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:40:06 -0000

Parishes I have worked at paid a pretty good salary to Organists and Parish Administrators and other parish personnel. Though I suppose a lot do rely on volunteers.

Re: Schüller in Philadelphia: 'Where has obedience got us?'

sprietsma29 — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:51:29 -0000

It is good to remember that the Scripture “though art a priest forever according to the Order of Melchisidech” referred to Jesus. It may be popularly “borrowed” for current priestly ordination, but practically it is a bit of pious nonsense. I don’t think there iny such thing as an “indelible mark” on a soul, whether Baptismal or clerical.

Re: Illinois bishop faces challenging audience at talk on same-sex marriage

sprietsma29 — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 12:11:20 -0000

The old St. Iraenaeus argument about succession of “laying on of hands” is really rather devoid of any real meaning as to proving validity of teaching, etc. There was a time when practically all the Bishops were Arian. And even today there are many who might claim descent from Cardinal Eibiba ( does no one claim descent from an Apostle any more? ) but who are not “Roman Catholic” any more.

Re: In Brazilian favela, Pope Francis becomes apostle of the slums

sprietsma29 — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 12:41:27 -0000

Thanks for the honesty, James. Unfortunately, that is an attitude I and a lot of other people share.

Re: Garnett on San Diego: MSW Responds

sprietsma29 — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 12:49:21 -0000

The Vatican 2 Document on Religious Freedom seems to approach it with Individual Freedom of Conscience in mind. The Church needs to respect that, too. My Conscience, for good reasons, sometimes does not agree with that of the American Bishops,

Re: In Brazilian favela, Pope Francis becomes apostle of the slums

sprietsma29 — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 13:16:47 -0000

I often reflect on those early Jewish Christians who “sold everything” and gave it to the Christian Community -- and then a few years later found themselves in such dire need that St. Paul had to take up collections from all his churches to help the Church in Jerusalem! The experiment in “christian Communism” did not turn out very well.

A bit of practical wisdom is needed.

Re: Humanae Vitae at 45: A Personal Story

sprietsma29 — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:34:31 -0000

We are living with a lot of contradictions in out “official Church teaching”. I think out teaching on sexuality started off wrong with the medieval logic that “The primary purpose of human sexuality is the continuation of the species. Therefore every act (seemingly every thought, even) of sex must be “open to procreation.”

But there is a missing ‘minor premise” in this reasoning that should go something like this - “every human act must fulfill the primary purpose of that human function.”

I think such a minor premise is not good logic. In many human actions, fulfilling the secondary purpose is quite sufficient. Even Pope Benedict’s Encyclical on Love seems to acknowledge that there is a place for “Eros” -- just good erotic sex as a means of expressing human love and forming a "pleasure bond” between a couple -- in human sexuality.

It was not until rather recent years that we discovered that there is a time in every woman’s monthly cycle when procreation is not possible. So we approved of the “Rhythm Method” when people could engage in sexual activity with the full intent -- and hope -- that it would not “be open to conception.”

And of course, as people have been living longer, most couples reach a time after menopause when they are having sex without the possibility of being open to conception. Elderly people can even enter into a marriage when such is the case.

Popes and Bishops who want to keep their jobs seem stuck on the thought that “if we change what we have “always” taught, then why will people believe us?

But worse if the fact that if they are teaching us what is demonstrably wrong, their credibility is even less.

There comes a time when they have to man up and say “we were wrong” and here is why we went wrong, and now is the time to correct it.