The Catholic Church is such an interesting dichotomy. It's really two very separate entities...there's "The Catholic Church", with it's Capital C and it's structured leadership and weird doctrines going back thousands of years that have to be followed and protected at all costs and it's strict dogma and practices and blah blah blah.
Then there's "the catholic church"....the actual followers...the every day catholics that you meet on the street. By and large, they are pretty normal. Not prone to evangelicalism or zealotry. They love their vices, specially drinking and gambling. They usually take their faith "sorta seriously"...going to church here and there. They certainly don't concern themselves much with Rome or the weird goings on of that Capital C church structure. What this pope seems to be doing...is to bridge that gap a little bit by bringing that Capital C a bit more in line with the every day catholic...and how they see the world and live their lives. The average catholic is married....why shouldn't priests be? The average catholic has no problem with gays...why should the Church? The average catholic uses contraception and family planning and....on and on... It's an interesting dynamic to watch. I wish Francis well! He's a complete 180 from that ogre of a pope who, rightfully, resigned. On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 11:50 AM, Jerry Milo Johnson <[email protected]>wrote: > > The fascinating part is he has ME questioning and reexamining and > rethinking MY faith, even though I am not Catholic. > > To me, that is awe inspiring AND just about the definition of what he > should be doing for his Church, and for the world. > > > On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 11:50 AM, GMoney <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > He's been great. From personally calling the single-mother-to-be that had > > written him, to suggesting....finally...that celibacy amongst priests is > > NOT part of church doctrine, but instead a stupid traditional practice > that > > needs to end. ("stupid traditional practice" were my words :) > > > > Also his comments on homosexuality have been encouraging, especially the > > "who am i to judge?" comment awhile back. > > > > > > On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 10:42 AM, Jerry Milo Johnson <[email protected] > > >wrote: > > > > > > > > Actually, I submit he is _biblically_ conservative, and he is correct > > that > > > the recent negative focus has harmed the church. > > > > > > So far, he is my kind of pope. > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 11:39 AM, Larry C. Lyons < > [email protected] > > > >wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > Here's the full article. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/world/europe/pope-bluntly-faults-churchs-focus-on-gays-and-abortion.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&smid=tw-share > > > > > > > > It appears that the guy the conclave elected was not the conservative > > > they > > > > hoped for. > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 11:35 AM, Larry C. Lyons < > > [email protected] > > > > >wrote: > > > > > > > > > Just saw this tweet > > > > > > > > > > What a remarkable man. MT @lauriegnyt < > > https://twitter.com/lauriegnyt > > > >: > > > > > Pope says church too “obsessed” w/abortion, gay marriage & > > > contraception. > > > > > http://t.co/07HWEfaE2d <http://t.co/07HWEfaE2d> > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > Larry C. Lyons > > > > > web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons > > > > > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Larry C. Lyons > > > > web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons > > > > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:367245 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
