“Being a Catholic means that you agree to the concept of papal succession. It also entails that you believe the Holy Spirit had a hand in the selection. My question for you is this: Did the Holy Spirit make the wrong choice in picking Ratzinger?”
” OK, I just got finished watching a report on TV about a newspaper columnist in Los Angeles taking a cheap shot at the Catholic Church in an editorial that really had nothing to do with religion. Many on the left are, frankly, Romo-phobic. That’s the only explanation. Anti-Catholicism /Catholic-bashing is perhaps the one form of bigotry still openly permitted in the American public square.”
Ah, no, uh, it’s still quite popular to hate atheists and bash them mercilessly.
Getting off on a tangent here, but the NYT had an Op-Ed about fatophobes todayhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/23/opinion/23tierney.html?. Just an OK piece but there is a lot of truth behind it. Chances are an overweight waitress will work at Denny’s, while a thin one with the exact same skills has a much better chance of getting a job at the Cheesecake factory and making 3 times as much in tips. I still also see plenty of jokes TV and movies bashing people?s physical traits, weight, height, etc.
Holy Spirit got it right. Ratzinger is the man for the hour, for whatever purpose God has in mind. There has been a great deal of “Romo-phobia” out there on am radio and other outlets though. The level of ignorance of spiritual things has almost convinced me that to be absorbed in political affairs somehow displaces spiritual insight. The things of this world… In fact, John Kerry was quoted as saying that the key to getting to heaven (he paused for consideration at this point) was to love your neighbor. I’m all for simplification, but not stupidification (I think I just coined that one!)
I like that one, Father, I’ll be sure to cite you accordingly. 🙂
In the media’s defense (I don’t do this often), but there have been some much more balanced, personal looks at Benedict XVI. Novak wrote a good op-ed, as well, on NYTimes.com, and the Post-Gazette has done some solid writing. I thank God for the conversation that this has generated, that people made Benedict’s books sell out on Amazon.de and on Amazon.com, and that some good points have been made.
Loony ideas about Catholic rigidity and whatnot have always existed, at least they are getting flushed out in the open in record numbers where we can answer them via call-ins, letters to the editor, blogs, and personal conversations.
It seems like every day there is another “last openly permitted” hatred or another. Bleh. Hatred sucks. I hate it.
You know a lot of the apostles didn’t like Paul and he turned out to be a halfway decent choice, didn’t he?
XT
Oh, your name looked like a priest-blogger’s, sorry about that!
Well, I won’t bash ya, buddy. 😉
Whoah! I hope you don’t mean me, because I’m nobody’s father. Just a brother and fellow worker. 🙂