A very good explanation on bishops/communion/politicians debate

From crux news

Some excerpts:

Catholicism, as I have said elsewhere, is more than simply a list of rules to be followed, or a list of things to be mastered and memorized. Catholicism is a deep, and wide, and fruitful way of looking at all reality in light of the Incarnation of Him Who became flesh, and dwelt among us, and lived, and suffered, and died for us, and rose again. In light of that Mystery, and following in the footsteps of the saints, all of life is transformed, everything is charged with meaning. And everything is seen in that light.

It is obvious that something is wrong, seriously wrong. It is the birthright of a Catholic to be born into the Family of God, to be raised in the Faith, to be formed by the Gospel and the Catholic Tradition. A Catholic should be able, throughout his life, to assist at the sacred Liturgy celebrated according to the mind of the Church, the feasts and fasts and sounds and scents of which shape and form the very soul. He should have learned the stories of the Lord Jesus and the teachings of the Church.

It is a shameful situation that so many have been robbed of this birthright; but it is true. Gallup established that even with regard to a central doctrine such as the Eucharist, only a third of MASS-ATTENDING Catholics could identify the Catholic teaching when it was set before them. And Mass-attending Catholics are harder to come by nowadays; after a drop of more than sixty percent over thirty years, Mass attendance stands at some 18%.

Ignorance of Christian doctrine is extraordinarily pervasive in the Church today.

Gosh- I’ve been saying that for YEARS!! I was a victim of it myself!

It is a dismal fact that the only reason most Catholics know the teaching of the Church on the moral questions of our day – birth control, abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia, homosexuality, fornication, remarriage after divorce, etc – is because they hear about it from the secular media. They certainly do not hear of it from the pulpit. But from the media they hear, not the reasoning, but the “bottom line,” the Thou Shalt Not. And because they never hear the reasoning, they never have the chance to be formed in the Catholic Faith. The teachings of the Church are bits of unconnected data – mediaeval-sounding data – to be accepted or, more likely, rejected at will.

At this point I’m getting dizzy from nodding in agreement so enthusiastically!!

And, as a Church, it all means so little to us that apparently we cannot bring ourselves to admit that we are in trouble. We’ve been robbing our own of their birthright, of that deep, and rich, and fruitful way of looking at all Reality in light of Him Who became one of us, and died for us, and loves us

Yep. Thank God for the internet and for the ability to really learn Catholicism from people who are truly living the faith!

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