George Weigel (always to be read!!) writes on the changes the Vatican is bringing to the Legionaries of Christ!!
Next Acts in the Legionary Drama | First Things
Next Acts in the Legionary Drama | First Things
Good will to all men? Not from the grumpy atheists! (Thank God not all atheists are grumpy but there sure seems to be a lot of them)
Why is it that so many in the atheist community cannot bring themselves to get past their anger whenever they engage in discussions? The language of many of their contributions in public debate is laced with invective and dripping with sarcasm and bile. There are exceptions of course, but they tend to fall more into the category of being the 'exception that proves the rule' when compared to the hostility of many of today's atheist posters. Comment offered by the theists in the public square is often depicted as being 'malicious' or 'venomous' and intended to enslave the 'feeble minded and weak' by those who post. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venom is something that is oriented to death. Christians are oriented in a 180 degree different direction. We speak not to the culture of death that grips our world but rather for the culture of life and light which ends with the gift of eternal life. For example, the Catholic Church in its hum...
Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteI know you have the utmost respect for Mr. Weigel, however, I truly think he is attempting to make a silk purse from a sow's ear when he writes:
"To propose that such an unprecedented course of action be seriously considered is not a question of desperate situations calling for desperate measures, but of great evils requiring the remedy of heroic virtue—in this case, the heroic exercise of the cardinal virtues of courage, justice, and prudence."
Quite frankly, I see absolutely nothing heroic about the Church's winding up of the Legionaires. What were the Church's other realistic options? Keep it running "as is", even after its founder was clearly shown to be a fraud and a reprobate? The evidence of the founder's malfeasance is overwhelming and accessible in the public domain. It cannot be hidden by the Church without causing even greater damage to the RCC's tattered reputation.
The Church had no alternative or realistic options available to it - therefore - winding it up can hardly be classified as "heroic". My goodness, if this is not a case of literally making a virtue out of necessity, then I do not know what is.
What might be considered truly heroic is if the Church decided to actually accept some criticism for its own complicity in promoting a blind and simple minded piety that encouraged such gullability among its own adherents. Hmmm...but of course such self-awareness and reflection might actually tarnish the image of JP2 who did so much to encourage a climate in the Church where the Legionaries could flourish. I am quite serious - you guys should not be too quick to canonize JP2 until his legacy unflods a bit more. You will only end up with more egg on your faces.
Lastly, let's not forget that the Legionaries are an extremely rich order. I am sure that the Church will be very careful to keep its fingers on all the goodies which have been amassed over the years.
Some heroism...do what is plainly obvious, engorge yourself on the wealth of the corpse, deflect your own complicity, all the while crowing about your unprecedented courage, justice and prudence.
Good grief. Apologetics has sunk to a new low in the RCC.
Cheers...Martin