Amici,
In a Comment here at OnePeterFive, a Commentator name "Michael" wrote an eloquent plea for help dealing with the insane, paradoxical current Church situation, wherein the pope is a heretic, and how do we be Catholics when the top hierarchy (and so much of the lower) is no longer Catholic in teaching or practice? I wrote the follow to Michael.
You write an eloquent and pleading Comment, Michael, but I'll focus on one line of it: "It's a circle which cannot be squared."
Then don't.
Since Vatican I (yes, the Council in the 1860s, not the one in the 1960s), we've been – mainly because of technology, actually, the first TransAtlantic cable was laid before the U.S. Civil War – ever more and more under the Pope, directly under the pope, something the vast majority of Catholics never were historically. Popes were far off and only the final court of appeals capstone to a hierarchy that was mostly local and self-governing. Bishops were locally elected by Cathedral chapters (or appointed by religious orders, or by archbishops who were the pope's representative in far-flung nations, and even by secular kings). Popes picked archbishops, who sometimes were from Italy and personally known to the pontiff, though often they were local bishops elevated from Rome. They ran the Church locally, through their suffragan bishops, who in turn were much more like local archpriests and nothing like the modern never-seen corporate managers of today.
(This is the way it ought to be – must be! – again, though such reforms could only come after a total collapse of the existing order.)
So, in this specialized way, all the regional churches were in essence "national" -- though the concept of nation took longer to develop in France and Spain, say, than England, with Germany and Italy not being "nations" till the 19th century! So by "nation" I mean region, more or less. The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church was practicing "Subsidiarity", in other words, long before the concept itself was defined! The nature of long-distance communications made that a reality.
Then technology altered all that, what with world cable communications, and Pius IX began turning bishops, wherever they were in the world, into his local "secretaries". After Pio Nono, under the great Leo XIII, we got used to expecting a brilliant papal encyclical with breakfast, as one Englishman put it. But of course, it couldn't last. So much depended on the character of the pontiff. Great pontiffs made for great times universally, as they were basically our actual local pastors, thanks to technology. But along with that, a bad pope could bring utter disaster upon the world, as we've seen in spades.
Thus, were in the pickle we find ourselves in, Michael. Those of us who know the Faith need to practice "subsidiarity" ourselves, working locally as best we can to being true Christians, Eucharistic Christians, and making a difference in our own little circles. That's our place in the hierarchy. For now, at least.
RC
In a Comment here at OnePeterFive, a Commentator name "Michael" wrote an eloquent plea for help dealing with the insane, paradoxical current Church situation, wherein the pope is a heretic, and how do we be Catholics when the top hierarchy (and so much of the lower) is no longer Catholic in teaching or practice? I wrote the follow to Michael.
You write an eloquent and pleading Comment, Michael, but I'll focus on one line of it: "It's a circle which cannot be squared."
Then don't.
Since Vatican I (yes, the Council in the 1860s, not the one in the 1960s), we've been – mainly because of technology, actually, the first TransAtlantic cable was laid before the U.S. Civil War – ever more and more under the Pope, directly under the pope, something the vast majority of Catholics never were historically. Popes were far off and only the final court of appeals capstone to a hierarchy that was mostly local and self-governing. Bishops were locally elected by Cathedral chapters (or appointed by religious orders, or by archbishops who were the pope's representative in far-flung nations, and even by secular kings). Popes picked archbishops, who sometimes were from Italy and personally known to the pontiff, though often they were local bishops elevated from Rome. They ran the Church locally, through their suffragan bishops, who in turn were much more like local archpriests and nothing like the modern never-seen corporate managers of today.
(This is the way it ought to be – must be! – again, though such reforms could only come after a total collapse of the existing order.)
So, in this specialized way, all the regional churches were in essence "national" -- though the concept of nation took longer to develop in France and Spain, say, than England, with Germany and Italy not being "nations" till the 19th century! So by "nation" I mean region, more or less. The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church was practicing "Subsidiarity", in other words, long before the concept itself was defined! The nature of long-distance communications made that a reality.
Then technology altered all that, what with world cable communications, and Pius IX began turning bishops, wherever they were in the world, into his local "secretaries". After Pio Nono, under the great Leo XIII, we got used to expecting a brilliant papal encyclical with breakfast, as one Englishman put it. But of course, it couldn't last. So much depended on the character of the pontiff. Great pontiffs made for great times universally, as they were basically our actual local pastors, thanks to technology. But along with that, a bad pope could bring utter disaster upon the world, as we've seen in spades.
Thus, were in the pickle we find ourselves in, Michael. Those of us who know the Faith need to practice "subsidiarity" ourselves, working locally as best we can to being true Christians, Eucharistic Christians, and making a difference in our own little circles. That's our place in the hierarchy. For now, at least.
RC
We are having to do that. We can no longer rely on our priests and especially our bishops. There are many very good priests and they are suffering a "white" martyrdom. Read Christus Vincit. This is how Bishop Athanatius and his family survived in the Soviet Union. They did it. We can do it. That, I believe, is what we are coming to. The Pandemic is an excuse to speed up the process. JM, Powell, OH
ReplyDelete