Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!ucla-cs!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@granjon.garage.att.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Bible and Us: a book review; comments on Mary and Protestantism Message-ID: Date: 20 Sep 90 07:48:47 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 39 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Greeley, on the whole, has a bad reputation, but something that he's saying is right on the money, and that's the emphasis on the Incarnation in the Catholic religion. To Catholics, all creation is a means of bringing us to God. Thus, as Greely pointed out (quite well, I thought), the emphasis on statues, images, relics, incense, pageantry in worship, Rosary beads, Mary, the saints, processions, Catholic governments, nuns and priests wearing religious garb, Christian greetings ("Dominus vobiscum"), roadside crosses, Passion plays, etc., etc., etc. The whole idea is to make God a commonplace thought, to live in an atmosphere where God is an everyday part of life, your Father, Redeemer, Sanctifier. To walk the streets of an American town and see virtually *no* sign that anyone there believes that the Incarnation happened is not good. In Catholic spirituality, the commonplace is the ordinary channel of God's grace. A beautiful flower, a religious picture, a bitter rebuke from a superior, a summer vacation, a loss of a job, ALL are the means that God gives us to grow in his grace and love, and to become saints. For all men who save their souls, there is a gradual ascent to God. It starts with a purgation, a turning of the affections away from creatures, and to God. Once the soul is sufficiently cleansed, the ways of greater union with God start. The whole and entire aim of monastic orders is the increase of this union with God. They're supposed to be filled with generous souls counting no sacrifice too great to achieve conformity with God's will. Joe Buehler [I'm not sure what Greeley's bad reputation would rest on. I've never seen any signs of doctrinal problems. In the book I was reviewing he indicates agreement with all classicial Catholic doctrines, including Papal infallibility. Perhaps people assume that because he tends to use rather daring sexual symbolism he's some sort of flaming liberal. I don't think so. --clh]