Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!ucla-cs!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@granjon.garage.att.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Catholic Church (was the Rosary) Message-ID: Date: 20 Sep 90 07:50:05 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 60 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu This is meant to be somewhat humorous, so make allowances. I am told I have a dry sense of humor, so you may not think it funny. Whoever posted the remarks, I am in basic sympathy, as probably most people here know. I believe it's a matter of time only until the Catholic Church shakes off its current diseases. Unfortunately, it's questionable how much will be destroyed before this happens, and how many souls will be lost. Will we see married priests? Will the American bishops go into schism? Will they ordain women? Stay tuned. The religious orders have been pretty much wrecked, I'm afraid. The Jesuits have become a Marxist organization that preaches the social gospel. As I recently said in t.r.m, the number of seminarians has declined from the high 40,000's shortly after Vatican II into the 4,000's at the present time. The orthodoxy of a number of those 4,000 is questionable (I have a number of seminarian friends who have some horror stories.) At one point about 5-10 years ago, the Catholic school closing rate was averaging one per day since the close of Vatican II. The liturgy has been pretty much destroyed. (Comments about the people wanting more changes will be greeted with utter derision and references from Michael Davies' works, in that order.) As Davies would put it, we have been treated to the spectacle of people in our churches in near bathing suit undress frolicking about in the isles, while we look in vain for crucifix, altar, or tabernacle. Mass atendance in some countries has dropped like 70%, as I recall. In places like Holland, forget about it, I'm not sure there are any Catholics left. A few dozen churches get sold in the Midwest. As any sane person would conclude after a litany of such woes, "The emperor's got no clothes!" Or, as Michael Davies quoted: They create a wilderness and call it a renewal. (Tacitus) I am speaking about Vatican II, of course. As Davies put it, if the Catholic bishops had been managers of some large corporation, they would have been fired long ago. Heck, they probably would have been thrown out of the nearest tall building after mismanagement like what we've seen. What is happening is really inexplicable. The answer, of course, to the whole mess, is a return to the Tradition of the Church. That's all we need. We don't need married priests, or advertising agencies, or priestesses, or any of that stuff. All we need is conformance to the traditional teaching of the Church. Follow God's will, and He'll bless every step. Guess we have to figure this out the hard, way, though. Wonder how many casualties we'll take in the process. Joe Buehler