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I think there are many misconceptions about the Catholic Church today, many statements I hear made by both Catholic and non Catholic apply to the pre Vatican II Church. Much has changed since then.
Vatican II has been seen by many as “the end of the Counter-Reformation,” “the end of the Constantinian era,”
I think there are many misconceptions about the Catholic Church today, many statements I hear made by both Catholic and non Catholic apply to the pre Vatican II Church. Much has changed since then.
Vatican II has been seen by many as “the end of the Counter-Reformation,” “the end of the Constantinian era,”
Things have changed and are changing with the new Pope as well.
I think to often when people look at the the Church they fail to see it in the context of history, you just can't take it out of that context as if the Church existed in a vacuum.
There were long periods of time where the Church existed in a world that was very uncivilized, there were no civil government, at times the Church was forced to act as the civil government.
There were invading barbarian armies etc. they did not call it the "Dark Age" for nothing. There were a whole system of small "Feudal States". At times the Church was dependent on them for protection, this led to mixing of religion and politics. At times the Church controlled the states other times the states controlled the Church. Many of the abuses existed because of the reliance on each other.
There were popes that try to reform the system in those days to do away with the influence of those outside the Church, as good intentions as they were it did introduce other problems into the Church.
But at the end of the day imperfect that it is the Catholic Church still stands and still proclaims the message of the Gospel.
I suppose a claim could also be made for Eastern Orthodoxy, but by all accounts, in RCIA we are taught that even though we should respect the views of our protestant brethren, they are of lesser status in terms of how to be faithful to Jesus. The teaching is that protestant Christians are inferior to Catholics. I myself do not like such a title, 'inferior', but I suppose it makes sense when you think about it. The Catholic Church is the Church as Jesus intended it to be, while the protestant religions have 'watered down' in a sense what it means to be Christian, and have even warped many of the views.
Greetings to you, I have found something very interesting on the website that may shed some light on my relation and some of your answers to your questions. www.bibleortraditions .com
Not being an RC - my impressions are the pope wishes to take the church back to PRE Vatican II? Or is the extent to expand on vatican II?
Much to my dismay John Paul II started the march backwards in time, our new pope is continuing that course. For us that started our faith journey in the pre Vatican II Church are very sadden, we do not want to go back down the path from which we came .
I think to often when people look at the the Church they fail to see it in the context of history, you just can't take it out of that context as if the Church existed in a vacuum.
There were long periods of time where the Church existed in a world that was very uncivilized, there were no civil government, at times the Church was forced to act as the civil government.
There were invading barbarian armies etc. they did not call it the "Dark Age" for nothing. There were a whole system of small "Feudal States". At times the Church was dependent on them for protection, this led to mixing of religion and politics. At times the Church controlled the states other times the states controlled the Church. Many of the abuses existed because of the reliance on each other.
There were popes that try to reform the system in those days to do away with the influence of those outside the Church, as good intentions as they were it did introduce other problems into the Church.
But at the end of the day imperfect that it is the Catholic Church still stands and still proclaims the message of the Gospel.
And what is that message of the gospel that the Catholic Church proclaims?
Not being an RC - my impressions are the pope wishes to take the church back to PRE Vatican II? Or is the extent to expand on vatican II?
He's definitely trying to take things back in time to pre-Vatican II. JPII opened up a whole lot of talks with protestants and did quite a bit of other things that some people don't like. Some people say that JPII was a horrible Pope and was detrimental to RC. Most of them are usually old school or those that insist that the Latin Mass is the only Mass, etc. I personally rather enjoy knowing what I'm saying and hearing (the English).
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