Stephen Fry: Not A Fan Of The Catholic Church

[Socrates]

And I'm not a fan of Stephen Fry, other than his brilliant performance as Jeeves on [i]Masterpiece Theater[/i]'s [i]Jeeves & Wooster[/i] series with Hugh Laurie.

[Jesus_lol]

[quote name='Blessed&Grateful' timestamp='1322236496' post='2340357']
People need to justify their beliefs and that usually includes "taking down" those whose opinions vary from theirs.
[/quote]

*thinks about all the constant threads about muslims, protestants, atheists, liberals on PM...*

lol

[dominicansoul]

i've never heard of him...

Edited November 26, 2011 by dominicansoul

[dominicansoul]

hmm... reading his wikipedia page... seems he's your typical funny man celebrity...has beefs with the Church... we need to really pray for him...


...hopefully some day he will come to discover that the Church doesn't exist to torment his life, but to save it...

[dominicansoul]

people don't realize that life is very short... we may not even live to tomorrow... and here is this comedian punching the Body of Christ on earth.. he will have to be held accountable for every word against Christ...


...its just not worth it!

[MithLuin]

Honestly, guys, I didn't start this thread as a 'lets bash Fry' opportunity - I think he's a fine actor and he's certainly an articulate speaker.

He's also very much wrong, about a great many things, but there's no need to be rude about it. Most of what he's saying is very common stuff that a lot of other people say too. It's not like he personally came up with these complaints.

But the Catholic response would be to either address what he says or pray for him.


[quote name='Delivery Boy' timestamp='1322225234' post='2340314']
On a more humble and honest response i think a lot of what he said makes sense and it troubles me. A few years ago I would be asking a bunch of why why why's. Why is More a saint when he burned people who read the Bible. Why this why that. Now I really don't care though and I just trust and have faith. It is what it is. Salute and fall in or be slain. Heaven or hell. Life or death. So on and so on.
[/quote]

St. Thomas More is a saint because he defied the king in support of the pope and was executed for it. The reason this was significant was because earlier in his career, he was the king's right hand man. One could watch 'A Man For All Seasons' or 'The Tudors' to learn more about what happened; I'd recommend the former.

He's the patron saint of politicians because he was a martyr to the truth and he would not bend his principles under political pressure - even when threatened with death.

The Bibles in question were condemned not just because they were in English, but because they were heretical translations. If you pick up a Jehovah's Witness Bible these days, you'll find many verses...not quite right. They've altered them to suit their own purposes. The translations available in England at the time were Protestant translations and the Church made the same accusation - you're changing it to say what you want it to say. Since that time, very good English translations have been made. Obviously, the Church does not condemn reading the Bible in English.

There was a lot of burning people going on during the Protestant Reformation, of course, so a lot of unpleasantness all around. But if you're going to look at the history of England....well, there are a lot of Catholic martyrs from that time period, including St. Thomas More. Catholics were killed for refusing to attend Protestant services (for instance), and there is still a law that says no Catholic may inherit the throne. Soooo...the Catholic Church has very much been the victim of these things more than the perpetrator. Kings were always seizing the lands of monasteries and that sort of thing. England has not been a Catholic nation since the death of Sir Thomas More, to put things in perspective. Catholicism didn't die out there, but remained as a (oftentimes persecuted) minority.

So...when an Englishman talks about the Catholic Church, there's a *lot* of historical and cultural baggage to sift through.

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='MaterMisericordiae' timestamp='1322189674' post='2340160']
He is an idiot and always will be as long as he publicly embarrasses himself. We know what we are about and we don't need some guy telling everyone what his misconstrued ideas are. Quite frankly, they are so unoriginal.

It really is a shame, though. I love watching old episodes of "A Bit of Fry and Laurie."
[/quote]

Ok, looking on back on this post, I realize I did not share the humility of Christ. I am not proud of what I wrote and I apologize. I just love Holy Mother Church so much that I can't stand when someone bashes her because of untrue stories they heard from somewhere else.