PhuturePriest Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2015/06/patriarch-bartholomew-on-the-encyclical-we-count-it-a-true-blessing/#st_refDomain=www.facebook.com&st_refQuery=/ It came as no surprise to us that our beloved brother Francis of Rome opens his encyclical, which is being released today in the New Synod Hall of the Vatican, with a reference to God’s creation as “our common home.” Nor again did it come as a surprise to us that Pope Francis underlined the ecumenical dimension of creation care — the term “ecumenism” also shares the same etymological origin as the words “ecology” and “economy.” The truth is that, above any doctrinal differences that may characterize the various Christian confessions and beyond any religious disagreements that may separate the various faith communities, the earth unites us in a unique and extraordinary manner. All of us ultimately share the earth beneath our feet and breathe the same air of our planet’s atmosphere. Even if we do not do enjoy the world’s resources fairly or justly, nevertheless all of us are responsible for its protection and preservation. This is precisely why today’s papal encyclical speaks of the need for “a new dialogue,” “a process of education” and “urgent action.” …In the third year of our brother Pope Francis’s blessed ministry, we count it as a true blessing that we are able to share a common concern and a common vision for God’s creation. If this is good enough to elicit praise from Patriarch Bartholomew (Who is undoubtedly more traddy than the most radical of rad trads), then I daresay it should be enough to calm the concerns and objections raised by some conservatives and my fellow tradition-minded Catholics. I am going to begin reading the encyclical now, but from the quotes I've seen the Pope draws excellent and illuminating connections between caring for the planet and caring for the poor and the unborn. In the past I have been very critical of our Holy Father, but I must confess that I truly do regret it. In recent months I have been warming up to him slowly, and this encyclical has made me (dare I say it) a fan of him. I can't help but feel glows of warmth whenever I read quotes from the encyclical, and I am going to begin reading it immediately after this is posted. What are your thoughts of what is perhaps the most controversial encyclical written since Blessed Paul VI's Humane Vitae? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Era Might Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Bartholomew has written/spoken about the environment a lot, I remember his own letter a while back on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 On 6/18/2015 at 7:31 PM, Era Might said: Bartholomew has written/spoken about the environment a lot, I remember his own letter a while back on the subject. He is heavily quoted in the first few pages of the encyclical. A priest I know joked that this is probably why he was so receptive to the encyclical as a whole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopefulHeart Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I plan to read Laudato Si soon. There is so much commentary about it in the media that I feel I can't form a grounded opinion on the encyclical until I read it for myself. For anyone who is interested, here is a link to read Laudato Si on the Vatican website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Era Might Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 No need to read it, the media abounds with "Top 10" lists of the most important passages. What would we do without our Buzzfeed media? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 “The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology. Also, valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy attitude which would seek “to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it”. (155) “Many people know that our current progress and the mere amassing of things and pleasures are not enough to give meaning and joy to the human heart, yet they feel unable to give up what the market sets before them. In those countries which should be making the greatest changes in consumer habits, young people have a new ecological sensitivity and a generous spirit, and some of them are making admirable efforts to protect the environment. At the same time, they have grown up in a milieu of extreme consumerism and affluence which makes it difficult to develop other habits.” (209) “It is in the Eucharist that all that has been created finds its greatest exaltation. Grace, which tends to manifest itself tangibly, found unsurpassable expression when God himself became man and gave himself as food for his creatures. The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours. In the Eucharist, fullness is already achieved; it is the living centre of the universe, the overflowing core of love and of inexhaustible life. Joined to the incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love: “Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world”. The Eucharist joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration…” (236) Throw away the top ten lists, because this encyclical may as well be classified as theological poetry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NadaTeTurbe Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 49. It needs to be said that, generally speaking, there is little in the way of clear awareness of problems which especially affect the excluded. Yet they are the majority of the planet’s population, billions of people. These days, they are mentioned in international political and economic discussions, but one often has the impression that their problems are brought up as an afterthought, a question which gets added almost out of duty or in a tangential way, if not treated merely as collateral damage. Indeed, when all is said and done, they frequently remain at the bottom of the pile. This is due partly to the fact that many professionals, opinion makers, communications media and centres of power, being located in affluent urban areas, are far removed from the poor, with little direct contact with their problems. They live and reason from the comfortable position of a high level of development and a quality of life well beyond the reach of the majority of the world’s population. This lack of physical contact and encounter, encouraged at times by the disintegration of our cities, can lead to a numbing of conscience and to tendentious analyses which neglect parts of reality. At times this attitude exists side by side with a “green” rhetoric. Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. I know of some vincentian who will love this part ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 "It is my hope that this Encyclical Letter, which is now added to the body of the Church's social teaching, can help us acknowledge the appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge we face." Laudato Si 15 The contents of the Encyclical have officially been added to the Church's social teaching. We must, therefore, assent to the voice of Peter, who calls his flock to focus on the many issues addressed in Laudato Si. To propose that we can ignore some of it is the very buffet mentality that conservatives and traditionalists have been (correctly) denouncing liberals for for years, and I do not wish to see Catholics in good-standing fall to the same fate. Lay down your political party and pick up your Cross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Era Might Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 The sad thing is that the practical stuff that gets all the press is going to be the least insightful (e.g., references to public transportation or "Who can deny the beauty of an aircraft or a skyscraper?"). I find skyscrapers ugly, mainly because I find the idea of them ugly (ugly in a philosophical sense, not embodying a beautiful ideal). And public transportation, while practically necessary, also has its own problems and contributes to the problem, because we have become a world where we do not move but we are moved...that's why planes, too, are ugly, because they rob us of our mobility and our human speeds, and catapults us across time and space...is it any wonder we have lost our connection to our world and cosmos when we no longer have a world or cosmos, we're just beams of transportation being shuttled from one place to another, being "housed" in mass buildings that all look the same instead of having our own dwellings. The Pope (any Pope) is never going to be a particularly insightful social critic (there are plenty of really insightful critiques of modern society, e.g., a lot of writers from the 60s and 70s were already making these critiques). The spiritual message of the encyclical is where the Pope is going to have any real insight, and I'm sure the encyclical as a whole will have some good spiritual insight. Funny how this is not even mentioned in the news...no headlines about "Pope Talks About Mythical Son of God Coming Down to Altars in Rural Churches." The news is focused on its own interests...he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I like the idea that taking care of the environment also means taking care of our bodies. We are also part of God's creation. Accepting ourselves as God has made us is not going to be brought up by the mainstream media though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NadaTeTurbe Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 question : as catholic, do we have the right to criticize a papal encycal ? Because I know a catholic website (they are for the strict application of V2 in liturgy), who previously insulted Evangelii Gaudium (calling it "the encycal that we will all forget about", and telling how it is bad), and they are now telling things like the Pope obey to the spirit of the word with this encyclical, etc... I am thinking about sending them a mail to ask them to stop, and I need to now if we have the right to be so hard on a papal document. My atheist parents want to read it !! oh please pray that it gives them the Light ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggyie Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 (edited) Nada, I am not sure about the "right" to do such a thing. Especially since encyclicals (including this one) rarely break new ground, they just reiterate what the Church already believes, in most cases. On the other hand an encyclical is not an infallible pronouncement and I am sure the pope would welcome discussion and constructive criticism about the way he expressed things etc. It doesn't sound like the web site you speak of is interested in that. They would probably criticize the pope if he made a statement about the earth being round. Edited June 19, 2015 by Maggyie Too early for spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NadaTeTurbe Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Yes, I was not sure about the status of an encyclical. because I think for the cathechism, it's a sin to say "I disagree with number X and Y", because it's the official doctrine of the church, right ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puellapaschalis Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 People have been forgetting about the encyclical Humanae Vitae for almost exactly 47 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Credo in Deum Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 On 6/19/2015 at 7:38 AM, NadaTeTurbe said: question : as catholic, do we have the right to criticize a papal encycal ? Because I know a catholic website (they are for the strict application of V2 in liturgy), who previously insulted Evangelii Gaudium (calling it "the encycal that we will all forget about", and telling how it is bad), and they are now telling things like the Pope obey to the spirit of the word with this encyclical, etc... I am thinking about sending them a mail to ask them to stop, and I need to now if we have the right to be so hard on a papal document. My atheist parents want to read it !! oh please pray that it gives them the Light ! When it comes to Papal Encyclicals Catholics must believe that which is in the deposit of faith. With that said, no Catholic is bound to believe in Global Warming or agree with the Pope on Global Warming, since it does not pertain to faith and morals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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