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John Michael Talbot


cappie

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Fantastic article!

There are liberal fantatics and conservative fanatics.

immaculata,

He wasn't calling any specific group of people as bad factions. He speaks in general terms about conservatives that develop such a reactionary perspective that their view is turned inward to the point that the means is more important than the why. Generally, that would be the conservatives that broach schism. That's no different than liberal fanatics who carry ideology to the extreme and broach schism.

I especially am touched by, and agree with, his analogy of the Church striding with a right foot and then a left foot, but keeping a true course in the larger perspective. I think that people tend to make judgements based on the foot of the day, but fail to see the larger perspective of the course of the Church which is God's perspective.

The eternal abiding of the Holy Spirit in the Church is the omnipotent presence and the root of God. If a branch does not bear fruit, God will prune it. God is patient too, and may nurture a branch to bear fruit before He decides to cut it. He may also choose to allow it to wither.

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I guess what I find most problematic with his article is that it reinforces this arbitrary and obnoxious idea that the church has "sides." Cardinal George of Chicago said it best "The faith is not liberal or conservative, the faith is true."

Ortodoxy, as Chesterton argues, is not a "position" within the Church, it is the church. If someone is not ortodox, then they are not in and on the "left," they aren't even IN.

I think what Talbot desires is what I encountered among my friends. We called it Radical Orthodoxy. Theological orthodoxy was a given, we assented to the Church's teachings. However, it was not enough for us to "clean the outside of the cup." We went beyond the forms and had a deep and abiding living faith rooted in prayer, sustained by daily mass, and expressed in a deep and personal relationship with the Incarnate Son of God.

This isn't some magic formula, it's the Church. Plain and simple. THere is no right and left, ther is only the Cross. The right and left don't matter so much as the ONE POINT where the cross comes together. If it doesn't meet at that ONE POINT, it isn't a cross at all.

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Ah, I think I agreed with everything he said, up until "The Church makes some mistakes at times, but God keeps us from the "gates of hell" in the long run." I don't think the Church makes mistakes, ever. She's just poyfect!

Pax Christi. <><

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CatholicAndFanatical

aww man, no way I love my name :(

I blame it on MC Just, its his song hehe.

Excellent article btw, I agree wholeheartidly.

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