24 thoughts on “If Martin Luther Hadn’t Existed 500 Years Ago…

  1. No offense taken here, Mitch.

    This guy is a disaster, wreaking havoc on Catholic doctrine. I’m waiting for the revelation that he wears a Che t-shirt under his robes.

  2. Not offended, but I’d make two brief observations:

    (1) The Church does have a hierarchical structure, but as long as the Pope is not speaking ex cathedra, and he is not in this instance, his admonitions are just that.

    (2) I read WUWT from time to time and agree with Watts in most things, but his semi-rhetorical question concerning whether the Pope is going to start excommunicating people for not getting with the program shows conclusively that (a) Watts doesn’t understand Catholicism and (b) he shouldn’t quit his day job.

  3. Catholics always deflect criticism with – It doesn’t matter unless he speaks ex cathedra. As if he has no influence on anything otherwise.

  4. I bailed on my faith I grew up in during the beginning of the sex abuse scandal. Is it just me or are they turning hard left to try and attract Europeans back to them. Ironically people who have bought this tend to have their own religion called environmentalism.

  5. DMA: I expect a potential crack up between left and right catholics in the next 50 years

  6. Catholics always deflect criticism with – It doesn’t matter unless he speaks ex cathedra. As if he has no influence on anything otherwise.

    Didn’t say it didn’t matter. I said it doesn’t matter as much as the critics think it does. I’ve been a Catholic my whole life and I’ve been a member of a variety of parishes, including three in the Twin Cities. Catholics don’t march in lockstep in the least. If you doubt that, go to St. Joan of Arc one week and St. Agnes the next.

    I’d also agree with POD that environmentalism takes on a lot of the trappings of religion. As does scientism.

  7. DMA, we can also deflect advice from the Pope that is not ex cathedra…so there’s that….which is good.

  8. Mr. D, my wife and I put two kids through St. Agnes High School. They hated it, until they took the ACT, applied to colleges and for grants.

  9. Not offended either. As much as I like the Pope’s approach toward humility, I wish he’d avoid playing into the hands of the far-left SJWs, whether intentional or not. From the article,

    Unfortunately, the issue is politicized.

    They started off well, but then there’s this:

    In the late 1970s, when the issue threatened the financial interests of the fossil fuel industry, the political lobbies, chiefly in the United States, financed a massive political disinformation campaign to manufacture the illusion of dissent within the scientific community.

    We know because this manipulation of public opinion has been caught and documented. The fossil fuel industry funds nearly all of the climate change skeptics, going so far as to commission questionable studies, to financing think tanks, and even paying individual bloggers. The deception continues today.

    No mention of the political/financial motivations of the alarmist crowd. No mentions of “scientists” willingly abusing the scientific method, in what appears to be a means of securing more grant money.

    It’s refreshing to be called a “skeptic”, rather than a “denier.” Shows a refreshing inclination towards more open-mindedness on the topic than the zealotry of most alarmists– calling us “deniers” is an admission you’re not going to try convincing us. Calling us skeptics is at least an acknowledgment that you tried and we haven’t been persuaded.

  10. Mr. D, my wife and I put two kids through St. Agnes High School. They hated it, until they took the ACT, applied to colleges and for grants.

    They do good work at St. Agnes.

  11. Regarding this, although it is true that the Pope is not speaking “ex cathedra”, as a rule in any hierarchical organization, the rank & file are not well advised to act contrary to the CEO’s words. So this has significant meaning.

    Regarding “don’t quit your day job,” it’s worth noting that the author has mostly quoted a press release from someone else. We can debate how important it is, and whether an ex cathedra statement is a likely to follow, but if all reporters stayed that close to the source material, life would really be better, no?

  12. On teaching of the Roman Church that I REALLY admire is the Principle of Subsidiarity.

    I just wish they took it as much to heart as I do.

  13. Bubba, the chances of an ex cathedra statement following on this matter are vanishingly small. Such statements are exceedingly rare. And my complaint with Watts surrounds his faulty understanding of how excommunication works, not his reportage. You don’t have to believe me, but what I’m telling you is accurate.

  14. I said dozens of times during Pope Benedict’s time how lucky the Catholic church was to chose JP2 in the 1970s. A time when they were just about to shift hard left. So we had decades of 2 great Popes. I compared this to what happened to my ELCA during the same time frame. I thought appointments during this time would keep the Catholic church on the right course for decades.
    I always wonder how the current pope gets news and views. Does he log into National Review? Does his aids? Or are his views shaped mostly by south American socialism?

  15. Mr D….could be comparable to how the left said that if we go along with the pro-life, pro-traditional marriage views of the church, we have to go along with every anti-war statement made by a Pope. They are confusing the centuries long catechism of the church with a remark made by a single person that week.

  16. Mr D….could be comparable to how the left said that if we go along with the pro-life, pro-traditional marriage views of the church, we have to go along with every anti-war statement made by a Pope. They are confusing the centuries long catechism of the church with a remark made by a single person that week.

    Yep. The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. That’s an idea (from Shakespeare) all Christians, including my Protestant brethren, understand well.

  17. k-12 Catholic school goer here. Actually I graduated from the school Bills daugther goes to, hope to send my kids there someday. Per pupil your not going to get much better bang for your buck. Maybe Totino or AHA…

  18. I’ve heard Hill-Murray is a little more conservative than BSM, but it’s way the hell over in St Paul, so not practical for my family. BSM has been really good for my daughter’s education. She is constantly surprising me with having knowledge of things (like current events or world history) I never would have expected her to have. There are some liberal influences but the Catholic part of that Catholic school is very staunch. They make every 8th grader take a class called “Genocide and Social Justice”. I was just dreading having to defend Israel against that class teaching the goodness of the Palestinians. But I don’t believe they even touched the I/PA conflict. They focused more on African conflicts like Rwanda.

    Our first choice for our kids would have been Heritage Academy in Maple Grove. From what I can tell, they’re the primary/secondary school equivalent to Hillsdale College. However, they have a financially insurmountable (for us) roadblock. 70% of tuition is due upon start of school year. There was no way we could have raised a $7-8K lump sum before our kids would have started there. I’m sure that little detail is an additional measure to keep the riff-raff out. Unfortunately, it also probably keeps out a lot of conservative families like it did for us.

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