In Georges Bernanos' The Diary of a Country Priest, the elderly Curé de Torcy gives his young priest friend a bit of advice about proclaiming the Gospel: "The Word of God is a red-hot iron," he says. "Truth is meant to save you first, and the comfort comes later."
One could probably craft a meditation on the state of the Catholic soul today in terms of the tension between those two values -- truth and comfort. We want the church to offer comfort, which among other things implies that Catholics shouldn't brutalize one another in internal tribal warfare. Yet we also want the church to be bold in proclaiming the truth that saves, which inevitably means that sometimes lines have to be drawn and feelings may be bruised.
The $64,000 question is, can we do both? Can the Catholic church be both the "sacrament of the unity of the human race" and a fearless evangelical force? TO READ MORE CLICK ON ABOVE LINK.
Friday, February 05, 2010
A 'Dallas experiment' in orthodoxy and openness
NCR - by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 05, 2010 All Things Catholic
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I was in the last graduating class of the IRPS program at UD under Douglas Bushman STL. I was there right in the midst of this scandal. I am still personal friends with many of my professors who moved in mass from UD to Ave Maria U. to stand-up the IPT program there. God did bring good out of the evil. But evil is still evil. The stories I could tell you... The careers ruined, the families hurt, the students in the middle of their studies put in a real predicament, etc. I have no love for Mnsgr. Joseph nor Bishop Charles Grahmann. My diploma signed by both of them has the value of toilet paper for me. The pin that Douglas gave us all graduating is what I wear with pride. I thank God for the friendship and witness in my life of Douglas, Tim, David, Marcellino, & Fr. Mitch.
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