An anonymous female friend takes issue with Bob:
Yes, it sounds like a bad decision, but I take issue with saying that the "Catholic Church" is cooperating with the evil state here. No, it's not the "Catholic Church." It's an individual Cardinal/bishop cooperating with the state. Individual bishops/Cardinals and individual Popes can go to hell. They do bad things, they make bad decisions, just like every (living) person does. The "Catholic Church" is not defined solely by the actions of the hierarchy. I am part of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Burke is part of the Catholic Church, Lew Rockwell is part of the Catholic Church. So is 2,000 years of binding Church teaching and tradition. These people and things are all the "Catholic Church."
I don't know anything about Wenzel, so I really can't speak for him, but the problem I have with most libertarians who attack the Catholic Church is that a) they are generally pretty much illiterate in the great works of Western Civilization--they've read economic treatises, but no Aquinas, no Augustine, no Dante, no Dietrich von Hildebrand. So I can't even argue with these guys, because it's tough to argue with ignorance. Also, b) they've decided that libertarianism and certain schools of economics are their religion, and everything else (including Catholicism) must be filtered through that. That's fine, that's their choice, but it's not mine. I think the filter should be reversed/the opposite.
The Catholic Church is the only Christian denomination still standing that still (with its human flaws) teaches the full Christian truth, still adheres to the natural law, etc. This can be demonstrated on the basis of pure reason and evidence, not just faith. Bob Wenzel probably (I would guess) makes no effort to go to mass, educate himself on what the Church teaches, etc., so I don't have much of an interest in his thoughts on Catholicism or his opinions of particular bishops or Cardinals.
Far be it for me to attempt to comment on the Catholic Church after my only acquaintance with the Catholic religion being that I spent many, many years in Catholic schools, and at one time was an altar boy, who could say the Mass in English, Polish and Latin.
I would like to point out to the lady, though, that in my post I did speak of the Catholic Church in Vienna, and even then in somewhat hyperbolic fashion, and then quickly identified the true evil collaborator, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. When I moved on to Italy and Mussolini, I also named the Mussolini collaborator, Jesuit Pietro Tacchi Venturi.
I trusted that my readers, like the lady, could recognize that the actions of individuals within a church could not possibly reflect the true foundations of the church. And that readers of the faith would understand as Dietrich von Hildebrand put it that "One saintly priest attracts more souls to Christ...than do those who lack the imprint of their sacred office."
I can assure the lady that Austrian school economics is not my religion and that my allegiance to the New York Knicks is much stronger, although they have failed me in countless ways. Ways that I fear I could not discuss with the lady given that I fear her ignorance on the topic.
As for the attempt of the lady to link the Catholic Church and natural law, I consider that a horrific error, largely because I do not believe in natural law. So to me it suggests a fundamental link between a false philosophy and the Catholic church. This is much more dangerous than the linkage of particular men to the church, where it is easy for all to see that individual men are not the church.
-RW
The CC (especially the Jesuits) has outlived its usefulness. It, like so many other institutions these days, is just full of a bunch of socialist parasites hiding behind whatever "righteousness" they proclaim to the world. If they want any validity in people's eyes they are going to have to do a huge purge of the socialist parasites that are crawling all over the church like insects.
ReplyDeleteSo Martin Luther somehow distorted the full Christian truth? Pergatory is pretty important. Pretty tough for her to judge other Christians cause I bet she doesn't attend a Lutheran church.
ReplyDeleteHer whole argument is kind of silly because we are supposed to believe she knows the one true faith.
Not to mention all the kiddie sex. Yea sure just a few rotten apples the was no structure cover up for years, perhaps centuries. Naturally it could have been avoided if the Catholic church allowed priests to marry and allowed female priests. But yep the one true faith! CERTAINLY IS.
I thank the Lord on a regular basis for giving us Martin Luther, so millions of Christians could be freed from the strangling grip of the Catholic Curch.
ReplyDeleteToo bad he and his other Protestant revolutionaries gave us the incredibly awful government school system:
Deletehttps://mises.org/system/tdf/Education%20Free%20and%20Compulsory_3.pdf?file=1&type=document
Gave in ? They pretty much lobbied for cause the Catholics had such good schools. They were jealous. Yes the Lutherans screwed that up. But it mostly the Yankee Puritanism that rothbard loves to point out that did it. Puritians are not really around anymore, but there are a few Quakers.
DeleteThe Yankee Puritians were responsible for the civil war and prohibition acording to rothbard.