From the same Anglican Bishop (N.T. Wright).
Decide for yourself here: http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/wright.htm
Money quote:
Q. So a Christian morality faithful to scripture cannot approve of homosexual conduct?
A. Correct.
Bishop Wright is quite an unpredictable fellow, by the way. He tends to be liberal (sometimes very liberal) on some issues and conservative (sometimes quite conservative) on others. I often find what he says to be illuminating, even when disagreeing with his conclusions. Sometimes, though, his reasoning and judgments strike me as being well off the mark. (Of course, the fault on these occasions could be with me, rather than with him!) On the question of the Biblical basis of the ordination of women and the consecration of women as bishops (a question on which Michael P. awards him and his co-author, David Stancliffe, Anglican Bishop of Salisbury, a 1-0 victory over "the Vatican") he and his co-author do not themselves claim anything like the conclusive victory that Michael awards them. "These arguments, so briefly sketched, are of course too brief to be conclusive, but should indicate that those who support the ordination of women to priestly and Episcopal ministry cannot be dismissed as treating scripture in a cavalier fashion, or as indulging in a fancy, exercising fancy hermeneutical footwork to imply that the text is now unimportant." I myself think they are entitled to that limited claim. The matter is complicated, and careful analysis of the whole of scripture is required. If Bishops Wright and Stancliffe were truly to take up the challenge of justifying what they themselves refer to as "this undoubted innovation," they would have to wrestle with the relationship of holy orders and the relevant sacramental theology to the Aaronic priesthood of ancient Israel---something Fr. Benedict Ashley has explored insightfully in writings defending the male priesthood. In any event, the central point of the article by the Anglican bishops was not to settle the question of ordination for Catholicism (and Orthodoxy) as well as Anglicanism, but rather to insist that Anglicanism has its own theological method---one that is distinct from the "Roman" method (as well as from Protestant methods)---and that Catholic partners in ecumenical dialogue with Anglicans (such as Cardinal Kasper, whom they are addressing directly) need to take that method seriously and understand it properly (though, of course, they will not share it), so that they avoid viewing it "as if it were a muddled way of doing Roman-style theology." On the ordination issue, I suspect that what Wright and Stancliffe are trying to say to Cardinal Kasper is something like this: "sure, if you do theology Roman-style, you won't necessarily come to the conclusion that we as Anglicans have reached" (though Wright and Stancliffe are pefectly well aware that the opposite conclusion has been reached by many of their fellow Anglicans); "but you should not suppose that we are doing Roman-style theology and botching it. We are, rather, doing something different, namely, Anglican theology. You Catholics need to understand that if this dialogue is going to be a fruitful one."
In response to Michael's"curio[sity]", occasioned by my report from the ND v. BC game, two quick thoughts: First, it's easy for me to imagine that the Irish players were not "petitioning" God, but instead thanking him for the wonderful privilege of playing football on a Fall day in Notre Dame stadium. But, assuming they were petitioning, I figure they had pretty good authority -- Merton notwithstanding -- for doing so.
UPDATE: A reader writes:
The Gospel reading for Sunday . . . was the story of Bartimaeus. In this reading, Jesus turns to the blind man and says, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to Christ, “Master, let me see again.”
Note that Jesus asked not, “What do you want me to do?” but “What do you want me to do *for you*?” He *expects* Bartimaeus to petition Christ to heal his ailment, as to so many wounded and hurting people in the Gospels. I don’t see where this text gives us room to find that Jesus did this only as a concession to the weakness of Bartimaeus’ faith. As if a deep, reflective blind man would have asked for world peace instead.
Jesus of course mourns the great evils in the world. But he is still interested in our own personal pains, small though they might be by comparison. What a great mercy that our God . . . still wishes to hear our petitions, bind our wounds, and forgive our sin.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Decide for yourself. Here.
Was the players' prayer (or were their prayers) petitionary? Or not? If peititionary, is the players' prayer the sign of a mature theology? Or not? Thomas Merton thought petitionary prayer the sign of an immature theology. My thought? This side of the Holocaust--among other world-historic horrors, some of which precede the Holocaust--petitionary prayer is simply mind-boggling. Not, mind you, that I think that Rick should have worked all of this out with Tommy. Not at all! But I found the post a curious one.
On Saturday, my son Tommy and I were at the ND v. Boston College game. After agreeing with me that it was “cool” that the Notre Dame players run out of the tunnel, down to the south endzone, where they (almost) all kneel and pray, he observed the Boston College players mosey out and over to the sideline, and asked me (loudly), “Daddy, why didn’t the Boston College guys pray? I thought you said it is a Catholic school.”
Heh.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Today I shed a month´s worth of photo´s that must have been burdening me although they didn´t seem to weigh that much. I had a great photo that I wanted to be able to blow up to a larger size and was trying to change (so I thought) the setting to a higher quality photo. In an instant and by accident 1000 photos were gone. My friend Bill reminded me of the prayer of St. Nicholas of Flue (we had learned this prayer at night prayer a couple of nights back):
My Lord and my God,
take everything from me, that keeps me from Thee.
My Lord and my God,
give everything to me that brings me nearer to Thee.
My Lord and my God,
take me away from myself
and give me completely to Thee. Amen.
We have had two days of mist but not real rain with great views as we have climbed back into the mountains. O´Cebreiro is clouded in so we can´t see the magnificent views from here (although my family assures me they are magnificnet). I feel like I´m in Ireland. The land is a luscious green - more lush than anything I have seen so far. As we walked closer to Galacia, the Celtic music was very evident coming from the bars. And now - in Galacia - I am in a bar writing this with the table next to me singing and enjoying the wet evening.
