Prior to Vat II, it wasn’t uncommon for those assisting at Mass to pray other devotions such as the Rosary apart from the Liturgy, as the priest and ministers prayed the Mass. However, it was always expected that the faithful unite their prayers to those of the priest. What occurred in practice varied, ranging from those who followed along in hand missals to gentlemen who read the Sunday paper. But the problem, in orthodox Catholic thinking, wasn’t poor intent but poor catechesis, or at least lack of uniform good catechesis.

That uniform and correct catechesis wasn’t accomplished–and has yet to, in this poster’s understanding–isn’t a defect of institutional structures, as when said structures are properly functioning, they should be capable of serving that function. (Example of it working (or at least at work): the uniform vocal opposition by 70+ US RC Bishops to Obama’s being awarded a PhD in Law by UND this Sunday) On the other hand, an objective assessment of unstructured religious bodies would, in my humble opinion, show a natural tendency toward doctrinal entropy, as everyone is his own authority regarding biblical interpretation.

In light of this, I don’t believe the Lord intended for us to be left without an earthly head. We can argue until the cows come home about rocks, stones, and pebbles, Greek and Aramaic, feeding sheep and feeding lambs, but it’s all academic when there’s no unified, universal organization, however it’s organized and led or how strong or loose the ties, that can be the honest broker that calls BS when something goes rotten in Denmark.

Yeah, I know, go ahead and say it: the “Catholic” is suggesting we all bow and kiss the Pope’s ring, and submit to his authority. That’s not what I’m saying to my fellow posters, although it would be a perfect world, IMHO, if that were to happen. Of course I’m not deluded to think that’s soon to happen. What I’m saying to all here is we need to on some level, speak with one voice (“Una Voce”) whenever and wherever we can. We’re surrounded by a veritable cacophony of bad teaching throughout the Christian milieu, independent of disagreements between denominations we already deal with, across the spectrum, from the EV to the RCC to even the Orthodox. I’m talking about stuff that all have always believed.

The problem in doing this seems to be the fact that there is so much doctrinal diversity, that it compounds the problem in an almost logarithmic manner in dealing with any given issue.

I do not provide the opportunity to comment here in order to make it impossible to discuss the topic at hand.

The topic, as addressed by Scott and myself is clear. If someone wants to challenge the whole premise, wonderful. Scot’s blog is right around the corner

We aren’t going to launder all the stupid things done by churches. We aren’t going to make Paul equal to Jesus. We aren’t going to decide that the community question is meaningless because without the scriptures- produced by the church- we don’t have a discussion.

I’m shutting down comments for a while. It’s quite unfortunate that this kind of discussion has to be subject to blog comment anarchy.

(Except for gay people. Even faith ain’t enough to save them, seems like. They also must be celibate.)

(Re: works: Scott is doing an excellent job exploring James over on his blog).

Is it not universal practice to place the words of Paul on the same level as the words of Christ? Then we finesse that minor point by invoking the Holy Spirit.

Paul even gets more space than Jesus — and who questions that? I have friends who attend a Bible-based mega-church who won’t even speak to my pastor because she’s a woman. They shun her, based on scripture. Where’s the Christian community there?

Sure, church is a work. What else is it? Going to church is an action. Is attending the Bible church I mentioned above a work?

Frankly, I felt like stirring things up a bit and injecting reality into the violent agreement that yes, community is good.

Reality is that anyone can stand firmly on scripture with the belief that faith in Jesus is a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Do I agree? Nope. But there is more scripture against me than for me.

http://two10five.blogspot.com/2009/04/who-is-church-pt4-or-what-place-does.html

Sincerely, and with much gratitude for your work,
Lee