but I think the passage below is worth sharing and stays away from the FZ far enough that it can be shared without ruffling those feathers, while at the same time possibly spurring some interesting conversation. To me, the interesting part is the emphasis on "pluralism" in values vs "relativism".
One thing we Roman Catholics have not been so good at is achieving a comfort level with a culture in which values are plural. Pluralism is not the same thing as relativism, and the confusion of the two has led to some lousy evangelization. Perhaps the Catholic left can help both the church and the political left to find a better way of addressing each other. Against those on the left who really are relativists, we can point out the moral repugnance of a politics of solidarity that finds no room to consider the unborn or the infirm, that employs libertarian moral language to mask the exercise of power against the defenseless. Against those in the church who think the natural moral law is the only viable form of societal moral analysis (even though those same people usually do not employ the natural moral law as the grounds for shared discourse so much as they use it as a bludgeon to beat people over the head), the Catholic left can explore other moral frameworks, provided we remain rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ which alone can provide a Catholic with an understanding of what we mean when we employ the most basic words of moral thinking: human person, solidarity, obligation, human rights, and liberation.
Duplicate comment.
Bit heavy for a Saturday, but after I dictionary.com a few of these words/concepts, I'll be back.
So many thoughts.
That's interesting. I got the opposite message from my priest last weekend. Complete with Wikileaks quotes and being told that I'm not a real Catholic if I use birth control.
It finally got through my very stubborn thick skull that "my kind" is not welcome there.
We had a parish like that once. We found a different one.
It's a little more complicated when two of the kids go to school there and one is going through confirmation.
Aye. Oy.
Some political things happened in the parish where my parents worship, and a moderately left(ish) priest was removed from the church and replaced with a much more conservative guy. He was moved later with little explanation, and replaced with an even more conservative priest. My folks have recently been asking themselves how they can continue going to a church, and tithing(...), that actively condemns what was recently accepted. It's a tough question for sure.
This took a minute to figure out because you live in Louisiana.
I'm not going to comment about the Catholic church, because my own denomination has its own problems. But I do agree that people on the left and right need to find ways to talk to each other without starting from the premise that those on the other side are stupid and/or evil.
Yes. Seems like a simple concept.
I agree.
I also agree, and suspect that many of you would too, that evil exists in the world.
the rub is knowing the difference between evil and not-evil. That's the pluralism vs relativism thing, I guess.
Well... the Yankees are evil - that's a start
Shared values!
I like the line re: pluralism not being the same as relativism. Seems like a point lots of people from all over could remember.
An interesting piece at the National Catholic Reporter regarding the Al Smith Dinner the other night. I will spoiler the link
but I think the passage below is worth sharing and stays away from the FZ far enough that it can be shared without ruffling those feathers, while at the same time possibly spurring some interesting conversation. To me, the interesting part is the emphasis on "pluralism" in values vs "relativism".
Duplicate comment.
Bit heavy for a Saturday, but after I dictionary.com a few of these words/concepts, I'll be back.
So many thoughts.
That's interesting. I got the opposite message from my priest last weekend. Complete with Wikileaks quotes and being told that I'm not a real Catholic if I use birth control.
It finally got through my very stubborn thick skull that "my kind" is not welcome there.
We had a parish like that once. We found a different one.
It's a little more complicated when two of the kids go to school there and one is going through confirmation.
Aye. Oy.
Some political things happened in the parish where my parents worship, and a moderately left(ish) priest was removed from the church and replaced with a much more conservative guy. He was moved later with little explanation, and replaced with an even more conservative priest. My folks have recently been asking themselves how they can continue going to a church, and tithing(...), that actively condemns what was recently accepted. It's a tough question for sure.
This took a minute to figure out because you live in Louisiana.
I'm not going to comment about the Catholic church, because my own denomination has its own problems. But I do agree that people on the left and right need to find ways to talk to each other without starting from the premise that those on the other side are stupid and/or evil.
Yes. Seems like a simple concept.
I agree.
I also agree, and suspect that many of you would too, that evil exists in the world.
the rub is knowing the difference between evil and not-evil. That's the pluralism vs relativism thing, I guess.
Well... the Yankees are evil - that's a start
Shared values!
I like the line re: pluralism not being the same as relativism. Seems like a point lots of people from all over could remember.