THE INTERVIEW and "situation ethics"
OR "all you need is love"... and mercy
-
In the first interview granted by bergoglio to the press which appeared in America Magazine the topic of "the divorced and remarried" and other "problematic situations" were discussed.
http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview
-
I will try to demonstrate how bergoglio applies "situation ethics" in responding. And how in so doing he attempts to circumvent Church teaching on faith and morality.
-
BTW. The title of the article is "A Big Heart Open to God". This fits right in with bergoglio's theme that "all you need is love"... and mercy.
-
Here is the excerpt with my comments inserted. I also highlight the use of the word "situation" with asterisks.
=============
I mention that there are Christians who live in ***situations*** that from the point of view of the church are irregular or somewhat complex, Christians that, in one way or another, live with open wounds. I mention the [situation of] divorced and remarried, same-sex couples and other difficult ***situations***. What kind of pastoral work can we do in these cases? What kinds of tools can we use? [Can we use situation ethics?] The pope signals that he understands what I mean [we both know I mean situation ethics] and he responds:
-
“We need to proclaim the Gospel on every street corner,” the pope says, “preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing [with love and mercy], even with our preaching, every kind of disease and wound. In Buenos Aires I used to receive letters from homosexual persons who are ‘socially wounded’ [an example of a "situation"] because they tell me that they feel like the church has always condemned them. But the church does not want to do this [actually it DOES]. During the return flight from Rio de Janeiro I said that if a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge [that situation]. By saying this, I said what the catechism says [NOT really]. Religion has the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free: it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person. [This is an expression of the anti-dogmatic teachings of situation ethics.]
-
“A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality [another situation]. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ [All you need is love] We must always consider [the situation of] the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the [particular situation of a particualar] human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their ***situation***. It is necessary to accompany them with [love and] mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing [in the particular situation rather than relying on Church teaching and dogma].
-
“This is also the great benefit of confession as a sacrament: evaluating case by case [according to the particular situation] and discerning what is the best thing to do for a person who seeks God and grace. The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy [and love] motivates us to do better. I also consider the ***situation*** of a woman with a failed marriage in her past and who also had an abortion. Then this woman remarries, and she is now happy and has five children. That [situation in this case the] abortion in her past weighs heavily on her conscience and she sincerely regrets it. She would like to move forward in her Christian life. What is the confessor to do? [Apply situation ethics and take a merciful, loving approach while ignoring Church teaching? NO!]
-
“We cannot insist only on issues [situations] related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. [Because we have to apply situation ethics instead.] I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues [situations], we have to talk about them in a [situational] context. The teaching of the church [dogma], for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but [BUT I don't believe in dogma -- only situation ethics -- and therefore] it is not necessary to talk about these issues [situations] all the time.
-
“The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent [some are more important than others depending on the situation]. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently [dogmatically and consistently, rather the situation must be taken into account]. Proclamation in a missionary style [using situation ethics] focuses on the essentials, on the necessary things [not dogma]: this is also what fascinates and attracts more, what makes the heart burn [with love and mercy] , as it did for the disciples at Emmaus [interject an unrelated biblical reference]. We have to find a new balance [by taking into account the situation]; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church [tradition and dogma] is likely to fall like a house of cards [if not we will push it to fall by introducing situation ethics], losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel [of love and mercy]. The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple, profound, radiant [, anti-dogmatic]. It is from this proposition that the ["im-" or "a-"]moral consequences then flow.
=============
You get the idea.... see also Wikipedia article on "situational ethics".
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Situational_ethics
Sunday, August 3, 2014
THE INTERVIEW and "situation ethics"
bergoglio employs "situation ethics" and calls it "mercy"
The reason I posted the information from Wikipedia on "situational ethics" is to point out the obvious. Which is that bergoglio employs "situational ethics" whenever he appeals to "mercy" in order to change or ignore clear Church teaching in the area of morality.
-
"Situational ethics" is a very powerful and highly effective propaganda technique for changing moral values of individuals as well as for influencing whole societies.
-
The basic propaganda technique is to over-emphasize some extreme special case and then apply any conclusions drawn from this to a more general case. This is done to gain public sympathy in order to sway public opinion on a controversial topic.
-
For example there was a recent case of a woman in Ireland that had some sort of problem pregnancy. (I don't remember the details.) The secular press used this particular extreme "situation" to argue for legalization of abortion. The press focused the whole abortion debate on this one particular extreme case in an attempt to create sympathy for the cause of legalized abortion in general through the natural sympathy with this woman's difficult "situation".
-
If you think about it I'm sure you can come up with your own examples on "controversial" moral issues such as "homosexual marriage", IVF, contraception, etc.
-
Also, you should be aware that "situational ethics" is used in the school system in areas like "sex education" or "drug prevention" programs. It is well documented that these "drug prevention" programs actually increase drug use among students.
-
But the main point is that the whole "synod on sex" is a gigantic excercise in "situational ethics". And that bergoglio is a master at using this propaganda technique to further the VII revolution. In fact his infamous "who am I to judge?" mantra is an expression of "situational ethics".
-
I was unaware of the "Christian roots" of "situational ethics" until I read the Wiki article. That in itself is shocking. It is especially shocking that this has the backing of some Catholic theologians because this is an anti-dogmatic approach to morality. It totally undermines Catholic teaching.
-
In fact it was condemned by Pope Pius XII and later (in 1956) prohibited from being taught at Catholic seminaries by the Holy Office which referred to "situational ethics" as "the new morality".
http://books.google.com/books?id=Y4759nkMFq0C&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=pope+pius+xii+situation+ethics&source=bl&ots=lfCZhP76dK&sig=je_ApqRGBpQuwhNFpDHAJBaH_F0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=91_cU5H5EMXMsQTL1oGwDA&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAw
-
No doubt that Louie Verrecchio at "Harvesting the Fruits of Vatican II" could tell us how "situational ethics" has been incorporated into the texts of Vatican II.
What is "situational ethics"?
From Wikipedia article on "Situational ethics"
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Situational_ethics
Situational ethics, or situation ethics, takes into account the particular context of an act when evaluating it ethically, rather than judging it according to absolute moral standards. In situation ethics, within each content it is not a universal law that is to be followed, but the law of love. The Greek word used to describe love in the Bible is "agape". Agape is the type of love that shows concern about others, caring for them as much as you care for yourself. Agape love has no strings attached to it, it seeks nothing in return. you love someone completely unconditionally.[1] Early proponents of situational approaches to ethics included Kierkegaard, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Jaspers, and Heidegger.[2]
-
Specifically Christian forms of situational ethics placing love about all particular principles or rules were proposed in the first half of the twentieth century by Rudolf Bultmann, John A. T. Robinson, and Joseph Fletcher.[3] These theologians point specifically to agapē, or unconditional love, as the highest end. Other theologians who advocated situational ethics include Josef Fuchs, Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Paul Tillich.[4]:33 Tillich, for example, declared that "Love is the ultimate law."[5]
-
Fletcher, who became prominently associated with this approach in the English-speaking world due to his eponymously titled book (Situation Ethics), stated that "all laws and rules and principles and ideals and norms, are only contingent, only valid if they happen to serve love" in the particular situation,[4]:30 and thus may be broken or ignored if another course of action would achieve a more loving outcome. Fletcher has sometimes been identified as the founder of situation ethics, but he himself refers his readers to the active debate over the theme that preceded his own work.
Radical synod: Oktober 2014 revolution!
John Vennari has written an excellent article analyzing the working document (Instrumentum Laboris) for the upcoming October Synod on the Family. Vennari's article is titled "Radical Synod Planned for October: Working Document Reveals Revolutionary Aims".
http://www.cfnews.org/page10/page96/radical_synod.html
Here is a short excerpt which summarizes the article. I highly encourage you to read the full article linked above.
============
It is a thoroughly Conciliar manuscript. There is no mention of any document from the Church’s magisterium prior to Vatican II. Apart from Scriptural citations, all references are from Vatican II and post-Conciliar texts.
The document contains good points, major deficiencies and frightening proposals. The three most radical proposals are:
1) A new “pastoral solution” to allow divorce and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion;
2) A new “pastoral approach” that permits the baptism of children from same-sex couples, thus indirectly legitimizing these unions;
3) A recasting of natural law in “new language”, which threatens to undermine our entire ethical foundation of true morality.
Indeed the Synod’s Working Document further displays the triumph of the New Theology over today’s Vatican; the same new theology that wrought havoc at Vatican II and continues its destructive path to this day.
============
+ + +
As the perfect complement to John Vennari's article, please watch the video "Occupy Vatican: Bracing for the Synod on the Family" over at the Remnant.
-
http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/component/k2/item/845-occupy-vatican-bracing-for-the-synod-on-the-family
-
"The Remnant Forum's Michael Matt and Christopher Ferrara break down Instrumentum Laboris—the working document for the coming Synod on the Family in Rome. Question: Are the revolutionaries who broke the Church in the first place really in any position to fix it now?"
-
Christopher Ferrara repeatedly makes the point that the next phase in the revolution is an assault on Church teachings on morality. This is the one area that was considered more or less out of bounds as the Vatican heirarchy officially implemented changes in the Church "in the spirit of Vatican II". And now that final fortress wall is about to be breached and the demonic army will come rushing through to attack the inner sanctum of the Church. The Holy of Holies.
-
So that is why I refer to the upcoming Oktober revolution as the "synod on sex" rather than the "synod on the family". The theme of the "modern crisis" of the family is simply a propaganda ploy to bring the sexual revolution into the Church.
-
The popular media likes to portray the Church as being "obsessed with sex", but actually they are the ones obsessed with sex and only cover the Church when it relates to how Church teachings impede the progress of the sexual revolution.
-
And of course bergoglio infamously chimed in and said that the Church was "obsessed" with issues of morality such as abortion and "homosexual marriage".
-
bergoglio and "friends" have chosen the issue of "communion for the divorced and re-married" as their perfect propaganda tool in which they can put into practice the world's largest "situational ethics" therapy session.
-
"How do YOU feel about that?"
"How does that make you FEEL?"
"What would YOU do when faced with this situation?"
-
God? Commandments? Dogma? Tradition? Even the teachings of Christ are thrown out in this phony excercise of mass "group therapy" where the unwitting guinea pigs are the Catholic faithful worldwide.
Kyrie eleison!
Holy Mother Mary, pray for us!
Will bergoglio be "left behind"?
No! Not according to Tim LaHaye the anti-Catholic protestant author of the "Left Behind" series.
But -- and that's a big butt -- is that a good thing....
+ + +
Carl E. Olson, a convert from fundamentalist protestantism, wrote a killer exposé in 2004 of the "Left Behind" series and other writings by Tim LaHaye.
http://www.catholicleague.org/the-best-selling-bigotry-of-left-behind/
-
Olson writes:
"The Left Behind books and their non-fiction companions are filled with poor writing, bad theology, and anti-Catholic bigotry. It’s best to leave them behind and rely on Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church when studying the end times—or anything else."
-
The following short excerpt is where Olson's article gets really interesting and relevant to the bergoglio papacy.
============
============
[Tim Lahaye writes in 1995] "A lot of Catholics were confused, because while many remained, some had disappeared—including the new pope, who had been installed just a few months before the vanishings. He had stirred up controversy in the church with a new doctrine that seemed to coincide more with the ‘heresy’ of Martin Luther than with the historic orthodoxy they were used to.”
-
[Olson explains] In other words, the new pope is secretly Raptured despite being Catholic because he embraces the views of Martin Luther and has therefore renounced Catholic teaching. So those Catholics who reject the Catholic Faith can be “saved” and Raptured, with the logical conclusion being that Catholics who are loyal to the Church are not “saved,” are not true Christians, and will not be Raptured.
============
============
Yikes! And these are the type of protestants that bergoglio says are our "friends". The original "Left Behind" novel was written by Tim LaHaye in 1995. Who could have imagined at that time a pope like bergoglio ..... ? A pope who does not even meet the most minimal standards in order to be defined as a Catholic. A pope who is more at home with protestant evangelicals, jews, muslims.... than with faithful Catholics.
-
You just can NOT make this stuff up. There is much more in Olson's article. I highly recommed reading it in its entirety for a taste of what our protestant evangelical "friends" really think about Catholics -- with the exception of traitors like bergoglio of course.
+ + +
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us!
+ + +
In 1572, the Islamic Ottoman Empire intended to invade Christian Europe. Pope St. Pius V called Christian armies from all over Europe to defend the continent and asked the believers to pray to Mary in order to help the Christians. The defeat of the Muslim Turks was attributed to the intercession of Mary under this title.
-
Having requested all Christendom to pray the rosary during the battle, this devout son of St. Dominic, consequently instituted the feast of the Rosary to be celebrated the first Sunday of October in honor of Mary, “Help of Christians.”
+ + +
ATTENTION!: The first Sunday of October is the 4th. The same day that the "synod on the family" will commence. Please pray your rosaries that day and ask for the intervention of Mary, Help of Christians!
+ + +
Oh, how we could use a truly saintly pope like St. Pius V today....
http://truthtoponder.com/2011/05/12/pope-st-pius-1540-1572/
-
He is called the Father of the Catholic Reformation and savior of Christendom!
-
The two great and constant worries for him were the struggle against the Protestants and the Ottoman Turks. He constantly tried to unite the princes of Christendom against their hereditary enemy, who sought to destroy Christendom.
-
He eventually excommunicated Elizabeth of England and supported the cause of her imprisoned cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, writing her in prison to console her.
-
Not only did he reform the religious orders, but he had imprisoned bishops who refused to live in their dioceses, insisted on regular Sunday religious instruction, regular attendance by children to instructions, establishment of seminaries, ordered bishops to visit their parishes and make regular visits to Rome. In 1570, he approved of a common liturgy and missal.
+ + +
Hail Mary! Full of Grace... pray for us!
Hollywood will release "Left Behind" just in time for the "synod on sex"
On Friday October 3 on the eve of the "synod on the family" (aka "the synod on sex") Hollywood will release the movie "Left Behind".
http://www.movieinsider.com/m10845/left-behind/
Storyline:
-
Follows Rayford Steele (Nicolas Cage) who is piloting a commercial airliner just hours after the Rapture when millions of people around the globe simply vanish. Thirty thousand feet over the Atlantic, Rayford is faced with a damaged plane, terrified passengers, and a desperate desire to get back to his family. On the ground, his daughter, Chloe Steele (Cassi Thomson) is among those left behind, forced to navigate a world of madness as she searches for her lost mother and brother.
-
The "synod on sex" will take place from Sunday, Oktober 5 to Sunday, Oktober 19.
-
There will be a total Lunar Eclipse on October 8. It will not be visible in Rome, but will be visible in the Far East and the Americas.
-
What message (if any) do you think that Hollywood is sending by timing the release this film to coincide with the eve of the gathering of bishops worldwide in Rome which was announced a year in advance by jorge bergoglio on October 8, 2013?
=============
=============
"Pope calls synod to discuss families, divorce and remarriage"
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1304231.htm
-
VATICAN CITY (CNS) [Oct 8, 2013] -- The predicament of divorced and remarried Catholics will be a major topic of discussion when bishops from around the world meet at the Vatican in October 2014.
-
The Vatican announced Oct. 8 that an extraordinary session of the Synod of Bishops will meet Oct. 5-19, 2014, to discuss the "pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization."
-
The pope had told reporters accompanying him on his plane back from Rio de Janeiro in July that the next synod would explore a "somewhat deeper pastoral care of marriage," including the question of the eligibility of divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion.
-
The announcement of the synod came amid news that the Archdiocese of Freiburg, Germany, had issued new guidelines making it easier for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion.
-
The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said that such matters were more properly dealt with at a church-wide level, "under the guidance of the pope and the bishops."
-
"For persons or local offices to propose particular pastoral solutions runs the risk of generating confusion," he said. "The Holy Father is placing the pastoral care of the family at the heart of a synod process that will be larger, involving the reflection of the universal church."
-
The October 2014 gathering will be an "extraordinary general session" of the synod, which according to the Code of Canon Law is held to "deal with matters which require a speedy solution." It will be composed for the most part of the presidents of national bishops' conferences, the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and the heads of major Vatican offices.
-
Only about 150 synod fathers will take part in the session, which will run for two weeks, Father Lombardi said, compared with about 250 bishops who attended the three-week ordinary general assembly on the new evangelization in October 2012.
"Synod on Sex!": Coming soon to a parish near you...
The "synod on the family" aka the "synod on sex" because it is really all about justifying all the sexual sins by casting a "mercy spell" is coming up soon -- Oktober 5 - Oktober 19... just two months away.
If you haven't made up your mind about this synod, then what are you waiting for?
Are you taking a "wait and see" attitude?
Have you been completely asleep for the past year?
Are you drunk?
It is crystal clear already that communion for divorced and re-married will be approved.
Now the synodal document will not say that, but....
Somewhere I remember reading about an analogy of a sandwich to describe the Vatican II documents and their "pastoral" (i.e. modernist) language. (I think it may have been Archbishop Lefebvre that used this analogy.)
Baloney!
Yes, baloney!
Picture a baloney sandwich with 2 super-sized pieces of bread (white or whole wheat -- it really doesn't matter) and in between is a razor thin slice of baloney...
The neo-Catholics look at the sandwich and say, "Look! Baloney!" While they ignore the super-sized pieces of bread that are the bulk of the sandwich.
The liberal "catholics" look to the spirit of the sandwich which they rightly claim is contained in the bulky bread.
Who is right? Is the document "meaty" as the neo-Catholics claim because of the presence of tiny amounts of a meat-like substance?
Or is it truly in spirit a meat-less product as interpreted by the liberal "catholics"?
It's both!
This is the beauty of modernist "pastoral" language -- the "truth" is all in the "interpretation" (or perhaps in the "hermeneutic"?)
Enough of that...
+ + +
COMING SOON TO A PARISH NEAR YOU!
How does this play out at the parish level?
Well, pretty much as you would expect if you have lived through the post Vatican II era....
Each bishop and each priest will interpret this pretty much however they feel like....
So will divorced and re-married be allowed to take communion?
What do you think?
Oh, you're asking me?
It doesn't really matter what I think.... or what you think....
Or even what the pope thinks once this whole thing has been set in motion....
The "people of God" will just follow their [malformed] consciences.... sometimes supported by statements from the pulpit and sometimes not....
Mostly the reaction from the priests and bishops will be..... [silence]
The secular press will proclaim that it is officially allowed....
The Vatican spokesman (or woman or transgender?) will reply that officially it isn't allowed.... well, sort of.... most of the time..... except under certain vague circumstances.... well, really its up to the priest in the privacy of the confessional.... well, sort of.... except....
This is already happening.... or didn't you notice...
The "synod on sex" will just put its official seal on this chaotic situation.
And who loves Chaos more than anyone else?
God?...
bzzzz "NO! Wrong answer!" ...
"Please try again...."