Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity

UrbScotty

(23,980 posts) Mon Feb 24, 2014, 01:01 PM Feb 2014

Cardinal: Many feel excluded from Church because of doctrine

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the synod, told the Vatican newspaper that the responses show “much suffering, especially by those who feel excluded or abandoned by the Church because they find themselves in a state of life that does not correspond to the Church’s doctrine and discipline”.

The volume of responses, which also include about 700 submissions from Catholic groups and individuals, demonstrates great interest in the synod’s plans to discuss the family when it meets at the Vatican from October 5 to October 19, said the general secretary.

By urging bishops around the world to conduct the broadest consultation possible given the brief amount of time allotted, synod officials “sparked a spontaneous reaction that may seem surprising, but is actually proof of how necessary it is to go out of our offices” to where people really live, he said.

The results compiled by the bishops’ conferences, he said, show “the urgency of recognising the lived reality of the people and of beginning a pastoral dialogue with those who have distanced themselves from the Church for various reasons”.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/02/24/family-synod-responses-reveal-great-suffering-among-catholics-says-cardinal/

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Cardinal: Many feel excluded from Church because of doctrine (Original Post) UrbScotty Feb 2014 OP

I really don't know exactly what is going on... goldent Feb 2014 #1

It will be interesting to see how they deal with such people Fortinbras Armstrong Feb 2014 #2

goldent

(1,582 posts)

1. I really don't know exactly what is going on...

Reply to UrbScotty (Original post)

Mon Feb 24, 2014, 08:48 PM

Feb 2014

what could happen in that short amount of time in October?

Fortinbras Armstrong

(4,473 posts)

2. It will be interesting to see how they deal with such people

Reply to UrbScotty (Original post)

Tue Feb 25, 2014, 07:40 AM

Feb 2014

I'm thinking of a bit from the story "Protestant" in Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Days. There are two small sects which split over a minute point of doctrine, and someone suggests to the pastor of one congregation that it would be a good thing if the two reunited. The pastor replies, "Any time they want to come to us and admit their mistake, we're perfectly happy to sit and listen to them and then come to a decision about accepting them back."

If they are serious about welcoming back "those who feel excluded or abandoned by the Church because they find themselves in a state of life that does not correspond to the Church’s doctrine and discipline" -- by which I assume the means the divorced and remarried -- then the institutional Church had better not take that attitude. It cannot be all give on the one side, and nothing given in return.

When Cardinal Baldisseri says "the church", he means "the institutional Church". Now, there are multiple Catholic Churches. Sociologists divide organizations into two types, the Gesellschaft and the Gemeinschaft (it was obviously a German sociologist who came up with these terms). A Gesellschaft is a formal organization, with officers, written rules, etc. A Gemeinschaft is an informal organization. The hierarchy runs the Gesellschaft, but the Gemeinschaft is the Body of Christ. The Church is neither a function of the hierarchy nor a function of the magisterium.

It would behoove the Cardinal to realize that many of us in the Body of Christ really don't give a damn if someone is divorced and remarried. We would invite them to the marriage supper of the Lamb (see Revelation 19: 9), and believe that those who would exclude them are acting in an unchristian manner.

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