01.04.2017 06:24 PM

Good riddance, Bishop Henry

You won’t be missed. Not by sane Catholics.

6 Comments

  1. BlueGritr says:

    Did you ever cross paths?

  2. BlueGritr says:

    I know your Boss wasn’t fond of him.

  3. MississaugaPeter says:

    The Church is losing adherents in developing countries at a staggering rate with Argentinian Pope Francis at the helm.

    In Brazil, from 2014 to 2016, 9,000,000 fewer Catholics.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2016/12/27/brazil-jesus-catholic-datafolha-survey/#71fe92f4d22d

    Pope Francis is rapidly changing the Old Guard with His Guard.

    A schism in 2017 or 2018 is not out of question.

    • doconnor says:

      What problem do they have with Pope Francis? Too economically liberal? Too socially liberal? Not liberal enough?

      • MississaugaPeter says:

        The Church has been in a mess for a while. The Catholic Church went through an internal Protestantism with Vatican II (mid-1960’s). It was supposed to reach new folks, but ended not doing that. And many, many Catholics left the Church in Europe and North America. The question is: Was it enough Protestantism, or was the Protestantism the reason for the decline?

        Pope Francis perceived liberalism and focus away from dogma is not really bringing new adherents. It may be getting folks like the patron of this fine website happy, but it is not putting more people in the pews. In the mean time, there are a lot of folks who like/liked the dogma and sincerely believe/believed that the Catholic Church is/was the be all and end all, and leave because of the perceived waffling. Among many things, they are alarmed that a Pope would enter a mosque (something that no pope before Pope John Paul II did).

        IMO, it really comes to Claiming that your way is the only way. The moment you start conceding that there are alternatives, people will decide to take the easier route. And they have just done that out the Church.

        I look at the Democratic and Republican Parties in the U.S. They are what made the Catholic Church the largest and longest lasting organization in history. They have a focused enemy (the other Party) and expect blind adherents to follow the leader. Unlike the Democratic and Republican Party, the Catholic Church no longer has an enemy (many priests dare not talk about devils, Hell, or sins) and the Pope is no longer genuinely considered the Vicar of Christ.

        While Fundamentalist churches in the United States (and Brazil) who claim “they are the way” are growing, the Catholic Church and its “there are other ways” is not.

        Like in politics, when you waffle, you lose.

    • Kevin says:

      Schism? Doubtful. This isn’t the 11th century. A schism was also predicted after Vatican II but it never happened. There were a few groups of dissatisfied people formed (Una Voce comes to mind), but with very limited membership and which stayed within the RC church.

      So some people grumbled but they stayed with the Pope. In a way, the Vatican is a lot like Vegas: the odds are always with the house.

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