(January 2, 2017 at 10:31 am)Redoubtable Wrote: Yes, I agree with your points, but I guess it's just frustrating when you know the serpentine way certain Catholics try to use and slither out of a controversy. Good point in bringing up the Ordinary Magisterium because even practicing Catholics don't know what it is or that it carries an aspect of infallibility also; they just think the Pope is infallible and don't recognize it anywhere else. I think bringing up the Ordinary Magisterium and its collective silence, acceptance, or teaching on a particular issue is the strongest argument in favor of showing serious moral and doctrinal discontinuity in the Church.
It's difficult to say what someone like Francis truly believes deep down. Clearly, he does not want a formal schism within the Catholic Church and he wants to maintain the political influence of the Papacy in the World. At the same time he wants to move the Church in a direction that secularizes it even more. To do this, he uses the classic thesis/antithesis dialectic:
![[Image: stairs.gif]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=ericsteinhart.com%2Fprogress%2FHEGEL%2Fstairs.gif)
Most Catholics do not care; in fact, most approve of Francis and what he is doing. For them, Catholicism is a pro forma form of religion, something that they were born into or married into.
As I said, I simply have better things to do with my time and money! My niece, a Catholic, decided not to get married in a Catholic ceremony (I was not invited to her wedding, though), but instead decided to get married at a "marry barn" (or whatever); some outfit that sells very nice marriage ceremonies to couples!
