Tuesday, February 18, 2014

WHERE OH WHERE IS THAT HALCYON TIME?

A reader offers a comment on Chuck White's post: KIKO VS NATURAL RELIGIOSITY.


Excellent article, Chuck. One of the things that I've always appreciated about the Church is it's honesty about the interaction between the spiritual and physical, that although we are guided by the holy spirit, we are nonetheless a physical, man-made institution that attempts to bridge -- with inherently limited success -- the chasm between the physical and spiritual not just through prayer and oblation but by dividing sacred space from profane. 


I also appreciate the ecumenism that this gives rise to. Other religious traditions are not condemned as inherently wrong, but rather viewed as properly inclined toward the divine but simply lacking in knowledge of the truth granted to Christians. 

In the NCW, I see just another movement that cannot come to grips with the physicality and temporality of the Church. In this, the NCW is very similar to the Gnostics and various of the Protestant sects and, in particular, the "primitive church" Protestants. 

Most striking is their shared pretense about the early Church as a Halcyon time where the faith was shared and practiced without imposition of dogma from a clerical hierarchy and without liturgical structure. 

There was a time when the Protestants could invoke this "early church" in support of almost any new contrivance; however, with so much of the early works translated into English it doesn't take much effort to see that no such "early church" ever existed. 

Members of the NCW need to ask their leaders to point to the early church sources that supposedly support the NCW's practices. I think their requests will be met with silence or unsatisfying vagaries.

(Comment was edited into paragraphs by blog author)

7 comments:

  1. Dear Tim,
    My comment is off-subject at this time simply because I wanted to thank you for all your hard work. I'm not putting you up there with the saints or such-- but stating a hard fact. You put yourself out there while people like myself "anonymous" let you take all the punches. I really wanted you to know that your hard work does not go un-appreciated. I must also thank YOUR WIFE AND FAMILY who must also get a lot of grief and have to put up with alot of absent time from you since you are doing this great work of defending our Church and our God. Thank you Tim and Thank you Tim's wife and family. Tim, you may seem almost too much, but I do realize that those who work against our Church are working double time to strike against you. I'm sorry I am a chicken and cheering you on from behind, but I'm there. One day I will be brave enough to put my name out there but currently I am a chicken. Thank you Tim.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words. Actually, I've been "out there" for a long time, so it doesn't hurt anymore. Names aren't really important on this blog. But they are important on letters to the Nuncio. I hope you write one.

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    2. I did last month

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    3. Thank you Anon Chicken, you took the words right out of my mouth, for I too am a 'chicken' in this regards. Like you I too sent a letter to the Nuncio with my real name of course.
      And yes, THANK YOU! Tim (wife and family) for you are blessed.

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  2. Not to this particular topic but will any member of the NCW please answer a question. Is the NCW following the Eastern Orthodox Church's teaching?

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  3. Thank you for your reflective comments. In addition to attacking man's God-given religious nature, Kiko is also known for his anti-intellectualism. It's one thing to castigate intellectual pride, but quite another to reject the gift of intellect. Asking questions, for example, is essential in our walk with Christ. Kiko gives us ample quotes from his published catechetical documents to prove this anti-intellectualism, but bringing it to light will have to wait for another day.

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  4. Anon 11:58AM: At least with respect to the liturgy, the NCW is not following Eastern Orthodox teaching. Many people do not know that the Catholic Church acknowledges the validity of the Orthodox Churches' sacraments. Their liturgies are ancient. As Pope John Paul II said of the Eastern churches in his encyclical, Ut Unam Sint (1995) "The Church must breathe with her two lungs!"

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