Your Email:

Subject:

Message:
Entry: A Silence That Speaks Volumes Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/a_silence_that_speaks_volumes#7967 Post contents: Keep up the good work on this front, Mr. Richert. When I first read Fr. Neuhaus's blog post my blood pressure definitely went up. I also agree with Al's comments about how a Catholic "conservative" establishment has set itself up as alternative Magisterium. When I first converted to Catholicism, I eagerly read everything written on Church issues by Neuhaus, Novak, and Weigel because I honestly believed they were reliable interpreters of the Church's teaching. The blog post was typical of Father Neuhaus's style: do not actually engage the arguments and dismiss your opponents as being "too far left" or "too far right" and not in the "center". And while you're at it, why not casually toss out the accusation that all Catholics who identify themselves as "traditionalists" and who criticize the war by appeal to Catholic principles are anti-Semites? You don't want to agree with an anti-Semite do you? Did you know that the "Lefebrvist" Bishop Williamson endorsed the book? Well, everything in it must be false, then! Strange that a man so in love with liberalism has to resort to Stalinist tactics of labelling those he disagrees with as "politically incorrect" and hence to be ignored. By the way, as far as Vatican II goes, there are legitimate questions as to how to reconcile its teachings with previous Church teachings, particular the teachings of the pre-conciliar papal magisterium. Pope Benedict acknowledged that there is work to be done here when he called for a "hermeneutics of continuity". Even John Paul II, the great lover of Vatican II, said "Indeed, the extent and depth of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council call for a renewed commitment to deeper study in order to reveal clearly the Council's continuity with Tradition, <i>especially in points of doctrine which, perhaps because they are new, have not yet been well understood by some sections of the Church</i>" (Ecclesia Dei). But for Father Neuhaus you are either a "Lefebrvist" or you believe that Church teaching came into existence ex nihilo in 1962 with Vatican II followed by the papal magisterium of John Paul II. If you want to be in the "center", you have to accept the second alternative. Sent at: 2008 07 06