Friday, August 09, 2013

Yes, the Tablet still hates the Holy Father


I love the Holy Father. This isn't a statement about his personal qualities - I don't know him as a personality - it is about my attitude to a fellow human being, a fellow Catholic, and a superior in the Church. I wish him well - but more than that, I will give him the benefit of doubts in various ways, not to be stupid but just to be humane, and when he proposes dogmatic truths I give my assent, when he proposes pious initiatives I will, if it lies in my power, support them.

The Tablet hates the Holy Father. Again, I don't think that is so much about his personal qualities, but what he represents, his relationship to Tablet writers as a superior, as the carrier (perhaps on occasion an unwilling carrier) of values and traditions. I fancy if Hans Kung were elected Pope, they would soon hate him too.

Just look at the subtitle on this Tablet article. Who else, but a 'liberal', would be able to generate such instant moral certainty? This book, which they have seen fit to print in extract, doesn't allege he alienated people, it reveals it - and exactly how he did it. And isn't 'alienate' an interesting word? Did Our Lord alienate the scribes and the Pharisees? Or did he rather justly oppose them? Is there a possibility that the Holy Father's actions, which made him enemies, might admit of a positive evaluation? Is that even worth discussing? It seems not.

You might think The Tablet would be enjoying this papacy, but no. I am reminded of Marlow's Mephistophilis in Dr Faustus: Faustus asks him: how is it that you have left hell to be here? He gives the chilling reply

Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.

Whatever ecclesial environment the liberal finds himself in, it is still hell, he carries hell with him, it is the eternal hatred of authority, of the past, of order and beauty, which can never go away.

10 comments:

  1. Amazing that this rag is still for sale in the back of so many Catholic churches in GB...stupid to sell the words of the enemy in the home camp! And, common in so-called Catholic retreat centres. Shows the confusion of many English Catholics who are in a state of perpetual, adolescent rebellion.

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  2. You have a talent for focus and resonance, Dr. Shaw.

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  3. You have a talent for focus and resonance, Dr. Shaw.

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  4. As the subtitle to article seems to imply, anyone's conservative compared to a straightforward Jesuit.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. I'm not sure that The Tablet likes itself.

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  7. It's good to see someone remaining "calm and sober" in their appraisal of the Holy Father, while those around them lose their heads.

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  8. Several members of my parish SVP conference have taken to bringing along Tablet editorials when it's their turn to give the weekly 'spiritual reading'. These are invariably bile-filled diatribes against 'Joseph Ratzinger', whom the Tablet seems to have returned to civilian life, comparing him with the refreshingly liberal, 'spirit of Vatican II'- inspired Pope Francis.

    So nice to see that they're finally redressing the balance.

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  9. Anonymous2:36 pm

    The Holy Father has had ample time since his election to overturn Humanae Vitae, make priests subordinate to 'democratically elected' parish councils and appoint Tina Beattie to the Cardinalate with a mandate to create a female priesthood. That he has not done so is sufficient reason for The Tablet to take Pope Francis to task. Watch out for more of this....

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