tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post3030174709643541975..comments2024-03-29T13:30:56.758+13:00Comments on Anglican Down Under: Oh dear, oh dearPeter Carrellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-42658209350996419002008-07-29T15:17:00.000+12:002008-07-29T15:17:00.000+12:00To the poster who offered a negative view of my po...To the poster who offered a negative view of my post and/or comments herein: I am prepared to published critical/opposing comments but not comments which include the word 'Nazi' and 'Benedict' in the same sentence.Peter Carrellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-1810770031709622822008-07-29T07:18:00.000+12:002008-07-29T07:18:00.000+12:00Peter: if you haven't already located it thru the ...Peter: if you haven't already located it thru the miracle of Google, here's the whole sermon:<BR/><BR/>http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2005/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20050424_inizio-pontificato_en.html<BR/><BR/>It's full of great pastoral beauty - ideal for ordinations!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-30113657084356236762008-07-29T06:29:00.000+12:002008-07-29T06:29:00.000+12:00Thank you anonymous - I particularly appreciated t...Thank you anonymous - I particularly appreciated the Benedictine sermon!Peter Carrellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-90464200310908553892008-07-28T20:46:00.000+12:002008-07-28T20:46:00.000+12:00Here's the excerpt from Benedict XVI's sermon I ha...Here's the excerpt from Benedict XVI's sermon I had in mind:<BR/><BR/>"This account, coming at the end of<BR/>Jesus’s earthly journey with his disciples, corresponds to an account found<BR/>at the beginning: there too, the disciples had caught nothing the entire<BR/>night; there too, Jesus had invited Simon once more to put out into the<BR/>deep. And Simon, who was not yet called Peter, gave the wonderful reply:<BR/>“Master, at your word I will let down the nets.” And then came the<BR/>conferral of his mission: “Do not be afraid. Henceforth you will be<BR/>catching men” (Lk 5:1-11). Today too the Church and the successors of the<BR/>Apostles are told to put out into the deep sea of history and to let down<BR/>the nets, so as to win men and women over to the Gospel - to God, to Christ,<BR/>to true life. The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this<BR/>singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is<BR/>fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to<BR/>serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is<BR/>true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and<BR/>death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us<BR/>out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendour of God’s light,<BR/>into true life. It is really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to<BR/>be fishers of men, we must bring men and women out of the sea that is salted<BR/>with so many forms of alienation and onto the land of life, into the light<BR/>of God. It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men.<BR/>And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the<BR/>living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and<BR/>meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of<BR/>God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.<BR/>There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the<BR/>encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and<BR/>to speak to others of our friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd,<BR/>the task of the fisher of men, can often seem wearisome. But it is<BR/>beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God’s joy<BR/>which longs to break into the world."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-71725385171504257542008-07-28T18:40:00.000+12:002008-07-28T18:40:00.000+12:00I agree, Peter - the problem is not that she (usua...I agree, Peter - the problem is not that she (usually) says something that is actually wrong, but that what she says isn't definitively Christian and eschatological. Many peole do seriously doubt that Schori really is a Christian rather than an old style liberal humanist with a social gospel gloss - something immediately identifiable from those awful Sydney Carter songs of the 60s ('When I needed a neighbor were you there?' etc), updated now to include abortion on demand, assisted suicide, 'inclusive' sexuality, and environmentalism. Good works (however these be defined) are commendable, but they are not the Gospel, and there is no place for Pelagianism or works-righteousness. Absent from Schori's thin theological world is any profound meditation on the meaning of the Incarnation and the Cross of the Son of God, nor even of the Trinity.<BR/>On top of that, she expresses agnosticism or little interest in the question of life after death, so I wonder if she really believes the fish will be sorted out at the end. The end of the sermon is meant to be her rhetorical summation, but it's pretty easy to deconstruct:<BR/>"So fear not, keep looking, and give thanks that when you find a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven, it is around us, even if it smells pretty fishy or whether it sounds like a riot in the wee hours of the morning."<BR/>If the angels really are going to throw the bad fish into the fiery furnace (Matt 13.49-50) - which Schori *doesn't believe - as you say, the fish should be inspecting themselves before they are landed. Second, Benedict XVI does a wonderful turn on this image (I think in his inaugural sermon) in which he notes that while being in the water means life for the fish, it means death for men and women; so the net (sagene) means a rescue from drowning. Does Schori believe men are in mortal danger without Christ and his net? Evangelism is not a good idea for furthering MDGs, it's the divine imperative for eternal life!<BR/>Third, I can't imagine that any parent sitting in St Martin's with a daughter at university would think that a boozy all nighter followed by a visit to an abortion clinic was much of an image of the kingdom of heaven. The UK has a tremendous drink problem and increasingly it's affected young females.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com