Catholic Church Denouncing American Individualism

Secularism & "Privatization" of Religion Are Denounced At Vatican Meeting

From AANews #358, 29 November 1997

It has been a religious right cant that Hollywood, gays, teachers or some other group "hates" America and its basic institutions; but the dubious award of bashing fundamental American instutions may now be up for grabs in an unlikely contest pitting the Vatican and Korean cult leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church against each other.

On Thursday at a gathering of hundreds of bishops from North and Latin America held in Rome, speakers took turns denouncing American individualism and calling for a new effort to "revitalize" the church.

Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburg told fellow prelates that in the United States, "Heavy emphasis on the individual and his or her rights has greatly eroded the concept of the common good and its ability to call people to something beyond themselves." He went on to denounce what he called "the privatization of religion and morality" where "Both were seen by many as matters of purely personal and private concern, such as a hobby or an appreciation of music, but without a proper role in the public arena."

Rest of link......

www.hartford-hwp.com...

It it possible the Church is returning to its old ways, this article though from 1997 seems to give that impression.

Any thoughts?

In a way, the Bishop has a good point when he denounces the "heavy emphasis" on individuality...It seems that those people that voice the heaviest emphasis on individual freedoms are the same ones least likely to lend *equal* emphasis on the inherent *responsibility* that goes with the power of freedom.

In a way, modern society has put too much emphasis on the "material" concerns of life & too little emphasis on the "spiritual" concerns...The Sciences treat knowledge as belonging only to the physical world while the Spiritual Sciences (ESP, ghost hauntings, aura reading, etc) have been relegated to a dusty corner in the back of the closet. This leads to the tendency of people to ignore the responsibilities that we all face in dealing with each other & cooperating to make a better life for all; In other words, without the Spiritual Sciences, people tend to view other people as objects (or potential slaves/servants to control), instead of as *people* who have their own spirits & minds.

"The winds of change" are blowing in the midst of the Catholic Church......
You have a multitude of problems here:

1) The Catholic Church, and the Christian religion in general, is going through some major doctrinal issues/controversies.

2) The Catholic Chruch is slow to change and how the issues of 'today' will impact the church of 'tomorrow.'

3) And the above article underpins that even in a 'supreme' church, representing all of Christianity or being "it's" center, that it is going through "judging" and finger-pointing..........

4) The Catholic Church has been "riding the fence" on issues for so long that it is now starting to catch up with them.

5) The Catholic Church is having a hard time dealing wiht New Age thinking and religion. People are getting sick and tired of going to church just to merely serve those within religion and not God. The Catholic Church dwells heavily in 'ritualistic' functions, etc.

Conclusion: The Catholic Church is running into the same problem that the British did....you can't control an 'empire' from across the Atlantic....rebellion is likely result. Personally, I'm glad to see it........

regards
seekerof

Is it just me or does anyone else feel that SEVEN YEAR OLD doctrine is probably obsolete?

Especially in light of the REAL problems the Catholic Church is going through these days...

P...
m...

I'm with Seekerof and Springer on this one for sure. What exactly are they planning to do to curb the "individualistic" mindset in America? The Catholic Church has got to be one the most hypocritical organizations ever devised. The U.S. government may lie but you do know where they stand. "Mess with us, we kill ya". Maybe we need some new crusades in America.

The catholic church is a part of the NWO the reason they are attacking our individualism is because they plan to take away not only many of our freedoms. but also many of our personal thoughts of being different and expressing ourselves as individuals. The NWO will treat us as groups, like cattle. They will be taking our property, our homes and putting us in apartments or large community type dwellings, in the future. As for Rev Moon, he could very possibly be the antichrist.

MDS,

so does that mean your view of religion is changing?

Icon,

yes and yes I agree.
But the US was also founded on Christian principles thus the quandry.

At least the catholic church continues to make themselves irrelevant as a force of change due to how they deal with their own issues of corruption. I doubt anybody but other catholics pays attention to what they say at this point.

[Edited on 23-9-2003 by heelstone]

Originally posted by iconoclastThe NWO will treat us as groups, like cattle.

Moooooooooooove!

Originally posted by THENEO
MDS, so does that mean your view of religion is changing?

Actually, no.

Does my viewpoint about religion have to change simply because I value the spiritual side of myself to be at least as important as my physical existence on this planet?

Ever since the Renaissance, people have been overemphasizing the material over the spiritual. Both physical & spiritual make up the whole of the person & it just seems foolish to me to allow one to stagnant in the process of developing the other. This is not to say that I've developed any more respect for organized religion recently...After all, I've always been able to distinguish the difference between faith in God compared to faith in a religion.

...One will never achieve balance that way, Grasshopper...