The church finally decides honesty is the best policy

Educated Catholics have sown dissent and confusion in the Church, claims bishop

I’m sure many of you have already heard of this.  I find it refreshing that the Catholic church has the guts to tell it like it is.  That said, this seems like one the the final nails in their coffin.  I am going to react to specific pieces of the article below.

…such people had been compromised by their education, which he said had a “dark side, due to original sin”.

If every human activity is tainted with original sin, why even call it out in an assertion that education is a primary reason for catholic unfaith?

Patrick O'Donoghue

Patrick O'Donoghue


Bishop O’Donoghue, who has recently published a report on how to renew Catholicism in Britain, argued that mass education has led to “sickness in the Church and wider society”.

In the case of education, we can see its distortion through the widespread dissemination of radical scepticism, positivism, utilitarianism and relativism.

“Taken together, these intellectual trends have resulted in a fragmented society that marginalizes God, with many people mistakenly thinking they can live happy and productive lives without him.

I would really like to see if there is actual research behind this, or if this is just a general observation.  If there is some well-gathered data, excellent!  It lends credence to the assertion that faith and science do not mix.  I would really love to have a conversation with O’Donoghue about how he backs up “mistakenly” in the sentence above.

“These well-educated Catholics have gone on to occupy influential positions in education, the media, politics, and even the Church, where they have been able to spread their so-called loyal dissent, causing confusion and discord in the whole church.”

“For example, the relentless diatribe in the popular media against Christianity has undermined the confidence of the ordinary faithful in the Church.”

Perhaps confidence has been undermined because education has shown religious faith to be very likely untrue.  A truth will stand up to scrutiny.  Strange, that.

Bishop O’Donoghue has produced a report, Fit for Mission? Church, examining the current problems facing the Church and designed “to enable Catholic men, women and children to resist the pressures to compromise, even abandon, the truths of the Catholic faith”.

Does it include a home labodomy kit?  If anyone can find this report, please leave a link to it in the comments section.

About the Author

Josh

3 Responses to “The church finally decides honesty is the best policy”

  1. Thanksgiving Day, when my grandmother (93) worried aloud about not being physically able to attend Mass every week, I heard my mother (69) counsel her thusly:

    “The only reason you think you have to do that is because you happened to be born in an area that is Catholic. If you were born somewhere else, you’d be doing something else.”

    Knock me over with a feather. Granted, this is not a non-theistic statement, but it’s certainly anti-religious. And it comes from a woman who is not highly educated, and who, incidentally, twenty-plus years ago tried to beat the fear of God into her queer son. I can only think we’re on to something!

  2. Wow! Michael.. and they say that KIDS say the darnedest things!

    Sounds to me that she might be getting ready to apologize to you for that/those beating(s).

  3. I love it how a “Catholic Singles” advertisement gets pulled up from Adwords! How ironic!

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