Take your medicine. It’s good for you.
The world renowned ‘conservative’ Princeton Catholic, Robert George, has published a statement in advance of the Pope’s Global Warming Encyclical. It represents the sort of willful blindness of which atheists accuse Christians.
As we await the papal encyclical that will be published this week, my plea to Catholic friends is to receive it in a spirit of willingness to listen and to be taught by the Holy Father. Do not approach it by simply looking for what one agrees with or disagrees with on matters of climate science or anything else.
One should always listen unless one wants to be deaf, but to be taught one must use discernment, discretion. One must consider the source. This is just wisdom, reason. One would hope to agree with the truth and disagree with falsehood. Must we suspend those criteria for papal letters Dr. George?
The gift of the papal magisterium to us, the faithful, is just that: a gift–a charism. We are to receive it as such.
Is ‘Laudato Sii’ a gift from God or from Pope Francis? Can such a ‘gift’ be both? What if this particular gift were a ticking time bomb or a syringe filled with poison? How should we receive it then?
We can, and no doubt each of us will, appreciate the fact that different teachings or aspects of the teaching contained in the document will be proposed at different levels of authority. That is virtually always true of teaching instruments of this sort. But there will be plenty of time to sort all that out. It should NOT be our first priority. Our first priority should be to open ourselves to learning what is to be learned from the Holy Father’s reflections on the physical and moral ecology in the context of the Church’s witness to, and proclamation of, the Gospel.
How is it that Dr. George understands what our priorities of thinking should be? How can we approach the Global Warming Encyclical without considering its level of authority? If, as Catholics, we are now forced to believe monsterous, destructive, and oppressive lies, we must know, yes? Why is it that liberals always want to tell you not only what to think but how, and where you must close your eyes to reality?
We are about to hear the voice of Peter. Our first and most important task is to listen attentively and with open-hearted willingness to be taught.
The arrogance of these brainiacs is astounding. What do they know about hearts anyway? I’ve never had an open heart in my life. It still works.
Oh most Holy Pope Francis. I shall be attentive to your Joe Biden Theology. I shall open my heart with willingness! Oh teach me!
Is this truly our Faith?
