Such as, who's breaking it?
All of us.
Don't point fingers. Read your com box. Read your posts. Check your attitude. Examine your conscience.
Example: "When did it become acceptable for these so-called Catholics to use their platforms to sling mud at and besmirch the reputations of any brother in Christ who disagrees with them?"
That question raised by a blogger who accused Pope Francis of destroying the Church - deriding the Holy Father with such rash judgments as the following: "Pope Francis and his cabal of heterodox prelates and their machinations to undermine Catholic life and thought..." And questioning the Catholicism of his critics, he calls them out: "These self-serving, egotistical bloggers and their commenters should be ashamed of themselves, if they are capable of shame."
I'm interested in these rivalries in so far as they are great examples of how screwed up the Catholic blogosphere actually is. I'm surprised at how we all seem to accuse one another of the very faults we all commit or have committed at one time or another.
Very, very, very few bloggers have taken the high ground in these latest confrontations.
Question on the 8th Commandment?
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury.He becomes guilty:
- of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;
- of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another's faults and failings to persons who did not know them;279
- of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them. - CCC
Disclaimer: Always, always, check your Catechism - study your Catechism. Consult your chancery, your parish priest, your spiritual director, and/or your confessor whenever you have questions on Catholic teaching and doctrine, faith and morals, as well as the Teaching Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Do not depend on bloggers for catechetical instruction or spiritual direction. Do not depend upon social media for your instruction.
Thus the reason why I read so few blogs anymore. Thank you for the reminder, you terrible sinner you.
ReplyDeleteSigned,
Another Terrible Sinner
I'm working on an expose of the Michigan blogging community.
DeleteWhat?
Agree that the Catholic blogoshere is largely a cesspool far more likely to turn good people away from the faith than draw them to it.
ReplyDeleteBut I must admit I cringe just a bit when reading those bits you quoted from the Catechism. I've just seen them used far too many times to keep people quiet when they had good reason to suspect somebody was a pervert. Maciel, anybody?
That's a good insight - about the catechism quotes and Maciel. Thanks.
DeleteAs someone who lost the faith at college through scandal, I have mixed feelings about this. If someone had called out my moral theology professor who was teaching Joseph Fletcher's secular humanism I might have been saved some misery not to mention many mortal sins. And when I see the impact on my young relatives of the mess in the Church...well...I am heartbroken. One of the reasons I think my own five children still practice the faith is because I told them throughout their education that just because someone was wearing a roman collar, it didn't mean he was telling them the truth. They saw me fighting with the principal (an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales) over scandals at Bishop Ireton in Alexandria. But I think we need to fight from our knees.
ReplyDelete