Comments on: Pope to American Bishops: Secularism Threatens Liberty, Church Must Respond

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:34:20 +0000

In reply to cynthia curran. They (the "Byzantines") were not a "part" of the Roman Empire, they were the Roman Empire

By: cynthia curran

cynthia curran — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:43:11 +0000

Well, the Julian Calendar was created by the Pagan Julius Caesar. Orthodox favored it because the Byzantines used it since they were apart of the Roman Empire.

By: Geo Michalopulos

Geo Michalopulos — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:38:46 +0000

In reply to macedonianReader. I'd be for that. What a travesty Meletios IV of C'pole, Athens, Alexandria, Cyprus unleashed on us.

By: Geo Michalopulos

Geo Michalopulos — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:37:42 +0000

In reply to Andrew.

Andrew, sometimes it’s good to listen to the young (I take it you are under 40). The first pope I remembered was Paul VI. I’m sure a good man but not the most vibrant personality. Even though I was young, I got the impression he was going through the motions. Maybe he was beaten down by the nonsense of the 60s and rebellious priests like Andrew Greeley and Hans Kung. I dunno.

But I digress. My point is that I see your point. The differences between John Paul II/Benedict XVI and what came before is stark. BTW, I’m NOT impressed with John XXIII (aka “Papa Pinko”). What I get out of JPII/BXIII is moral clarity and boldness.

By: macedonianReader

macedonianReader — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:44:07 +0000

Wouldn’t be a hoot if PopeBenedictXVI declared a return to Julian Calendar as a slap in the face to secularism/consumerism in the West. That would throw us Orthodox for a loop 🙂

By: Fr. Johannes Jacobse

Fr. Johannes Jacobse — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:26:21 +0000

In reply to Andrew. Good words Andrew, right on the mark. For those of us over forty who have been waiting (often in vain) for this kind of moral critique from Constantinople and a few other places, Benedict shows how and why it must be done. Moscow knows this of course and will, as a result, emerge as the leader of Orthodoxy world wide. Cynics will argue their increasing dominance is the result of size and wealth. I think it is because they have been chastened by their failures before Communism and are determined not to let it happen again, particularly as the light dims in Western Christendom.

By: Pope to American Bishops: Secularism Threatens Liberty, Church Must Respond | Koinonia

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:25:11 +0000

[…] (AOI Observer).Freedom detached from moral truth, said Pope Benedict XVI in a recent address to American Catholic Bishops, reflects an “extreme individualism” that requires response from the (Catholic) Church. This is an argument not limited to Catholics alone (see: “Has Europe Lost its Soul” by Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks) and includes the Orthodox as well (see: “With the Rise of Militant Secularism, Rome and Moscow Make Common Cause“). […]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:32:30 +0000

There are days where you just have to pause in silence and appreciate the gift of Pope Benedict. He says more in a couple of paragraphs than the EP and GOA has said in 20 years.

Consider this also, in years long gone, Orthodox factions could always present the Roman papacy and words like papal as dirty and full of all kinds of abuses to be shunned. These folks could say look at our Orthodox Church and its concilarity compared to these Roman Pope’s and their autocratic rule. However, for those of us under 40 we really have known only two pope’s John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Our generation of Orthodox Christians no longer sees the papacy and words like papal as words and ideas to be shunned. We do not see Roman Popes as autocratic rulers or dictators. In fact, the opposite is sometimes true: We wonder why Orthodox bishops cannot be like these two popes who are indeed a gift to humanity.