Catholic writer Patrick Coffin has an excellent blog post on the recent Salt and Light television programme, Witness interview of Gregory Baum by Fr. Thomas Rosica. As many are doing, he identifies the problem following Msgr. Vincent Foy's review of Baum's dissident views.
One point in which I take a difference nuance with Coffin is the aspect of relevance. In a sense, Coffin is correct; liberal Catholicism is spent, is dying.... but the entity of Salt and Light is relevant. I believe that it should be saved. It should be freed. I concur with Coffin's prayer request - Church authorities standing up can put the corrective to Salt and Light and make this project relevant for the Church in Canada. I close by - in a spirit of charity motivated by admiration for much that has been done by Salt and Light - suggesting that Fr. Rosica seriously consider the damage done by this scandal. Salt and Light is about the Church: for the love of the Church, Fr. Rosica, please resign.
One point in which I take a difference nuance with Coffin is the aspect of relevance. In a sense, Coffin is correct; liberal Catholicism is spent, is dying.... but the entity of Salt and Light is relevant. I believe that it should be saved. It should be freed. I concur with Coffin's prayer request - Church authorities standing up can put the corrective to Salt and Light and make this project relevant for the Church in Canada. I close by - in a spirit of charity motivated by admiration for much that has been done by Salt and Light - suggesting that Fr. Rosica seriously consider the damage done by this scandal. Salt and Light is about the Church: for the love of the Church, Fr. Rosica, please resign.
The interview is a time-warpy snapshot of the leftist ecclesiastical fantasies of the 1960s. It’s all there: Vatican II was better than Pentecost; old is bad, new is good... I stopped counting after 10 the number of times Baum trundled out the magic word dialogue.
You can see Father Rosica trying to rehabilitate his old friend, gently steering the interview back in hopes of finding some continuity between Baum’s obvious dissent and some semblance of respect for the Pope....
You can see Father Rosica trying to rehabilitate his old friend, gently steering the interview back in hopes of finding some continuity between Baum’s obvious dissent and some semblance of respect for the Pope....
Yes, the moral and theological confusion generated by such an interview is a source of scandal. But really, the whole thing strikes one as so irrelevant...Liberal Catholicism is a spent project.... [it] can’t compete with the fire and ice of a Blessed John Paul II or a Benedict XVI, whose standard is high and teaching is clear. Which is another reason why brave shepherds attract willing sheep, convert and cradle alike.
Side bar prayer request: Dear God, please inspire a Canadian bishop to stand up and say what’s wrong with giving dissent a national platform on a Catholic broadcast. Amen.
Actually the time-warpy snapshot of the leftist ecclesiastical fantasies of the 1960s is far more current than you might think. There are still people out there who believe this stuff and there is a woeful shortage of people willing to explain the Church's point of view. The migration of Catholics to like minded centres of worship means that a traditionalist and a liberal are not likely to meet over coffee after mass.
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