CATHOLIC CHURCH: YESTERDAY AND TODAY

Catholic Church issues involving priests generally, celibacy, marriage, women being ordained priests, abortion, and homosexuality had their place in another time, also.

The Catholic Church of today is not the Catholic Church of yesterday in many regards. A few of the differences will be demonstrated. Many the result of man's interpretation of the Bible rather than God's word.

There were no priests till the end of the first century. The apostles were holy men. Men of God. They bore no specific title.

By the end of the first century, Christ's followers had multiplied. The holy men were of the opinion they themselves should be referred to with a special designation. Something to demonstrate they were above the masses. 

The title Priest came into being. With it, ordinations.

The issue of celibacy arose. Not a problem in God's time. It took a thousand years to rear its head. Certain apostles were married. Peter, the first Pope, was. Subsequent holy men were. They enjoyed sex and fathered children.

No where in the Bible does it say God insisted on celibacy for priests. There were no priests for almost 100 years after Christ's death. For almost a 1,000 years thereafter, priests had been enjoying marital bliss. Some even outside their marriage bonds.

In 1074 AD, Pope Gregory VII declared candidates for ordination could not marry. Few, if any, listened to him. Priests continued to marry in large numbers for another hundred years. Celibacy was mandated and made part of Canon Law in 1139 AD at the Second Lateran Council. 

Between 1074 AD and 1139 AD, Pope Urban II became a zealous advocate of celibacy. So much so that he had priests' wives sold into slavery and their children abandoned.

Priests continued marrying and/or having sex for several hundred more years. In decreasing numbers. By 1200 AD, fifty percent of priests were married and fifty per cent not. So much for the Second Lateran Council.

History suggests Popes were married  through 1585 AD. Some fathered children. Six Popes subsequent to 1139 AD  produced illegitimate children. One Pope four, another three, and several two. 

It is well established that four Popes had male lovers. Open and notorious. One slept in the same bed with his partner in the Vatican of that time.

The most interesting thing learned is that celibacy is not a vow. Rather it is a promise. A promise a new priest makes to a Bishop.

Abortions have their place in Church history. Not as represented today. Rather as what existed in reality at a certain time.

It was 836 AD. Priests had been  having sex with nuns and other women for a number of years.. Some of the ladies became pregnant. The monasteries and nunneries became abortion mills. Infanticide was an agenda item. Very young babies were killed. Sort of makes one think.....Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

In any event, the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle decreed in 836 AD that there were to be no more abortions and child killings in monasteries and nunneries.

There were women priests. Would you believe! From the time of Christ to some time into the fourteenth century. And further in time. There was another Council in the fourteenth century that declared women could no longer be ordained priests. Yes, they had actually been ordained just as men up to that time.

Few payed attention to no more female priests. A hundred years later, women were still being ordained, hearing confessions, etc.

By the fourteenth century, male presence and power was increasing within the Church. The hierarchy began to look down upon women as priests.The female gender was considered less than the male one. Women were no longer worthy of being priests.

The hierarchy relied on the Bible for its new found position regarding female priests. Man's interpretation as opposed to God's. Where was that interpretation for fourteen hundred years?

A modern day inconsistency also exists.

In 1972, Czech women were imprisoned in large numbers by the Communists. Ludmilla Jarorova and several other Czech women were ordained as priests to serve the needs of those women.

For centuries, Popes themselves married and procreated.

The purpose of this article is to make  people aware there is a difference between God's Laws and what man later determines to be God's Law. Some believe the inconsistencies, the law changes, are the result of those who considered themselves special. The men in the Church. There have been such men in every century. Once in power, they abrogate power and authority to themselves. The result is the screwed up Catholic Church of today.

NEW POPE AND U.S. CATHOLIC SOCIAL ISSUES.....RESOLUTIONS?

A new Pope was announced to the world this week. Pope Francis.

 

Apparently a very holy and humble man. I wish him every success in guiding the Catholic Church through its trying times.

 

Some background. He is Argentine by birth. However, he is of Italian extraction. His father was born in Italy. A modest man. The new Pope dances to his own tune. He does things his way.

 

As an Argentine Cardinal, he was entitled to all that goes with the position. From a glamorous home to a limousine to drive him here and there to whatever. He shunned all these things. He lived in a small apartment. Cooked his own meals. Took the subway to his office each day.

 

Pope Francis was ordained a Jesuit. Jesuits are an order of priests within the Catholic Church. They are well educated and considered extremely intelligent. The primary purpose of a Jesuit is to give aid the poor. To assist in providing  basics such as food and shelter.

 

Jesuits are also doctrinaire. They read the Bible literally. What it says, it says. Period. No room for interpretation.

 

In 2010, Argentina recognized same sex marriage. Today's Pope Francis spoke out at the time. He disagreed with the law. Said it was not consistent with God's plan.

 

Argentina is part of the Latin American community. The community is still dealing with poverty. Basics such as of food and shelter. The things Pope Francis was most concerned with as a priest and then Cardinal in Argentina. He had his brush with same sex marriage.He disagreed. Matters such as priests marrying, a woman becoming Pope, dealing with the pedophile problem, birth control, and other matters of a social nature do not appear to have been on his plate. Pope Francis is accustomed to caring for the poor. A Latin American and Third World country problem. A full plate in and of itself.

 

There is significance in the new Pope taking the name of Francis. He took unto himself the name of St. Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis was a wealthy person. He gave all his riches to the poor. He then spent the rest of his life caring for the poor.

 

I doubt that the new Pope will have time to delve into the social ails of the U.S. Catholic Church. When and if he does, it will be in the doctrinaire fashion described before. The word itself with no deviation.

 

Which means in the final analysis that U.S. problems will basically remain unsolved. Priests will continue to be prohibited from marrying, a woman may not become Pope, birth control will be as it has for the past sixty years, gays will be shunned.

 

I smile when these issues arise in the context of the Church. Priests initially were permitted to marry. Some early Popes had wives. It is man made law, not God's law, that prohibits marriage. Jesus respected women. His mother Mary is a prime example. He also was a close friend of the prostitute Mary Magdalen. Such has no present impact on the woman becoming Pope issue. Women continue to be second class citizens. Birth control is an issue that has strangled Catholic and non-Catholic society for years. The fight by those against birth control will go on. Leaving otherwise devout Catholic women in a quandary. The mockery of God's universal love will continue by not recognizing the love between two persons of the same sex.

 

New York's Cardinal Dolan in an interview following the new Pope's election said he doubted the social problems concerning U.S. Catholics would gain attention or be resolved. Things would continue as they have been. A status quo. No solutions.

 

My thoughts answer the question raised in the title to this article. Resolutions? Few, if any.