Monday, January 05, 2009

Ten Rules for Handling a Disagreement like a Christian

A tip of the hat to Diane from Te Deum and to Bishop Vigneron (Archbishop-elect of Detroit). Diane has posted the Bishop's "10 rules for handling disagreement like a Christian". They are fleshed out in his article, but here is a list of the names of the rules:
  1. The Rule of Charity - "Charity is primary"
  2. The Rule of Publicity - "Think with the mind of the Church" (sentire cum Ecclesia); with a corollary, "Measure everything against the authoritative documents of the Magisterium"
  3. The Rule of Legitimate Freedom - "What the Church allows is not to be disallowed"
  4. The Rule of Catholic Freedom - "There's something for everybody, but not everything is for everybody"
  5. The Rule of Modesty - "Not all of my causes are God's causes"
  6. The Rule of Integrity - "To do evil in order to accomplish good is really to do evil"
  7. The Rule of Realism - "Remember that Satan is eager to corrupt my efforts to build up the Kingdom, and he's smart enough to figure out a way to do it"
  8. The Rule of Mystery - Not all the habits and attitudes which belong to a society governed by a representative democracy are appropriate in the Church
  9. The Petrine Rule - "No one ever built up the Church by tearing down the pope"
  10. The Eschatological Rule - "The victory is assured; my job is to run out the clock with style"
I need to learn those by heart and learn to live by them...

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