Saturday, March 14, 2009

Pope Benedict's letter refers to the hermeneutic of continuity

Just a few days ago, Pope Benedict wrote a letter to all the bishops of the Church explaining the situation calmly and rationally. He included these important words:
The Church’s teaching authority cannot be frozen in the year 1962 – this must be quite clear to the Society. But some of those who put themselves forward as great defenders of the Council also need to be reminded that Vatican II embraces the entire doctrinal history of the Church. Anyone who wishes to be obedient to the Council has to accept the faith professed over the centuries, and cannot sever the roots from which the tree draws its life.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So no more commentary by priests that the Latin Mass is "the old way that's not for today" ?

~Dr. K

Gretchen said...

I love our Holy Father. His logic, and his loving admonishments are Christ-like.

Jeffrey Pinyan said...

I feel like Pope Benedict is channeling the very voice of God (cf. Jonah 4:11) in his plea for concern… at the very least, I would guess he was inspired by it:

“Can we be totally indifferent about a community which has 491 priests, 215 seminarians, 6 seminaries, 88 schools, 2 university-level institutes, 117 religious brothers, 164 religious sisters and thousands of lay faithful? Should we casually let them drift farther from the Church?”

“And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:11)