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This is great.
Did ABL really go out of his way to assemble a body of prelates that would challenge the Vatican and the new direction? One hears stories of him going with the flow or being undecided as to the true nature of the changes ..
I heard stories that you're a troll, but I don't believe they're true. :wink:
.. and changes there would be if a council was being called! The bishop likes to dwell upon ABL's clarity of mind .... something I dispute .... and build him up as the only resistance to V2. But there was resistance before him and full-hearted resistance at that! And why would resistance necessarily congregate around ABL and create a role which paradoxically the bishop now rejects for himself?
A good question which you have more or less answered,
Did ABL really go out of his way to assemble a body of prelates that would challenge the Vatican and the new direction?
The obvious answer is no. If they have not presented a committed and substantial resistance by now, it will not happen.
You have some curious logic there...
"I don't see results, therefore effort must not have been expended."
Ahhh.... no.
A Logic refresher might be beneficial for you...
ABL could have spent 12 hours a day for 20 years trying to assemble "a body of prelates that would challenge the Vatican and the new direction" and still fail to do so. Each bishop has free will, and many of them don't want to be ostracized, lose their pensions, lose their cushy desk/admin jobs, give up Modernism, etc.
That's like saying that if you don't have a job, there's something wrong with you (i.e., you're unmotivated, non-skilled, or a lazy bum) nevermind the fact there aren't enough jobs to go around... or like saying that just because you have no friends, it's because YOU are too picky or uncharitably shun people who aren't "perfect". What if others are doing the shunning?
I was at a gathering recently, of a group of my peers, when they were all cracking sex jokes. I mentioned a few jokes that were equally funny but CLEAN, and they commented that they know a DIRTY version of same. Later I mentioned prayer as a solution to some kind of problem, and the whole group went to CRICKETS. After about 5 minutes of sitting there with several men silently staring at their i-Phones, I excused myself. As I was walking away, I heard one of them say to another, "Here, check this out. You have to be a parent to enjoy this." And they both laughed. It was probably something of prurient interest, which they knew I would have put a wet blanket on. So they saved it for after I was walking away.
It's a battle zone out there, friends.
What do all 3 of these cases have in common? They rely on the free-will decisions of human beings, which a person can't control (the body of bishops, the potential employers, and the potential friends in your area). You can't force people to fight modernism, hire you, or be your friend.
You can't force a band of dirty old men to knock off the salacious giggles when they've been doing it for 48 years,
AND LOVING IT. It all boils down to one thing:
THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT OF VATICAN II.
Check out the Old Testament some time, if you dare.
In the Age Before Christ, "unclean spirit" had a real meaning that struck FEAR OF THE LORD into the hearts of all the faithful.
Vatican II changed all that.
Get it?
As far as the bishops all making a bad choice, I need to point out: Don't underestimate the powerful siren call of the world. If you do, you will surely perish. It's like underestimating the devil, or any enemy.
Truer words were never spoken.
Well said,
Matthew..