Religious Reform

Its just that this Pope is a wuss

Me too.

Firstly while I consider myself Catholic I am not currently practicing.Im a pretty lame effort for a Catholic really! But I base my beliefs on reason and knowledge as well as faith. I certainly don’t like to think of myself as a fundie fanatic and I have many doubts about The Church. Still I believe. I don’t want to push my beliefs onto anyone else, but don’t mind at all defending my faith.

Martin Im up for a fite :), seeing you consider yourself something of an expert on Papal decrees, and infallibility. Post a new thread and we can discuss Catholic doctrine and disciplines if your so sure of yourself.

For those who are interested Ill give a very very brief sketch of the Catholic Church from a Catholic perspective. For anyone interested in my reply(unlikely but possible) to Nabisco’s questions Ive started another thread.

In the NT we find that Jesus establishes a Church led by the apostles, and we have many verses that show the Church was supposed to continue after the apostles were gone. The Catholic Church is that Church, continued after the apostles. The Catholic Church determined (as guided by the Holy Spirit) which books make up the canon of the Bible. It is made up of sinners but it has never made a mistake in its definitions of faith and morals that are binding on believers.
The Protestant Reformation began when some intelligent and well-read Christians like Martin Luther and John Calvin saw corruption in the Church. They made the mistake that this meant you could break off from the very Church founded by Christ. Their idea was that we should follow the Bible alone (this is called sola scriptura). Unfortunately, the Bible nowhere teaches sola scriptura. Luther and Calvin began their reformation in the 1500's. The various Protestant denominations (Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, etc.) have different interpretations of the Bible, but they are all based on the same idea: sola scriptura.

We Catholics believe that the idea of private judgment of the Bible leads to endless division in the Church( i think there is something like 30,000 preotestant churhes or sects each with there own version of the truth), and that the successors of the apostles were commissioned to resolve such disputes. The pope is the 262nd successor of St. Peter, the first leader of the Church, and the first bishop of Rome.

An important past of Church doctrine is The Catechism. The Catechism is based on the Bible and Church documents. The most important Church documents are of two categories: extraordinary magisterium (infallible), and ordinary magisterium (true, but more prone to deeper development in the future). The definitions of faith and morals in an ecumenical council, or a pope speaking ex cathedra, are infallible, and that's the extraordinary magisterium. The definitions of faith and morals in a papal encyclical, and certain other important church documents, are part of the ordinary magisterium, and require assent of the will and intellect, but with the awareness that a deeper understanding of the issues involved can occur in the future. The vast majority of the Catechism is from the inerrant Bible and from the infallible propositions of the extraordianry magisterium. Here and there throughout, often as explanation for other things, and to make things clearer, we have propositions from the ordinary magisterium. Many Catholics aren't called to go into all the theological details of this (though they are warmly encouraged to), and they know that if it's in the catechism, they have to follow it.

There are many lies and myths spread about the Catholic Church. Have a look yourself if youre interested and then make a decision. If anyone has any reasonable questions on aspects of Church teachings mail me and Ill try and help. Dear I say it... God Bless

I occasionally slip and let myself get sucked in, but basically I decided years ago that my life would feature less frustration and annoyance if I didn't rise to this sort of shit. I decline to bother debating any of this with you.