Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Evening Two
What might God want us to learn in light of the rise of the Islamic faith?
What can we learn in the stories of the conversion of the Barbarian tribes?
What apostolic truths are demonstrated in the conversion of Ireland and England?
What did God accomplish through the expansion of monasteries all over Christendom?
What error in holiness motivated the Iconoclasts?
In what ways were cultural differences at work in the split between the East and the West in Christendom?
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The power of holiness and goodness is apparent in a pope's eloquence in dissuading a barbarian and his horde of mounted Huns from sacking and pillaging the Holy City of Rome.
ReplyDeleteAs the papacy and the institutional Catholic Church was drifting away from God, the Holy Spirit was renewing the Church from within with the rise of monasteries for holy men and holy women.
ReplyDeleteThese are the times when the Holy Spirit really shines through the Magesterium. I'm reminded of the poem by Mary Stevenson (okay, I had to look her name up), Footprints In The Sand. It seems that these are the times when many could ask of the Church 'where were you when we were being over-run by Barbarians?', to which the Holy Spirit might have replied that 'through all these days I carried you by the Faith preserved in the monasteries' - Sort of Monastic footprints through the dark ages.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Through all of this turmoil in the papacy and with the bishops, the legitimate and valid Apostolic Succession was never broken? Are there claims that might state otherwise?
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be general acceptance of the Catholic Church's claim to Apostolic Succession. However, the Catholic Church doesn't recognize the validity of the Apostolic Succession of many other churches.
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipedia: Churches that claim some form of episcopal apostolic succession, dating back to the apostles or to leaders from the apostolic era, include the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Church of the East, the Anglican Communion, and some Lutheran Churches (see below)...
Roman Catholics recognize the validity of the apostolic successions of the bishops, and therefore the rest of the clergy, of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, and the Old Catholic Church (Union of Utrecht only). The Eastern Orthodox generally recognize Roman Catholic orders, but have a different concept of the apostolic succession as it exists outside of Eastern Orthodoxy. The lack of apostolic succession through bishops is the primary basis on which Protestant communities are not considered churches by the Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic Church.[38]
Another thing to consider, maybe a full topic unto itself, is papal infallibility. I believe it wasn't officially proclaimed until much later, but it would be a great exercise in proving how it was kept intact through the ages. It did come close with Pope Sixtus VI and the whole re-translation of the Latin Vulgate. A great example of the gifts bestowed upon the Holy Church.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless!
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DeleteYes, Mike, you're correct that it was proclaimed much later. Papal Infallibility was the central issue defined by the sessions of Vatican I while Pius IX was pope. Pius IX on his own declared that Mary the Mother of God was conceived without sin in her mother's womb--the Immaculate Conception. Even though at the time most in the church held this view, many in the Church were taken aback that Pio Nono did this without consultation with anyone. Vatican I defined Papal Infallibility, a definition we rely on to this day.
ReplyDelete