{"id":2788,"date":"2013-02-21T05:55:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T05:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=2788"},"modified":"2025-09-28T18:49:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T18:49:20","slug":"an-amusing-piece-on-how-unsolicited-advice-for-the-catholic-church-has-surged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=2788","title":{"rendered":"an amusing piece on how &#8220;Unsolicited Advice&#8221; for the Catholic Church has &#8220;surged&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>In the form of a press release from the Catholic League on February 15th<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicleague.org\/unsolicited-advice-surges\/\" target=\"_self\">UNSOLICITED ADVICE SURGES<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bill Donohue comments on reaction to the pope\u2019s resignation:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The decision of Pope Benedict XVI to<br \/>\nretire has elicited a surge of unsolicited advice on how the Catholic<br \/>\nChurch must change. Paradoxically, most of it is coming from those who<br \/>\nare not exactly connected to the Church: we are hearing from<br \/>\nex-Catholics, those with one foot out the door, and non-Catholics. Much<br \/>\nof their advice has to do with sex, proving once again that it is not<br \/>\nthe Church that is obsessed with sex\u2014it is the Church\u2019s critics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Can the Church change? On some<br \/>\nteachings, of course. As Judge John T. Noonan Jr. has demonstrated, the<br \/>\nChurch has evolved on slavery, usury, religious freedom, and divorce.<br \/>\nMoreover, it has modified its teachings on subjects ranging from<br \/>\ncelibacy to the role of Jews in the crucifixion. While capital<br \/>\npunishment is not an intrinsic evil, Pope John Paul II narrowed its<br \/>\nlegitimate exercise. So if these changes, and many others, have been<br \/>\nmade, why can\u2019t there be more? There can be, at least on some teachings.<br \/>\nThe question is whether there should be.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Catholic League is positively<br \/>\nagnostic on these issues. We are not an advisory group, nor are we a<br \/>\ntheological debating society. We are a civil rights organization. Our<br \/>\njob is to defend the right of the Church to proclaim the Gospel as it<br \/>\nsees fit. Moreover, we adamantly reject the notion that there can be<br \/>\nparallel teaching bodies: the Magisterium, which is the pope in<br \/>\ncommunion with the bishops, is the <em>sole <\/em>teaching body of the Catholic Church. It is their rights we defend. All we ask for is a respectful hearing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Everyone, of course, is entitled to<br \/>\noffer advice. But those who are no longer practicing Catholics, or who<br \/>\nnever were, cannot expect a serious hearing. This has to be said now<br \/>\nbecause over the next several months we are likely to witness an<br \/>\nexplosion in voyeurism, as well as downright meddling, in the internal<br \/>\naffairs of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the form of a press release from the Catholic League on February 15th UNSOLICITED ADVICE SURGES Bill Donohue comments on reaction to the pope\u2019s resignation: The decision of Pope Benedict XVI to retire has elicited a surge of unsolicited advice on how the Catholic Church must change. Paradoxically, most of it is coming from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5457,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788\/revisions\/5457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}