Comments on: English bishop criticises New Evangelisation council

By: Ruth

Ruth — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 00:28:57 +0000

I am very distressed at the naivete of Bishop Conry. Part of their drive to establish a global Caliphate is to infiltrate western institutions in order to undermine and eventually destroy them. Christians, as well as Catholics, should pray for the conversion of Muslims to Christianity. Also, what exactly should the Catholic Church tolerate that God, in the Holy Bible, tells us not to? To tolerate sin is not loving your neighbor. And just what does it mean to tolerate? No one is suggesting violence or hatred of sinners except Muslims!

By: Robinleslie

Robinleslie — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 01:35:49 +0000

Yes I agree. The problem the Church now faces, and this is not simply a problem for bishops and priests it is a shared problem with the whole Chuch, is that after Vatican 2 the Church, in the UK at least became

middle class in its orientation and composition, and it assimilated many middle class attitudes of liberality.

This was no more pronounced in the Anglican Church which, during George Carey's Archbishopric, used 'management science' to engineer an organizational and pastoral restructuring of the Anglican Church, in church replanting, outreach, and women's ordination.

The Catholic response was not so secular and restructuring was more sensitive to the internals of theological tradition (as with Avery Dulles: Models of the Church). Nevertheless the experimentations with liturgy were simply disastrous, and many middle class academics advocated pseudo-solutions for

modernizing and 'opening-up' the Church. To his credit Cardinal Marty of Paris ( always remembered)

said that the post-Vatican 2 Church had become 'self-effacing to the point of oblivion'.

It is a maxim, if such can be the term, in the Sociology of Religion, that religious institutions with firm boundaries outlast those with porous boundaries.

I hope Bishop Conry will not be too generous to our humanist friends, especially since Jesus said

'Watch and pray'.

By: Ce

Ce — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:17:35 +0000

If the church is not growing, we ALL have a problem. Don't point fingers; individuals must take it upon themselves to evangelize. We must stay united even in our different roles and EVANGELIZE. We must not be afraid to confess our faith and share it with others.

ce.mdbys.com

By: GFFM

GFFM — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:09:47 +0000

Bishop Kieran Conry's comments illustrate the need for evangelization of all, even bishops like himself. He has a point about the Church's need to bring its message to the people. But he should also consider that bishops like himself have failed to teach the faith with any abiding fervor or sincerity. When he says that “It’s authoritative. It’s intolerant. It’s demanding. It’s exclusive. I think the Church has got to re-present itself rather than simply blame everything on the ills of society,” he is out of touch with all the work the Church does throughout the world and he betrays a concern with image as opposed to substance. He sounds more like an image consultant or a public relations strategist than a priest or bishop. Also, it's concerning that he isn't alarmed by the anti-Catholic and anti religious sentiment of his own culture and the intrusiveness of that culture into consciences and belief. I would strongly suggest that he read the Pope's work on Love and Charity–he may then understand how compelling and how countercultural Catholicism is in today's world.

By: Fidelioque

Fidelioque — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:14:44 +0000

The problem is not secularisation outside the Church that is true but it is the secularisation that Bishop Conry and his fellow bishops have brought into the Church. He stresses the Church must be more tolerant, more welcoming but to whom? What he means is those who live in the world and adopt the customs of the world. We must welcome adultery, we must welcome homosexuality, we must welcome divorce, we must welcome abortion, we must welcome the alternative view of family life. We must not talk about sin. Of c oourse this makes the Church very welcoming to a minority which is why in forwarding his anti-gospel yes, anti-gospel message with his fellow bishops he shows utter contempt for the Gospel. Of course Moslems will want their children in Catholic Schools there is no threat of fundamentalism or teaching children to live Gospel values there. It is all just tommy rot about feeding the poor and doing what you like. No wonder young people looking for values find none and abandon us. Bishop Conry and his misreperesentation of the Gospel message as secular will soon disappear, ordinary catholics have had enough.

By: Henry Law

Henry Law — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 04:21:51 +0000

The bishop is correct. With a few notable exceptions the Catholic church fails to put across its message. The most important tool for instruction is actually the liturgy, but thanks to the ideas promoted by the likes of this bishop, the liturgy is dire.

He and his ilk are part of the problem.

By: thomaspj

thomaspj — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:24:40 +0000

It is a matter of great joy to know there is a Bishop who can speak with authority and who is in touch with reality. Only such Bishops can promote the "Kingdom of God" by proclaiming God's WORD and thus prevent the Church (The Organised Church as opposed to the Church of Christ working under the Guidance of the Holy Spirit) from dying out. Others are only playing with words and keeping the people occupied with dead rituals. This is why the Young are moving away from the Church everywhere except where the Word of God is proclaimed in and through the Spirit of Jesus - like the Twlve Apostles.

Thomas P.J. (poovamfuture@yahoo.com)

By: Gashwin

Gashwin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:56:21 +0000

There is no fundamentalism among Muslims in Britain? Where does this Bishop live?

By: jamesj1

jamesj1 — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:14:29 +0000

It seems like the Bishop wants the church to adopt every fashion of the modern age and fit into society. I remember the Bishop saying the church needed to connect to younger people by talking about environmental issues in another article. I got back into my faith in my late 20's by coming across great Catholic writers like GK Chesterton, Walker Percy and beginning to understand my faith. If the church start adopting fashionable themes like the tolerance and the environment it just sounds like every other public body. The fact that Church teaching upsets so many people tells me it must be doing something right. The word holy means set apart.

By: Misnich

Misnich — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:11:59 +0000

Rome burns (with Apostolic zeal) while bishops and bishops' conferences fiddle. The Pontifical Council for New Evangelization is needed precisely because the status quo is largely a picture of timidity. If we're not evangelizing we're in retreat. The Church has suffered too long from a weak witness, a mission further sapped by dissenting individuals who hate the Church. The Holy Father has been consistently reminding us who we are as the People of God in order to help us reclaim our identity for the purpose again discerned by the Second Vatican Council – to confidently bring the message and Person of Christ to a world that desperately needs rescuing from sin.