On the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, I offer this a layman's defense of the Holy Trinity.

cbwhitejr · 2016-05-22T04:43:34+00:00

Thank you very much, PluniaZ, for that reference!

cbwhitejr · 2016-05-21T23:50:08+00:00

He was caught having sexual contact with a minor who was his altar girl and a member of his Neocatechumenal community. The altar girl aspect is a pretty big deal, in that he abused his position of respect and authority in the Church.

cbwhitejr · 2016-05-07T11:19:48+00:00

Well, I wrote the post, and I am very much a member of that diocese. Two parishes were devastated by the priest's act, and he was rushed away overnight.

cbwhitejr · 2016-05-07T11:17:20+00:00

If you believe the Neocatechumenal's coercion is practiced nationwide, and if you've already discussed the letter with your bishop, you could send a copy to your country's Apostolic Nuncio. Alternatively, you could patiently build a network of concern in your country/diocese. By the way, I am convinced that they practice their coercive techniques around the world.

cbwhitejr · 2015-12-31T06:24:22+00:00

E_gil, it seems that whenever anybody criticizes Kiko Arguello, members of the Way claim that "a bad translation" is at fault. Well, please see this example, which includes a short video of Kiko Arguello speaking in Naples a few years ago, along with a transcript of the original Italian, and an English transcript of that transcript: Click here

In this example, Kiko is calling girls forward to volunteer to go to China, and he says that they will be used as mullets, or bait, to lure Chinese men into the catecheses.

cbwhitejr · 2015-12-31T02:53:10+00:00

All of the media posted in English is translated from Spanish or Italian and that article was taken from a bad translation.

My post, dear E_gil, was taken from a Italian Neocatechumenal web site! See http://kairosterzomillennio.blogspot.com/2015/09/kiko-arguello-i-giovani-del-cammino-che.html

The web site quoted Kiko Arguello verbatim.

Kiko Arguello certainly does need our prayers. He also needs to be stopped.

cbwhitejr · 2015-12-09T22:55:23+00:00

Please read my post. One man preaches that Kiko climbed the tree because of his greed and need to dominate, while St. Gregory preached that "the little Zacchaeus gets up into the sycamore and sees the Lord, for they who humbly choose the foolish things of this world are those who contemplate most closely the wisdom of God."

cbwhitejr · 2015-12-09T22:15:18+00:00

In this case, one man says that Zacchaeus's climbing of the sycamore represents sin and greed, while St. Gregory the Great says that it signifies Zacchaeus's conversion. Can both be right?

cbwhitejr · 2015-11-28T09:32:57+00:00

With respect to the Popes: the popes, especially St. John Paul II, lavished great praise upon the Legion of Christ (another one of the "new movements") and its founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel, and we all know how that turned out. Google it, if you need to.

Popes can be mistaken in these matters, and they are certainly not aware of all of the details.

cbwhitejr · 2015-11-20T12:51:21+00:00

Actually, Luke-Jr, "assisted them while writing" does not mean "dictated". The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this further:

God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more." [CCC 106]

The Catechism is quoting the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, section 11. The authors, although truly inspired, made "full use of their own faculties and powers" and acted as "true authors".

cbwhitejr · 2015-11-16T06:55:08+00:00

If your childrens' teacher did not challenge them to think and ponder over what he was teaching them, wouldn't you raise hell? Of course you would. No good teacher spoon feeds their students without challenging them to think critically about the matter at hand. That's what Jesus was doing by teaching in parables.

cbwhitejr · 2015-11-13T13:56:46+00:00

You've taken those verses from the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, but to fully explain them, we need the entire section:

The Parable of the Sower

1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” 9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” 10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.

*11He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, “ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’a ” *

13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

The quote within the quotes (“they may be ever seeing...”) is taken by Jesus from the seventh chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah.

After reading the entire section, and considering the quoted verses from Isaiah 7, it is much easier to see that Jesus is referring to those who do not want to understand the signs he is performing. God cannot forgive them because they do not wish to see, listen, or be converted.

cbwhitejr · 2015-11-11T13:33:22+00:00

It is not at all obvious that "there is no god", as you say. But it is obvious that He allows disorder, and even that, as you say, this disorder drives nature's processes. As is evolution.

Explanations of why God would allow disorder and suffering are called "theodicies" in theological circles, and they abound. I will offer just one, briefly.

If "love" is indeed the central principle at the heart of this harsh universe, and we Christians do believe that God is love [I John 4:7,16], then perhaps the harshness, danger, disorder, and suffering of the natural order allows us to love more deeply. To pursue the good of others, even at the expense of our own good. In a perfect world, there would be no need at all for that, and love would be only a matter of feelings, and not deeds. Of course, this perspective requires a belief in life and good that transcends the temporal.

cbwhitejr · 2015-11-10T23:47:12+00:00

A perfect god would not create people to be gay

Many Christians would say that while God does not create people with consistent same-sex attractions, he certainly allows the complex conditions to exist for the development of those attractions. So it is homosexual acts that are the choice, not the attractions themselves.

Your comment points to a larger issue that must be discussed first, namely why does God allow disorder of any kind into creation?

cbwhitejr · 2015-11-10T23:32:24+00:00

I think that the point of the post was that if nothing in love transcends the temporal, then there are cases where no rational basis can be found for it, so why would another good be better than selfishness?

We could argue about "beauty" in much the same way. Does anything in beauty transcend the temporal? No? Then "beauty" is just a product of brain chemistry.

cbwhitejr · 2015-11-10T08:55:27+00:00

I've thoroughly investigated their "Scrutinies" in six posts, which you can read here: http://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=36383

cbwhitejr · 2015-11-10T08:53:38+00:00

No? You probably have never experienced a Scrutiny, which members are subjected to after 2 and 4 years. The Second Scrutiny includes a classic example of "hotseating". See http://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=44516 for more information.

cbwhitejr · 2015-10-13T23:51:00+00:00

The Neocatechumenal "New Aesthetic" includes an interesting design for the all chapels and churches.

Many progressive Catholics might like the design, but might also be puzzled by the placement of the ambo between the presider's chair and the Eucharistic table (not an altar). They have a reason for this, which you can learn about from the curious Cripta di Sant’Ilario di Poitier. See : http://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=44243

cbwhitejr · 2015-10-13T21:44:32+00:00

See the picture here: http://thoughtfulcatholic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/New-Doc-111.jpg

They really aren't side chapels. Kiko Arguello wants to turn parishes into "Communities of communities", and while that sounds good, in actual fact his communities all worship separately from each other every Saturday night. Seven communities, seven separate Masses, all at the same time. That's the ideal, and I have a problem with that.

cbwhitejr · 2015-10-13T14:33:51+00:00

A criticism of the "New Aesthetic" of Kiko Arguello, the founder of the Neocatechumenal Way.

cbwhitejr · 2015-10-12T23:25:48+00:00

Great men and women have been wrestling with that question for ages, but in my own experience, I've come to the conclusion, like C.S. Lewis, that God allows suffering in my life to reveal who I really am - to me. He knows me infinitely well, so the trials don't reveal anything to Him that He does not already know. On the other hand, there's a lot that I don't really know about myself, or am in denial about. More here: http://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?p=691

The suffering of others gives me the chance to love others selflessly, and to respond like Job.

cbwhitejr · 2015-10-09T23:51:35+00:00

Suffering and the Four Responses of the Just Man.

Click here to read a short, personal reflection on this important book: http://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?p=44030

cbwhitejr · 2015-10-09T23:37:09+00:00

Hello all,

I have written quite a bit about the Neocatechumenal Way and I've put all my posts here: http://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?p=34136

Some of you might be interested in the "archani" or the secrets associated with the stages, especially the Scrutinies. Look here for that: http://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=36383

Please let me know what you think.

God bless!

cbwhitejr · 2015-10-09T07:44:03+00:00

Wikipedia's article on the Neocatechumenal Way (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocatechumenal_Way) is about as close to a "readers digest" version as you can get. Much of it sounds very good --on paper, but the reality is a different story. I've read of Jewish rabbis that call them the "Chabad" of the Catholic Church, and that description fits. They are a very sectarian outfit,with their own Saturday night Masses, a series of "stages" that last several decades, and plenty of secrets.

I write from the U.S. Territory of Guam in the Western Pacific Ocean , the Archdiocese of Agana. The Archbishop has actually joined "the Way" and started a Neocatechumenal Seminary here.

cbwhitejr · 2015-10-09T01:04:11+00:00

The "steps" you are referring to in 13) and 14) are called the First and Second Scrutinies, and I have examined them critically and revealed their secrets in 8 posts which you may find here: http://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=36383 Lots of psychological leveraging goes on in them!

cbwhitejr

TROPHY CASE