r/LeftCatholicism

Wait. What??

https://x.com/BishopBarron/status/2046261775532732636?s=20

Text:

>There is a way past the absurd and deeply divisive “war” between the President and the Pope, which has been enthusiastically ginned up by the press. And it is indicated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2309 to be precise. After laying out the various criteria for determining a just war—proportionality, last resort, declaration by a competent authority, reasonable hope of success, etc.—the Catechism points out that “the evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.” The assumption is that the just war principles function, to use the technical term, as heuristic devices, designed to guide the practical decision-making of those civil authorities who have to adjudicate matters of war and peace.

The role of the Church, therefore, is to call for peace and to urge that any conflict be strictly circumscribed by the moral constraints of the just war criteria. But it is not the role of the Church to evaluate whether a particular war is just or unjust. That appraisal belongs to the civil authorities, who, one presumes, have requisite knowledge of conditions on the ground. So, is the war in question truly the last resort? Is there really a balance between the good to be attained and the destruction caused by the war? Are combatants and non-combatants being properly distinguished in the waging of the conflict? Do the belligerents have right intention? Is there a reasonable hope of success? The posing of those questions—indeed the insistence upon their moral relevance—belongs rightly to the Church, but the answering of them belongs to the civil authorities.

The Pope has said, on numerous occasions, that he is not a politician and that his role is not the determination of any nation's foreign policy. But he has just as clearly said that he will continue to speak for peace and for moral constraint. In making both of these claims, he is operating perfectly within the framework of paragraph 2309 of the Catechism. If we understand that the Pope and the President have qualitatively different roles to play in the determination of moral action in regard to war, we can, I hope, extricate ourselves from the completely unhelpful narrative of “Pope vs. President.”

I’m an Episcopalian and I love my church, however I’m a very high church kind of Anglican, and if you saw me in a Catholic mass (happens sometimes) you wouldn’t be able to tell that I’m not Roman Catholic. A lot of my practice is aligned with Roman Catholicism. I’m a student of liberation theology, as is the priest of my episcopal parish. I always have my rosary with me when I attend any church and have a strong devotional life with the blessed Virgin Mary.

I have a gut feeling that someday I will end up converting to the Roman Catholic Church because my parish is full of mostly older generations with no consistent new comers, and I don’t see my church staying afloat my whole life (I’m 34).

All that being said, my priest is a woman and I believe in women’s ordination whole heartedly. I’m not saying it’s a requirement for my priest to be a woman, but I’d prefer to always have a priest that believes similarly on this matter. Do most liberal leaning parishes in the Catholic Church hold this view and actively argue the case for women clergy? What kind of progress, if any, is the Catholic Church making on this topic ?

How crazy is it to join a pilgrimage to Lourdes before completing OCIA? I wouldn’t be baptized or confirmed yet. It’s an opportunity to meet and spend time with one of the priests who has been hugely influential in my decision to convert. I don’t know how often they offer these.

(reposting since i accidentally made a clickbaity title)

Please pray for me. I will be visiting a priest tomorrow for a confession that I badly need. And please pray for the for the priest that I meet, so that he is understanding and can helps me navigate my spiritual life.

I have a question that I want to talk to my priest about, but since I can’t talk to him for a few days, I was hoping other people who have talked to priest my comment on this with some answers. I’m in the process of converting to Catholicism.

My best friend is a woman and she’s married to a woman who literally left Catholicism because she’s gay. So her wife has very mixed feelings on the church. I think she wishes she could still be part of it and feels rejected so there’s a lot of hurt there.

How am I supposed to tell my best friend that I’m converting to the religion that broke her wife’s heart? How can I explain it when she thinks the faith is against the very person she is (her perception). I don’t want to get into all of that theology because 1) I’m not an expert and 2) at the end of the day I don’t understand why it’s a sin. Ive confessed this but yeah, I don’t understand why sex has to be open to life. I’ve just decided that that’s one of the things I’m not going to understand while I’m on earth. I pray about it a lot.

I am a bit curious how folks on here feel about this since it’s usually the more reactionary, trad types who like to make a big show about their faith. Are there ways you make your beliefs publicly known? I.E. Home prayer corners, religious imagery, rosary hanging in your car, saying grace or prayer in public etc