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Saturday 18 April 2015

I don't owe my "sister" obedience

Not that I don't have several sisters who are really swell people, and all...
The Catholic Church, or, to be precise, the Holy See will have a pavilion at EXPO Milan 2015, which is a good thing.
The theme of the exposition is ""Feeding the Planet."
Also good!
And the theme of the Holy See's contribution to the festivities is “Not by bread alone.”
Beyond good, purt'dang near perfect!
The Holy See Pavilion will take as its title two short Biblical phrases: 'Not by bread alone' and 'Give us today our daily bread'
But then, this:
Msgr. Luca Bressan commented that the Holy See Pavilion will offer to help tourists and citizens encounter “the mystical dimension, openness to God”. He added that the method to be followed will be that of posing problems and making suggestions to solve them, “used with success by Pope Francis, to show that the Church is not a sour schoolmistress but rather a sister who shares our path with lucidity and a vision of the future, a devoted mother able to show the ways and the resources of the future”.
My sister, my mother, my sister, my mother..... I feel like Evelyn Mulwray.

I suppose if Jesus is my (step?) brother, the Church can be my sister, but I am uncomfortable with what seems to be increasing emphasis on a kind of, if not equality, parity in these mystical relationships, a down-playing of man[kind]'s DISparity in status.
It's presumptuous.
And I really think it is wrong to downplay the Church's teaching authority by saying she is not a "sour schoolmistress."
Better to learn at the foot of a sour schoolmarm than to have no schooling at all....
But yes, it's certainly more pleasant if She hasn't, or rather, that we, as Her agents don't give Her "the face of a pickled pepper," as the Holy Father has put it.
Image result for pope francis frowning

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